Where's the beef?

We have that recent "Lian Ji" joke op-ed. Several members of the Asian-American community at Princeton are trying to seek justice for the op-ed's bad humor. But I forget the reason why. From "The Daily Princetonian is racist" to "It was a joke, but it was still distasteful" to "Why are only Asians made fun of here and not Hispanics or blacks?" to "Why won't the 'Prince' apologize to us for writing it?" The reasons that people cite for being offended are legion. Whatever they say, I'm still not quite sure why they're doing what they're doing or what their goals are.

Personally, I feel that this is not the battle for the Asian-American community to choose, if it is even a battle. Even though very few got a laugh from the op-ed, many Asian-Americans on campus did not find offense with the op-ed. The Asian American Student Association (AASA) initially wanted to submit a "unified letter" with other Asian organizations, but they wisely decided that any "unified" response wouldn't be accurate, due to the vast array of opinions in the Asian-American population. From my observations, it might be a West Coast/East Coast thing, where the West sees it as botched and the East sees it as outrageous, but I don't want to get in trouble for stereotyping.

I ask, why does this sort of reaction of outrage occur now? I've heard arguments that Asians are viewed as extremely passive, so acting against this op-ed helps dispel this stereotype, while not reacting would only reinforce it. There are so many Asian-American issues, however, that we haven't acted on and that have yet to be addressed. Jian Li's concern about reverse-discrimination in affirmative action could have been a catalyst — why didn't AASA protest about that? While any action may have been deterred due to the "douchebag" factor Princetonians associate with Li's lawsuit (and to be fair, at the time it was a different board in charge of AASA), I feel that Asian leaders should be using issues other than this botched joke 'Prince' op-ed as a springboard to raise Asian American awareness and break the stereotypes.

Before moving any further along in my op-ed, however, I want to strongly emphasize that I am not trying to insult AASA by saying they haven't done anything. I do think, however, that whenever someone wants to address an issue, it should be a real issue. For example, AASA is planning a forum after intersession to address the op-ed and discuss race relations. But where's the forum to address affirmative action with the Office of Admission? Or the forum to address hate crimes? Lack of political representation in the U.S. government? The current leadership of AASA wants to leverage their "umbrella" role to represent all Asian organizations on campus and address to concerns of all Asian-Americans here. I don't think, however, bringing up the 'Prince' joke op-ed will do any of us any good. Waging war against the 'Prince' — a student newspaper — will not help Asian-Americans and only lead to bad images of the school. Sitting down one-on-one with the Dean of Admission and asking about reverse-discrimination? Better.

A lot of people have overreacted. And it needs to stop. President Tilghman probably has a headache over the phone calls from people outside the bubble, the New York Times might come down for interviews and some 'Prince' alumni are almost disowning the 'Prince.' This is out of control! If you can give me a reason why it's become a big problem other than "the piece was racist or unfairly used racism at the expense of Asians," let me know — because I don't believe either reason.

Now, who am I to judge and say that AASA shouldn't do this? Well, I'm just as Asian-American as all these Asian-Americans here. I'm not straying from my identity, nor implying any self-hate. But I simply believe this Lian Ji article is a non-issue, and since the debate has been mostly one-sided, I think it's important for everyone to know that a good number of Asian-Americans were not offended. Are we being passive Madame Butterflies and bowing to the 'Prince?' I don't see the joke op-ed as a problem, so I say no. And honestly, who's now going to think that I play five instruments simultaneously? Let's move on to better things.

Note: The original title of this op-ed was "The Wong Reaction in the Wong Place (and Since It's During Finals, at the Wong Time)," which covers my oped's message a little better, but the editor warned me I was going to get "physically maimed." Unless my name was Elmer Fudd, right? Ben Chen '09 is majoring in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and is from Los Altos, Calif. He has no affiliation with The Daily Princetonian. He may be reached at bc@princeton.edu.