Expanding Asian facets to U.S. (2)

This is the second of a two-part article focusing on interaction between Asian and American culture.

By Willem F. Wanrooy

LANCESTER, California, USA (JP): Now that I've discussed the "why", let's discuss briefly some of other parameters of the "Asianness familiarization" process.

I know that we would like to get across to the West:

* The classification by partition ordered by dualism -- a dualism of antithetical pairs in which the line of partition is signified by a slash: right/left, male/female, good/evil, life/death, young/old, etc. In Asia's polarization concept, one category cannot exist without the other. There is no absolute opposition. The pre-eminence of either depends always on events, or circumstances of time and place.

The West has never quite understood this -- it is one of the major Asian cultural concepts Americans are uncomfortable with because "the cowboy with the white hat always slays the one with the black hat".

* Therefore, in Asia tolerance, accommodation, cooperation and minimization of conflict remain the guideline in personal, national and international relations.

* The value of harmonious unity is saliently expressed in the ideals of mutual assistance and the sharing of burdens.

* This is enacted by a process of decision making by mutual consultation, followed by an unanimous decision. Differences are settled through equal dialog on the basis of mutual respect.

* Strong family values, respect for authority, consensus in decision making, supremacy of the community over the individual (this last one is especially unacceptable in the American value system).

There are numerous other Asian values, mores and morals, traditions and philosophies, ideas and ideals that can be mentioned. The above are just a number of examples.

In this context it will be valuable to remember what one Asian diplomat once said, "Western values do not form a seamless web. Some are good. Some are bad. But one has to stand outside the West to see this clearly" (Asiaweek, March 2, 1994).

To be articulate in English in order to get these "messages" out, is helpful -- after all the premier medium of global discourse is English. However, in the end it doesn't matter: if the message is worthwhile, the world will listen.

A few pointers:

* Avoid hubris

* Do not preach

* Do not be smug

* Do not imply you cannot learn from other civilizations.

* Do not retreat into racial positions -- do not be anti-white.

* Do not be aggressive

* Do not show self-aggrandizement

* Narratives should not contain any indication of arrogance -- it could stress, for example, how the qualities of Asianness, blended with western spirit of entrepreneurship, upward mobility, and the ethic of volunteerism, have been responsible for the Asian renaissance.

Perhaps as important as the message is the tone -- neither defensive nor aggressive, just simple information.

There is in this context of tone a marvelous opportunity for Asian writers to show the beauty of their cultures by using the lyrical qualities they always use in writing.

"Today in America, there is a meltdown of courtesy, a wave-in- your-face aggressiveness and a collective mean streak that has snaked into schools, churches, the media -- everything", said writer Henry Beard ("The Mean Season", Los Angeles Times, July 14, 1995).

Our Asian approach in familiarizing Americans with Asian cultures can be fraught with danger should we similarly use a "wave-in-your-face" attitude. By keeping the right tone we will automatically illustrate the cultural differences between Asia and America -- alus vs kasar, or "refined vs coarse".

In the matter of logistics, the question comes up: How, or in what manner, can we get our message across? Film and TV? Newspapers and magazines?

With these last two media you can target your audience only through American self-interest magazines. This wouldn't really work because Asian writers and their narratives are subjected to decisions by non-Asian editors and publishers. Books?

Not a bad idea, but the cost of production and distribution of a book is prohibitive, and the volume of words is too much in order to get "these messages" across effectively.

The one print communication method left to execute is the newsletter.

There are about 10,000 newsletters printed and mailed in America. The frequency varies from twice-a-month, to monthly, to every two months, with subscription fees varying from "free" to US$250 a year.

Anyone in America with a personal computer, laser printer and a purchased mailing list can send out a newsletter. It is the one proof of the vitality, enterprise and originality of public discourse in North America.

And why not using this discourse?

The most important and valuable advantage the newsletter offers is that it can be mailed to very specific targeted audiences. Numerous specialized companies sell mailing lists that contain names and addresses of any category of Americans imaginable. This offers a marvelous opportunity to chose the exact audience Asian countries want to target in their (continuous) campaign to familiarize Americans with the facets of Asianness.

Written by Asian authors, academicians, poets, artists and intellectuals -- logistically coordinated by a government office in each country -- from Papua New Guinea to Pakistan and Bangladesh, to Japan and Mongolia and Indonesia -- and disseminated by the respective embassies or NGOs in the U.S. Slowly but extremely surely, Americans at all levels -- from government to private to NGOs -- can be elucidated by means of the newsletter, on Asian cultural, social, religious, political, and economical matters.

Television wouldn't work as a two-way system. In Asia we presently do not have the dollars and logistical capabilities to execute this mode of communicating to America.

Film is another matter, however.

While in America the secret of success is an excess of sex and violence, Asian film producers can exquisitely counter that with films that contain "social redeeming Asian values". About 71 percent of Americans agree that entertainment programs are nightmares of depravity. Asian entertainment could be dreams of wellness.

Finally, a recent issue of Newsweek magazine (July 10, 1995) voiced a number of answers to the question, "What is an American?"

How marvelous it would be to see one of these days Asian publications bearing the questions:

"What is an Indonesian?"

"What is a Malaysian?"

"What is a Singaporean?"

"What is a Vietnamese?"

Etc....etc.., with all the appropriate answers.

Let's suppose the time is now to start working towards this.

The writer is an author based in the United States.