Sometimes within a society you’ll see members turn on its own. For example, white people have been known to describe other whites as “Ohioans”. The Canadians have “French Canadians”. And in the Asian-American dictionary you’ll find the word “FOB”: an acronym for “Fresh Off the Boat”.
For many, a FOB is any Asian new to the land of Kardashians, Jersey Shore and Perez Hilton. For others like me, however, a FOB is meant to describe those Asian immigrants who have this propensity to perpetuate (at least in our minds) a lot of racial stereotypes. We’re not talking Gwen Stefani’s Japanese Harajuku Girls here. FOBs are ridiculously studious, obedient to their parents, socially clumsy, poor drivers and oblivious to such American customs as body deodorant. The worst part is many of our parents force us (or at least try) to befriend FOBs.
I’m sure a lot of you are shaking your heads right now thinking, “That’s terrible. They don’t use deodorant?” Yes, FOB is a mean-spirited word drizzled with some insecurity/elitist sprinkles. And both bananas and non-bananas are guilty of being haters. But come on. Does every member of a culture really respect every other member of that same culture?
Keep in mind, however, only Asians can use the word FOB. It’s like any other family dynamic: we can be mean to our own brothers and sisters. You can’t. After all, if Asian-Americans can’t make fun of themselves, who can they make fun of? No, seriously. Who as a group can we tease without getting beat up?
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