Are American's Overly Sensitive?

In the past month or two a day wasn't beginning without someone bringing up “Linsanity,” a term coined for the sudden and immediate rise and non-stop exaggerated coverage regarding Jeremy Lin. The media attention around Lin was unprecedented and unique and even had David Stern admitting that the coverage regarding Lin is a first and even unexampled for the NBA (http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/7608874/david-stern-says-never-seen-anything-jeremy-lin-frenzy). Two of the factors sparking the coverage and are driving force behind this frenzy is his college education (Harvard) and his ethnicity (Asian-American). The latter has fueled many controversies around the country and raised many questions about to what extent should people go when writing or speaking about ones race. Lately there have been many trademark cases and controversies surrounding Jeremy Lin and the way companies and newspapers connect him to some aspect or the other of the Chinese culture. Recently a local branch of Ben Jerry’s has apologized for introducing a Jeremy Lin flavor, which had fortune cookie pieces. We couldn’t understand the backlash because fortune cookies aren’t even Chinese. Really? Why cant we participate in harmless humor and have fun with a media created title? The backlash that occurs when every minor invention that has Jeremy Lin attached to some aspect to Chinese culture is laughable and downright ludicrous. In any event, the issue is much bigger and far more complicated, we personally can’t comprehend why fellow Americans are so oversensitive about stereotypes. Also this past month another dispute broke out concerning a newspaper title that said “chink in the armor” referencing Jeremy Lin’s awful performance against the Miami Heat. The initial reaction was highly negative and there was a tremendous public outcry. The pressure mounted and it forced ESPN to dismiss the editor of the article and suspended a TV anchor that used a similar phrase. Can it be that the phrase wasn’t racially motivated and had purely everything to do with Lin’s performance? Another recent issue that comes to mind regarding this is the whole hoopla regarding Ozzie Guillen's comments on Fidel Castro's reign, the reaction and out roar in our opinion is overrated and wasn't worth a five game suspension. The issue is with America and our inability to move past race/stereotypes and touchy topics. Will we ever be able to live in a post environment where everybody isn’t so conscious? 

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