The Jimmy Kimmel
Affair
The fact that this statement was made on a show well-known for political incorrectness - offending in joke -and was uttered by a humor-excited six-year old cut no ice with China. The backlash was inevitable-hundreds of people flooded the switchboards of ABC offices demanding Kimmel be fired. This was to be expected after such comments. The offensive remarks have now been edited out of the show. What was not expected was that all of the protesters are Chinese-not a single non-Chinese supporting the protests outside ABC's main studio in Los Angeles. If this had been any other ethnic group there would have been universal support in condemnation. Why then are the general public reluctant to get involved? The answer may lie in the fact that the Chinese community itself does little to involve itself in the social, welfare, charitable life of multifaith and multiethnic (multiracial) America. It is a highly insular group which focuses on the accumulation of financial wealth-a product of a society (China) where financial self-sufficiency (with no social welfare networks) is a priority for every citizen as the only recourse is impoverishment or reliance on handouts from contemptuous relatives (contemptuous about the fact that they have to support a 'weak' 'lazy' family member who has not had the foresight nor wisdom to provide for the future for himself or herself and his or her family.) So the cultural and mental divides between China and the U.S. are huge. Well-to-do Chinese, unlike their Anglo-Saxon,Jewish,Italian,Hispanic,Irish,African-American.German,Norwegian,Swedish counterparts see no need to support charitable causes-which most privately regard as 'welfare bums' or 'scroungers'. So there is a world of difference in how insular China and the other communities in the United States regard their responsibilities to those less fortunate financially, than themselves. It doesn't stop there. Our whole Judeo-Christian philosophy, in my opinion, is rooted in conscience and responsibility, not just for ourselves but in the mentoring through example of several tenets-some of which are those of giving,of guidance and the wish to be remembered as 'someone who did good' or tried to do good for those less fortunate, from whatever racial background, through some selfless bountiful acts which are all philosophically, part of the same holistic approach as to how the Judeo-Christian world perceives it's relationship to it's fellow man and woman and to the Creator. I believe such concepts have no place in Confucianism which essentially teaches that all foreigners (non-Chinese) are to be treated with suspicion,if not contempt, that China is special and the rest of the world, barbarians. (That was why, incidentally, the Great Wall was built ,with the dead bones of the millions of slaves labored, who died of exhaustion in the construction,ground into the mortar, so as to ensure no wastage. ) It should never be forgotten that some of the greatest atrocities in world history have taken place when one ethnic group has dehumanized another or others. Confucianism has been one of the greatest driving forces in the perception of itself (ethnocentrically) and the rest of the world by China (certainly Han China) for centuries-in much the same way as The Holy Roman Empire held sway of all religious and philosophical directions throughout Christendom for centuries. It's not that the Chinese people don't give, but they cannot understand why 'giving' should be institutionalized-as it is 'non-productive'. To selectively (and mutually exclusively) support the Chinese community in the United States is productive-because it is cost-effective and cost-efficient. Let me just be clear,all patrons (wealthy individuals or donors) will be prejudiced towards supporting their own community (or ethnic group) first-but many do not do so to the total exclusion of all others,as a matter of exclusive (ethnocentric) belief and policy.
Likewise individuals when asked to support a charitable cause may give exclusively to charities which, for example,provide services for the Armenian community-but you will find few to say it is wrong for their ethnic group, as individuals, to give to other similar worthy causes on grounds of culture, tradition and racial identity. When you understand this frame of thought it becomes easier to appreciate why, other than the fact that the Chinese Embassy in Washington got (informally) involved and the issue has turned into a 'diplomatic incident', the general public are noticeably muted and lacking in luster to come out in their millions to support the call for Jimmy Kimmel's 'head on a platter'. It was an unfortunate remark-but not by Jimmy Kimmel himself. It has now been edited out-as it should be. Jokes about the Irish Famine (1845-48),The Holocaust of the Jews in Nazi Germany,Slavery of African Americans would receive similar treatment.
What it has done is highlight the cultural and ideological divide in perceptions between East and West and, I hope, something positive may be generated from the heated debates in the aftermath.
Probably both the Chinese community and ourselves ought to take hard looks in our respective mirrors. Neither should be entirely happy with what is reflected back.
Patrick Emek
November 2013
