Paper Street

To believe only in religion and nothing else, is to be naive.
To believe only in science and nothing else, is also to be naive.

Why is it that people are “proud” to be white-washed?

To begin, I need to describe my background. Both my parents are from South Korea, however they arrived here both when they were young – my mom when she was in grade 7, and my dad when he was in grade 10. Both my parents speak in fluent Korean, however my mother actually has no distinguishable accent when she speaks in English, and my father only has a subtle accent too. At home, they speak to each other with whatever language comes out first, and speak mostly in English to me and my sister.

Culture wise: my dad is very involved in the Korean-Canadian community, involving most of his volunteer work and business interaction within this community. He however is very open minded, and not even close to the average traditional Korean. Both my parents would shock other Koreans with how open-minded their method of parenting is. And actually, from what I hear, my parents are surprisingly less strict than some “white” (for a lack of a better word) parents I’ve met.

As a result, my upbringing wasn’t very “Korean” at all. English has become my primary language spoken at home, and I’ve lost most of my Korean language knowledge. I can still understand fundamental basic conversations and pronounce written words, however my speaking confidence has drastically reduced to almost nothing.

Culturally, my beliefs and social interaction are completely Westernized, so much that people blindingly call me “white”. At first, I took this as a compliment but then realized how ridiculous it is to be proud of this sort of thing. I personally am extremely proud to be who I am, and the best part is that I am stuck between two cultures. And why would this be so great? Because I can choose take the best of the two worlds.

I believe that I became Westernized because I truly believe in most of their mindsets and ideologies. To me, they simply make more sense. Similar in the way that my parents became Westernized – not because they were “brain-washed” I mean “white-washed”, but because they experienced both cultures and chose what worked out best.

Now it bothers me, when I hear people say things like “thank you” when someone says something like “ha ha, you’re so white-washed”. I understand at times it could be just a joke because sometimes I joke too, but it bothers me when people truly believe that being white-washed is a great thing.

Being white-washed means you are culturally naive. While you are actually part of both cultures, you chose to destroy one aspect of you and deny its existence, while letting the other take over. And is being white-washed a choice? Where it once was, you’ve blindingly let it take over who you are.

When someone says “oh, we totally didn’t notice you were Asian” is the same thing as someone saying “oh, we totally didn’t notice you were Black.” Is it a good thing? What’s wrong with being Asian? What’s wrong with being Black? Why does a portion of us believe that saying we are “white” is a compliment, and something to be proud of?

My suggestion is that we accept who we are. As most of you who know me notice, I personally am not very fond of the Korean social culture, mindsets, and ideologies. That is to say however, that I am still proud to be of Korean roots.

And I do not believe that I am “white-washed” at all. What I do believe, is that I have chosen to become more “Westernized” because of my choice to live that type of lifestyle.

We can choose our culture, but we cannot change our roots. To deny one’s roots is to deny who you are are as a person. Just suck it up, and be proud… that regardless of culture, you are who you are.

And I love it.

Note: I’m not saying it’s bad to be white, I’m just saying it’s ridiculous to blind yourself of one culture, if you are part of both. This includes being culture fundamentalists. Arrogant fobs make me angry too.

Why are we, as part of the youth culture, so obsessed with alcohol? This is a question that has been troubling me ever since I had my first sip of the stuff.

Why, despite everything that is wrong with alcohol – the proven toxicity, addictiveness, physical disorientation, obvious harms to others (e.g. drinking and driving), foul taste – why do we persist in consuming it in such vast quantities?

A friend of mine once said that alcohol is useful as a loosener. That when you’re ‘under the influence’, you do things that you normally wouldn’t do. Is that true? And if it is, is that really the best reason we’ve got for drinking at every social gathering we attend?

Now, some may find me pretentious, or condescending, or even plain arrogant, but I will make no apologies if I offend your habits. This is merely my opinion, drawn from my own experiences, which I believe are quite enough for me to grasp a decent point of view. I think you will find that it is necessary for me to describe my own experiences in order for me to continue.

In my experiences with alcohol, I have found myself immune to any state of mental alteration. After consuming enough alcohol to hurl repeatedly, I have found myself to be completely rational and remarkably clear-headed. I am able to make decisions in my head, and upon reflection, those decisions are in fact no different that what I would have made if I were completely ’sober’. I, being one who prides myself on rational thought, believe this not to be an anomaly, but in fact, the default state under which a person is affected by alcohol. Alcohol does not alter your state of mind.

Then, why do people act so differently after consuming massive amounts of this toxin?

The answer, I believe, lies in our sober states of mind. Societal pressures cause people to conform. Peer pressure, notably, causes people to become someone they aren’t. It causes people to change themselves, or, more accurately, hide themselves, in order to belong to the elite groups in society. We put up layers and layers of facades until we barely recognize ourselves, just so we ‘fit in’. It leaves no room for embarrassment, no room for a ‘mistake’ in the eyes of society. The pressure would build up if we were all to hide ourselves, forever, just to have a decent life. People would go insane.

To solve the problem, society has also devised a convenient way for people to unmask themselves. A convenient excuse – that is, alcohol. I’m sure most of you reading this have all tried, at some point in time, some form of alcohol. Now, what is it that you feel? Think hard. You feel a buzz, perhaps, and then you become a little bit dizzy. After a lot of it, you start to lose your balance. Then, you can hardly walk. Finally, have enough, and you’ve physically disabled yourself, unable to move and speak properly. Most of the effects of alcohol are physical. They act on the nervous system as the alcohol interrupts the signals from the brain, which is why you feel dizzy and lose your balance. Now, some sources contend that alcohol affects mental capacity, and ‘euphoria’, ‘excitement’, and ‘confusion’ are often listed as effects of alcohol. But think about it – how would they seriously measure ‘euphoria’ anyway? Tell someone to take a few drinks and ask them if they’re happy?

So I will confidently say that alcohol has minimal effects on mental capacity (of course, when you’re comatose, it’s irrelevant how your mental capacity was affected – so I will not deal with the extremes here). In fact, I am trying to say that all the supposed mental effects of alcohol are in fact, psychological, and caused by ‘flawed’ social interaction.

As I was saying, alcohol is an excuse. It’s an excuse for letting yourself do whatever you want. Of course, that implies that you don’t already do whatever you want when you’re sober. I’m sure we’ve all had that feeling. Sometimes, we just want to do something outrageous, but we stop ourselves, because it would be ‘inappropriate’, or ‘embarrassing’. But who is it that decides whatever you’re doing is inappropriate? Clearly, this is a case of societal conformation. When you’ve consumed some alcohol, and you’re beginning to lose physical control of your body, it’s not so big a leap as to say you also lost mental control. So you begin to do some things you don’t normally do when you’re fully in control of your body.

When you’re under the influence, you don’t become someone different. You don’t suddenly have bursts of inspiration that gives you crazy new ideas. The ideas had to come from somewhere – more than likely, it was already in you. So you decided one day you’d do something crazy, but you can’t do it while you’re sober, because people will think you’re a nut. What if you’re drunk? We have a great way of treating people when they’re drunk – we act as if they’re toddlers.

Did you see what Bob did last night?

Yeah, that was nuts! Man, he’s so crazy!

Oh yeah, he had a lot to drink at the party – he was totally smashed.

Haha, we should invite him over for some drinks one day. That was crazy!

I have heard conversations like these far too often. Is it indicative of the alcohol, or my friend ‘Bob’ that something crazy happened at the party? I would argue that ‘Bob’ always wanted to do something crazy, but because he knew on some level (conscious or unconscious), that if he did the crazy thing while drunk, people would admire him rather than chastise him. That is the reason why alcohol appears to affect our decision making. I like to believe that humans are very rational beings – and that everything we do has a justified reason, on some level or other. We make a conscious decision to do something because we know there will be no consequences. It’s a psychological phenomena, not an alcohol-related physical phenomenon.

I, for one, have consciously removed myself from the societal loophole. I’ve gotten myself drunk in a completely rational state of mind, under little to no societal pressures, and my mental capacities were not affected at all. It’s a matter of faith on the alcohol. If you believe it will set you free, then it will. But if you are like me, and you don’t believe that alcohol has any such effects, then all you’ll get is some physical disorientation. Alcohol is nothing more than the greatest placebo of modern society.

Will a couple of beers really ‘loosen us up’ for the party? Or do we simply believe so strongly in that concept, that it becomes inevitable? To me, it all seems like a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you have nothing to hide, alcohol does nothing.