Is the Republican party done?

[Felch]

Poll a bunch of Americans if they think this guy is "Middle Eastern" or "Asian":



In America, most people, even if they knew where he was from, would say he's Middle Eastern, while Brits would probably call him Asian. I'm not saying that Pakistan isn't in Asia, and according to the census definition he is Asian, but I've never heard an American refer to anybody from Pakistan as Asian. Hell, most Americans, even reasonably well informed ones, would say Indonesians are Middle Eastern. Middle Eastern and Muslim are that bound up in the American psyche.

In the end, it's a matter of whether you think English is a proscriptive or descriptive language.

[Guynemer]

No. In the end, it's a matter of Americans being ****ING RETARDED.

[Imran Siddiqui]

What Guy said. I don't think we should reward stupidity because most Americans believe it.

[DinoDoc]

Am I weird for not knowing who the hell that is?

[Asher]

From my experience, Chinese people who move to the US don't mind the US getting tougher on China. They don't like the Chinese government. That's why they leave.

This doesn't match my experience, but maybe those who move to Canada are different.

It may surprise you, but entire families don't move at once to a new country. They tend to have many friends and family back in China. It's not in their interest for them to vote for politicians who are vowing to hurt their home country.

[Asher]

Umm, HC, Pakistan is basically India but Muslim. The people are genetically similar and culturally similar, to the point that in major US cities they live in the same area and eat at the same restaurants (why many Indian restaurants serve Halal meats).

I can see where HC is coming from, with his nuanced thinking on politics.

Middle East = People who hate Americans = Pakistan.

[Asher]

My guess is they don't cover Asian History very well at CMU. Or British, for that matter, or any other history, or he'd at least know about the creation of Pakistan...

It's also possible that the people HC hangs out with in suburban Virginia are victims of the American melting pot.

There are definitely large cultural differences that are obvious to me, based on my interaction with people from all those countries in Canada.

[snoopy369]

I can see where HC is coming from, with his nuanced thinking on politics.

Middle East = People who hate Americans = Pakistan.

So he'd think you were middle eastern too?

[Asher]

It wouldn't surprise me if he accused me of being a middle eastern sympathizer. In fact, I believe he's done so before (specifically w.r.t. Israel).

[Imran Siddiqui]

Am I weird for not knowing who the hell that is?

No... I think he picked the first Pakistani he could find .

[Hauldren Collider]

1. Pakistan is not in the goddamned Middle East. It is not even particularly close to the goddamned Middle East.

My bad. Yeah, I meant muslim world, not middle east. But I think we agree that lumping Pakistanis with Chinese is stupid.

2. You are the one making the assertion that Chinese and Japanese and Korean and Vietnamese aren't different from one another, in all your experience; it is on you to back that up.

So, specifically, my experience is with the kids of Chinese/Japanese/Korean immigrants. They tend to be pretty similar, because obviously they're mostly just American with a touch of their parent's culture, but they tend to absorb the more pan-asian aspects of it. I hope that makes more sense.

[mactbone]

Dan Drezner:

A glance at the exit polls showed that Obama won the foreign policy question pretty handily. Only five percent of respondents thought that foreign policy was the most critical issue in this campaign -- but of those five percent, voters went for Obama over Romney by 56% to 33%. Voters were also more likely to trust Barack Obama in an international crisis (57%-42%) than Mitt Romney (50%-46%). This is the first exit poll in at least three decades where the Democrat has outperformed the Republican on foreign policy and national security.

Hmmm, maybe it's more than immigration.

[DinoDoc]

That one I'll attribute to the Bush hangover and a compliant media covering for the President.

[Asher]

My bad. Yeah, I meant muslim world, not middle east. But I think we agree that lumping Pakistanis with Chinese is stupid.
So, specifically, my experience is with the kids of Chinese/Japanese/Korean immigrants. They tend to be pretty similar, because obviously they're mostly just American with a touch of their parent's culture, but they tend to absorb the more pan-asian aspects of it. I hope that makes more sense.

I can tell the difference, culturally, between people from mainland China and Hong Kong...not to mentino Japanese vs Koreans.

For example, Koreans play Starcraft, the Japanese play Monster Hunter, and the Chinese do Karaoke.

[Asher]

That one I'll attribute to the Bush hangover and a compliant media covering for the President.