Racism - Alive and Thriving.

If there is one thing that gets my blood boiling it's that.

Racism.

The word makes you uncomfortable doesn't it?  RACISM. And that is why people don't talk or think about it very often, and unless we do so, nothing will change.

Now let's some facts straight. Racism is WRONG. Why?
Because it is ridiculously unfair to judge a person for something they cannot change. A person is born with darker skin.  A person is born Chinese. They cannot change their race.
Secondly, who is to say that darker skin is a "bad" trait? Who says that being Chinese is "inferior" to being white?


Another fact. Racism still exists. Like water turns to steam, racism has only become more subtle. But it's still there. And it still hurts.


As an Asian girl growing up in countries such as New Zealand and Australia, I can confidently say that racism is more common than cars on the road...or websites on the net (for all you computer geeks like me!)
Racism isn't just owning African-American slaves or slaughtering Jewish people, because that doesn't happen anymore - racism can be reflected in the words you say, the way you look at people, the way you act around people and the way you think about them.

Take this true event as an example. 

I sat down with a group of girls (all white) talking about another girl called Tilda. They did not notice my coming.  Jess explains, "So this guy called Chris has been liking Tilda for a very long time. He's always really kind to her and buying her gifts...she doesn't like him but she likes to lead him on for the benefits." 

At this point, the other girls all sympathetically say, "Aww, that's not very nice of her." or "That's so mean! Why would she do that?" 

Jess quickly adds, "Oh, by the way, he's Asian."

The other girls immediately seize making their sympathetic comments and say, "Oh." A few even say, "Well, I guess I can understand Tilda now."

One of them notice my presence and immediately gasps and says, "No offense though! No offense." The rest repeat this but look at one another with an expression not of regret but of smugness. 

This is a typical event which clearly reflect how subtle racism works. These girls have not met Chris, but immediately judge him as being inferior and not worth feeling sorry for after acknowledging him as Asian.  It shows that their minds are infiltrated with a previous image of Asian people and a subconscious idea of 'white supremacy'.  They also do not realize that by saying, "No offense" half a dozen times, does not erase the pain or the offense.

If are ruling that example off as "dumb girls" exception, then here's another example. This time a straight-A, well respected, all rounded girl makes an attack at Asian people.

I am in an art lesson listening to the conversation of the girl next to me. She says, "...Kyle is so hot, smart and he's really funny. He has such a witty sense of humor and is so intelligent - and the good thing is, he isn't Asian! He is so perfect..." Her peer nods in agreement.

And this is a girl who is considered a role-model in our school... intelligence has nothing to do with whether you're racist or not.  Neither does age.  It isn't just these teenagers that are racist, adults are too. Very subtly.  I've noticed that many of my teachers joke around a lot more to 'white' kids than they do to kids of other backgrounds as though we are less fun. Adults also speak to Asian people (adults or children) in certain way as though we are daft - soft and slowly. They look at you like they feel sorry for you because somehow you are disadvantaged by your race.  For all those that do this - perhaps subconsciously, it does not go unnoticed.  And it's very biased and unkind, and yes, you are a racist.

In fact, racism has reached so far into our society that you find that people are racist against their own race - without even realizing!

An Asian girl once said, "I really like my eyes. So big and round...not like Shayney's eyes - they're so Asian..." (makes disgusted sound)

And Asian girl attacking another Asian girl for having Asian traits. Am I the only one who finds this outrageously ridiculous? 

You would think by the 21st century, where even fauna and flora have rights, that humans should still be subject to abuse over what color their skin is.  Lately, racism has even become a trend.  It seems rather cool to be racist, on Facebook, I see images of white people tagged as "Asian" and below the picture are comments saying, "Eww, I look so Asian in this picture...gross." followed by 'kind' friends who reply, "No, you don't look that bad".

Whether or not you are going to admit it, it's a fact that the very word itself "Asian" has become an offensive word.  Being labeled as "Asian" is now considered shameful and something to very embarrassed about.  Whoever invented this concept was clearly a very cheap person.

Most Asians that are being treated wrongly do not have the guts to voice their opinions - this itself, is something to be ashamed of.  And that is why I have posted this, in the hopes to change the minds of those that have been brainwashed with the idea that they are inferior to white people.  No race is inferior to another.  There is no reason to be afraid of defending yourself or saying exactly what you think is unfair - you have every right to and you have nothing to lose. This applies to any race - not just Asian people.

And if you are one not a victim but a bystander or perhaps a perpetrator. I ask you to reconsider your morals again. What does racism achieve?  Does it really change anything that his/her skin is darker than yours?  Do you really think being racist makes you look smart?  Think again.

Last day of (Insert any positive adjective)

I have been attempting to do the impossible all day.

I have been trying to hold onto time.


Why? Because school starts tomorrow. STOP RIGHT THERE! I know what you're about to fall asleep on me because you think this post is going to be another on of those "im 2 kewl 4 skool n i hate hmwk. skool sux!" posts, no?   Well, you're wrong.


Contrary to popular opinion, I do not in fact loathe homework. It doesn't mean I like it (Heaven help anyone that does!). The point I'm trying to make is that homework isn't the reason why I hate high school so much.
It's the people, the routine, and the actual school system that bothers me. Predominantly the people.


So let's start with the routine and work our way up the scale of resentment.  Because I live miles away from school, I have to get up at 4:15am every bloody morning (excluding weekends) to stiffly put on the revolting uniform we have, make breakfast in the dark, catch a bus, catch a 1 train standing up with a school bag so heavy it would make it into the Guinness Book of World Records, wait 15 minutes for a friend, catch another train and walk up the darn hill to school - and after school, its that all over again. 


Every...single...bloody...day.  


I swear to God I've aged 30 years doing this for 3 years.  I certainly FEEL 30 years older than the daddy's-little-girl's at our school who live 30 seconds away from school and complain about having to wake up at 6:00am for 2 days on rowing camp.  I'm not getting enough sleep (and I can't sleep earlier at night because I have to do my assignments) and lately, I've noticed during lessons, this sudden weird feeling comes over me where I can't hold my eyes open anymore!  My energy levels are low and just walking sometimes makes me tired...


But look, if I could change the school system and the people at school - I would happily wake up at 2am everyday and catch 10 trains to school...standing up!


The main reason why I dislike the school system so much is because it molds all the students into one entire body.  I don't mean unity. There IS NO unity in our school.  I mean, the school is like a machine that makes products. WE are the products.

I've noticed by Year 12, none of the girls have personalities. None of the girls have imaginations. None of the girls have opinions or voices of their own.  They are the school. They act like the school.  And they speak like the school.  None of them are individuals anymore.  There are no quirks and personal traits.
They are all the same.


Our school forbids us to EVER mention the school name outside of the school (a bit Communist, don't you think?) so I shall give my school the name "Mahsca". I jumbled the letters a bit.


Anyway, like I was saying, all the girls are slowly turned into Mahsca products.  Not a spark of creativity or difference between them.  It is reflected in the things they say, the speeches they make, the stories they write and the art they create.  Under all the education that is fed to us, I think turning the students into products is a mark of poor learning system.


Amongst that, there are other little bits and faults that create a negative impression on me in general. But I won't bother you with my complaining of that...at least, not now. 


Drum roll please.


Last and certainly not least, the people of Mahsca. 


They are so unintelligent, I am unable to describe them intelligibly.  All I can say is that, when I am around these people, I always, ALWAYS feel like a grandmother surrounded by naughty pre-schoolers.  It is either that I am either light years ahead, or they are light years behind or I am psycho.


I pray it is not the last one.


These children, I shall call them children because it hurts my pride to call them 'peers' - these children, all come from the richest families in Australia.  Every single one of them (except perhaps three and a half). Their mothers own fashion lines, run VOGUE magazines, are presidents of Woman's Weekly, are family of the richest in Australia (I'm referring to a particular family here), only wear designer brands, NEVER shop at supermarkets (God forbid!), look like former models etc etc etc.  While their fathers own this and that tower in the Sydney City, own an island, have 10 cars, own 3 farms, are CEOs of Sanitarium and not surprisingly, all look like George Clooneys.   Their brothers all go to elite private 'eastern suburb' schools and have blonde bombshell girlfriends and look like Zac Efrons/Justin Biebers.


The family says a lot about a person.  The girls in my school are no different.  They are filthy rich and what bothers me most is, they don't even know it.  They act like they have the worst lives possible when their No. 587th boyfriend breaks up with them and have ZERO amount of respect for themselves and others.


98.95% of them are sluts and are onto their 588th boyfriend by now, do drugs, and bully others (that they deem uncool - ALWAYS because of their appearance or race) and they are never in trouble.  


Why? 
Because Daddy Billionaire can afford to pay them out of any sort muck they're in.  


The other 1.05%?  These are the pretend angels. These are the ones that pretend to be intelligent by reciting Harry Potter quotes at lunchtime and act 'shy'.  One thing that amuses me almost as much as it annoys me is when people think that shy people are intelligent people.   Children - that is false.  Shy people are people who have no confidence - there is nothing more to it.


These pretend angels also seem to like to exaggerate their faith in Jesus or God and/or exaggerate how strict their parents are and what a "harsh" life they live.  

In fact, they are spoilt 3 year olds. I blame their parents for that - these ridiculous parents who kid themselves into thinking they are protecting their children by not letting them catch public transport.  Most of the girls are 16 years if not older, and have never caught a train or bus anyway in their lives before, they have not crossed a road without holding Mommy's hand, never gone out with friends without body guards trailing them and CERTAINLY never even considered getting a job.   99.9% of them plan to live with their parents until they're 40, when their parents will be deceased, and in which time, they will inherit their house and fortunes.


I have to be around these foolish, immature children and are often 'looked down upon' by them because of my race (you know, it's SUCH a crime to be Asian nowadays), my height, my lack of sluttiness, my lack of designer clothing, my lack of boyfriends and what not.
Most girls are deemed uncool because of their appearance - and that only.  It doesn't matter how nice, bubbly, funny and smart you are.  Their judgement are as shallow as they are.


I no longer care if I don't fit the blonde, blue-eyed description of beauty but its just that I am getting so tired of having to empathize with these silly kids every single day and actually having to work with them and seen as one of them.
Sometimes, I feel like I should have been born in a different era...


But yes - this massive post has finally come to an end (perhaps to your joy - hopefully, dismay) and I have at last explained why I dislike going to school. And today is the last day of holidays - and today is about to end!


I either have to mentally stabilize myself to prepare for the horror of tomorrow (and the next 10 weeks) or somehow manage a way to rewind time...

Wish me luck.

A New Trend of Blogging

I was doing a bit of Blogger surfing just then and noticed something peculiar!

First it was nothing. I had just landed on the a blog called "The Smith Family Story". A blog following the Smith family kids growing up. Nothing to see here..."Next Blog"....

Hmm..."The Allen's". Another blog about some family. Next blog...


What do you know? It's "The Hoffman Family" blog! Oh great, another one of those blogs I don't really want to read. It seems this type of keeping-up-with-the-Jones type blog is really becoming a sort of trend. Scroll down any one of these blogs and you see 2 miles of writing about a five year old in a bathtub plus enough pictures to fill up the Atlantic Ocean.


Now, don't get me wrong - I don't HATE such blogs. But I certainly don't like them either. I understand it's a sort of modern technique of recording a baby's first this and that but I think there are some serious privacy issues here!


Most of these bloggers (99.9% if not 100% Moms) post zillions of photos of their children, husband, friends, relatives, their home, their suburb etc. They state their full names (most are in the title of the blog), their birth-dates, location, place of work, daily activities and just about everything a stalker needs to locate them...and kill them.

Alright, that last bit was a bit far fetched, but you know what I mean. It's dangerous.  
Other than yourself and the stalker, there isn't anyone else overly interested in whether Little Bobby Jones did a poo at 4am or 4:30am. Make your blogs private or don't give out so much information.  

And maybe Little Bobby Jones will grow to dislike the fact that you've posted all his embarrassing moments for the rest of the world to read...

Look, it's just food for thought.

How to Ruin a Race - use "Teenagers"

Does this seem scenario seem vaguely familiar?
If not - you're probably a teenager..

Face it, teenagers today are more wild than ever before. In Australia, a little of 85% of adolescents aged 12-17 consume alcohol regularly - and if you are not aware, drinking alcohol at this age range is illegal.  And about 56% of teenagers know how to obtain or do drugs which is again, illegal.


And you know what? The fact that these activities are illegal doesn't bother them.  It encourages them. It's exciting, it's pushing the boundaries, it's naughty.  Teenagers of today are untamed and dangerous - and they are going to be the rulers of the world in less than 20 years.


Many readers at this point may be furious that I am attacking teenagers in this way, but please, open your eyes.  If we turn our backs to problems we are ashamed to admit, they'll never be fixed. These "problems" will grow into malicious, corrupt and evil people.


In fact, I might add - I, myself, am a teenager.  I interact with those of my kind everyday, and I see them very clearly. I go to (in the words of my principal) an "elite, eastern-suburb, private girls school" in Sydney - a place where the richest families of Australia send their cherished daughters, where (one would assume that) the naive become enlightened, the pretty become beautiful, the childish become fair and girls become elegant ladies. 

But unless your definition of 'elegant' is smoking a packet a day, dying your hair eccentric colours, putting your legs on tables, chewing gum while talking, swearing for the sake of swearing, doing drugs, throwing parties that always end with police-interference, having sexual relationships with one boy per night and wearing clothing designed for prostitutes - then yes, the school has achieved it's purpose.

Now, the point I'm making here is that no matter how rich you are, how expensive a school you can afford to send your child to, how well they eat and live - they will still become delinquents if they were brought up on low morals.

Teenagers today have low if not, NO morals at all. It is 'cool' to be stupid and use 'words' like "brrrt", "awwwkwwarrd", "F*cking" and "tots devo", it is completely fashionable to dress like a whore, absolutely ingenious to be disrespectful to others, almost godly to smoke, do drugs and get drunk and truly divine to be discriminatory and racist.


I could go on about all the things wrong with teenagers today but I'm sure most of us are, whether you'd like to admit it or not, aware of this type of behavior.  Simply blaming teenagers is fruitless, instead, one should trace the origins of such behavior and fix things from there.
I believe that the breeding of low morals is from lack of good parenting and education during childhood. Now 'education' I don't mean schooling, I am referring to the everyday education - talk at the dinner table, discussion during play etc.  We all know that our parents/guardians are the greatest influence on our life - not just the decisions we make but what type of person we develop into.


As a seriously concerned blogger, I urge parents to stop kidding yourselves that your teenager son or daughter will "grow out of it". They won't.  If they don't respect themselves now, they won't ever.  For yourself and the better of society, pull yourself and your children together.
If you're a teenager or youth reading this, I hope you have enough sense in you to realize that conforming to being a 'popular kid' is as glorious as trash. Don't do it.

Environmental "Protection" gone too far

We all know that humans pollute.


We also know that pollution is not good for the environment.


We probably also know people called 'environmentalists' or more colloquially, 'greenies'. We all have friends like that, the ones that shout at you or not talk to you for a day when you toss that seemingly harmless piece of plastic wrapping on the ground or accidentally put that Coke can in the wrong bin.


Their sensitivity to preserving the environment can be irritating for the rest of us 'non-greenies' but we all know that these people won't do any harm - if anything at all. 


...That is until they become 'environmental extremists'.


As with many things in the world, a good cause sooner or later turns into an excessive display of ridiculousness. Now, I'm no tree-cutter, but I'm going to use environmentalists as an example.  I was just reading someone's blog, and one of his posts 'Cruelty of Gifting Flowers' made me think of how utmost and silly the situation of protecting the environment has become.


It's almost a joke!

The guy claims that giving flowers is useless and has 'no practical value' - although this may, in theory, be true, he appears to forget that the main purpose of gifts are not to be 'practical' but are for our entertainment and joy. Face it, flowers are pretty. People like seeing pretty things - it makes them happy. Purpose accomplished.


But what bothers me is the next point he makes. He says, "But my concern goes beyond that. I don't believe in gifting flowers because it's simply... horrific. Have you imagined the human equivalent of cut flowers?"  A picture follows of a male flower handing a bunch of human corpses to a delighted female flower to prove the blogger's point.


Now, does anyone else think that this last point has gone a little too far?  If gifting flowers is such a crime because it is 'cruel' to pick flowers, then imagine all the crimes we would be committing everyday...

We should all freeze to death because we shouldn't wear clothes - the cotton our clothes are made can be considered 'stealing' the buds of cotton plants.  We shouldn't wear silk either because that's "mean" to the silk worms!

We shouldn't use tables, desks or anything made of wood either because that's made from dead trees. How would you like it if trees used dead humans as furniture?

Oh and did I mention, we shouldn't be walking/stepping on the ground either because that causes earthquakes for ants! 

And you know what too? If vegetarianism isn't bad enough, according to this guy - if gifting plants is bad then EATING plants would be considered murder!  In that case, we shouldn't eat full stop!  The human race should just diminish in fact, in order for us to not commit any sins against nature...


I don't know about you, but I'm not so sure about this extreme take on protecting the environment. We need to draw the line somewhere before good intentions turn into TV dramas.