I was recently at a meeting of Asian American organizations about the elections, and someone mentioned that there was an online group of Asian Americans for McCain. I think I choked on the water I was drinking. I seriously thought it was a joke, but looked around and noticed no one else was laughing. Whoops! So i turned to the person next to me and wrote the note, "Do they call themselves 'Gooks for McCain'?" Next thing you know lojoe and I were cracking up laughing like the 2 class clowns and the speakers looked at us with that "Stop f'ing around" look. Whoops.
Why do I say "Gooks for McCain"? Well, quite simply McCain has said: "I hated the gooks. I will hate them as long as I live."
True this was back in 2000, but why not bring it up for conversation? If McCain had said this in 2005 or 2006, he woulda been sunk like George Allen. The difference is that the blogosphere was not as robust in 2000. Allen was once a presidential contender, and now he has no elected career all because of the Great Macaca Incident of 2006. I admit, I had no idea what "Macaca" was before the youtube video and the mainstream media explained it to me. Wow.
But "gook"... "gook" I know very intimately and painfully. And I believe that it is generally understood as a racial slur in the general U.S. culture. George Allen apologized, but has no career. McCain apologized, and is presumptive nominee for the GOP in 2008. The only difference I can tell? Internet, youtube, and the blogosphere.
