Stuff We Rike #5 Each Other

There is an unattributed quote that has withstood the test of time, "They're both Asian, they probably know each other." As much as I want to discredit this statement, I cannot. Kevin Bacon may believe that there are only six degrees of separation between any two people. With Asians, you can probably halve that. The reason for this is because Asians like to stick together. A lot.

Humans really enjoy spotting hard to find objects and people whether it be buried treasure, Waldo or the backward diagonal words in the difficult word searches. Forget about Abdominal Snowman, Yeti, or even Bigfoot sightings. Forget about identifying Area 51, unidentified flying objects or crop circles. Nothing is harder to spot than the lone Asian. Asians are big fans of the pack mentality, the more the merrier. In short, Asians really like each other and will stick together unless there are unforeseen circumstances; you know like when an Asian can't find another Asian to be around.

There is a common stereotype that Asians are quiet and reserved. This is completely untrue. Studies have shown that only Asians in limbo, or Asians who are separated from the pack, are quiet and reserved. Asians are not unlike fish, they operate in much of the school mentality. We shall now refer to lone Asians as Dorys from Finding Nemo fame. . You put enough Dorys together however, and great things can happen just like at the end of Finding Nemo when they topple an entire fishing boat by collectively swimming against the grain. A Dory by themselves is lost, confused, and tries their best to adhere to their surroundings and is highly unlikely to go against the grain. The more fish in a school the more capable they are of thwarting other fish higher up on the food chain from eating them just like the the more Asians in a group the more social and outgoing they become.

Asian appreciation of other Asians has led to urban concentrations of Asians in Chinatowns, Koreatowns, and Little Tokyos around the country. Other common locations for Asian clusters include coffee shops, bubble tea shops, any shop that sells bubble tea, and library study tables. It has also led to the creation of ethnic fraternity and sororities, and college cultural awareness groups with the intention of expanding Asian interests. You may ask what these Asian interests are? The interest in being around even more Asian people.

Don't get me wrong. I think that there is absolutely nothing wrong with people who want to spend time with people who share similar back stories and backgrounds. People are naturally drawn to people who share cultural similarities with themselves. For example at the University of Michigan, my Alma Mater, there were 40 active groups with "Asian" interests listed in their descriptions for the past academic year. I completely understand having a Chinese student group or Vietnamese student group. We like each other, and we like each other more the more we have in common. But at what point does it become too much? I would argue that when there is a student group for Chinese American Christians Who Like to Bowl Student Association we have gone too far. That group does not exist yet, but slippery slopes my friends, slippery slopes.

As with anything, there are of course exceptions to this finding. You may say, "Hey! Wait a second, I am my own person. I have tons of non-Asian friends!" That may be true. But deep down, you don't really like being the token Asian in any group. You like being around Asians. I know I do. You just can't help it, deep down we just really like each other.