May 29, 2021

The Game of Clones, Asian American myths, “End of History” illusion, and the Greatest Magic Trick

I don’t like to write about political stuff and hot button issues. But, these things, you know, affect my life. I can’t ignore them.

Not long back, there was a little show on HBO called Game of Thrones about the power struggles in a mythical kingdom called Westeros. In it, there is a character called Theon Greyjoy, who has, let’s just say, a complicated and difficult childhood. As an adult, Theon is captured by Ramsay Bolton, a completely amoral and vicious sadist, and subjected to horrific torture. As a result of severe deprivation and pain, Theon loses much of his body weight and his hair turns white. Psychologically broken, Theon believes himself to be “Reek,” an identity forced on him by Ramsay.

The GOP today is Theon Greyjoy to Trump’s Ramsay. They have been broken completely. They now believe themselves to have a new identity, which Clownigula has foisted on them. The so-called leaders of the party now fall over each other to prove themselves to be the next best Trump clone. Take Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Congresswoman from Georgia who sounds like a person hanging on a 3-DVD Mad Max box set while being dragged out of a Walmart and yelling obscenities about the Deep State. A couple of weeks back, she compared mask wearing to the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany. Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader in the House, came down heavily on her by saying … nothing. Not to be outdone, Senate Republicans used a filibuster to defeat a measure to create a commission to investigate the Capitol Hill riots. The capitulation is complete.

In a recent poll, respondents when asked to describe Asian Americans, came up with “smart,” “hard working,” and “nice.” Another reminder that Asian Americans are perceived as the “model minority.” This trope of Asian Americans as the “hard working model minority” has been used repeatedly to rebut and minimize the role racism plays in the struggles of other minorities such as Black Americans. Is this trope really true? Are Asian Americans really the model minority?

First, there is no such thing as a monolithic Asian American group. Just as Hispanic Americans are diverse with a wide range of national origins, Asian Americans too are quite diverse. There are 22 million Asian Americans in the US, comprising 7% of the population. No single group makes up a majority. People who identify as Chinese, Indian or Filipino make up the largest share. Second, not all Asian Americans are affluent, as is often portrayed. As a group, their median income is around $78,000 a year. Indian and Taiwanese Americans occupy the higher end of the household income spectrum at $127,000 a year. Most Asian American households however have incomes below $50,000 a year. In fact, Asian Americans may be the most economically divided racial or ethnic group. The top 10% of Asian Americans make ELEVEN times those in the bottom tenth. Third, not all Asian Americans have entered the US legally. According to an ICE report, Asian Americans are three to four times more likely to be deported when compared to other ethnic groups, typically for criminal convictions. Fourth, numerous studies have shown that Asian Americans are subject to as much systemic racism and discrimination as other minority groups. Nearly 80% of Asian Americans say that they do not feel respected in the US. In contrast, over 75% of White Americans say that they feel respected in the US. The classic “model minority,” “perpetual foreigner,” and “yellow peril” are 100-year old toxic myths that persist till today. Trump’s racially charged rhetoric, referring to Covid-19 as the “Chinese virus,” “Wuhan virus,” and “Kung Flu,” has fanned these flames. The next time you are tempted to use these terms or hear your favorite politician use them, do consider the long shadow they cast on an entire community.

Make no mistake, we’ve come a long way in the last 100 years. Chinese laborers who arrived in the 19th century on the west coast of the United States and helped build the railroads, which fueled America’s economic expansion, were labeled “coolies,” and painted as “unfit for assimilation.” The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 specifically barred the Chinese from ever becoming citizens of the United States. In 1924, this was extended to bar peoples from all Asian nations including Indians. A lot has changed since. Yet, there is much work to be done.

You know how it is when we remember our past selves, they always seem quite different. We can always see very clearly how we have changed. But, when we look ahead, we somehow expect ourselves to stay the same. If I was asked to predict the price of a stock six months from now, I’d be crazy to say that it will remain at the same price as today. We people are like stocks, kind of. Unpredictable and random in many ways, as purposeful as we try to be. When middle aged people like me look upon their teenage or 25 year old selves, it is often with a wince, some amusement and a lot of chagrin. Our future selves will look back on our current selves with similar mixed feelings. We think we are having the last laugh at every age. And we are wrong, every time. This effect is actually studied by psychological researchers and has a name, “End of History illusion.” That we believe that our history ends right now and stays fixed forever. It represents a failure in our personal imagination. We must be aware of this failure. When you think of your future self, be breathtakingly expansive and creative. Don’t confuse the difficulty of what-can-be with the (un)likeliness of it. Don’t overestimate your ‘wonderfulness’ today. Most crucially, don’t underestimate your capacity for ‘wonderfulness’ tomorrow.

Speaking of illusions, have you ever heard of David Berglas and “the Greatest Magic Trick” ever? In the 1940s, Berglas began perfecting a card trick which came to be known as the “holy grail of card magic.” To this day, no one knows how he did it. Decades into his retirement, Berglas, now 94 years old, revealed just about every secret in his storied career, except this one. It is called the “Any Card At Any Number” or ACAAN in the magic business. It goes as follows:

A random spectator is asked to name ANY CARD in a deck - let’s say the nine of clubs. Another is asked to name ANY NUMBER between one and 52 - let’s say 31.

The cards are dealt face up, one by one. The 31st card revealed is, of course, the nine of clubs. Cue the gasps.

There have been 100s of variations of this trick over the years. They have all had one thing in common: The magician touches the cards at some point. The touch may be innocent and light, but the cards are always touched. With one exception: Berglas’s ACAAN. He would place the cards on the table and didn’t touch them until after the revelation. It was effortless. It was mind boggling.

“It’s not a secret I can give to anyone because it’s not a secret as such,” said Berglas, “It’s like asking a musician who can improvise to teach you his improvisation, which of course he can’t.”

Stay safe. Have a wonderful week ahead.