Boba liberal
Boba liberal is a term mostly used within the Asian diaspora communities in the West, especially in the United States. Specifically, it refers to someone who is of East or Southeast Asian descent living in the West who has a liberal or centrist outlook. However, the neologism emerged as their association with such ideologies have been accused as a means to increase their proximity to be more white adjacent, while at the same time disregard and trivialize social issues concerning Asians.[1][2][3][4]
Definition
A boba liberal is believed to have come into use since the 2010s. The term refers to Asians who would often use their "Asianness" to speak on behalf of the Asian population in the West, using talking points often parroting white liberals, which has been accused as gaslighting actual issues faced by the Asian diaspora.[5][6]
The Asian identity of boba liberals has often been accused as being shallow and superficial since it goes directly against their goal of aspiring to whiteness, and so uses surface level stereotypical Asian traits such as "liking boba tea" to boaster their Asian credentials. Hence, the emergence of the term boba liberal.[5]
United States
Specifically in the United States, it is said that boba liberals often use boba tea as it does not require much personal investment; it is a fairly popular drink in Asia and therefore a safe non-opinion to take unlike contentious topics such as bipartisan policies that specifically affects Asians, such as the Asian quota in American universities and colleges.[4] Therefore, while the word "liberal" is used in boba liberal, this term may also extend to conservative–aligned Asians in the West that defend such measures, taking advantage of the "model minority" label.[5]
See also
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References
- ^ Frias, Lauren (6 May 2021). "Boba liberalism: How the emergence of superficial activism could cause more harm than good to the AAPI community". Insider. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
- ^ Rosen, Laura (18 February 2021). "The Quad: Bursting the bubble of boba liberalism amid the COVID-19 pandemic". Daily Bruin. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
- ^ Yukiko, Sarah (24 December 2021). "Boba liberals: The meaning of the term used to describe the Asian Americans everyone loves to hate". NextShark. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
- ^ a b Quach, Cindy (27 February 2021). "What is Boba Liberalism?". Retrieved 13 February 2022.
Boba liberalism thrives in a capitalist and neoliberal society because neoliberal policies primarily benefit wealthier communities. Typically, the faces of boba liberalism are Asian Americans that are part of the middle and upper economic class. As a result, boba liberals disregard the negative effects of capitalism because they profit from it. For instance, boba liberals tend to focus on advocating for Asian representation in white spaces, or discussing whether or not wearing chopsticks in one's hair is culture appropriation. These topics are popular within boba liberal circles, all while dialogue regarding inequality, globalization, and racial injustice are purposely neglected.
- ^ a b c Zhang, Jenny G. (5 November 2019). "How Bubble Tea Became a Complicated Symbol of Asian-American Identity". Eater. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
While bubble tea itself is neither inherently political nor bad, per se, some Asian Americans are critical of the dominant strain of Asian-American politics, called "boba liberalism," that the drink has come to represent in certain circles. Boba liberalism — is the "substanceless trend-chasing spectacle" that is mainstream Asian-American liberalism, derided as shallow, consumerist-capitalist, and robbed of meaning.
- ^ Vo, Mai (19 October 2021). "How did we get from bubble tea to boba liberalism?". Trinitonian. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
"Boba liberalism" obscures the diversity present in the community. It effaces the stories of working-class families, stories of undocumented immigrants, and stories of people who are fundamentally vulnerable in the community. Another issue with "boba liberalism" is rooted in its prevalence among middle- to upper-middle-class East and Southeast Asian communities and how they maintain the dominant voice within the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) sphere.