[1] The closest corollary goes back at least five years, when Ayelet Waldman's infamous NYT essay came out. The fact that Waldman ended up writing an op-ed piece on Chua's book for the WSJ could only be made more meta if Caitlin Flanagan or Sandra Tsing-Loh end up weighing in on this, maybe with a historical context essay from Jill Lepore thrown in for good measure, after which, Tina Fey can write in a joke about all this on 30 Rock.
[2] No doubt, Palin's book agent is drafting up the proposal as we speak.
[3] Some interesting verbal jujitsu on the part of the Journal; they didn't actually excerpt part of a chapter. Instead, they cobbled together what they're calling an "extract" based on bits and pieces of the book. A bit misleading if you ask me but it certainly helped set shit off.
[4] Unless you can convert smugness into swagger, in which case, then you're cool again. See Lil Wayne.
[5] You could, I suppose, trump it with this fictitious, three-word headline: "Breastfeeding causes autism."
[6] Not that I've ever actually used these retorts. It was easier to move out of Los Angeles' Westside, which is sort of ground zero for this kind of behavior.
[7] My crack about the New York Times in Part 1 was largely inspired by the fact that the Gray Lady seems to eat off these kinds of stories, all the time which either says something about the newspaper...or something about parents in New York City.
[8] Scarface wisdom is eternal: don't get high on your own supply.
[9] I've found it interesting that the U.S. census has no category for any kind of ethnicity/nationality from the Middle East. You'd have to think there was a push for this until 9/11 changed the desirability of "recognition."
[10] How China was never called "the Orange threat" is beyond me.
[12] True story: my friend in Shanghai, Gary Wang (a quad-lingual, DJ/promoter/entrepreneur), books hip-hop acts from the U.S. and he used to get an earful from Americans about how great Panda Express?s orange chicken is. (I?m pretty sure I face-palmed myself when Gary first shared this story). I imagine this would be like going to Italy and raving about Pizza Hut?s stuffed crust pizza . However, Gary - who is a hardcore foodie - was genuinely intrigued enough that, when he visited the U.S. for the first time a few years back, he made a special point to go to Panda Express and try the orange chicken. The verdict? ?It?s not so bad! It?s not really Chinese, but it?s not so bad.? (I might have face-palmed myself again but was also probably nodding in agreement).
[13] Even Cheetos was up on this, with an ad that lampoons Sinophilia...between middle class soccer moms (oh, the prescience!)
[14] My friend Cynthia Liu thinks that part of why the book blew up was because PISA scores just came out in mid-December:
[15] Of course, she's really second generation Chinese American which isn't remotely the same thing as "being Chinese" but I'm doubtful most Americans can tell the difference or care to.
[16] Battle Tracks of a Elk Mother doesn't have the same ring to it.
[17] Even with all this, I'm still genuinely at a loss in understanding just why this book has become such a popular topic. Every time I'm sure it's 15 minutes are up, it rises again. (When they start casting for the movie version of the book, find me like this). If someone has the secret decoder ring explanation with something I missed (or downplayed), break it down. recent international tests scores...showed students from China (Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Macau) surging from seemingly nowhere to take over the highest rankings on achievement tests measuring reading, science, and math among fifteen year olds. The results have made much of the rest of the world cringe at the mediocre results of their own children as measured by PISA.
There may be something to the coincidental timing though I'm not convinced the average American is aware of what PISA is.