AKA...Asian Hottie!!!

I would first like to address Nakamur's description of LambdaMoo, "Race is not only not a required choice, it is not even on the menu." This is very problematic. The "meatspace" is evolving to be the most diverse it has ever been. In 50 years will we even know what box to check for our race? People are intermarrying and our world is becoming more Global and culturally diverse. On many forms or if you're taking say the ITBS tests you must identify yourself--but in the cyberspace world you just get to leave it out? Or you can be whatever race you have always dreamed about?!

I always say that I wish I was born Asian.(the reason for my title choice--ha ha) I am drawn to more Asian cultural foods and norms and have lots of friends of that nationality, but what Nakamur describes as Orientalized theatricality is in a word--creepy! I also wonder what this does to stererotypes. As people get more and more into "living" in the virtual world and we have white people enacting these other nationalities--are stereotypes going to be affected. Sure, in the meatspace we have a pretty good stereotype of blacks, Asians, etc. But if white people are walking around and pretending to be them how does that reinforce--or possibly break down the stereotypes? Will they still be the same in Cyberspace as they are in the real world?

The discussion of Hate Crimes in Cyberspace is an interesting area to discuss and perhaps we can dialogue in class about it. Say you have a white male that says he's Asian. An Asian male that says he's white in Cyberspace gets in the first guy's face and says derrogatory things based on Asian stereotypes...what kind of implications does that have for society? Another example, a white guy says he's black and then gets callend the N-word--no wonder he doesn't know how to deal with that. He hasn't grown up with that skin color and doesn't know what it's like. But perhaps it gives him a taste of what it's like--although he gets to hear it throught the buffer of a fake persona and a computer screen--thoughts?