I used to like myself. I used to like my parents. But reading Salon these days and especially the letters, I'm starting to think that it's best that my people should go the way of the dinosaur. While I'm American first and then of Chinese extraction, I still live in a world that will see me as Chinese first (except of course in China). The vitrol I see being thrown at the Chinese these days on the pages of Salon makes think what a god awful bunch people those Chinese are. The coverage excepting Andrew himself who as always even fair and even handed is overwhelmingly negative. The Chinese are the enemy of the left and the right. To the right - the Chinese pose a military threat, and are playing unfair by not reevaluating the yuan further. To the left - the Chinese are taking jobs and destroying the environment. Is there anything the Chinese can do right?

To level criticsm is fair. There is no question china has problems. My personal visits to the Meccas of Shanghai and Bejing have left a bad taste of consumerism in my mouth. My parents being of another simpler more idealistic generation despite spending now at least 3 months in china hardly know how to navigate a line in China - Queuing is not restpected (though I hear this is true in many places in the world). Beyond built up centers of the big cities, China is still a country of abject poverty. Many Chinese can still be generous and kind. The foreigners who I know who have gone to China to teach english or other non corporate work often have a much different impression of the chinese people than the one going to do business. Sometimes it's about the sample.

While I believe the housing bust has arrived, I certainly don't believe there is eminent economic doom. Much of finance is no longer a question of raising capital but a question of selling risk. The boom of the credit derivative market is a great example of this. The financial market has become the great re-insurer. I for one think this is a good thing. Selling and diversifying risk is good for the economy. I am on the most part not worried about the risk levels most of the big financial players are taking on by accumulating financial instruments such as CDO, and MBSs. They are in the business of knowing risk. While there will always remain some systemic risk of some kind of market collapse, financial instruments are not in themselves the cause of these collapses They may be the tool of destruction, but the market would choose something else in it's place if they did not exist. The great depression certainly had no need for complex financial instruments for causing a collapse. If anything it can be argued the increased ability to diversify risk has led to greater market stability in the last 50 years. On the other hand, there is an important place for both regulators to monitor the markets so it's not given too much rope too quickly to hang itself. I just don't believe we're there.

Being an Asian-American Man who's in his early 30s, I could've written this letter a few years ago. The problems are in his head, and I say this not to be cruel or point blame. That's something we have to understand about stereotypes, those who are most profoundly affected are not those who we believe hold prejudices against us, but the prejudices we have on how we are perceived. These are the prejudices that prevent us from just being. If we are constanstly trying to define ourselves by what we're not - how do we be who we are?

Like the writer as 5'8" Asian Man, I struggled mightily with the opposite sex in my early 20s. I was constantly obsessed on how I was perceived. Didn't they (read non-asian) see that I wasn't really all that Asian? Didn't they see I had friends other than Asians? Didn't they (read asian) I'm close to my cultural roots. I realized at some point all that worrying, and doubt was the problem. By the time I moved into my late 20's, I excercised most of those demons and found that the women weren't the problem. There are plenty of women (asian and non asian) who would be more than happy to either a "typical" or non-typical asian man. It's about being an optimist. Assume they're interested, and see you for who you are rather than assume they have the same prejudices that you hold about yourself. It's all self-confidence - the great positive feedback loop there is.

The left is attacking him because he's taking a position the left doesn't support. Is that suprising? I think not. The left or right will attack anyone not supporting a position that don't agree with. I think that his sexuality and history is only relevant in this debate on the merits of the Military's policty towards gays which I personally don't support, and the left is right in not supporting. However, on the other hand, I think we need to admit there is not unsizeable portion of the left and academia that is steadfastly unmilitary. I went to an Ivy League school that when I attended recently let ROTC back on campus. There were a number of protests, and clearly anti-military rhetoric (this was during a time a peace under Clinton). While some tried to frame these as protests against policies, they clearly came across as disdain for the military. I felt bad for students who were in ROTC. I know that some would argue that how can one support institution that clearly has it's faults. But often these are the same liberals that will support other causes such as the Palestinian one which clearly has it's fair share of warts. The more we accept that we live in a gray world, the easier it actually becomes to make black and white decisions about right and wrong.