April 17, 2021
ID Today
Today I went into Seattle International District, what other cities would call 'Chinatown'. I had to get a certain prop for my forthcoming mega production ZMQ37 Tai Chi: The Hot Zone. There's an old-school 70's style funky little kung fu props and gear shop down there that has somehow god knows how, survived all kinds of madness up to and including the present cerveza scam. I knew they have just the ticket.
While I was settling up at the counter, two young women came in the store, chatting to each other merrily. They called out to the counter person: "Do you have cotton slippers?" Counter person was like: "Yep, just hang on a minute be right with you."
So they chatted between themselves and as they were 3 feet from me (not even 6 - quelle horreur!) I couldn't 't help but overhear:
G1: OMG look at that adorable qi pao!
G2: Isn't it omg!!!
G1: I'd love one like that. But even though half my grandparents are Chinese, but like it's already like 2 generations... I like worried that if I wore something like that it'd be sorta .... I mean, it might look 'cultural appropriation-y' ... you know?
G2: Yeah yeah I know how u like feel...
I almost spun around, scolding them as follows:
Here we stand, on the same city block where bicultural, bi-national icon Bruce Lee lived, studied, worked and taught for years. And you're afraid of cultural appropriation. Let me read you a direct quote from Bruce Lee, as documented in my magnum opus '5G Tai Chi':
Fortunately, I didn't. I kept my goddamn big mouth firmly shut! Good thing too or they'd have had a guy out to chase me down with a butterfly net! Far from being "violence" as the current vogue has it, in fact silence is known to be "golden" in Chinese culture: 沈默是金. Don't you dare argue with that Other-Cultural wisdom or I'll call you a Nazi pig.
But still - it's pretty damn pathetic when all the fake authoritarian media has got people like those two scared of their own shadows like that.