The Almost Irresistible Rise of "Linsanity"

[Guest fountainhall]

I have never been to a basketball game. Whilst I have occasionally watched highlights on television, I have never seen a complete game. But over the years I have appreciated the talents of some of the sport's major stars.

 

I bring this up because in recent days I have become aware of a whole series of new words, the most common being “Linsanity”. And it’s not just me. For most of the world, very few had ever heard of Jeremy Lin until about a couple of weeks ago. Now he is a household name in North America, in every country where basketball is played, and especially here in Asia where I'd venture to guess 100 million Chinese or thereabouts are paying attention to his every move.

 

The man behind this sudden rush to fame is Jeremy Lin. A 23-year old Taiwanese American born to parents who emigrated from Taiwan in the 1970s, Lin went to Harvard to study economics because none of the established schools offering athletics scholarships would take him. After graduating, a couple of NBA teams signed him, including the Houston Rockets who had thrived with Chinese star Yau Ming, but rarely gave him a start. Then the New York Knicks picked him up, also rarely playing him – until a couple of weeks ago. And, wow! Did Lin make his presence felt!

 

In his first five starts, he scored 136 points, the most by any NBA player since the NBA merged with the ABA in 1976. That’s more than any of the sport’s household names. Several times I have watched the cool way he prepared for his last-gasp 3-pointer earlier this week which won the game with just half a second left on the clock. The Toronto crowd went wild, a crowd which not coincidentally included large numbers of Asian descent.

 

According to the NBA –

 

From Feb. 4 to Feb. 12, Lin had the top-selling jersey at nbastore.com, which has shipped Lin merchandise to 22 countries — Taiwan and Hong Kong were third and fourth behind the USA and Canada.

 

http://www.usatoday....-lin/53124082/1

 

Lin is now on the way to becoming a hugely wealthy young man. But I bring up the name not to show off my sudden awareness of a basketball sensation and a whole new vocabulary of puns – “Linsanity”, “Lincredible”, “Lintense”, “ThrillLin” and “Super Lintendo” being just a few. I am wondering if part of the reason so many in North America have taken him to their hearts is because he is an avowed and devout Christian. His facebook page carries two quotes from the Bible – Corinthians 5:3-5 and Colossians 3:23. The latter reads: "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men." After that stunning win in Toronto, he said to reporters: “God’s fingerprints are all over the place . . .”

 

So committed is Lin to his religion that he wants to become a pastor after his basketball is over, and lead non-profit organisations.

 

In my book, whatever reservations I myself might have, everyone is entitled to his own beliefs and the right to practice whichever religion he wishes. Lin’s plans for his future are thoroughly admirable. But I started this thread to bring attention to that quote from Colossions: “. . . working for the Lord.”

 

It raises a question in my mind. I am curious. Why is it that many Taiwanese who emigrate to America seem to be committed, almost evangelical Christians? There’s an article on thegospelcoalition.com written by another Taiwanese American two days ago in which the writer asks: “What is Asian American Christianity?”

 

Asian American evangelicals . . . have, by and large, never been a part of the Religious Right . . . We weren't a part of the fundamentalist-liberal divide from the early 20th century . . . We tend to be culturally sensitive because we ourselves have been constantly misunderstood . . . Linsanity, for Asian Americans, is only partly about basketball. More significantly, it's about that outside experience being recognized by others and, even further, evolving into inclusion. Can what happened to Lin in the NBA happen to him and other Asian American Christians in the broader American church?

 

http://thegospelcoal...n-christianity/

 

So was/is the ‘need’ to express their religious beliefs so publicly really some form of cry of inclusion?

 

Another sports example comes to mind. In the Final of the 1989 Mens French Tennis Open, Taiwanese-American teenager Michael Chang became the youngest-ever winner of the title (often remembered because of the number of bananas he consumed in the breaks!). Chang held similar religious views. Accepting the trophy, he said, “I thank the Lord Jesus Christ, because without Him, I am nothing.” Later he often said, “I often tell people I think it was God's purpose for me to be able to win the French Open.” (To be fair, he made this remark in reference to the killings in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square that summer, meaning his win would bring comfort to the Chinese people - a silly, self-serving remark in my view.)

 

And these comments prompted a sharp riposte from others in the sport, including Andre Agassi who wrote in his biography Open that he detested Chang’s habit of thanking God in victory, saying it was inconceivable that the Almighty would take sides in a tennis match.

 

I agree with Agassi. Religion may play a major role in an individual’s life and will certainly help shape his personality and outlook (sometimes, let's admit, negatively). But why would ‘God’ show favouratism? What if his opponent had been an equally committed Christian – or a Jew, Musim or Buddhist? Why the favouritism?

 

To me, those Chang remarks make no sense. It’s almost as if any number of pop superstars were to have thanked cocaine for making them feel good enough to perform so well!

 

Please – hold on! Before anyone claims that I am trying to start a thread about religion-bashing, that is absolutely not true! If anyone should rise to that particular bait, I am sure the moderators will come down on him very quickly. This Board has discussed religious issues in the past with a great deal of tact and understanding, and I trust any replies will be similarly balanced.

 

In the meantime, I look forward with continuing interest to the future exploits of “Linderella”

[Bob]

I've watched a few videoclips of Lin's basketball play and, yes, he's a rather amazing break-out player. As concerns his religion, I see that as his business although I personally find it somewhat obnoxious whenever anybody wears their beliefs on his/her sleeve. I respect anybody's right to believe whatever it is they want to believe but, before they shove it in my face, they ought to ask if I want to hear it.

 

As for Lin, Tebow, or whoever, to the extent they use their public/televised positions to adore or praise buddha, god, or a jar of jelly, they have no right to complain if others simply shake their head in disbelief and/or respond with negative comments about whatever brand of voodoo the particular sports star is flaunting at the moment.

 

I and other sports fans do care if Lin plays well or if his team wins or loses; however, as Agassi correctly noted, it's beyond the pale of any rational (just my opinion) being that any diety really gives a shit one way or the other. If, however, there really is some god-like creature/thing that actually pays attention to how the New York Knicks are doing, that god needs get off his/her ass and actually do something about a few issues carrying a whole lot more weight in the scheme of things. [Dear Mr. God - we do have wars, disease, and a whole lot of other serious issues going on and, if you're too busy watching a Knicks game to deal with those issues, then Mr. Bob says go fuck yourself*.]

 

* On the off chance I'm wrong, I have installed a lightning rod next to my laptop......

[Guest fountainhall]

I have installed a lightning rod next to my laptop......

 

Some "light" relief! As a young child, I got scared during a lightning storm whilst on a summer holiday. "Don't worry." said my mother, "the hotel has a lightning conductor."

 

I thought about this for a moment before asking," What's his name?"

[kokopelli]

One wonders why God Almighty would intervene in any way during a sports event or, even worse, take sides in a war where each side claim him as their own.

[Guest thaiworthy]

At the risk of being shocked by Bob's rod, I would hope Mr. God(sic) will ignore that comment come judgement day. But you never know Bob, the New York Knickerbockers may inspire you to do greater things. Anything is possible. In that event, I shall come to Chiang Mai and help you atone by letting you buy me drinks and dinner, and I will even donate my Knicks cap and pennant for you to slip under your pillow at night. Pleasant dreams, Bob. And don't forget to say your bedtime prayers to Saint Lin.

[Guest fountainhall]

The Lin puns are increasing exponentially. Some of the latest

 

Lin-conceivable

A Lin-ning Streak

Lin-sational

Lin-sightful

Lin Your Face

 

Even David Letterman had the 10 worst Lin puns – and believe me they are so bad they’re not worth listing here (!) apart from this mouthful –

 

Lin-terest-Bearing Lin-vestment Grade Financial Lin-strument

 

don't forget to say your bedtime prayers to Saint Lin.

 

I assume you know there is indeed a St. Agatha Lin. She was a 19th century martyr, and most appropriately Chinese.

 

There is also St. LIN-us who was the Pope in the first century after St. Peter, St. Colman of LIN-disfarne, St. Erme-LIN-da, St. Pau-LIN-a and St. Bernardino Rea-LIN-o, amongst others!

 

But my favourite for a LIN association, given the celebration earlier this week, is St. Va-LIN-tine.

[Guest thaiworthy]

I assume you know there is indeed a St. Agatha Lin. She was a 19th century martyr, and most appropriately Chinese.

 

I didn't know that. That's LINcredible!

 

[Guest fountainhall]

Saw this on the web just now -

 

If Jeremy Lin and Tim Tebow get gay-married I will serve Christ humbly for the remainder of my days. Lord, I need just this one sign

[Guest fountainhall]

Well, it had to happen! The Knicks LOST! Their run of six wins finally came to an end. This prompted ESPN's mobile platform to run a headline with another pun, but one with unfortunate consequences -

 

CHINK IN THE ARMOUR!

 

http://www.sbnation....rmor-jeremy-lin

 

Most seem to agree this was one of those honest mistakes rather than an attempt to play the racism card. The headline was pulled within half an hour.

[Guest fountainhall]

When I started the thread about Jeremy Lin, I did so thinking it was an interesting sudden success story with certain religious overtones. I later mentioned the ‘racist’ comment from ESPN only because I thought it was actually more funny than racist. Was that just my insensitivity?

 

I ask because in today’s Guardian there is an article titled “Jeremy Lin row reveals deep-seated racism against Asian Americans.” I certainly realise that there was probably a fair degree of racism against those of Asian descent in years gone by, just as there was in my home country, the UK. But I understood that of all the many ethnic immigrant groups who make up the melting pot of the USA, Asian Americans were perhaps one of the best assimilated.

 

According to the article, I was wrong. A Foxsports.com writer’s comment in response to Lin’s triumph over the Lakers last Friday was to tweet, “Some lucky lady in NYC is gonna feel a couple of inches of pain tonight.” When Madison Square Garden Network flashed up a photo of Lin, it superimposed a fortune cookie!

 

I’m sure a lot of people would not regard these jokes as being essentially racist. However, the one fact in the article that really shocks me is this –

 

A survey last year found that Asian American teenagers suffered far more bullying at school than any other demographic: 54% of Asian-American teenagers reported being bullied compared with 31.3% of white teens and 38.4% of black ones. In an extraordinary article in New York magazine last year, Wesley Yang wrote that to be an Asian American means being not just part of a "barely distinguishable" mass of "people who are good at math and play the violin, but a mass of stifled, repressed, abused, conformist quasi-robots who simply do not matter, socially or culturally".

 

http://www.guardian....asian-americans

 

That New York magazine article is long (at 11 pages) and I have only read a couple of pages. Written by an Asian American of Korean descent, he basically says that traditional Asian values don’t apply to him –

 

Fuck filial piety. Fuck grade-grubbing. Fuck Ivy League mania. Fuck deference to authority. Fuck humility and hard work. Fuck harmonious relations. Fuck sacrificing for the future. Fuck earnest, striving middle-class servility.

 

But he goes on –

 

I understand the reasons Asian parents have raised a generation of children this way. Doctor, lawyer, accountant, engineer: These are good jobs open to whoever works hard enough. What could be wrong with that pursuit? Asians graduate from college at a rate higher than any other ethnic group in America, including whites. They earn a higher median family income than any other ethnic group in America, including whites. This is a stage in a triumphal narrative, and it is a narrative that is much shorter than many remember. Two thirds of the roughly 14 million Asian-Americans are foreign-born. There were less than 39,000 people of Korean descent living in America in 1970, when my elder brother was born. There are around 1 million today.

 

Asian-American success is typically taken to ratify the American Dream and to prove that minorities can make it in this country without handouts. Still, an undercurrent of racial panic always accompanies the consideration of Asians, and all the more so as China becomes the destination for our industrial base and the banker controlling our burgeoning debt. But if the armies of Chinese factory workers who make our fast fashion and iPads terrify us, and if the collective mass of high-­achieving Asian-American students arouse an anxiety about the laxity of American parenting, what of the Asian-American who obeyed everything his parents told him? Does this person really scare anyone?

 

http://nymag.com/new...ericans-2011-5/

 

This whole issue is totally new to me. As one who has come to love living in Asia and feel most comfortable being with Asians, I am really very surprised about it.

[Rogie]

But I understood that of all the many ethnic immigrant groups who make up the melting pot of the USA, Asian Americans were perhaps one of the best assimilated.

 

I would have thought the same, but as I live in Britain I have no evidence for thinking that.

 

I haven't even glanced at the NY magazine article, so please forgive my impudence in commenting, what I say is purely off the top of my head.

 

So lets go through that list of things the author of that article in the NYT seems to despise. (Looks to me like he has one mother of a chip on his shoulder, what with all the gratuitous f-words . . . )

 

filial piety.

grade-grubbing.

Ivy League mania.

deference to authority.

humility and hard work.

harmonious relations.

sacrificing for the future.

earnest, striving middle-class servility.

 

There's somethiong missing though. Hark back to the original topic of this thread, Jeremy Lin's Christian faith. That guy in the NY mag doesn't list religion amongst all those other things. He could have been brought up in a family of non-believers and obviously that's quite possible, but generally speaking I would argue religion ought to be added to the list, not necessarily as something the author despises, but certainly as one of their traditional strengths.(see my next para).

 

The predominant religions in South Korea are the traditional Buddhist faith and a large and growing Christian population (composed of Catholic Christians and Protestants of various denominations). The practice of both of these faiths has been strongly influenced by the enduring legacies of Korean Confucianism, which was the official ideology of the 500-year-long Joseon Dynasty, and Korean shamanism, the native religion of the Korean Peninsula.

 

http://en.wikipedia...._in_South_Korea

 

That's great that Asians bring their traditional strengths, many of them listed above, with them to their new country and do their best to bring up their children in the way they themselves were brought up. So why the bullying? The usual reason as far as i am aware is difference. The bullied person is seen or suspected to be different. So when the article quoted above asks, Does this person really scare anyone? I guess anything different is potentially scary, but familiarity ought to erase that fear, shouldn't it, so as Asian-Americans are not exactly scarce that can't be the reason. Next most likely is the person being bullied has something you don't have. Maybe something as simple as confidence. If you come from a loving, stable family background, that stands to reason you'll feel that way. But it could be loads of other things, and a lot of the things on that list don't seem to apply to many American children from families on non-Asian descent.

 

Are Asians visible? If there are over 1 m Asians of Korean descent, and presumably we can add to that those from other Asian countries, they are clearly very visible. What about politics? Are the numbers of Asians elected to the Senate and the House of Representatives, as state governors, as city mayors, etc., in fair proportion to the population? Is the American public familiar with them? If that is the case that's great but I suspect it's not. Obviously and quite rightly the election of the country's first black President was hailed as a landmark, but there is still a long way to go before black Americans make up the deficit. What about hispanics, are they fairly represented? I suspect not and I think I would be right in saying there is a lot of prejudice and resentment expressed towards them by white Americans, although there is the added problem many hispanics speak Spanish and that doesn't go down well in some circles.

 

It seems to me, and apologies for intruding into American politics, an area I know little about and am hardly qualified to talk about, but wouldn't just a few politicians in positions of power with the attributes and background derived from an Asian-American upbringing be a breath of fresh air? Once they are in the public eye and open to scrutiny they can help heal the divisions that seem to have opened up between Asian-Americans and the rest of their countrymen. Hopefully that'll result in less bullying owing to Asian-American school kids being 'different' or scaring the other kids.

[Bob]

There's some form of discrimination - based on just about any factor that you can think of - that lurks on occasion in lots of places. That being said, I've never noticed any significant prejudice against Asians around my homestate or elsewhere. From my univeristy days - where there were lots of Asians - all I remember is admiration for their brains and work habits. But, to be honest, other than the university settings, the population of Michigan doesn't include all than many Asians. I think they say there's about 4% of the population in the US that's Asian and I'd guess about the same for Michigan (with, of course, much lower percentages in the rural areas and higher percentages in the big cities and university areas).

 

News stories often, sometimes intentionally but more often unintentionally, exaggerate or misrepresent what's really going on. We used to joke about our dinky city paper printing about 2 car accidents in a given day which suggested how dangerous our traffic was becoming (at the same time, not mentioning that there were 200,000+ perfectly safe car trips the same day in our area). Just a question of perspective.

 

I'm still unsure if the original ESPN tidbit about the "chink in the armor" was anything other than the use of the usual idiom to say that Lin was finally showing that he was human and could make mistakes. I simply can't believe that the writer used the word "chink" to reference that the guy was of Chinese (or Taiwanese or whatever) origin. Yet, that one likely-innocent word set this whole thing off.

[Rogie]

What about politics? Are the numbers of Asians elected to the Senate and the House of Representatives, as state governors, as city mayors, etc., in fair proportion to the population? . . .

. . . What about hispanics, are they fairly represented?

 

I think they say there's about 4% of the population in the US that's Asian and I'd guess about the same for Michigan (with, of course, much lower percentages in the rural areas and higher percentages in the big cities and university areas).

 

Bob's underlined a big flaw in my comment about Asians working their way up to positions of power as decision-makers in US politics. They're spread too thinly. Then again, that must've been the case for many minorities over the years. So what to do about it? If new immigrants find themselves living or are encouraged to live in areas in sufficient number that might serve to give them a reasonable voice, but at the expense of not being seen to integrate into the wider spectrum. A desire to be 'anonymous', to blend in, is laudable but that way any minority, although numbering in the millions nationwide, will always be just that, an insignificant factor 'on the ground'. Unless there are other ways.

[Guest fountainhall]


Yet, that one likely-innocent word set this whole thing off.


 

I am similarly baffled. And the whole issue seems to be blowing up out of all sort of proportion. The employee responsible for that ESPN headline has been fired, and now the Asian American Legal Defense Education Fund, an organization that promotes civil rights for Asian Americans, wants the network to do more, calling the headline “inexcusable” and “racist language”.

 

When I decided on the thread title, it was based on the title of the Brecht play "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui", an allegory on the rise of Hitler. Thinking about it now, even that could be said to involve some sort of ulterior motive!

 


Are the numbers of Asians elected to the Senate and the House of Representatives, as state governors, as city mayors, etc., in fair proportion to the population?


 

According to the US Census Bureau, there are 17.3 million US residents of Asian descent = 5.6%. Between 2000 and 2010, the Asian American community increased by 46%, more than any other ethnic grouping.

 

As to representation, all I can tell you is that two senators are Asian American (both from Hawaii). Obama’s Ambassador to China is also Asian American. In Congress, it seems there are nine Asian-American representatives out of a total of 435 = 2%.

 

http://www.ethnicmaj...om/congress.htm

http://www.census.go.../cb11-ff06.html

 

I wonder, though, how many Asian Americans actually run for elected office. I suspect, though I have no facts, that it may be a relatively small number.

[Rogie]

I wonder, though, how many Asian Americans actually run for elected office. I suspect, though I have no facts, that it may be a relatively small number.

 

That begs the question, "why run for office in the first place?". i guess it depends on what kind of office.

 

Firstly, there's voluntary positions. So for example, I served as a local councillor in an inner city area of London for four years. I enjoyed it but I didn't stand for re-election, it was just too time-consuming for a person with a full time (paid) day job. There was no salary or any perks, just nominal expenses, and for four years I had several meetings a week, mostly in the evenings after a full day's work. As for election expenses - peanuts - a couple of cheaply-produced election leaflets stuffed through letterboxes. Paid for by the political party I was representing, its money coming from subscriptions from members and fund-raising events. Accounts all audited and open for inspection.

 

Positions which pay generous expenses or some kind of salary must be tempting for people without any other kind of job or those in low paid jobs. Doesn't seem any problem there, if the person's elected democratically, that's fine. But what if in order to stand a realistic chance of being elected the candidate has to stump up funds for literature, for broadcasts on radio and local television, for hire of public venues, for telephone canvassing, for mailshots etc.? I don't know at what level of politics in the US money comes into the equation as far as upsetting what ideally should be a level playing field for candidates of all income groups. Once it is an issue that distorts things. The candidate either needs a substantial private income or he has to rely on some kind of sponsorship. But that still doesn't answer why, if a person does have what it takes in terms of money, he would want to run for office?

 

To answer that, you'd have to ask them. So I don't know. Maybe some ethnic groups are more pushy, more insecure, more motivated by thoughts of power and influence, the list is probably a long one. One thing I would guess is that Americans of Asian descent don't feel the need so much to enter the fray. That might change in years to come, maybe there'll be the equivalent of the Kennedy dynasty, or the Bush dynasty, or whoever, as it does seem that politics once tasted, is a bit like blood to a vampire, and cannot be resisted.

[Rogie]

Yawn

 

New York Knicks basketball player Jeremy Lin has filed to trademark the term "Linsanity", used to characterise his rapid rise to NBA stardom.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17136478