Waxing Poetically: Addressing Culture with a Twist of Poetry

Note: The video below is an interview with author Irwin Tang on his book, Gook: John McCain’s History of Racism and Why It Matters. Tang shows evidence of John McCain’s tendency to dehumanize “the other” in times of war. Also, note that all known sources confirm that McCain was tortured in a P.O.W. camp for five years under the Vietcong Army in Vietnam, so you may not be surprised that McCain would use the term “gook” so loosely in a non-war and public context.

However, Tang points out that McCain with military background, he tends to make dehumanizing comments across all areas in which McCain sees an enemy. Tang points to the fact that after McCain was told that cigarettes were a major U.S. export to Iran, McCain replied, “Good, maybe we can kill ‘them’” and cites to McCain’s rendition of “Bomb, bomb, bomb– Bomb, bomb Iran” ala The Beach Boys.

While I always try to give a look at all sides of an issue, this ones irks me. I’m afraid McCain’s personal vendetta may take Americans to places they don’t want to go in wartime or peacetime… or dinnertime for that matter; and while I understand his hatred toward those who tortured him, he should know better than to use a racist term like that in a public forum. It’s now a blanket term used on all Asian types to dehumanize them. Think of it this way, if he has said, “I hate those Ni****’s and I’ll always hate them,” no matter to whom he meant it, his career would be OVER!

For me it’s personally troubling because of my many Asian friends and extended family. I even had an Iranian pediatrician for my entire childhood and guess what? I’m still healthy! Keep waxin’!

Link: For more on racism in politics, read my review of the classic novel, The Ugly American.

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