Re: CHAT: colours (out damn spot...;)

In a message dated 2004:04:27 12:47:43 AM, cowan@CCIL.ORG writes:

>J Y S Czhang scripsit:
[...]
>> (Damn, why are we expat Chinamen always frikkin' laundrymen in hostile
>> conditions/cultural environments?).
>
>Maybe it seemed like a good idea to hide in the fog during pogroms?
    True. And them ol' timey laundrys did always did have a lotta steam to
hide in and _plenti roomie_ ;)  and many opium dens in the Old Chinatowns of San
Francisco and Oakland (Jack London's stompin' grounds) were in the back rooms
of laundries (next to the rooms where gamblin' and mah-jong went on,
naturally).

    Or hide in plain sight ;)  _mutatis mutandi_ the best spymasters have
always posed as something totally innocuous and ubiquitous (i.e. a tinker, a
tailor, ... a laundryman).

    It is said that the California Anti-Chinese Labor Laws eventually died
out cuz so many Chinamen were hired butlers and bodyguards, etc. of the
Rich&Powerful by the turn of the century (20th that is) that it was not in the "vested
interests" of said elite to continue excluding Chinese from the workforce *.
    Who will do the laundry right? Who will cook the food right? Who will
plant the flower garden? Who will look after the children? Who will run the
household?

    "... 'Stone face, black heart': smile, bow and be polite even if insulted
and punched.  Pretend you did not understand the insult - pretend the blow
was an accident and that an apology from the barbarian had already been
offered... To succeed in Gold Mountain, be patient, work hard and eat bitter... One
must always remain civilized/Chinese in even the most difficult situations...
Become utterly indispensable, one will be immensely rewarded..." -  translated
advice from a Chinese book on immigrating to "Gold Mountain," America, circa
1884, reprinted [in Chinese] ever since with some minor modifications in the
form of up-dated materials

    Evidently the ol' stereotype of the grinning, bowing "Humble Heathen
Chinee-man" is a barbarian interpretation of the above "strategy"... The advice
evidently worked (mayhaps still does ;)

* BTW Chinese did not get the right of American citizenship till 1948 -
despite the fact that hundreds fought - and quite a number died - in American
military units in WWI and WWII... In the Pacific Theatre of WWII, a few even died
under "friendly fire"... _excused_ as "mistaken for the enemy"... sheesh, what
an insult - mistaken for being Japanese **...

** not to be-little the Japanese-Americans own stinker of a rotten deal in
WWII... they had their loyalty questioned, they had their assets & properties
seized, _and_ they were sent to "internment camps"... and still many remained
loyal to America, even volunteered and fought tooth&nail in some of the fiercest
battles in Italy and Germany ... becoming members of the two most decorated
units in _all_ American military history: "They lived and fought under their
motto 'Go For Broke' ... with a vengeance..."


---///// __/_//_/ __/_//  in the Kali Yuga Yera of 2004 CE,
                year 4702 of the Huangdi era,
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;P~~~

=>  om hung hanumatay rudratmakai hung phat  <=
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==> Ko nahi janat hai jag mein kapi, sankat mochan naam tiharo <==
[Who does not know that in this world oh monkey, thy name is one which
liberates one out of all problems].

"Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist...
Imitation is suicide." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I Am A Bird, don't try
to tell my wings where to fly.

    "I rather be whole than good." - Carl Jung

"It's also a rule of thumb that exceptional talents come at a cost..." -
Richard C. Cytowic, medical expert on synaethesia

"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh." - Voltaire

<=  thee prIs ov eXistenZ iz aetern'l warfaer 'N' kreativ playf'llnizz...  =>

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                                            - Kenneth Rexroth

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GoogolGekicherByte
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googolrisadinhabyte ===>  o byte de risadinha de googol
googolspassoctet                    guugoIllolbijt
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okukolkikikol                       egúgelegigalibaith
kiletstroknolyadgigabaiti           cimacimakekehapi
baitakhakhweifayatrauni         ufi'auayinisuguguluarkhar
pokatra oemadroabhethetre       inarevuta yhiyhayhake nawyo
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