Why few local asian boys on pro surfing tour?

[kahalabrah]

okay okay. there are some damn good local haole pro surfers. and serious props to them like andy irons. but where are the top local asian surfers? when i surf at diamond head i see some damn hot local asian guys.

and lest you think i'm crying racism, i'm not. i'm just curious why, with the high caliber of local asian surfers in hawaii, coupled with the best surf conditions in the world, why there aren't significantly more asian pros.

[mel]

Re: Why few local asian boys on pro surfing tour?

You might as well ask why no Asians have ever walked on the moon.

[waioli kai]

Re: Why few local asian boys on pro surfing tour?

i'm just curious why, with the high caliber of local asian surfers in hawaii, coupled with the best surf conditions in the world, why there aren't significantly more asian pros.

Maybe it has something to do with sponsorship. Maybe sponsors (Hurley, Quicksilver, Roxy, O'Neill etc.) "invest" in the racial spectrum from whom their profits derive. The pro surfer companys' web sites list who it is they sponsor. The percentage of overall surfers in the world who are of Asian races is probably no where as great as is the percentage who are of Caucasian race. Maybe as Asian economies begin to more support their citizens' pursuits of leisure activities, more of their youth will take up surfing, i.e. more will be purchasing surfing-lifestyle products.

[kahalabrah]

Re: Why few local asian boys on pro surfing tour?

Maybe it has something to do with sponsorship. Maybe sponsors (Hurley, Quicksilver, Roxy, O'Neill etc.) "invest" in the racial spectrum from whom their profits derive. The pro surfer companys' web sites list who it is they sponsor. The percentage of overall surfers in the world who are of Asian races is probably no where as great as is the percentage who are of Caucasian race. Maybe as Asian economies begin to more support their citizens' pursuits of leisure activities, more of their youth will take up surfing, i.e. more will be purchasing surfing-lifestyle products.

hmmmmm. interesting take. so it could actually be racism? sort of like abercrombie & fitch and their "all-american" marketing?

[pzarquon]

Re: Why few local asian boys on pro surfing tour?

Good god, not this again.

There are lots of Asians in Hawaii. So there are lots of Asian surfers in Hawaii. There are lots of Caucasian surfers in Australia and California (Hawaii ain't the mecca you might think it to be). So there are lots of Caucasian surfers in Australia and California.

Why aren't there more Asian pro surfers? Why aren't there more Asian pro basketweavers? (Or as Mel asks, moonwalkers?) There aren't exactly lots of opportunities for any surfer to ride waves professionally. But there's no lack of "color," as it were on the water.

Besides. Duke Kahanamoku? Eddie Aikau? Rell Sun? Legends, and not a blonde hair among them.

Give it a rest. Or at least keep your "why are there no Asians in {x}" trolls in a single thread. Call it "Kahalabrah's Asian Suppression Thread."

[waioli kai]

Re: Why few local asian boys on pro surfing tour?

hmmmmm. interesting take. so it could actually be racism? sort of like abercrombie & fitch and their "all-american" marketing?

If it is racism, it is something along the line of why so many of the refugees of Hurricane Katrina's devastation are AmericanAfrican. It's comes down to class, socioeconomics, or just economics. Of course where one is in the economic scheme of things in the U.S. has a lot to do with historical U.S. racial discrimination preferencing (overtly, covertly, essentially) in education, housing, the workplace and politics. Corporations who market surfing-lifestyle products make their profits from selling stuff to people who do not surf, people who fantasize about the surfing-lifestyle, about surfers themselves and maybe on rare occassions about surfing itself.

Your "abercrombie & fitch and their "all-american" marketing" comparison is most appropriate.

[kahalabrah]

Re: Why few local asian boys on pro surfing tour?

Give it a rest. Or at least keep your "why are there no Asians in {x}" trolls in a single thread. Call it "Kahalabrah's Asian Suppression Thread."

Faaak you. This supposedly is a public forum. You think you're the Grand poobah? I'm restricted from asking questions? Censorship? Apparently so.

I repeat. Faaak you.

[admin]

Re: Why few local asian boys on pro surfing tour?

That's it. We're done here.

Kahalabrah:

• You've posted multiple threads with the same theme, and react rudely and inappropriately when people disagree with your assessment of haole dominance and Asian suppression. There is no need to spread the same theory to every area of this message board.
• That said, this thread, as any, had promise for constructive debate. Your reply, however, crosses the line.
• HawaiiThreads.com is a public forum in spirit, but ultimately, a privately operated system provided as a service for a community to interact. There is moderation, there are rules, and you can accept that, or go elsewhere.

We've never banned an active user, though we've come close, and I don't want to start now. Take a deep breath, step away from your computer for a few hours, and consider rejoining our community in the spirit it's intended.