Being Asian is an inherited race that I could not choose. I was born an Asian kid. I live in Asia. If I had a chance to write a column in the New York Times, I would write something about our cultures, histories, foods, religions, societies, or beliefs. My title would be Asians Visit. The purpose of my column is to explore my curiosity about Asian matters and also create a positive vibe towards Asians.
I have been more interested in Asian culture than before since 2019. I then went to study film business in Korea, where I met Asian classmates from different regions. All of my classmates were from Asian countries. I met friends from south Asia, east Asia, west Asia, and also southeast Asia. Surrounded by Asian friends, I wondered more about our roots. For example, when we shared food, especially for dinner, we did rice co-productions where we sometimes mixed Indian rice with Korean rice as we almost ran out of one type. Of course, Asians eat rice with every meal, and our different rices are attributable to climates and geographies, both of which make the size, the shape, and its taste unique. There are thousands of menus that have rice-based dishes across Asia that I could write about in my column. Although our culture, food, religion, and beliefs are different, we still share things in common as Asian families. Writing a column is an imperative way to study Asian cultures.
There were many Asian racism cases when the Covid-19 pandemic first started. The case is as serious as forest fires which spread quickly and are hard to stop. Even though New York City is a diverse city where many nationalities and races are combined, Asian racism became more of a hot issue during the pandemic. Chineses were the first target that other nations blamed. However, the conflict causes a problem to anyone who has an Asian ethnicity, putting them in danger of hatred. Many of them barely walked on the street in safety. This urges me to create positive content to reduce negative thoughts or ideas toward Asians. As I studied in the Journalism and Mass Communication program, I have learned that the media can widen people's perspectives. For example, when Korean cultural contents are widely spread and popular, it results in a positive outcome for Korean matters such as food, products, music, drama, and movies. Korean industries are expanding in the global markets because of the positive image of their country. Providing knowledge and helping others to understand our cultures can tie us together in peace.
When I was young, American culture was the most popular. People in my country admired Americans more than Thai people. This attitude was passed along through media content such as songs and movies. A useful analogy for today is to imagine that K-culture started to replace the American flavor; therefore, Korea has been recognized more on the international stage. In addition, this circumstance brings Asians into the spotlight, while others tend to be more curious about us. Writing a column in the New York Times is a tool that can answer my own interest and also educate others, hoping they will understand the cultures and be impressed.
I think your idea is very interesting and I would love to read the columns like this. Personally, I think that Asia cultures are interesting too. Apart from what I mostly known from Korean and Chinese drama series, I think that there will be more cultures from other countries. In my opinion, although we sometimes share a lot of things in common in our cultures, each country still has those little details and uniqueness in their culture.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that there were many Asian racism cases reported, especially during the COVID-19 situation. To me, before the pandemic, there are also cases like this happening too. In addition, some racism cases are from the people in Asian being unfriendly to other Asians too. So I think that by writing this column, people will understand each other cultures more and there will be less racism in our society