Responses of the Week


Updated 25 November 1998


Ok, so it's been a long time...


Previous Weeks:

4 August 1998


Hate Mail of the Week

There's only going to be one hate mail this time but that's because it's really long. I want to first post the entire message, and then go through and talk about it so it's gonna be even longer.

Hey, just visited your site and have lots of comments. I noticed that you have a lot of time on your hands, being that you should be a senior(?) in college--if you were going to a "real" (read: better) school, you'd be anticipating graduation and working hard towards it. To even think that you had enough time to draw up comics (and yes I understand that you were supposedly in study hall) shows that you didn't and probably still don't have much of a social life. (If you were wondering, I attended Stanford as an undergrad and double majored in business and psychology...I now attend the Haas school of business at Cal). I also noticed that you're a hypocrite, for lack of a better word. You obviously don't know much about Asian American culture, yet constantly comment on it--yes it's true that not everyone is into the "rice" scene, as you tend to label it, but a vast amount of people are, many of whom (just like yourself in high school) simply can't afford to buy newer cars or fix them up, yet they don't hate others who can. You probably are the way you are because you have resentment and animosity towards these kids whom you claim have rich parents and therefore can afford this junk (which I'm assuming you could not in H.S.). You attended Import Showoff and should know how many people attended...quite a few. And these were mostly the people from Southern Cali only. You then categorically divide these people into three classes--those who are performance oriented, those who prefer aesthetical appeal, and rice boys (which is a stupid word, with negative connotations toward the Asian race, no matter what you argue), yet you called the Import Showoff a big rice-boy convention!?!?!?! Didn't you say that those who are into attaining nice looking cars are exempt from your stereotypes/label? And those into performance as well??? Well, most of these guys are into looks, many w/out huge stickers and/or banners. The winner of the Import Showoff Exc had a car running 11's in the quarter mile! Why do you mock them, perhaps jealousy? How about "rice" mustangs and camaros? Aren't those performance orientated vehicles? How can they be rice, if they ARE fast, not just made to look fast? Besides, why would you attend this event, an event filled with people you seem to despise? If it's just to make fun of them, then I need to reiterate the fact that you need a life.

You also state, in response to some hate mail that you have no interest in women, at this particular moment in your life...how old are you? I'm assuming you're in your early twenties. You then are either a)homosexual (which I doubt) b)have a weird sense of priorities (you're twenty dammit, get off your site and get a girl :) ) or c)you're socially inept, which is what I'm assuming to be true. Perhaps you'd argue that you were busy with other "stuff" (like your website perhaps), but what about in high school? Did these rice boys get girls whereas you could not? Is that one of the reasons (because I know it's true)? You even admitted to riding around in a van with your mom while in high school; now I know that's gotta be cool...bet all the chicks loved that. "Hey Bryan, your van is the shit!!!! Can we get a ride with your mom?" (hehe). It's sad that you're a twenty-something year old virgin, but you could lie and say that you aren't or that you choose to be for health-related reasons. Or even better yet, you're saving yourself for that "special someone." I also know that most Koreans (or gook boys as we call them) have these rice cars, mainly in southern Cali, as well. Yet you yourself admit to being a gook and hating the Japanese (or at least resenting them) for what they did to your "people" during the war--but are they making fun of your people now, as you tend to do? Whether you believe it or not, your site is racist because people relate the term "rice boy" with asians in civics (which seems to be the only car you truly hate), whether they're modified or not. I know, I've experienced this first hand--and my civic pulls 13's down the quarter mile and is balanced enough for autocrossing. I also own a '98 Vette but the label still remains, because I own an Asian automobile--now labelled a rice burner. Don't you have anything better to do than build up on the stereotypes and racism towards your own people. I know that they shun you because you're intellectually handicapped, socially inept, physically ugly (or "average" as you probably would have me believe), financially poor, and just plain anti-social, but they still are your people, are they not? Maybe if your parents worked the liquor store 24 hrs, you'd be able to afford a Civic, as well. Don't tell me you like that stereotype nor my reference to it.

You also seem to know alot about performance upgrades, meaning that you were once into this "subculture," yet now you hate it, once again leading me to believe that you did not fit in. You mock these people and constantly ask (rhetorical) questions pertaining to females like, "do girls think that's fast?", etc...showing that you have a preoccupation with women in the "scene," and that these guys do it for the girls, yet it doesn't work, but I know you've seen the girls at Import Showoff with these guys...are you doing better than them with women? Then why mock? Once again, the conclusion: jealousy. I too am much better off than you (in just about every aspect, I'm sure) so do you hate me too?

Sorry this email was long, but I had alot to say...and don't take my message the wrong way, I don't mean to disrespect your site or make fun of you, though the truth sometimes hurts, huh? Anyways, I'd be lying if I said that I didn't get a couple of laughs off of some of your stuff. I just think that geeks like you should use your web creating skills for other good, like making sites on how to pick up on women...haha. P.S. Those geeks from Texas with the tricked out bikes really need lives. Damn, they have alot of time on their hands. And to even think that they had pictures of themselves ON those bikes, now I know the girls love that. Can we all say "LOSERS?" And thanx for reading my message, hope I got my point across.

Now to go through this thing, one piece at a time.

Hey, just visited your site and have lots of comments. I noticed that you have a lot of time on your hands, being that you should be a senior(?) in college--if you were going to a "real" (read: better) school, you'd be anticipating graduation and working hard towards it. To even think that you had enough time to draw up comics (and yes I understand that you were supposedly in study hall) shows that you didn't and probably still don't have much of a social life. (If you were wondering, I attended Stanford as an undergrad and double majored in business and psychology...I now attend the Haas school of business at Cal).

A real (i.e. better) school? Well if you believe US News & World Report, there are only 30 or so schools in the United States that are "better" than UC San Diego. UCSD is also ranked among the top 10 public universities in the nation (four of those ten I believe belong to the UC system). I think that's "real" enough. Furthermore, being that I am a theatre student (which I admit, is not very impressive sounding), the fact that UCSD has a #3 ranked theatre department means quite a lot to me (and no, Stanford is not #1 or #2).

I don't see how drawing those in study hall could indicate that I had no social life, particularly when no one was even allowed to talk in that class period in the first place.

By the way, it is because of meeting people that have this same "I'm better because I go to a better school than you" attitude that actually made me decide against even applying to Stanford University! I went up there and I met a bunch of cocky bastards and I said to myself "I don't want to hang out with a bunch of people like that, and I certainly don't want to become one of them". Not everyone that goes there is like that, but you know, a whole lot of them are. Which leads me to wonder... why do they have to keep assuring themselves that they are better than everyone else?

I also noticed that you're a hypocrite, for lack of a better word. You obviously don't know much about Asian American culture, yet constantly comment on it--yes it's true that not everyone is into the "rice" scene, as you tend to label it, but a vast amount of people are, many of whom (just like yourself in high school) simply can't afford to buy newer cars or fix them up, yet they don't hate others who can.

First of all, just how many high schoolers are actually capable of affording a new (or newer) car? How many high school kids out there have the $14,000 or so laying around that it takes to buy a used 1995 Integra GS-R?

Oh wait, are we talking about parents buying cars? Oh in that case, then no, those people are not "just like me in high school", as my parents could have easily got me pretty much any car I wanted and fix it up. But maybe they were smarter and chose not to spoil their kid?

And who said I hated anybody?

But what I really want to know is exactly how you arrived at the conclusion that I "obviously don't know much about Asian culture", and also, exactly what makes you such an expert in it.

You probably are the way you are because you have resentment and animosity towards these kids whom you claim have rich parents and therefore can afford this junk (which I'm assuming you could not in H.S.).

Is this what your big Stanford psychology degree told you? You know what is really sad is that these kids parents aren't rich. I know a lot of these guys that are driving around Integras have aftermarket wheels that are worth more than the cars that their parents are driving. How could I hate kids who have "rich" parents that are so out of touch with their kids that they have to buy them cars to control them when I myself have "rich" parents?

You attended Import Showoff and should know how many people attended...quite a few. And these were mostly the people from Southern Cali only. You then categorically divide these people into three classes--those who are performance oriented, those who prefer aesthetical appeal, and rice boys (which is a stupid word, with negative connotations toward the Asian race, no matter what you argue), yet you called the Import Showoff a big rice-boy convention!?!?!?! Didn't you say that those who are into attaining nice looking cars are exempt from your stereotypes/label? And those into performance as well??? Well, most of these guys are into looks, many w/out huge stickers and/or banners. The winner of the Import Showoff Exc had a car running 11's in the quarter mile! Why do you mock them, perhaps jealousy?

I call Import Showoff a rice-boy convention because it is rice-boys that are coming to see it. Sure the cars in the show are really nice, but have you taken a look around the parking lot? Am I the only one that noticed people sitting in their cars beeping their alarms just to show how "cool" they are? Am I the only one that noticed all the little rice-boys revving their engines while going through the tunnel (and knew they would)? I called it a rice-boy convention because of the THOUSANDS of guys like this that showed up there, not because of the one guy there with an 11 second car!

That's right, "rice-boy" has negative Asian connotations no matter what I argue. But who needs a negative term when these guys are providing so much of their own negative representations of Asians? I want people to think they are stupid. I want people to think negatively about them! And above all, I want people to know that not all Asians are like them, and not all Asians want to be like them! Not all Asians want to be part of the immature, superficial crowd that bases its identity and self worth on material posessions, are so self-deluded that they automatically assume that anyone who doesn't like them feels that way simply because they are jealous, and talk "black" because that is "who they are" and because they are "representing" Asian pride! I don't want them representing me!

How about "rice" mustangs and camaros? Aren't those performance orientated vehicles? How can they be rice, if they ARE fast, not just made to look fast? Besides, why would you attend this event, an event filled with people you seem to despise? If it's just to make fun of them, then I need to reiterate the fact that you need a life.

I go because I am myself an import enthusiast, and would like to see the cars that are actually done well. And I also go because I like to make fun of the people that come there. If that means that you think I don't have a life, then so be it. Hey, I want to see the cars in the show, and well what do you know, there's the added bonus of all the cars in the parking lot whose pictures I can put on this nifty page!

You also state, in response to some hate mail that you have no interest in women, at this particular moment in your life...how old are you? I'm assuming you're in your early twenties. You then are either a)homosexual (which I doubt) b)have a weird sense of priorities (you're twenty dammit, get off your site and get a girl :) ) or c)you're socially inept, which is what I'm assuming to be true.

Or maybe it was e) I was just plain sick of women.

Perhaps you'd argue that you were busy with other "stuff" (like your website perhaps), but what about in high school? Did these rice boys get girls whereas you could not? Is that one of the reasons (because I know it's true)?

Busy with other stuff? Well certainly not my web site. The last time I did this hate mail page was in August. And no, I did not have any problems getting girls in high school. And as long as it seems that you judge people's quality by what school they attend, I might add that the two women that I maintained long-term relationships with in high school now attend Stanford and Harvard.

So no, that is not one of the reasons. And just how would you know that it was true anyway?

You even admitted to riding around in a van with your mom while in high school; now I know that's gotta be cool...bet all the chicks loved that. "Hey Bryan, your van is the shit!!!! Can we get a ride with your mom?" (hehe).

Exactly how do you suggest I should have gotten myself around before I even had a drivers license? Surely someone must have driven you around before you could drive...

It's sad that you're a twenty-something year old virgin, but you could lie and say that you aren't or that you choose to be for health-related reasons. Or even better yet, you're saving yourself for that "special someone."

What's really sad is that someone with all of your supposed great education still has to resort to such low attacks. I mean you try to pass yourself off as some educated man that is so much better than all the rice-boys that write in to me and swear their heads off but really, you are are just as immature, shallow, and materialistic as any of them.

I also know that most Koreans (or gook boys as we call them) have these rice cars, mainly in southern Cali, as well. Yet you yourself admit to being a gook and hating the Japanese (or at least resenting them) for what they did to your "people" during the war--but are they making fun of your people now, as you tend to do?

I admitted to hating Japanese people? I did no such thing. What I did say is that driving a Japanese car has nothing to do with "Asian Pride" because of the fact that "Asians" are made up of many different cultures that have their own history, and driving a Japanese car doesn't have anything to do with making me any more or less proud to be Korean.

Whether you believe it or not, your site is racist because people relate the term "rice boy" with asians in civics (which seems to be the only car you truly hate), whether they're modified or not. I know, I've experienced this first hand--and my civic pulls 13's down the quarter mile and is balanced enough for autocrossing. I also own a '98 Vette but the label still remains, because I own an Asian automobile--now labelled a rice burner. Don't you have anything better to do than build up on the stereotypes and racism towards your own people.

Don't you have anything better to do than perpetuate it by taking part in it? And I'd really like to see a Civic that has enough drag suspension work on it to get it to launch well enough to do 13's and still autocross well. What kind of 60' times and mph do you get on those runs?

By the way, I had nothing to do with the term "rice-burner", and I myself have never actually used the term to describe a car, ever. In fact, I'd never even heard of the term before other people started using it in front of me. It grew totally on its own, with no help from me. Which maybe goes to show that no one needs my help to see how stupid rice-boys can be.

I know that they shun you because you're intellectually handicapped, socially inept, physically ugly (or "average" as you probably would have me believe), financially poor, and just plain anti-social, but they still are your people, are they not?

So what you are saying then is that rice-boys are actually intellectually superior, socially able, rich, sociable and all good looking? HAHAHAHAHAHA whatever.

Maybe if your parents worked the liquor store 24 hrs, you'd be able to afford a Civic, as well. Don't tell me you like that stereotype nor my reference to it.

Hey man, the real Koreans run dry-cleaners, not liquor stores (hehehe). Do I like it? Not particularly. But these guys running liquor stores and dry cleaners are not drawing attention to themselves, showcasing a glaring negative image of Asians everywhere they go. They aren't making fools of themselves every time they pull their car out of the garage, and they aren't causing passers by to point and laugh and think in their heads "stupid asians" every time the drive by.

You also seem to know alot about performance upgrades, meaning that you were once into this "subculture," yet now you hate it, once again leading me to believe that you did not fit in. You mock these people and constantly ask (rhetorical) questions pertaining to females like, "do girls think that's fast?", etc...showing that you have a preoccupation with women in the "scene," and that these guys do it for the girls, yet it doesn't work, but I know you've seen the girls at Import Showoff with these guys...are you doing better than them with women? Then why mock? Once again, the conclusion: jealousy. I too am much better off than you (in just about every aspect, I'm sure) so do you hate me too?

I constantly ask those rhetorical questions pertaining to females maybe because it is the rice-boys that are doing these things to get them.

I think it's really funny though, that no one really says "oh he's just saying that because he's jealous" unless they know he's right (and they want to save their poor egos) or they haven't got anything legitimate to say against what he's saying.

Sorry this email was long, but I had alot to say...and don't take my message the wrong way, I don't mean to disrespect your site or make fun of you, though the truth sometimes hurts, huh?

Well, your e-mail was long, you got that right... but it didn't really say much. I mean, the entire thing points to a conclusion of "jealousy" that was reached based on totally unsubstantiated "facts" that you would have no way to determine. Like the "fact" that I can't get women, or the "fact" that I (or my parents, rather) could not afford to get me a nice car, and therefore, I must be jealous.

Furthermore, while you have offered up you ideas on why my site is bad for Asians, neither you, nor anyone else in the 3 years of me running this site has ever been able make any legitimate defense for rice-boys. That is to say, no one has ever made a legitimate, substantiated claim that what rice-boys are doing is good for improving the public image of Asians. People have told me that it is their consitutional right to do what they want to to. People have told me that they are "RePrEseNTiN' AziAn PrIdE" but no one has ever told me that they are making Asians as a whole look good.

Anyways, I'd be lying if I said that I didn't get a couple of laughs off of some of your stuff. I just think that geeks like you should use your web creating skills for other good, like making sites on how to pick up on women...haha.

Well since you seem to think you know better than me about that subject, maybe you should do it. But actually, I already have.

P.S. Those geeks from Texas with the tricked out bikes really need lives. Damn, they have alot of time on their hands. And to even think that they had pictures of themselves ON those bikes, now I know the girls love that. Can we all say "LOSERS?" And thanx for reading my message, hope I got my point across.

hehehe


Great Mail of the Week

And just to show how obsessed with girls I am because I can't get them, the Great Mail of this week is from a girl from the bay area who likes cars but isn't a rice-chick, and doesn't like rice-chicks.

With my signifigant other deeply interested in motorsports, it's only normal that I would be too - I helped him with his (completely sleeper) hybrid Civic Si (not a single sticker on it!) and when it comes time to play with the RX-7, I'll be there too. I love the Rice Boy page and get a good laugh out of it every time I visit. Then again, to get a good eyeful of outrageous riceboys all I have to do is go to Milpitas on any Friday or Saturday night - it's truly amazing. Hundreds of 'em.

My present gripe though is ricegirls. With the already minimal number of females interested in motorsports, they just make it worse by discrediting any female who might be into import performance as "just another faddish ricegirl, who will get rims and a wing and be on her way..." Kind of depressing. I can only hope this fad will pass, and those of us who are _really_ interested in what automobiles can do (whatever their make or model or country of origin) can tell someone we're into cars without getting a dirty look.

Thanks again for the great page.


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Last Modified 11/25/1998

Disclaimer: The responses published here may have been edited for length and/or content. The return addresses of those who respond are kept secret unless I am otherwise instructed.