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So as many people know, Tammy and Victor, the Asian American brother and sister pair won The Amazing Race. Kind of, sort of joining in the celebration was Fox 7 Austin's Jenni Lee, who had this to say about The Amazing Race results in her Facebook update on Sunday (now scrubbed from her Facebook profile but viewable in a screenshot at The Austin Chronicle):
"I just really didn't want that mom who raised a pansy son team to win."
That mom who raised a "pansy son" team appears to be that of Margie and Luke, a mother/son team from Denver. The mother is a clinical research associate and the son is a college graduate who has been deaf from birth and who wants to be a role model to deaf people. (So not only did Lee throw out a homophobic slur, but it was against a deaf person too. And on Mother's Day. Nice going Jenni.) As The Chronicle so eloquently states:
...I find Jenni's implication that some kid's masculinity or lack thereof should be a factor in his ability (or lack thereof) to win a stupid TV game show to be distressing, beyond insensitive, and pretty fucked up. "Pansy" is not a word you throw around, even if it's under the guise of objectifying a TV character. And if I'm not mistaken, Amazing Race is a "reality show." I assume that there is nothing intentionally camp about this character. He is a real person. And so is his mom. Go ahead, Jenni: Cry, "P.C."
This all takes place against the backdrop of recent stories about teens being bullied (some who killed themselves or were killed because of bullying) and an Anti-Bullying bill that State Rep. Mark Strama introduced in the Texas House. If you're in Texas and want to help get this bill passed, see here for ways to take action. And if you want to contact Lee and let her know what you think about her comment, write to jenni.lee@foxtv.com
Jenni Lee - Today's Worst Asian American...in the World!
Update: Lee did issue a half-assed apology through Facebook offering her apologies for "offending those who didn't like my wording." Apparently she has now amended it to read "I want to apologize for the poor wording I used to describe a contestant on the Amazing Race. I also want to apologize to those whom I have offended."
Update 2: Karl-Thomas Musselman of The Burnt Orange Report (an Austin staple) also weighs in on Jenni Lee. I particularly like his suggestion that Lee do a story on Rep. Strama's bill (that is, if it doesn't make her too tired and sweaty to report it).
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| User | Points |
|---|---|
| curtis | 1953 |
| ebeh | 1161 |
| Madhuri | 1145 |
| erinjerri | 1074 |
| oliveoil | 578 |
| spamfriedrice | 551 |
| Calvin Prashad | 358 |
| JennyG | 281 |
| jenn | 219 |
| chriswong | 190 |
Who else has won this title before? This seems rather trivial and has nothing on John Yoo, (from wiki:) who co-authored the Bybee memo defining torture and American habeas corpus obligations narrowly. He advocated enhanced interrogation techniques, while pointing out that refuting the Geneva Conventions would reduce the possibility American officials and surrogates face future prosecution under the US War Crimes Act of 1996 for actions taken in the War on Terror.
In addition, a new definition of torture was issued. Most actions that fall under the international definition do not fall within this new definition advocated by the U.S. Several top military lawyers, including Alberto J. Mora, reported that policies allowing methods equivalent to torture were officially handed down from the highest levels of the administration, and led an effort within the Department of Defense to put a stop to those policies and instead mandate non-coercive interrogation standards.
On December 1, 2005, Yoo appeared in a debate in Chicago with University of Notre Dame professor Doug Cassel. During the debate Cassel asked Yoo, "If the president deems that he's got to torture somebody, including by crushing the testicles of the person's child, there is no law that can stop him?", to which Yoo replied "No treaty." Cassel followed up with "Also no law by Congress -- that is what you wrote in the August 2002 memo...", to which Yoo replied "I think it depends on why the President thinks he needs to do that."
Divine Stylus,
I nominate you to post a list of the top 10 most embarrassing/worst Asian Americans on the planet... ever!
Trust me divinestyler, we're just waiting to post something about John Yoo -- he just has to give us a good reason to do it. If Obama's decides to finally show those pictures then I'm pretty sure Yoo gets automatic inclusion in that week's worst Asian American...
Disgrasian does a good job of this already. Digging thru their archives, I just learned about Kari Ferell. I must say, I have to disagree with hating on the so-called "Hipster Grifter". Sure, she may play totally into the banana Asian exploiting Yellow Fever love thing - but she appears to be a korean adoptee adopted by a white family in Utah. WTF do you expect? Besides, that tat is ill and I dig criminal minded individuals.
that's a great point! i love Disgrasian!
Why wait to see if the torture photos will be released? Obama is already back peddling and seeking to block the release of them. I wouldn't hold my breath for the so called "first Asian American President" to do anything about it, considering his administration is protecting rather than prosecuting the previous administration's war crimes.
Why wait? We're not waiting on torture photos only but just any further development regarding John Yoo. He certainly deserves a lot of opprobrium especially considering Asian American (okay, let's get real here -- Japanese American) experiences with internment camps. However, from a practical perspective, we like posts that also have a positive effect on site traffic. If we posted a Worst Asian American article on John Yoo now, it would have little impact.
Hey this article got picked up by the Austin Chronicle:
Wow - thanks for catching that allan!
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