Angry Asian Battle (aka I'M ALIVE!!!)

As many fb visitors can see, 70% of my posts are really links to news that you'd normally never stumble upon or were first to see. i get them from gawker, buzzfeed, and of course, Angry Asian Man.

Angry Asian Girl's entry, which started it all:

http://fromthedeskoflelalee.blogspot.com/2015/02/why-angry-asian-man-is-pissing-me-off.html

Angry Asian Man's response:

http://blog.angryasianman.com/2015/02/i-am-being-threatened-with-angry-asian.html

my last two links give both sides of the lawsuit between Angry Asian Man and Angry Asian Girl. This is going to be a long post, so bear with me. Hells, might as well make this a good reason to revive my once-dead blog!

AAM (Angry Asian Man) has been the core of my college years. Back in the infancy of broadband, college was the time when I took my first Asian American Studies course. And I was hook. A class about my people, my generation, my struggles, my obstacles. AAM reflected real world events in the same fashion. We’d always refer to AAM whenever discussing current events; as I moved further into ASA classes, I started analyzing AAM and trying to go beyond just the ignorance or racism portrayed in its stories. This was what many of my professors stressed, to find the underlying issue of the story itself and how it could be corrected.

Most posts didn’t concentrate on racial issues against Asians, but any topic that featured an Asian American or would impact Asian Americans. There was even shaming bad Asians who committed crimes (Asians Behaving Badly), which sort of went against the “model minority” myth but also put the assumption that “All Asians Behave Well”. A lot of news broke on AAM before other networks, and even going through the archives you can see lots of stories normal outlets won’t pick up.

At certain points, I felt AAM was still stuck in the ASA era, never trying to look past the article. Unsure of the writer’s real background on AA history, topics, and issues, I started drifting away from the blog until it became just part of many feeds on my feedly. Fast forward ten years and Phil Yu (AAM’s writer) has enough publications and references and articles to be considered one of the first digital faces of AA issues and stories. Every Asian that went to college and had some ASA class knows of AAM.

So why this long post about AAM? It seems a trademark lawsuit has been brewing between AAM and Angry Asian Girls (AAG). Read AAM’s full breakdown of the lawsuit, then read AAG’s. My interpretation is this:

• AAG came before AAM by a few years. In internet terms, that’s a big deal with the audience and foothold on the AA community
• AAG and AAM creators knew each other (and well), had multiple speaking events together, collaborated and promoted each others work.
• AAG was one of many things that inspired the creation of AAM.
• AAM only seeked trademarking because of a Tumblr post and suggestion. The true purpose was never really to sell anything, just have an option available since someone squatted on the username “angryasianman”.
• AAG’s angst against AAM seems to stem back to times where collaboration was pretty visible, understood, seen as beneficial to both parties, and under no way conflicting with each other.

 What’s my take on AAG? Not that much. I’ve seen her cartoons, see how it can relate to Asian, Asian American, American, and overall quips and experiences from a cartoon girl. Some were funny, some got old really fast. All of them had to do with one central fact: the character was angry, little, and Asian. There’s a cartoon youtube channel, books published, stuffed dolls, you name it. A blog post to talk about the author’s thoughts, but that’s it. Most of her cartoons are more for ages 14+. In 2015, that’s what we call a “typical website”. But in 1994, this was so far ahead of its time, that it’s only NOW we see it as a “typical” website. One would say, the idea of AAG embodied more of the internet’s 3^rd generation than its 1^st.

So why did AAG trademark herself? I’m no lawyer, but it was simple: between the cartoons and marketing capability, AAG would stand to earn a lot of money. And being the first “angry Asian” didn’t hurt. AAM’s  reason was just to have an option in case someone trademarked it and ended up using it against him. Little did he know, just the attempt would cause this huge ripple effect. The backlash seems to be coming from AAG, with her trademark becoming true to form. Her argument that people would confuse AAM and AAG seems a bit absurd, but then again I grew up with both. From an outside perspective, a simple google search would tell you one is a cartoon while other is a blog first and foremost.

The winner? No one at the moment. Both AAM and AAG have brought previous documents and interactions to light, some would say airing dirty laundry. Readers of both call this unprofessional, but I’ve done it before (and I’m not proud of it), and I can see this more as letting the internet be the courtroom and hoping for public opinion to sway to your side. Since AAM has no comments option, one can only read AAG’s. The author reponds to many comments, continually saying “you mean you support his continual infringement of my trademark?” I don’t think this is valid because again, many in publication know that AAM is a news blog, while AAG is a creative one.  Most people say they would of never known about AAG without AAM posting about her.

A the same time, it seems that AAG’s writer has mirrored her character a bit too much, while AAM’s response has been more refined from his earlier postings. Personal attacked by AAG vs the clean breakdown of AAM just leaves you wondering if firing the first salvo ultimately gave away your position in a long and lengthy public opinion battle to come. AAG wants AAM to change his blog name. even gives suggestions and later requirements to ensure the brand is different. I feel even if AAM rebranded itself to AAA(merica), it would still of won the battle. At the same time, AAG’s side would be seen as “oh, its just an angry Asian girl. But in real life.”

Keeping in mind, this is post-Yolk, post magazine era when the source of AA news is now moved to

the internet. If this was a publication, I could see trademark infringement. If there was merchandise

and logos and depictions used without permission or royalties, I could see the issue. But when the

source of AA news and information is so small, having the last two people in town bickering just

makes the community shake their head and wonder “where can I turn to now?” When it’s very clear

AAM and AAG are completely different, what then? Are we so empowered by the law that we use it

to take down the very foundation we fought so hard to build? (read AAG’s comment section and

search for “Min Jung” – coming from a writer from KoreAm, Hyphen, and other AA related blogs.

Her insight def seems to put her in a “motherly” position and scolding AAG and AAM like children).

So spend an evening reading both sides of the story, then re-read this blog entry.

And if you're still wondering, i still have that damn time lapse entry to publish. by now there have

been 3 generations of Go Pros that have come out. THAT'S how long i've been holding off.