Thanks to “Too Asian? Talk Back!” for bringing this to my attention. Thanks a whole lot. Damn it.

This brilliant article was written on April 19 2011 by Ian Turner at the Vancouver Observer.

The subtitle is:

The theories range from cultural differences to language barriers, but everyone agrees: It’s not because of racism

Uh huh.

First, was it a slow fucking news day, asshole?

Second, who the fuck is Ian Turner? He’s an idiot know-nothing. Here’s his bio.

Ian Turner is a student at the University of British Columbia, where he is pursuing a degree in history and mathematics. A Californian, Ian likes the rainy province a little more than the Golden State only because he can get a Berkley-style education for much less in Point Grey, BC.

Turner is obsessed with the number of Asians on the women’s basketball, baseball and soccer teams at UBC, and the men’s rugby team.

Why?

Is he a rocking white ally, looking for racism and discrimination to unearth and expose? Is he trying to be helpful in the backlash of the idiot Maclean’s article?

Hell no.

He’s trying, with some success if you believe the “research” in his article, to reiterate racist stereotypes and be an all-around fucking asshole. Well, he succeeded.

[S]occer’s half-Japanese, Canadian-born Natalie Hirayama and ethnic Korean former baseball pitcher Greg Chong, who grew up in Ontario, politely said they couldn’t care less — or didn’t even notice their race was underrepresented on their respective teams when compared to Vancouver or UBC’s ethnic makeup.

Chinese basketball player Nathan Yu, who was born and raised in British Columbia, casually suggested that more Asians on the teams would lead to greater fan attendance.

Their ambivalence I found surprising.

I  was once an athlete. In my experience, there is no deep undercurrent of racism in the department, but I did think that the above mentioned athletes would have thought or discussed this topic privately.

You have a lot of fucking nerve, you jerk.

So, because some athletes of colour don’t perform for you the appropriate level of angst and outrage to your fucking satisfaction, somehow they’re ambivalent?

Many Asian students I spoke to, particularly first-generation children or those who emigrated here, said their parents would disapprove of their involvement on a varsity team because academics, not athletics, were  stressed since their diaper days. All of the athletes interviewed in this piece are of Asian descent and, with the exception of Steven Hu and Maria Lo, did not emigrate to Canada.

Rugby walk-on Steven Hu had his own take on why so few Asians are varsity athletes: “Risk of injuries. Asian parents are usually very protective of their kids. They don’t like seeing them get hurt. You’ve been drilled since a kid to not get hurt in anything, in any aspect of your life. In a contact sport, where the likelihood of getting hurt seems to be very high, most parents won’t get behind their kids to play that kind of sport.”

Independently, Yu claimed the same: “Your brain is not gonna wear down, like your body will. You know, that’s how they think … why sacrifice your body for, I don’t know, these games, when you could use your brains and become successful.”

When Hu was 13, he moved from China to Canada. He chose to play rugby in high school because he loved the contact, but his parents strenuously opposed his decision.

Because of comments I had read on the Internet, I asked the athletes and coaches I interviewed to describe how they were recruited. I wanted to see if there might be any inbuilt or subtle forms of racism that happened on the recruiting trail. For example, were South Asians overlooked because a coach may deem them too robotic, as Keith Chow claimed? As with Bains, the recruiting practices I heard of were uncontroversial.

So, random conversations equals reality and real trends. Yeah, that’s about on par with the Maclean’s level of journalistic standards.

And comments on the internet?!? Wow! Now there’s legitimacy.

Hey Turner, getting back to your premise, just an fyi for ya. Racist stereotypes are flourishing on their own. They don’t need your piddly contributions, white boy.