What's Your FAVORITE Part About Being Asian American?

What do you love about being Asian-American? This question was posed on the internet and some of the answers may surprise you. Yeah, we got to talk about this viral Reddit thread. Andrew, this person goes on to list the food number one. Then they go on to say, I love that I can tap into more collectivist worldviews because the hyper-individualism in the USA is just getting toxic. Don't get me wrong. Confucian collectivism can be just as toxic, but I feel like I could tap into a balance of both worlds as an Asian-American. Ah, tapping into the balance of both worlds, guys. We're going to talk about it. We'll go through some other popular answers. So please hit that like button right now if you like this kind of discussion. But David, you know what taps into the best of both worlds? Ismala sauce taps into the best of the Italian Calabrian chili world and also Szechuan Mala oil, guys. Check it out. Check out the content on the Instagram page too to see all the people that are trying it, our foodie and chef friends alike. I think my first quick thought, and this sounds like kind of crazy to say, but my favorite thing about being Asian-American is just having a low probability of having like a super duper messed up family. Like I'm not saying that it doesn't happen and I'm not saying I haven't seen it, but I'm just saying amongst Asian-American immigrants, typically the parents are together, right? Okay. Statistically speaking, yes. I'm not speaking on every individual family, you know what I'm saying? So I think that us growing up in the town that we grew up in, man, I saw some crazy stuff. I'm talking about people doing drugs with their parents. And yes, was that more in the trailer park zone or whatever, but I'm just saying like that existed. Right, you're just saying for Asian families generally, statistically speaking, there's a pretty high floor at least of like- Yeah, I'm not saying that the relationship between the parents and the children couldn't get toxic or you know what I mean? Depending on how the tiger parenting is applied if you do have tiger parents, but I'm just saying that is my general thing where I'm like, hey man, at least you don't got the crazy, crazy downside. Hey, wait, this list is about what you think is good about being Asian-American. What do you think, man? One of the things I like about being Asian-American is being able to kind of share with all different types of Asians and everybody's somewhat united kind of under immigrant Asian kids. You're saying in a way that they're not even united in Asia? Yeah, I think in Asia, when you're in Asia, it's actually harder to be around other types of Asians and share a bond. You're saying you're only friends with like people from your certain region or province of even whatever country you're from. Usually, it's like, I guess it's more similar to all going to like an international school maybe in Asia where you have other types of Asians with you at the school. Anyways. I could see Asia being more classes as well. Yeah, yeah, that's true. Yeah, so I think it's cool. We're just all here kind of bonded by a certain experience and immigrant status and then we're all just kind of like cool with each other. Yeah, I do think the original poster was right though. Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism versus Socrates, Plato, Christianity are pretty different. Although it is kind of hard to say like, what does that mean? If somebody comes from like a Socratic West versus like the Confucian East, it's very difficult unless you like really study it. Like what does that mean, right? But of course there's differences. Yeah, it's a different hemisphere. I just feel like a lot, most people looking at the world today would be like, yeah, maybe America needs a little bit more Confucianism right now, but it'll swing back and forth, right? And does Asia need more Socratic Athenian theory? Possibly. Hey man, it's all about a balance and you know, there's pros and cons of everything. Anyway, let's get into the answers, Andrew. The number one most upped answer, and tell me if you're surprised by this or not, was food. People love Asian American food. They say, I refuse to live out of the LA or NYC zone because the breadth and the depth of the Asian food cannot be matched. And this turned into a big discussion. Other people are like, hey, don't forget about the Bay Area. What about Houston? What about Seattle? What do you think? Why is food overall like the 10 out of 10 answer? Oh man, I think food is the indisputable champion or aspect of Asian culture that everyone around the globe. Even like non-Asians, right? Yeah, non-Asians and no matter what religion background, you probably like some Asian food because it's just tasty. And obviously, that's a large umbrella term. Asia encompasses a lot of different regions and ethnic tribes and kind of cuisines. So I would say, yeah, it's pretty awesome that in America, you can eat Filipino food, Chinese food, Korean food, different types of Chinese food, Vietnamese food, all in one plaza. You can get Burmese food too. Yeah, and it can be good all in one plaza. Indonesian food, Burmese food. You can have even like Chino Latino food all in one like. Would you agree, you cannot even find that situation in Asia? You can't find it anywhere in the world. If you go to Asia, it's not gonna be that diverse altogether. They might have more micro nuances of that region. Yeah, but I'm saying like, but you have to travel to that region. Anyways, yeah. I agree, I agree. What do you think? Do you think Houston and Seattle are overlooked as foodie hubs? Yeah, I think so. I think, you know what the reason is? Is because you don't have the density. The density in terms of like- Yeah, because you wanna drive everywhere, but no, Houston and Seattle have great food. You know what I think one overlooked aspect is? I think Asian Americans, and obviously this is not 100 out of 100 people. They also have a higher rate of being super foodies in the sense that they like the food, and they like the best food from every culture around the globe, not just around Asia. Yeah, I think you can trust, to be honest, a Chinese person's tastes on like most cuisines. You're talking about Chinese Americans, dude. Yeah, I just know Chinese Americans- Not Chinese people necessarily. I just know Chinese Americans eat everything, man. They're probably the number one foodies, man, I think. Like that eat other types of food. Yeah. You know what I mean? Anyways. This person says, depending on how much you deep dive into respective worldviews from your disparate backgrounds, it's easy to realize how mutually clueless people are about any society or culture that's not their own. The takeaway for me is at least to assume I just don't know-ish about other people's issues that I'm not personally an expert in. So this basically, this guy is saying that being Asian American made me realize that I don't know anything about anybody else. Whereas a lot of people in America, they don't know anything about anybody else, but they think they know about other people. Oh. I guess it made him- It was somewhat humbling to him to know that he doesn't know about other people. Yeah. Or you could be, you know, like I said, our situation's different. It's part of our career. You could do the deep dive, whether it's on YouTube or Quora and various Wikipedia sites to research everybody. Right, right. But I noticed that a lot of people, even Asian Americans don't do that, to be honest. And you know, they might not have the same incentives to our time availability. Somebody said food, obviously, but also family connections. Asians tend to believe that it takes a village to raise a family. Family ties and loyalty are strong in many Asian American families. We are raised to believe it's our duty, not something you do when you feel like it. Mm. Yeah? Yeah, I think having that slight duty mixed in of like that immigrant struggle of like unity and like duty to your parents, I think is cool. Like the filial piety on a certain level. I appreciate some filial piety. I think it's good to an extent, obviously. I think certain Asian families are too extreme and depending on your situation, but yeah, I do like, I value that. To be fair, Andrew, I did not notice anybody go, tiger parenting, yay, that was the best experience. No, no, no, no, no, no. Like I said, it depends, man. It really depends on your point of reference. If you compare it to like having parents that are drug addicts, having a tiger parent is not that bad. If you compare it to like the rich Tom Brady or whatever Becky kid at school that had the great, you know, the super fun upbringing, then you're like, it's not as fun. It really depends on who you're looking at, right? Let's be honest. This guy was saying Eastern martial arts are a lot of fun to study. Some are straightforwardly practical and he goes on to list Sanda, Muay Thai, Judo, Karate, BJJ and other ones are more like, you know, they look good, but they're not necessarily great for fighting, but I love Eastern martial arts. Okay, so he loves Eastern martial arts. That's fair and I think Eastern martial arts has at least influenced a lot of martial arts across the world. If not, like most of it, whether or not the traditional form is the most practical. Are you talking about Andrew? If you fight with Shaolin Kung Fu, where you imitate crane style, monkey style, snake style, that might not be the best thing to bust out in a fight fight. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, but I think that like generally, especially when it comes to kicks and stuff, martial arts, that type of full body martial arts definitely is influenced from the East. This guy said, I love how Asian parents tell us to study hard. And a lot of Asian parents, they get a lot of blame for unreasonable academic expectations. However, it is the system that we live in that forces Asians to study harder because, you know, we have to like get higher scores than everybody else to get into university. So this guy was like, why is it so bad that our parents stereotypically on a bulk distribution level, like I said, it depends on what family you were raised in. It's individual family to family. Why is it so bad that Asian parents stress academics so much? Mm, no, it's not generally that bad, to be honest. I mean, but I think it depends on your family, right? If your family comes from a business family and a lot of business kids, they just start working in the family business rather than go to school. That's actually a good amount of Asians too. Right, I think that that's an overlooked style of Asian. And some of those business kids, they still want their kid to like go to get a Harvard MBA too though. It's very variable guys. But yes, in general, Asian parents will nag you about your grades more than another type of parent statistically. Somebody said, we have culture. I grew up in a white town my whole life. What I've experienced and encountered is that a lot of white Americans hate that they lost aspects of their ancestral culture. That often leads to actual cultural appropriation to fill that void. Emphasis on actual, basically saying that white people have to culturally appropriate because they lost their ancestral culture. Like whether that's ties to Ireland, Germany, England or Poland or whatever. I see what they're trying to say. This is kind of a jab at white people. Because I think oftentimes people say, oh, white people have no culture. Well, if you're Anglo-Saxon, that's kind of a culture though. Well, that's the culture that we all have to adapt to to live in America to some extent, right? But a lot of white people are mixed white so they don't subscribe to just one culture. Because they're like 15% six different white people. Or I'm gonna do Irish St. Patrick's Day. That's my white identification. You're saying that that's why they go so hard on like Cinco de Mayo or something like that. Yeah, I mean, I think that Asians, especially if you're only one generation removed, you probably know your roots and where you come from. So you know yourself. Yeah, I would agree with that. Somebody says being tan. I like being golden and crispy like a perfectly roasted marshmallow and not being sunburned ever. That's funny. Yo, you know what's really interesting about this, Andrew? I learned that Asians, because it's like hard to see because a lot of Asians are, I mean, there's a spectrum, right? But you could be lighter skin. But even then your color is still yellow, which is still some sort of like a color. But it just doesn't show up as strong, right? But you don't get burned as easily. Obviously, this is like, I'm not trying to single them out, but like an Irish person, right? Typical Irish, right. But it's because Asians kind of have an undertone of yellow, slight undertone of yellow. A lot of Asians do. That's why some people call us the yellow people. But obviously, you know. But it gets brought out more in the sun. So this person was just saying Asians tan really well. They like the golden marshmallow color. This guy said, I just feel like it's a great time to be Asian-American. I'm Filipino, so I don't know anything about Confucian collectivism. I never grew up with tiger parents. My drive for education and success is my own. And this guy goes on to list a bunch of things about what he loves about being Filipino-American. And then other people were saying, yeah, like, yeah. So a lot of people were saying like, you know, that's really interesting because he almost got all the upsides of being Asian-American, but he didn't have to deal with any of the mental issues of having a tiger parent and sort of like that harsh parental upbringing. That's cool. Yeah, shout out to him. I mean, dude, I always said this. Dude, I always thought being from a well-adjusted Filipino-American family where you still end up like studying and going to school and getting money was lit, man. Because it was like, you didn't have to deal with any of the Confucianism, which is, some of that is the bad part of being Asian. Right, right. But then you still get to relate to other Asian cultures still. Yeah, so shout out. Yeah, man, I'm jealous. This guy said, you know, I'm an Asian-American that was born in Asia and I immigrated to the US. Basically, I love that, for example, I was growing up in a lower middle income area and it allowed me to interact with a lot of different minorities. And it also allowed me to interact with a lot of other immigrant kids. And we would all eat each other's foods because we didn't really have any food sort of hangups because we're all immigrant kids. We all eat everything. Yeah. Yeah, and I think as much as growing up, there was some slight tension between Asian-Americans and Asian fobs, but not really even in a real violent way all the time. There might've been some side talking and jokes and stuff like that. But overall, I would say even with the immigrant kids and the Asian-American kids, I feel like there was some decent unity. Yeah, I think it varies person to person. Like for individuals, but I would say overall on a macro, there wasn't like a lot of visceral beef. Right, right, right. There was spats here and there, of course, I get it. Oh yeah, you're too fobby, you're too American. Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course. But overall. Even between cousins, right? But yeah, it wouldn't get to that level. This guy was saying, I'm not, this is a very macro statement, Andrew. This is one that you got to wrap your head around this one. This was saying, I really appreciate the idea that I define Asian-America through the life that I live and not the reverse. This person was saying that because Asian-America is still so new, it's almost like I can contribute a lot to the narrative. Whereas like other people's narratives, it's already spoke for because there's so many influential people in there. Yes, I guess. Yeah, I see what they're saying. This person was saying, I hate to be elitist, but Asian-Americans and their families tend to have statistically a high level of academic success, career success, low divorce rate, and general positive contributions to society because they're not like, they're not degenerates or anything like that. Yes, not statistically not that common, yeah. Of course, it's going to vary group per group. It's going to vary. Even within Chinese, Andrew, we all know that there is a variety. You know what I mean? I've met a lot of different types of Chinese people over the years, man. No, there is street Chinese. A lot of people, they wouldn't believe that. There's Chinese drug addicts out there that are on the street, man. I've seen it. Yep. Somebody was saying that Asian-American culture is almost non-existent at the mainstream level, but that's what causes me to form a certain kinship with other Americans. So they're almost bonded, Andrew, by the lack of penetration that Asian-American culture has in the mainstream. That's cool. I know, I do believe that sometimes you are united by a common struggle or a common enemy, perhaps, but like a common struggle, yeah. Yeah, this person says that my friends from other cultures got gifts like video game consoles and nice cars from their parents, but then they had to take out student loans for their education, whereas I feel like that financial approach would never fly in an Asian household. Yeah, I think that you don't fully appreciate it until you get older, all those frugal times that your parents said, hey, we're not giving you all the gifts that Billy or Tyler across the street is getting. Right, having the coolest car in high school is not important. Or even having a car, right? And yeah, you appreciate it when you get older, for sure, but I think at that time, you're just like, man, mom, why don't you buy me the cool stuff? Yeah, I mean, when you're a kid, you wanna be cool. Somebody said, as compared to whites, not looking as corny when interacting with black culture. That's true, that was crazy. I'll say this, I think this, I think when you're from the Eastern hemisphere, even like from my black friends that perceive it, it's different than another Western person who already has their Western culture prebuilt also wanting their Western culture. Right, because let's say Asians come to America as a blank slate as far as what, they're Asian, but also it's blank as far as what Western culture do they pick up on. So you kind of come here and you absorb, you appreciate, you might appropriate, right? Everybody's a little different, but you absorb it on different levels. And some Asians absorb more, like I guess typical white culture, and then some people absorb more typical black culture. Right, right, right, but I guess this guy was saying it's not as cheesy because you don't have, you don't already have a prebuilt Western society that you're born into. Somebody's saying, love might not be the right word, but I think I really like that Asians are generally viewed as being competent and knowledgeable in science, technology, and whatnot, even if it's model minority stereotyping. This perception has helped me in my career at times. Yeah, and again, man, that stereotype of us being smart, it's not a negative stereotype, although it can play negative to you, obviously in certain settings, but because there's some connotation that comes with it, but- Though that you're not good at other things, right? Yeah, or that you're weak, or you're not cool, or you're small, but you're smart, so whatever. This person was just saying, man, and Andrew, just life expectancy, because I guess what, Asian Americans, they probably live like, I don't know, I wanna say like maybe five to 10 years longer than other people. Oh, geez, I don't know the statistics, but yeah, I'm not surprised. I've seen the stats before. Someone was just saying Asians are very hardcore when it comes to surviving, the ability to endure hardship and delay gratification. Bro, I think Asians' ability to eat bitterness in their life, go through struggles, and continue working is admirable. It's admirable, and I think it does make the second generation still kind of tough, and that's why, yeah, I feel like that having some of that immigrant mission or mindset- Even though you're second generation. Yeah, the slight immigrant grit. I'm not saying I got the grit like our parents, but we have some grit passed down, and hopefully I'd like to still pass down some of that to my kid, depending on my situation, when I grow up. Right, right, right. Andrew, overall, what are your takeaways? This list went on and on and on. I think that, first of all, the food is a dope one, for sure, but I think it's a little bit more like, I think these lists, it kind of just reminds you to enjoy everything, because you can't really control what tribe you're born into, and your tribe has these pros and cons, and the pros and the cons, they even vary depending on the context of the environment or the fishbowl that you're operating in. And yeah, I think this was a very interesting list, and obviously Reddit, let's be honest, it's kind of a nerdy site. There's a lot of thoughtful people. Yeah, yeah, man, again, I'm gonna restate mine. I think being able to hang out with all different types of people in America, but also all different types of Asians, and just kind of feel together and still respect each other and have that kind of equal, kind of like feeling like we're united in some way, and not having to carry over all of that motherland hierarchy, which I'm not saying that there's 0% in Asian America, but it's just a lot less, and because we all kind of come here, we're like, hey, listen, we all came here in America, let's all try to treat each other with respect and be equal. What do you wanna say, and this is like a thoughtful thing to end on, Andrew, what do you wanna say to people, because there was comments that were more negative, saying, man, there are way more cons than pros, even though there are some pros. This guy said, Chinese culture and parenting decimated my self-worth. I've been struggling with it since childhood, and now I'm getting close to 50. What do you wanna say to these people who feel like their Asian experience was downside for them, even though, obviously, the majority were like, you know what, man, there was pros and cons, but ultimately, my parents loved me, and they gave me the basis to go do whatever I did with life, but then there were some people who were saying it broke them. Yeah, I mean, it's tough, because not being particularly in that situation, but I guess I would say to people that are maybe 45 years old, 50 years old, and feel that way, it's like, damn. And it was probably more likely from that generation, because your parents were super old school. Yeah, that's true. I feel like that it's never too late to benefit from the positives. I don't think it's ever too late, and I know that it may be tough, but there are positive things about being Asian now. There's a lot of positive content, a lot of positivity about being Asian, and you might as well lean in that before you get too old, before you go. You know, like, why not? Like, it's here. It is here. It is right in front of you. Yes, you may not be trained to absorb it, or maybe you feel like you're over it, or Asian culture has- Right, you're like that traumatized dog in a cage, and the cage is gone, but the dog's still traumatized. Dude, what would you tell any traumatized person? Like, you have to try to go through therapy, work it out physically, because the mind goes, but the body, you know, or the body goes, and the mind follows type thing, where it's like, you know, just try to enjoy it as much as possible, partake in it, because it's only getting better and better. Yeah, and move to the 626, especially for this Chinese guy, man. Move to the 626 and enjoy some of the cheap, delicious 10 out of 10 food for the price. Or just go to Asia, man. I mean, whatever. I don't think either one, I think both plans have a pro and con. Yeah, anyway, guys, let us know what you think in the comment section below. Let us know what you love about being an Asian-American, and let us know what you think about the responses. Keep it civil. Until next time, we're the Hop Out Boys. We out, peace.