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The Stereotype Writer
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Every Tuesday, a friend and I participate in a weekly trivia night at a bar in Seattle, chiefly to torpedo a team that contains this guy I used to be in a band with. Last night, we sat close to a rival team and somehow my friend made a joke about how I know kung-fu (obviously because I’m Asian) and we all got a cheap laugh out of it. One of the other guys from the team next to us asked me if I was good at math and computers and made a running joke out of it for roughly 10 minutes.
At some point, jokes based of stereotypes run of out of steam, even if I did perpetuate it by entertaining the notion that I’m the adult version of Data from “The Goonies.” Still, this all begs the question, could stereotypes be used to advance in a social situation?
Most people who know me also know that save my penchant for meals involving rice and my grasp of my parents’ native language, there’s nothing overtly stereotypically Asian about me. I’m terrible at math, video games and I don’t look like my mom dresses me. Also, I don’t drive a fast car and I don’t go clubbing on the weekends. In many cases, I’m often a social anomaly.
That being said, it’s easy to be this accessible token friend. Not to suggest that that’s the reason why people hang out with me, I’m just saying.
In the case of trivia night, my Asian-ness could be used to psyche other teams out, particularly if there are any categories that have to do with math or science. Now, this also works to my disadvantage since I’m not well-versed in any of those categories, but the idea of scaring other people into writing incorrect answers does bring me a sense of joy in my dark heart.
Let’s be clear, though: racist jokes and stereotyping isn’t all fun and games and in many instances, things that people have said to me have lead to ill-mannered comments and broken relationships. I generally don’t take things lightly. But people will believe what they want to and because of my physical disposition, if someone thinks that I can out think them in science, math and computers, I’ll gladly own up to their ignorance. Especially if it means free drinks or a shot at the $88 pot at the end of the night.
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