What’s in a name? Oppression, victimhood and cultural imperialism

 Behold, the Oppression! Aria Young, the oppressed…

“What’s in a name? Oppression, victimhood and cultural imperialism”…If you’re newly woke, that is.

Young Yang Qinyue (杨沁樂) arrived in the US from her native Shanghai five years ago and promptly adopted an anglicised name, Aria Young. Wise move you’d think. Her friends suggested it would be easier for people. And it would. “Yang” and “Qin” will be commonly mispronounced. Aria/Qinyue was fine with that until now: newly woke, she finds it “confuses her cultural identity” that her anglicised name is “cultural imperialism” and she has to “go back to her cultural roots”.

Yikes!

I was in exactly the same situation in reverse, in 1976 when I arrived to study in China. For me it wasn’t even my choice.. I was just given a Chinese name 傅赛思 Fu Saisi by my Chinese teacher. A name I maintain to this day. I’m fine with it. I was fine with the fact that it was done for the convenience of the Chinese around me. For them “Forsythe” is almost impossible to say. (Just as Aria’s “Qin” is going to be mispronounced by most Americans). Here in Hong Kong, when giving my name over the phone, I often use “Lee” because that’s easier for Hongkongers. (By the way, here in Hong Kong it’s almost universal to have a mixed Chinese-English name).

But Ms Young has become woke. And that means you have to find some social injustice to fix. For her, it’s the horrid oppression of an English name. Forget that people around you find “Aria” easier than “Qinyue”. It’s oppression! It’s also self-righteous, self-indulgent nonsense. You can see just how oppressed she is in the photo above. Which makes it very hard to avoid saying, and I’m not going say, “if you don’t like it, how about heading back to China?”. Where Aria / Qinyue will find it impossible to air the opinions she now does on her “award-winning” podcast in America. 

Lord save us from wokeism.

ADDED: “Help! Help! I’m being repressed!” (Amazing how well Monty Python holds up after All these years)

ADDED: From David Thompson:

PF: Have a look at a young lady traumatised by a name change

Someone should tell Ms Qinyue that chippy, pretentious bint is not a great way to go through life. 

Somewhat related. 

And of course this. 

Why, it’s almost a pattern. 

I could do this all day.