Composition

I thought the “Arhive: Play of Text” reading was interesting.  I have never read that sort of literature before.  Overall “Making it Stick” is a unique form of writing that exposes the stereotypes often associated with Asians (the most essentializing word there is).  I think the most profound part of the piece was “Proud to be Assimilated” and “We support your troops.”   I think the author intended those two phrases to be read sarcastically.  The consequence of national pride is erasure of your own identity.  The blanketing term “Asian”, that is often used in this country, lumps a diverse and culturally developed set of nations into one header, one entity.  This process if used to create assimilation into western culture.  From the perspective of a foreigner (myself), assimilation is a daily struggle that we must deal with.  We worry about losing our self, language and culture to a majority set of values.  If we do not assimilate enough then we are labeled un-American which nowadays may result in ethnic violence.

Must we support our troops?  In okinawa, Japan our troops are raping 12yr old girls on a regular basis.  From a Japanese perspective the answer may be no.  “No I won’t support YOUR troops.”

Our military is stuck in hyper-masclinity maybe a feminized approach to international politics would be more encompassing.  Instead of perpetuating anti-gay, anti-feminine and anti-foreign ideologies in our military we should train using cultural sensitivity.  This may motivate a wide array of people to SUPPORT YOUR TROOPS.