Sunday, March 13, 2011

On viral videos and their responses

If you haven't already heard, a video titled "Asians in the Library" has begun to circulate around UCLA and is spreading like wildfire. The video is of a student named Alexandra Wallace (possibly related to the racist former Governor of Alabama, George Wallace?) who is ranting about some Asian people in the library who annoyed her by being too loud when she was trying to study for finals. I first want to say that there is a huge difference between going on a rant and plain ignorance. I found what she said to not only be distasteful, but also offensive and disrespectful. I just want to say that stupid people need to keep their mouths shut and should have to deal with the consequences of their actions. Please note that this girl is in no way a representative of UCLA and should transfer to a different school with a smaller Asian population. I don't even understand how she got in.

This particular video evoked numerous responses as she caused a large amount of controversy by imitating a stereotypical Asian person, using phrases such as "ching chong ling long ting tong," insulting Asian cultures, and bringing up the tragic situation in Japan. Unfortunately, many of the responses to her video were crude and inappropriate, just like her comments were. I think it's great for people to stand up for themselves and not let this girl get away with this blatant racism (I got fairly riled up when I first saw the video), but at the same time it seems unnecessary to sink to her level. Also, the first video that was posted (it was removed by YouTube for violating their hate speech policy) was a mirror video that contained her address and phone number (scary, huh?). But then again, if you don't pull a stunt like this and publish something of this nature, there wouldn't be anything to be afraid of. I think, to some extent, she got what she deserved. What was she expecting to happen? My guess is that she wasn't thinking- maybe because it was too loud in the library lol.

Below, I have provided links to the original video, along with multiple responses. Note that the number of responses continues to grow day after day.

Original Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0JKb_Cn1qc

Video Responses:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiEvmr3I-Ik
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBP0iab4DHw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOGpGoEMu2s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBNKTdUQoTU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp7LiElc1JU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl9iZtipUsM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKKxiDVyGKM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzoZzyeHPBE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MPWrACuQf8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K171Pbsomws

Remixes/Songs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zulEMWj3sVA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ3dFd_h_A0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNTLVSE-Vko

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