Informal Writing Assignment #4

Over the past two weeks the class has looked at blogs and websites that take a look into news not reported by mainstream media sites, ideologies that challenge the norm and that have an alternative opinion on popular culture current events.

The site I chose to follow was the Angry Asian Man blog. This site is home to Phil Yu, a Korean American who reports on all things Asian. Although the title suggests that the author is angry, he takes a candid approach to Asian stereotypes and reports things good and bad about Asians in pop culture. Although some topics have serious subject matter, it seems that most of what is reported on is Asians who make news and somehow either epitomize an Asian stereotype or do the opposite of what a normal Asian person would do. The author’s perspective obviously has a biased position in terms that he only reports on Asians but even though he only reports on Asian events he does not limit himself to only pro Asian topics. What I found interesting about the blog was the wide range of topics and opinions offered to its readers. I think the Angry Asian Man blog as well as other blogs perspectives are important because the majority of the information they put out would not be reported on through the mainstream media.

One of the few stories that got my attention was the reporting on the judicial nominee Goodwin Liu’s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee for appointment to the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals. The story initially takes on a biased position by stating “here we go again… this should not be taking this damn long.” It is almost suggesting that it is because the nominee is Asian, that he has not been appointed to the position. The story goes on to provide a statement by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association stating how Mr. Liu is more than qualified and noting that there are only 13 Asian Pacific American judges out of 875. Now what impressed me about this article is what came next, a summary and a link to a news story on Mr. Liu’s most recent confirmation hearing and why has been having trouble being confirmed. I thought this was important because it provided the reader with full disclosure and it did not appear to be biased by leaving the information out of the story.

Another blog post that I read was about bringing attention to the upcoming National Problem Gambling Awareness Week. This caught my eye because it didn’t come across as something inherently Asian. It wasn’t until I kept reading and found that gambling addiction is disproportionally higher among Asian Pacific Islanders and this story lets people know that there are available options for help with gambling. To me, this is more of a public service announcement that a rant of some sort but obviously it is an important issue that not only affects the individual gambling but their friends and family as well. The only other place I have seen advertisements for gambling addiction is in Las Vegas. It is not an addiction commonly discussed.

This assignment game me an opportunity to view subject matter that is not discussed in the news that I usually watch in the mornings. Although there may be some criticisms and some limitations to these sites it is important for these authors to keep information unfiltered and to challenge the status quo.