From: ajh@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (Alan Hu)
Subject: Re: What does Arthur Hu mean to *me*
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University.
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 02:11:19 GMT

In article <1993Jan10.005356.18479@netcom.com> timlee@netcom.com (Timothy J. Lee) writes:
>dtwei@acsu.buffalo.edu (Ning Wang) writes:
>|waveland@carson.u.washington.edu (Eric Holeman) writes:
>|>dtwei@acsu.buffalo.edu (Ning Wang) writes:
>|>>(yes there are still some racist assholes out
>|>>there that hate jews, but face it: the jews have made it. they control the
>|>>media/government)
>|>
>|>First, if "the jews" control the media, then why is it Xmas specials 
>|>that are replayed ad nauseum during December?  And if "the jews"
>|>control the government, why are there no more than a handful of Jewish 
>|>congresstypes and, as yet, no Jewish president?  
>|
>|Well, if you look at it this way: many universities include Jewish holidays
>|like Hannika (spelling)
>
>Which universities?  I can't think of any, even for more important
>holidays.

Stanford used to have this nasty habit of scheduling the start of the
school year such that every few years, the first day of class would
fall on Rosh Hashanah, forcing Observant Jewish students to either
skip services or miss class.  The problem was excerbated in that most
of the popular classes required attendence on the first day or you
didn't get in.  The Jewish community complained, and Stanford is now
careful not to start classes on Rosh Hashanah.  So, it's not a university
holiday, but at least there's some cultural awareness.

>
>|>>Well said... Asian Americans should be cautious, but should never take the
>|>>offensive and prejudice against other races.
>|>
>|>Good advice, there.  How about taking it yourself?   
>|
>|I don't see how I'm not taking it myself
>
>Would you find it offensive if someone complained that the asians
>were taking over all of the colleges and universities, even though
>that's not true (overrepresented yes, taking over no)?
>
>-- 
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Timothy J. Lee                                        timlee@netcom.com
>No warranty of any kind is provided with this message.

While I disagree with Ning's comment of "They control the media/government,"
it is worth noting the Jewish experience in the US.  Jews make up a tiny
fraction of the US population, just as Asian Americans do, and faced
extreme discrimination, just as Asian Americans do.  Anti-semitism is
far from dead, but the Jewish community has made enormous strides in
combatting it, strides that the Asian-American community can only drool at.

Jews in America are an incredibly diverse population, but perhaps the
horrors of the Holocaust and centuries of religious oppression serve to
unite the community, giving it strength.  If some lunatic says, "The
Holocaust never happened," or "All these Jews are just taking over," I
see the Jewish community united with justifiable anger.  I don't read
Jewish netters expounding on the unmitigated evils of Jewish-cu.  I
don't hear Jewish leaders saying, "Those Ashkenazim are always stirring
up trouble.  Why don't they just keep quiet?"  My non-Orthodox Jewish
friends don't go around saying, "I'm not a typical Jew.  I don't wear a
silly cap on my head."

Sadly, this kind of piddling divisiveness runs rampant in Asian America,
and in America in general.
					--Alan (not Arthur) Hu