Anti-China Superbowl ad?

I really don’t like the sound of this ad, which played locally in Michigan during the game. It plays off of stereotypes and the growing paranoia about the rise of China. I’m calling it ill-conceived at best, racist at worst. The explanation of the ad sounds pretty feeble, too.

The campaign of the Michigan Republican hit racial notes as a new advertisement argued that the policies of incumbent Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) were helping China to the detriment of the United States.

The advertisement, which will run in Michigan during the Super Bowl and afterward, features an Asian female with a conical straw hat riding a bike through a rice paddy field.

“Your economy get very weak. Ours get very good [sic],” the actress says, in broken English.

“Thank you Michigan Senator Debbie ‘Spend-it-now’. Debbie spend so much American money [sic],” the actress says, without a Chinese accent. “You borrow more and more, from us… we take your jobs. Thank you Debbie ‘Spend-it-now.’”

The Hoekstra campaign called the advertisement “satirical” and explained the broken English in the video as a reflection of China’s increasingly competitive education system.

“You have a Chinese girl speaking English – I want to hit on the education system, essentially. The fact that a Chinese girl is speaking English is a testament to how they can compete with us, when an American boy of the same age speaking Mandarin is absolutely insane, or unthinkable right now,” Hoekstra spokesperson Paul Ciaramitaro told POLITICO. “It exhibits another way in which China is competing with us globally.”

You can see the ad at the link above. I find it racially charged and plainly “anti-China.” As if the fact that the Chinese girl is speaking English tells viewers China’s education system is superior (that’s what the Hoekstra camp is claiming). Nonsense. This ad is designed to instill fear and touch a racial nerve.

The Discussion: 67 Comments

Hoekstra’s argument is that Stabenow has voted over and over for budgets which have the United States borrow increasingly larger amounts from China, which sends them millions in interest each year and strengthens their currency and gives them considerable foreign reserves. As a consquence, their economy grows stronger as ours grows weaker.

It does scare me a little to know that every year I send more and more of my tax money to support a regime that has horrible human rights violations and considerable environmental destruction and still has considerable poverty while many grow rich. Anyone who supports poor people, the environment, or human rights should be donating to support Hoekstra in his coming campaign against Stabmenow.

February 7, 2012 @ 2:27 am | Comment

I wouldn’t be too worried about a stupid ad – but I’d be worried if it should significantly help Hoekstra’s campaign. It seems that politicians like Hoekstra think very low of their potential supporters. I’m inclined to believe that he and his folks do indeed think of China’s educational system as the more “competitive” one.

If they’d be right is a different question.

February 7, 2012 @ 3:44 am | Comment

It seems that politicians like Hoekstra think very low of their potential supporters

You clearly have no idea how stupid they are.

February 7, 2012 @ 5:05 am | Comment

Stupid, nasty, awful, and, yes, racist ad. Exactly the kind of thing I’m glad we manage to keep off television during election time in the UK.

February 7, 2012 @ 5:49 am | Comment

Totally racist ad using fear as a device, with no concept of the complexity of circumstances regarding US job losses. Or in other words, another typical ad from another typical Republican. But that play on her name is clever, and has staying power, I think. The Dems may have to counter by calling him Hope-Astray or something.

February 7, 2012 @ 7:12 am | Comment

Here’s a petition.

My comment was, if this ad illustrates Hoekstra’s level of knowledge about China, then he’s a really poor choice to be representing Michigan.

February 7, 2012 @ 7:59 am | Comment

Conservative Teacher, with all due respect you have no idea what you’re talking about.

February 7, 2012 @ 8:40 am | Comment

1) I totally agree with you, Richard. I found this ad absolutely appalling. Not to mention that the actress is obviously a native English speaker (American or Canadian) and probably of Southeast Asian background.

2) The rice paddy imagery is like putting a black actor in a cotton field.

3) If you think the ad was racist, check out the accompanying website, http://www.debbiespenditnow.com/.

4) Aside from being racist, much of the ad campaign (website included) is misleading at best, and factually wrong at worst. It’s also just plain dumb. Making a pun out of your opponent’s last name? What is this, primary school?

February 7, 2012 @ 11:55 am | Comment

Stabenow takes a protectionist stance on trade with China, including sponsoring the currency bills Beijing hates. Tasteless and off-base.

February 7, 2012 @ 1:08 pm | Comment

Doubly offensive, not only for it being so obviously racist, but for adding for the myth that just won’t die, that China owns most of America’s debt. The VAST majority of american debt is owned by *gasp* Americans!

@FOARP,

There is much good to be said about the UK’s laws regarding political campaigns, I envy you.

February 7, 2012 @ 1:41 pm | Comment

Conservative Teacher, America’s public debt is a very by-partisan affair – I seem to remember that Ronald Reagan set out to balance the federal budget, but ran a bigger accumulated deficit than all his predecessors combined during his presidency.

Maybe this blog can help you to get some understanding of how countries become creditors and debtors – and how it hurts both sides in the long run.

February 7, 2012 @ 3:03 pm | Comment

One more thing, Conservative Teacher: one cause of environmental destruction is that many of the jobs that are gone in your country indeed went to China, but that the products are consumed in the U.S.. You may blame the producers; you may blame the consumers, or you may try to understand which political decisions are the underlying causes of the problem.

February 7, 2012 @ 3:07 pm | Comment

Modern, post “W” Republican Neocons would have American kids goose stepping and rounding up Chinks, Beaners, Niggers and Jews in their schools if they could, in addition to anyone that excelled in classes or spoke Mandarin, Spanish or French.

Oh wait, not Jews because Republicans would lose someone that claims to be America’s “friend” as well as lose someone to throw countless billions of $ to and be a puppet of in a war against Iran.

February 7, 2012 @ 3:16 pm | Comment

Thank you, Chip. It’s what, 9%?

February 7, 2012 @ 3:32 pm | Comment

I was appalled by this advert – there are plenty of young Chinese who speak decent English (I know I live in China). There was simply no need for this ugly charicature of the Chinese speaking the language.

While I agree (in part) with the philosophy of over-spending, it should be pointed out that politicians have been only too keen to export jobs and suppress incomes in their own countries as long as big corporations have made out like bandits.

You can hardly blame the consumer for believing that one day they’ll earn enough to pay off their credit cards – surely that’s the “American Dream” that they’ve been sold and not the reality they live?

February 7, 2012 @ 9:27 pm | Comment

FOARP, you’re overreacting, so are most others here. I hate people who scream racism at everything nowadays… come on! This ad is not worth 5 seconds of anyone’s time. And did anyone really get upset about it in China? I’m sure not.

February 7, 2012 @ 10:20 pm | Comment

My main issue with the anger about the Hoekstra ad is that protests won’t change too many preconceived opinions, and if it does, it may cut both ways. The best way to address such issues is to be factual – there is a lot that can be said against the accuracy of the ad’s message, and what’s behind it.

Petitions against it won’t change attitudes, and in my view, they won’t add information for voters to base their decisions on. The best way to handle it shouldn’t be to ban these kinds of campaigns, but rather to make them useless. Sustainable democracy depends on freedom of speech and information, and on a public that actually wants to be informed.

February 7, 2012 @ 11:15 pm | Comment

Laowai: I hate people who scream racism at everything nowadays… come on! This ad is not worth 5 seconds of anyone’s time. And did anyone really get upset about it in China? I’m sure not.

You think reacting to this racist ad by screaming racism is wrong? Come on, this is undisguised race-baiting and racial stereotyping. And I am sure plenty got upset about this in China. I can’t say for sure, but who are you to say, “I’m sure not”? Disgraceful.

February 7, 2012 @ 11:26 pm | Comment

I kind of doubt anyone in China was upset for the obvious race baiting, but instead because of unrestrained American hostility against the Chinese nation and singling out average Chinese as evil job thieves, which undoes much of the bluster about how American politicians just care SO, SO, SO, SOOOOOOO much about the Chinese people and only opposes the government.

February 8, 2012 @ 1:00 am | Comment

Laowai
I hate people who scream racism at everything nowadays… come on!

Yet the internet is flooded by ESL teachers who scream racism whenever locals don’t bend over backward for them.

February 8, 2012 @ 1:04 am | Comment

Well, looking at a new article, it says the Chinese haven’t reacted to this ad, at least not yet. It’s the Americans who are having a fit, which they should. The ad is racist and repellent. Another article warns the ad could ignite race-baiting against Asians.

February 8, 2012 @ 1:07 am | Comment

Richard, I’m getting the feeling that you and many others are as worried about stability in America, as CCP defenders are about stability in China. Do you really think that a popular wave of indignation about that ad is necessary, to avoid a dramatic increase in race-baiting? In that case, I believe, your country will either turn nasty very soon, or many of the liberties it is know for to date may soon be gone, in order to check on all kinds of racism.

February 8, 2012 @ 1:37 am | Comment

No, I’m not worried about stability here, at least not at the moment. I do worry that ads like these encourage resentment against China and could transfer into resentment against individual Chinese. I didn’t say a popular wave of indignation is necessary. But it’s here already; just do some googling. It was all over the news last night.

February 8, 2012 @ 1:39 am | Comment

@A Conservative Teacher
Your second paragraph sounds a helluva lot like America, hey? And, if elected, do you really think Hoekstra will do more than anyone else has over the past hundred years about your concerns?

What”s with Michigan?

“Michigan has seen its share of Asia bashing, especially in the 1980s, when images of sledgehammers smashing imported cars were common. Chinese-American Vincent Chin died after being beaten to death in 1982 by two unemployed autoworkers angry about competition from Japan.”

Of course,the loss of jobs would not have had anything to do with the UNIONS, shoddy products, and Golden Parachutes, could it? Nah.

When the ad came on, I nearly lost my uppers! Wonder if it would be considered racist if a white woman had been riding the bicycle?

How much blame goes to the candidate and how much to the agency that thought it up? Even though the candidate endorses it.

“The ad was created by media strategist Fred Davis of California-based Strategic Perception Inc., known for both Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s successful “one tough nerd” ads and for the 2010 “demon sheep” web ad attacking Tom Campbell in California’s Republican Senate primary.”

@20 CM, on this one I agree with you. I never met an ESL teacher that was worth the price of his backpack. Hell, most of the teachers, even though they come from English speaking countries can’t speak English at a level teachers are expected to know, and they can’t teach. Many have no experience in the education field. Most can’t come up with a lesson plan. The state of ESL is pitiful! Send ALL of them home and China will be better for it.

February 8, 2012 @ 4:21 am | Comment

You all have to go see James Fallows’ piece on the html code for this video. Yeah, they’re not racists.

February 8, 2012 @ 5:08 am | Comment

Arguably, the Chinese have been the most discriminated against, and the recipients
of more racism than any non-white people in the United States. More cruelty, hatred, rape, murder, opposition, and obstacles placed in their way (many legally) to prevent their inhabitation of this land than any other humans..

This is the reason, to me, anti-Chinese ads are so offensive. And the ad during the Super Bowl was disconsolate to me.

February 8, 2012 @ 5:17 am | Comment

Ah, Fallows. I love that guy!

February 8, 2012 @ 5:21 am | Comment

I didn’t author this but have lost the link citation for it.
“The more interesting angle is one of hypocrisy. Hoekstra voted for permanent MFN for China in 1999, and China’s creditor status vis-à-vis the U.S. simply reflects all those good-paying union jobs Hoekstra shipped there.”
I did author this.
Since ‘clever’ plays on names is his currency, how about “Joekstra” or “Hoaxstra”. He’s “Klan” without the brutal honesty of the wearing the team’s uniform. But he does display the team ‘color’.

February 8, 2012 @ 5:56 am | Comment

“it says the Chinese haven’t reacted to this ad, at least not yet.”

Wait till it hits the BBS boards. You will, oh yes you will. Probably today, in fact.

February 8, 2012 @ 6:03 am | Comment

And I won’t blame them a bit for reacting. I would if I were them.

February 8, 2012 @ 6:18 am | Comment

@William Box, I agree with much of what you say, but not the anti-union sentiments. Did unions abuse their power at times? Certainly. But the union movement is what created the American middle class, 5 day 40 hour workweeks, among other accomplishments. Without unions, all we have left is a rush to the bottom in terms of pay and working conditions in this country, and that’s exactly what’s been happening.

February 8, 2012 @ 7:01 am | Comment

Other Lisa

Yes. You are right to a point. Back in the day when the U.S. was using child labor. However, Unions have seen the days when they were the good guys. The Robber Barons are long gone and the unions do more harm than good. Their desiredness is dead.

To see the harm they’ve done (a few examples) one has only to look at the Auto Industry, Airlines Industry, Railroads, Newspapers,etc.

They outlived their usefulness.

February 8, 2012 @ 8:35 am | Comment

William
Swings of power. To say the unions have outlived their usefulness is to want to hand the power back to the robber barons. What is to stop these barons using the slogan of bringing back jobs to the US (or UK or anywhere else) to break the unions totally, only for the workers to find themselves back in the same place their ancestors were at all those decades ago?
After the recent example of what happens when regulation is dispensed with, I’d be careful what you wish for….

February 8, 2012 @ 11:19 am | Comment

Well, since unions have lost power in the US over the last thirty years, we’ve had a return to levels of income inequality not seen since the Gilded Age. And if Newt Gingrich has his way, we’ll have a return to child labor as well. Everything old is new again…

And it’s absurd to blame all the problems of the US auto industry on unions. What about top-heavy management that did not adjust to what the market wanted and did not do enough to ensure quality in their products? That’s not a union issue.

Call me a socialist, but I happen to think that workers deserve to make living wages, that people should have opportunities to advance — and for all the worship of Horatio Alger in this country, we have less class mobility than just about any other First World nation except England (want to better yourself? Live in Denmark), and that healthy societies are more equitable societies.

I’d say the robber barons are back, and doing quite well for themselves.

February 8, 2012 @ 1:05 pm | Comment

What Lisa said. To the letter.

February 8, 2012 @ 1:13 pm | Comment

Lisa, this isn’t a challenge but I’m curious what that specific study used to measure social mobility. As far as I know, the only developed nation worse than America is Switzerland, and Denmark provides generous subsidies to the poor but they still have trouble getting out of debt.

February 8, 2012 @ 1:15 pm | Comment

@Lisa,

Sorry, I’m usually slow on posting. Last I checked, it was 7%, but even 9% is pretty small nonetheless

February 8, 2012 @ 1:49 pm | Comment

CM, let me see if I can find it. IIRC, the stuff I’ve read cited Great Britain as the developed nation with the least mobility, but I could be wrong…I read so much stuff in passing…

Thanks Chip. I have no doubt that you’re right. I recently took a CM quiz on China and the one question I missed was on how much US debt was held by China. I think I guessed 15% and of course it’s way lower.

February 8, 2012 @ 2:27 pm | Comment

Here’s a couple:

From 2010.

And here.

The NYT piece talks about the difference between “relative mobility” and “absolute mobility,” FWIW.

February 8, 2012 @ 2:36 pm | Comment

@Other lisa. I think you make a valid point about US car industry design

The 1971 Chrysler Imperial Lebaron Two-Door Hard Top:

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1658545_1658498_1658026,00.html

Just what the punters needed when the first gas crisis hit the West.

February 8, 2012 @ 2:51 pm | Comment

Thanks Lisa. I still think researchers should be focusing on net worth and not income. In terms of net worth, the American poor have gotten consistently poorer over the last decade.

February 9, 2012 @ 12:31 am | Comment

@ Mike Goldthorpe

Technology, education and competition..

There will always be outrageously wealthy men under capitalism. But, the aforementioned conditions will, most likely, prevent another period of time in our history when Robber Barons have a second go at it, and insures that worker’s wages remain high (please don’t throw ditch diggers and peach pickers at me).

I’m not wishing for anything. I’m capable enough to take care of myself and because of this I’m not looking for an iron rice bowl. One job goes belly-up, go find another. I don’t want socialism (but I’ve got it). The interviewees you see on the evening news each day crying they haven’t been able to find a job for three years-make my eyes water. Bullshit!

A little budget adjustment might help the American Family since they have been living way,way beyond their means for decades.

House under water? Walk off and leave it.

What happened to pride, obligation,and honesty. Do you think only the bank has the commitment to honor a contract. The last time I looked contractual obligations extended to two parties.

@other LISA

The Black man in America is still not free and will remain so. Why? Welfare checks. Make him dependent upon on the White man. When the amount of the check won’t go as far, raise the monthly amount of his check and he’ll be happy until the economy eats it up and it’s time for another raise.

I don’t like socialism.

Lisa, I did not blame ALL the problems of the automakers on unions, but they were a major contributing factor. Too, Unions DO kill the individual. No one has to think when the union is in charge.

@Richard

“What Lisa said. To the letter.”

I’m shocked!

@King Tubby

You’ve done it! Revealed the reason for America’s FIRST bailout of the automobile industry. The arrogant bastards were making everything Americans didn’t want and tried to drive it down our throats. We choked on it and went somewhere else. They soon discovered we are a little smarter than they thought.

February 9, 2012 @ 4:32 am | Comment

William, I’ll be brief: you’re wrong about absolutely everything. I’m not going to go head to head because we won’t get anywhere, but I am confident my beloved readers all agree that the opposite of every point you make is true.

February 9, 2012 @ 4:35 am | Comment

@William Box. Pleased to note that you are a successfull survival of the fittest type of guy. You are my new role model.

I think there is a place for you out in the piney woods of Idaho.

February 9, 2012 @ 5:03 am | Comment

I haven’t seen it, but it sounds ominous. It’s a sign of decline. It’s possible to imagine more of this sort of thing, as it becomes obvious something is wrong in America yet the politicans can’t or won’t fix the real problems.

It’s pointless calling it racist, that word has become so debased by now as to be meaningless. However, linking America’s decline with China in this way will of course encourage the worst sort of bigotry. People will feel that Chinese people are responsible for their problems. Perhaps some of them will think that if they strike a blow against “China” in some small, unofficial way, they will be doing good for America?

We’ll see in the future how much faith Americans really have in democracy and freedom. It can’t have been hard for Americans to believe they had the best system when all Communist countries had stagnation and poverty. A prosperous authoritarian country such as China is going to challenge American beliefs in a way that the USSR was never capable of.

February 9, 2012 @ 5:56 am | Comment

Diversity and Equality anaethma to one another. You can only pick one. It is no coincidence that the decline in American economic equality was matched by a decline in the non-hispanic white population.

February 9, 2012 @ 6:03 am | Comment

@CM, I think you are right. But it’s very hard to argue that the poor have not gotten poorer in the last 30 years.

@Jing, that is utter b.s. The growth in US income equality has the been the result of the oligarchy manipulating government to create policies that encourage it. Tax policies, economic policies, labor policies, and funding policies.

You can look it up.

Seriously, where do you come up with this stuff? If you’re the Jing who used to comment here, I am really surprised to see this from you. The nationalism is one thing, and I always thought there was an edge of humor there. But the racism is just really hateful and sad.

February 9, 2012 @ 6:25 am | Comment

And, wow, William. We have a 10–17% unemployment rate, depending on how you calculate it. “Go out and find another job.” Uh, right.

When people lose their jobs through no fault of their own, when they can’t find another one, when loyalty only goes one way, what are they supposed to do?

But you’re right, Richard. This is one of those, why argue propositions?

February 9, 2012 @ 6:28 am | Comment

Jing, are you the same Jing who commented here in years past? Your log-in information says you are, but I can scarcely believe it. The old Jing used to be reasonable, even kind of nice. Now you sound like you’re bursting with hostility. What happened?

February 9, 2012 @ 6:28 am | Comment

and @CM, if that wasn’t clear, what I meant was, even if you don’t look at net worth, I think it’s pretty hard to argue that the poor have not gotten poorer.

February 9, 2012 @ 6:30 am | Comment

Yes I agree completely. The figures for net worth are consistently worse than they are for income. Inequality in America is way worse than anyone can imagine. While income figures across states and cities and races are relatively “close” (half-joking) there is HUGE chasm when it comes to net worth.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0726/Wealth-gap-widens-Whites-net-worth-is-20-times-that-of-blacks

What it basically says is that if the average black or “Latino” family runs into surprise medical problems, they go broke or they go dead.

February 9, 2012 @ 6:58 am | Comment

Other Lisa, since when has making an empirical observation ever been “hateful” or “racist”. Will you accuse me of “hurting the feelings of the American people”? The U.S. census shows the household income of Black families, likewise it also shows that of Hispanic and White households. Needless to say they are not one and the same. When the proportion of households in the economy shift away from Whites, this reduces the mean household incomes for America in addition to increasing inequality levels by bifurcating the a standard distribution into a multimodal one.

I liked your cute little explanation too and I cannot say it is entirely incorrect. Rather it is woefully incomplete.

Well Richard, I am one and the same (When did Mark Anthony Jones stop posting?) and if you met me, you’ll come to understand I am still a “nice” guy as it were. Suffice it to say I have managed to deprogram myself of more than a decades worth of Marxist indoctrination. Looking back, I find it so intriguing that an individual’s entire weltanschauung can be so intrinsically changed by the re-evaluation of a single belief. In my case, it was my rejection of the Enlightenment fiction of Tabula Rasa, and the mutability of man. Once that changed I experienced a cognitive cascade wherein I began to re-evaluate everything else. Now I attack the old order with the zeal of an ardent apostate.

To paraphrase my intellectual transformation; I once was a Jedi, possessing the gnosis of the Frankfurt and Gramscian schools; skilled in their arts of rhetoric, sophistry, and dissimulation. Now I am Sith, cutting through their lies like well worn parchment with an edge backed by the force of truth.

February 9, 2012 @ 7:58 am | Comment

Oh dear.

Jing, I think you’ve got some prescriptions you need to refill, fast.

February 9, 2012 @ 7:59 am | Comment

Jing, I’m very sad to read this. There’s just no point in being a racist.

And Mark Anthony Jones, sadly, passed away from cancer last year.

February 9, 2012 @ 1:17 pm | Comment

(or a sexist, I should add)

February 9, 2012 @ 1:17 pm | Comment

And the “argument” you’ve presented here has no evidence to back it up. You’ve got your causation backwards. I’m frankly flabbergasted.

You know, racists and conservatives of rigid ideology tend to have lower than average intelligence. While I don’t think that’s true of you, for a smart guy, you’re still pretty damn stupid.

February 9, 2012 @ 2:05 pm | Comment

To Jing,
your #46 and the first paragraph of #52, when taken together, make no sense. I guess that’s becoming par for the course for you.

First, you assert that income equality has gone down because the proportion of whites has gone down. How do you figure that? If you are trying to suggest that “whites” disproportionately make the higher incomes, and you have fewer whites (and therefore fewer of those higher income data points), income equality would actually go UP.

Then in 52, you suggest that relatively fewer white people (who again presumably have disproportionately higher incomes) results in a lowering of mean income levels. That part is fine. But how does that increase inequality? What you’re referring to might be akin to the standard deviation, and SD does not increase when you start removing high end data points. Besides, since when did income follow a “standard distribution”?

Looks like you caught a virus when you went about deprogramming yourself, and now you’re no better than a Vista machine that crashes all the time. And the only force you possess now is akin to the contents of a hot-air balloon.

February 9, 2012 @ 2:50 pm | Comment

[…] will find all these descriptions across this commenting thread on the Peking Duck. They refer to a Superbowl Ad approved by a certain Peter Hoekstra, a Republican […]

February 9, 2012 @ 7:51 pm | Pingback

Richard, why should Chinese react to this ad? Even if that’s your wish, it won’t happen. The things she’s saying are not deemed controversial in the perception of an average Chinese person, nor is anything else, what upsets so many people here, including you. I can only say thank god I’m not (North) American. You guys tend to overreact so fast, you just love to make big nontroversies out of very innocent things, which then doesn’t help the cause at all. You made a mistake by quickly instilling the race in this and make the post emotional instead of rational. It didn’t take too long for others to react the same way and when I saw the reactions, I was disappointed. My comment was left in hope, that it could stir the discussion in another direction. And to my luck, Justrecently got the point. Maybe that’s because we are of similar background. This ad will have no consequence on anything whatsoever, there will be no popular wave of indignation in China, nor in USA and especially not anywhere else.

But you have a chance to add another word with “gate”-suffix to this list:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scandals_with_-gate_suffix
Maybe one of your followers can write a short explanation of “Hoekstragate” 😉

February 9, 2012 @ 11:24 pm | Comment

Richard, why should Chinese react to this ad? Even if that’s your wish, it won’t happen.

It’s not my wish. But I would understand if they did.

February 9, 2012 @ 11:53 pm | Comment

From yesterday’s Global Times:

California State Assemblyman Mike Eng issued a statement Tuesday, saying: “I am astounded and outraged by the Hoekstra campaign’s use of negative Asian stereotypes for their Super-Bowl ad.”

“Such blatantly racist and anti-Asian fear-mongering, such as that raised by the Hoekstra ad, has had a long and sad history in the United States, going all the way back to the Chinese Exclusion Act in the 19th Century and the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. It is the 21st century and such divisive rhetoric has no place in American politics,” Eng said.

On Monday, Judy Chu, the country’s first Chinese-American Congresswoman and chair of the US Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), said in a statement: “I am appalled at the Hoekstra campaign’s offensive and insensitive Super Bowl ad that relies heavily on negative Asian stereotypes.”

US Congressman Mike Honda also issued a statement Tuesday: “Pete Hoekstra’s Super Bowl campaign ad is a despicable example of Republican race-baiting cloaked in the guise of genuine political debate and, quite simply, is offensive to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.”

“Hoekstra stoops to using racial stereotypes and fails to engage honestly and credibly on the issues. Hoekstra merely offers the kind of ignorance and intolerance that harms every single family in Michigan and beyond,” Honda said.

Bel Leong-Hong, the Democratic National Committee’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Caucus chair, said in a statement Tuesday: “Ads like these that play on fear and racial stereotypes must never be tolerated. Our nation deserves better representatives in Congress who can stick to the issues and not use harmful, divisive measures for political gain.”

Also, some excellent reporting in the New Yorker.

February 10, 2012 @ 12:34 am | Comment

Their ignorance is astounding. America should embrace its different ethnics as should China to make both countries stronger. But incredible racists like Jing and Cookie Monster have no quality to speak on this matter.

February 10, 2012 @ 9:05 pm | Comment

Poland should have embraced its different ethnics in the 1930s too, like Nazi Germans!

I have no problem with any of China’s true minority groups like the Tibetans, Miao, Manchu, Zhuang, etc.

February 11, 2012 @ 5:12 am | Comment

CM,

Yes they should have. If any of those countries truly embraced different peoples the tragedies would not have happened.

That is easy to say, until minorities assert themselves in political and ethnic interests and promote their differences. That is the difficult part of tolerating to swallow. And from your previous comments, you are not sounding convincing.

February 11, 2012 @ 9:30 pm | Comment

Yes, fully embrace people driving tanks into your nation trying to exterminate you. What a good idea.

February 12, 2012 @ 5:23 am | Comment

Or your own nation’s tanks driving into your capital city to try to exterminate you. That sucks big, hairy balls!

February 12, 2012 @ 12:31 pm | Comment

I noticed an article the other day, stating that the young Chinese-American actress has rethought her participation in the ad and has issued a general apology.

February 24, 2012 @ 4:29 am | Comment

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