MIC FACT CHECK, 1, 2
that's not my real photo either
(I'm not nearly as good looking)
Another reason why the internet is completely bizarre: I ended up reading on Bol's site about an interview I had given in August that I had not realized was even published yet. Yes, B.C. is more up on me than I am (I believe this is where a "nullus" would normally be inserted. Nullus on that last phrase too).
Anyways, upon reading the story, I was surprised at the direction the writer took, especially in taking a one minute snippet of the conversation and turning it into the lead. Here's the story, as it ran:
CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING...
- South China Morning Post
September 18, 2005
HEADLINE: Oliver Wang; Writers from China's diaspora
BYLINE: David Wilson
BODY:
As he cradles his baby daughter, Oliver Wang doesn't look like the kind of person to inspire a vendetta. But the 33-year-old rap music critic is in the crosshairs of fellow blogger and hip-hop analyst Byron Crawford.
Upset that Wang removed him from his link list, Crawford claimed Wang had sent insulting e-mails, one of which is posted on Crawford's site.
"Everything you see on Byron Crawford's site about me is libellous," Wang says.
It's not the first spat Wang has been involved in. "I come from a community that's still largely marginalised. This doesn't necessarily affect me day-to -day because in San Francisco, which is multicultural, you don't necessarily feel out of place.
"But, as someone who keeps up with politics and social issues, I'm aware that I can be seen as a little unusual within certain conversations about race. It's still largely a black and white context that people talk about here, so my Chinese side reminds me that I'm this third party.
"We don't fit that cleanly into either a black or a white frame of reference. Because we're not white, we're subject to certain forms of prejudice in common with African-Americans and others. It comes down to being seen as the perpetual outsider."
Even though Wang is second-generation and his wife is "four-and-a-half -generation" Japanese-American, some still see the couple as immigrants without a deep stake in the US, Wang says.
Los Angeles-raised, the cultural critic lives in a cluttered house in Sunset, a Bohemian suburb of San Francisco that adjoins Golden Gate Park.
His parents came from Sichuan province. His father worked in the US as an actuary for insurance companies before moving into upper management. His mother started as an English teacher, then taught deaf children before becoming a real estate agent.
"My parents always stressed my writing abilities as a teenager," Wang says. "They even had me work with a writing tutor to make sure I was developing right. As a freelance writer, though, they haven't always understood my motivation to write on music."
His mother is more supportive now that he makes a living as a music critic. The author of Classic Material: The Hiphop Album Guide (ECW Press), Wang writes a Microsoft music blog (spaces.msn.com/members/musicfilter/blog) and contributes to publications ranging from The Village Voice to LA Weekly.
He regards the US very much as his home country. Wang says he can almost see himself living in a city such as Shanghai, where his parents are now. Language aside, he says it increasingly resembles an American city. And he predicts that the differences between the US and China will shrink.
He says the current tensions between the two nations are understandable "The US has a long history of seeing China as an enemy in ways they wouldn't necessarily see a European nation - because of race. It's the Yellow Peril."
He says competition between the two will inevitably start to take on racial dynamics. "It's troubling. China wants to be No1. I'm not passing judgment, but that would make sense to me because any nation that has the capability to advance itself will."
Regardless of career conflicts, the doting father and vigorous critic is doubtless set to keep on keeping on, too.
1) I had no clue Wilson was going to make Byron his lead, and had I know, I would have suggested he avoid the issue entirely since it seemed rather irrelevant to most of our conversation. He asked me briefly about Bol's posts, I gave him a response that took all of a minute, we moved on. Most of our convo was about Chinese/U.S. relations actually and as I noted, he touched on this at the end.
2) Not everything Bol's ever posted about me is libelous - I think Wilson actually applied my quote out of context here but it wasn't done maliciously. Factually speaking, when Bol calls me a "chink," he's technically correct. I just don't really self-identify as such but whatever.
It is true however, some of what he's posted about me is libelous but at this point, I don't really trip off it...except when intelligent people I know write me to ask, "did you really call Byron a n-----?" I'm frankly blown away that people would even be confused enough to have to ask for clarification but in this regard, I can only bow to the crafty genius that is B to the C.
By the way, just to put this out there, but people always want to ask me about Bol and I and I usually never say anything about it because truly: Byron and I share a love that dare not speak its name. (Cue: War's "Why Can't We Be Friends?")
3) I told Wilson that because Asian Americans are not white, we're subject to similar forms of discrimination as other people of color. I also went onto state that, despite this, there are also significant differences between Asians and other people of color, so it's not like one can equate our experiences with those of, say, African Americans.
Similar at times? Sure. Equivalent? Not hardly. However, that part of the quote was not included in the story.
4) My parents are not from Sichuan. What I told Wilson was that my mother's family is from Xianxi, but grew up in Sichuan because of WWII while my father's family was from Fujian and as far as I know, they never ended up in Sichuan. My parents met in Taipei in any case.
5) I do live in a cluttered house, though technically, it is an apartment. However, no one has ever called the Sunset district in San Francisco, "bohemian." My neighborhood is about as far from "bohemian" as one can get, especially in S.F.
6) Everything else is pretty much accurate. I'll clip the part about me being a "doting father" so when my daughter grows up to resent me, I'll have some proof that I was a good dad at one point.
The lesson to be learned here - all the more ironic since I interview people all the time - is be careful what you say. Not only will journalists potentially get facts wrong, they'll also quote you out of context - and believe me, I do the same stuff at times. Also, you can't predict, let alone dictate, the direction that a story will take.
In the book, The Journalist and the Murderer, author Janet Malcolm writes something to effect of this: people say things to journalists they really shouldn't because the act of the interview is seductive. Offering people the opportunity to speak on their views is something that very few amongst us will pass by because our egos overrule our good sense.
The irony is that, I should absolutely know this as a writer...but when the tables get turned and I'm on the other end of the microphone... Well, you get the idea.
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