One of my small frustrations in high school and college was that some of the most attractive girls were off limits to me. Jewish fathers wanted their daughters to marry Jewish guys. Chinese and Japanese fathers wanted the same. As much as I might be attracted, I had to accept that they had valid reasons for saying no.
Those groups had long and distinguished histories with many cultural accomplishments. They were more successful in American society than us whitebread Americans. They were also, per the standardized tests that people weren't afraid to talk about in that era, a little smarter on average.
Emmy Gill and Grace Williams, from the upscale enclave of Kensington, were two of those I regarded as desirable but unapproachable. Emmy wrote me a couple of years ago from Southern California to ask if I was going to the high school reunion. She appears to have done exactly what her father would have wanted. Married a nice Jewish guy, raised a family, became a successful therapist of some sort. Validated her father's wisdom. Though both Grace and Emmy attended the Unitarian church in Kensington. Grace is apparently an Episcopal priest in upstate New York. At any rate, not interested enough to answer my letter. Her father probably would have seconded that judgment as well.
Minorities understand one another. When a Jewish comedian like Phyllis Diller joked about her husband Fang, or Henny Youngman or Don Rickles about their wives, the audience understood. Jewish men were stereotypically klutzes when it came to using tools, fixing things around the house, but accomplished when it came to making money and arguing. The Jewish American Princess was a stereotypical reality.
For better or worse, there was a lot of validity to the stereotypes about Japanese and Chinese as well. I found the same to be true in Vietnam. Some of the women liked us round-eyed guys because we were not like their own men. But, at the end of the day, the most durable marriages seem to be among people of the same kind. They understand one another.
In my speech tomorrow on speed dating I'm going to put in a plug for whitedate.net, an Internet site for white people serious about marrying and raising a family with another white person. My first marriage to a Vietnamese and a 25 year marriage to a half Japanese gives me a pretty good perspective. They simply don't think like us. Although Oksana grew up half a world away while my second wife was born in Philadelphia, I find much more in common with her. It is easier to recognize our differences. Perhaps most important, we both have the ability to laugh about them.
I pondered my slight sense of guilt even mentioning whitedate.net as I recorded this speech. The cultural Marxists have even gotten to me! There is nothing to be guilty about! I should be enthusiastic, not wary, about recommending ways to meet serious marriage partners of their own kind to my Ukrainian audience.
I don't think that this will earn me entry to any Badthink lists I'm not already on. I have written on this topic for some of the most honorable – or disreputable, depending on your point of view – publications there are. Of course they call us racists for liking our own.
You do indeed have to let things go. I am still subscribed to Linh Dinh on Substack. Poor Linh has led a difficult life, yet seems to go out of his way to throw obstacles in his own path.
He was a regular contributor to The Unz Review up until 2021. I think he did a masterful job with his long interview with me in June of that year. Ron Unz is an odd duck. He tolerates a wide range of fringe opinions. I agree with my man David Cole when he says that he is far too tolerant of right-wing loonies. Nonetheless, Linh somehow got crosswise with him and went his own way.
I am attracted to Linh's contrarian take on just about everything. I tried to give him a small gift when I by accident came into some Bitcoin Gold that I could not easily turn into cash here in Ukraine. Trying to coach a neophyte on how to accept free money in the form of crypto currency was a thankless task. It eventually got totally lost.
Meanwhile, Linh became a fan of Putin and started abusing me on account of my misguided notion that Ukraine had a right to fight back against the invasion. I can tolerate that. Lots of people disagree with me and call me names. I continue reading his stuff.
A rather anodyne comment I made in response to his recent post laid bare another side of the Internet. There are a lot of wackos out there in the world articulate enough to make a somewhat coherent post but unable to sift through the available data to come up with anything like a concept of what the world is like. The responses I received confirm the wisdom of my conviction that I should tend to my knitting. Learn Ukrainian, raise my children, and stay out of this kind of mess. Though you may be amused or alarmed by the posts, I advise you to lay low and stay mum. These are tar babies you don't want to take a swing at.
I recently wrote that only one daughter of an old acquaintance was within a sack of potatoes of being svelte. Here he is outside of a beer hall with one of the others contemplating consuming some calories. I think it is an apt simile. I would not have written something so unkind even a decade ago, but such of the times we are in. He has certainly never treated me with an excess of courtesy.
Working the similie had me look on my website for the list of aphorisms I have collected over the years. There are several colorful turns of phrase such as that which I might want to add. It wasn't there! I reestablished the link. I might also post some Pogo comic strips from 1964. Walt Kelly's commentary on the political scene seems just as relevant today.
That's the news from Lake WeBeGone, where the strong man is resting one more day before getting back on the exercise bicycle. The girls are in kindergarten, and Eddie has biked with his mother down Russanovsky Lycée, where he will start in September.
Graham
I liked your comments about Ron Unz. I look at his website frequently and often read an article. I agree with you and David Cole that a few of the articles on unz.com seem a little unhinged, at least for my sensibilities.
I read David Cole's article you linked to, and it was very good. I didn't know anything about Ron Unz's history or background ... so I was curious to learn more. Cole's comments on Brimelow, Sailer and Coulter resonate with me.
Keep up the good work.