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Okay, this is one of those posts that even moi - race baiter that I am - is on the fence.
Like everyone and their dog, I have actually....willingly turned the channel to Entertainment Tonight to watch the real-life soap opera of the Jon & Kate + 8 saga. Unlike probably many women, whom undoubtedly feel sympathy for a middle-class single mother with 8 kids, I actually side with Jon.
Yes, he has acted like a jerk, but I have to think: If I were him and decided to leave, wouldn't I immediately want to get my party-on? Eight kids? A cold, unreasonable, controlling wife? Dude, I'd want to get a piece on the side, too ( maybe that's why I don't have kids and no husband!)
Over the past few years, I have caught a few minutes of the show, and had always thought that Jon was a brow-beaten man who secretly hated his domineering wife. Perhaps it was the stress of having so many children, but regardless, I wasn't suprised when I saw on TV that they had separated.
Anyway, a few weeks ago I came across this interesting post from Nadra Kareem at Sociological Images on how Jon's Asian heritage (and the kids) plays out. I'd always wondered how it did, but according to Kareem, the one episode where they tried to address it didn't turn out so well:
In the episode, we also learn that the children don’t understand who in their household is Korean.
“They have arguments in the car about who is Asian and who is not, and it boils down to me and Alexis are the only non-Asians in the whole house,” Kate remarks. But, on the flipside, one of the children tells Kate, “I’m Asian just like you.”In response, Kate laughs and says, “You are?”
Some of the children even wonder if their stuffed animals are Asian.
And Kate (God help her) isn't the best person to teach her children about their half-Asian heritage. in the episode the Gosselin family tries to cook an authentic Korean dinner:
Kate not only tries to prepare the food how she thinks is fit, she attempts to correct Jon’s pronunciation of Korean food, telling him that he shouldn’t shorten bulgogi to “gogi.” When he tells her that this is the equivalent of shortening hamburger to burger, she stands corrected, responding with a simple, “Oh.”
In these exchanges between the couple, it’s difficult to know what force is at play. Is Kate assuming the role of culturally superior Westerner or simply being a controlling wife? At one point, she even tries to kick Jon out of the kitchen, arguing that she needs the space.
You Offend Me You Offend My Family (funny blog, BTW) points out an interesting fact. Jon is probably the most visible Asian-American man on television - not in the way that many of us would like to see, but unfortunately - or maybe not - , this situation has also broken some negative stereotypes about Asian people - specifically Asian men:
I’m not going to criticize a brotha who’s experiencing his first taste of freedom. If he wants to be a douchebag and party like a frat boy, hell, he probably earned it. Let him enjoy it. And if he wants to go around and fuck every young white chick he can get his hands on? More power to him. Aren’t we always bitching that Asian American men are only portrayed as asexual eunuchs in the mass media? Well, now we have an Asian brotha who’s out there fucking up a storm so shouldn’t we consider him a pioneering stereotype-buster?
There is an interesting post over at the Christianity-oriented The Thinking Housewife where they debate interracial marriages and the Gosselin family. After a commenter argued that the marriage broke up over their cultural differences, many refute this, saying that Jon was "all American:"
In this case, Jon is not a pure “Other” to Kate – he is, as Laura notes, half-Korean, half-white. But culturally-speaking he’s as American as any blonde-haired surfer dude. Just listen to the way he talks, how he carries himself. I see the inversion of gender roles in their marriage as far more relevant to their breakup than any racial differences. I don’t share Karen’s view of the “higher moral and spiritual purpose of marriage [as] preserving racial, cultural and religious tradition.” While certainly important in themselves, race and culture do not line up with morality and spirituality. And as for religion tradition, Jon &
