The Geeky Asian Guy Blog

…that Chinese woman freaking out when Cathay Pacific wouldn’t let her on her flight to San Francisco?

It’s gotten hundreds of thousands of hits on YouTube.  Apparently, an awful lot of people think it’s hilarious.

I’m not providing a link because I don’t think it’s funny.  In fact, it’s hard for me not to get depressed thinking of those hundreds of thousands of people who can’t wait to send the link to their friends so they can all yuck it up.

The video shows a Chinese woman, clutching a shopping bag, racing to an airport gate.  When it turns out that she has arrived too late to get onto the plane, she yells (in Cantonese), screams, wails, bangs her fist on the counter, and collpases onto the floor.

I’ve gotta ask myself — why do people think it’s okay to laugh at this woman’s obvious misery?  Here are some answers (condensed from various posted comments):

It’s okay to laugh, because:

1. She’s funny-looking.
2. She sounds funny.
3. Her behavior is wildly disproportionate to the situation.
4. She’s an identifiable “type.”
5. She’s not really suffering — and even if she were, she’s forfeited any right to be taken seriously because of Items 1-4.

The thing is, I know what it feels like not to be taken seriously because of the way I look, sound, and act.  Because of my “type.”

And it’s not funny.

Seriously.