When Asians see themselves, they tend to accurately group each subset together: Japanese people with the Japanese, Chinese people with the Chinese, Koreans with the Koreans, and so on. However, this balance of zen-proportions is shattered upon the discovery of a person with a flesh tone perhaps a little more creamsicle-like than everyone else. The intricate groupings are merged into one super group: Us, or more simply, “Asians” vs. Them, or “the non-Asians.”
Despite this mindset, Asians are a tolerant group of people who will keep many of their thoughts to themselves. One could say Asians are ambivalent towards ethnic and racial classifications, which is hard to tell since Asians pretty much will keep their motives to themselves, and even their actions may rarely demonstrate their innate sense of Us vs. Them. That being said, an Average Asian (see: About) will, according to Ludacris, “act a fool” and go about their way without a passing thought.
To be clear, advocating racism is a terrible thing. What the average Asian is always aware of is the necessary amount of politeness, without overthinking, that must follow seemingly-racist comments The average American will make a comment such as “I wonder how the British are handling the rise in tea prices” before hastily adding “not that they all drink tea, of course.” Another example might be “Mexicans seem to sleep a lot” before espousing an apologetic “but I have many Mexican friends, and they all work very, very hard” in an attempt to cleanse their impure tongue.
One can begin to see that an average Asian shares similar traits as an average American. An average American, however, does not stack up with an Average Asian. An Average Asian will make meticulous effort to avoid any sort of mishap with their plethora of ethnic acquaintances (of whom they can’t be friends with because friendship takes away from Organic Chemistry review) and serve as a beacon of absolute tolerance, and eventually, annoying perfectionism. If forced to deviate, an Average Asian will precede the racist statement, rather than rationalize it later. For example, an Average Asian will say “Now I’m using the term ‘colored’ because that’s how the book used it,” before making some inane follow-up comment.
The average Asian will rush right ahead, talking and fixing as they go along. Like their American counterparts, they might make a comment or two that seems to step out of bounds, but unlike their Caucasian friends, it’s okay because Caucasians believe that being a minority equates to overcoming oppression, and will grant much more leeway. As long as you can give a meaningful “oh-I-didn’t-mean-to-say-black” look to your companion, you’ll be excused. More importantly, you’ll be one step closer to becoming an average Asian.
