I've held off on talking about Amy Chua for a long time. Everyone has said what I wanted to say but until now I couldn't find they reason and words for exactly why I don't like her.
Sure, I dislike her because I interpret her pride in Chinese parenting to be in direct conflict with some of her life choices. Sure I hate the elitism she throws in your face by flaunting her Yale and Harvard credentials (I'm fairly certain that does not a better parent make). I also hate her for being the same exact kind of Chinese as me (Chinese from the Philippines) giving us this bad publicity. And I hate her for being the embodiment of the kind of bad parenting that left me emotionally crippled until just a few years ago (I was parented this way to a certain extent but do not resent my parents for the mistakes they made).
But the biggest problem I have with Amy Chua is that she is parading as a comedienne of parenting. The first week of her interviews was about hyping the book and getting word out about how she bullied and verbally abused her children. The second week was about how she was kidding about all that. Now people are saying you need a sense of
humor.
Is a law professor at Yale with a J.D. from Harvard a comedienne? I bet on "Hell No".
Just like how members of congress are not comedians (
See "Barack the Magic Negro"), a Harvard educated law professor should not be joking about child abuse. Especially when so many first generation Asian children have taken to the internet.
I can take an offensive joke from Margaret Cho about harsh Asian parenting because she's made it clear that she is kidding (because she's a comedienne and Asian).
Amy Chua miscalculated her publicity and will lose my interest in her book (as others should).
I don't go to see a freak show because of the hype the freaks create . . . especially when the hype is hurtful.