Asian Americans: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
Video Statistics and Information
Channel: LastWeekTonight
Views: 4,375,782
Rating: 4.7674274 out of 5
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Id: 29lXsOYBaow
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 27min 2sec (1622 seconds)
Published: Sun Jun 06 2021
Please note that this website is currently a work in progress! Lots of interesting data and statistics to come.
One interesting thing that gets mentioned for a bit is this 90's Asian economy panic.
That had it's lasting effects on certain genres. For example, Cyberpunk has a consistent trend of using asian inspired elements, because it's codifying works were created during that period.
When they wrote/filmed a future dystopia, part of the dystopia was that Asia (or specifically Japan) controlled the world, because that was what people feared at the time.
Every single time I'm very impressed with the way Oliver starts these kind of pieces by basically saying "I know Im not the right person for this topic, but I'm the one who has the platform and Im gonna use it", then he proceeds to delve into race relations in such a nuanced intelligent way. I would like to think a lot of his ability to do this comes from a diverse writing staff. I know he has a lot of younger POC on his team and it shows when they do pieces like this.
He is hitting all the right subjects right now. Very well done.
Mirror?
Kamala doesn't even really think of herself as "Asian American". She see's herself as Indian American.
It's really the problem with how big Asia is and American perceptions. I never understood why India or the Middle East aren't their own continents.
One thing that bothered me about this piece is how it tries to connect the stereotypes of model minority to mental health statistics, specifically when he states that "suicide is the leading cause of death among Asian Americans aged 18-24" and that Asian Americans sought help for their mental health at half the rate of the general population, clearly trying to imply that Asian American's have worse on average mental health outcomes.
The reality is young Asian Americans must just die less from other sources, as they die from suicide at around 50% the rate as white Americans.
source
Even if I support the overall message in the video, its really slimy to cherrypick statistics to mislead the audience
As an Asian American, John Oliver nails it perfectly. Our issues and identity are so complex and diverse that explaining it to an average white American is futile. Why should they give a shit about 7% of the American population? It's easier for them to be lazy and stereotype or dismiss Asian Americans' sociopolitical issues.
There's 48 different countries that make up the continent of Asia, you think Americans are going to learn about the diverse culture and people? No way.
What's the bets on someone from the Maldives posting something here within the next week
I recently listened to a pretty fascinating podcast on Asian-Americans if anyone is interested. The stuff on dating app data and school admissions was particularly wild.