People like city councilman Rob Ford of Toronto and Max Carson, columnist of the University of Colorado Campus Press, are trying to prove that Asians are taking over the world.

According to the Toronto Star paper, Ford made a statement last week, supposedly making reference to the booming wealth of Asian commerce and technology, stating that “those Oriental people work like dogs…they sleep beside their machines…the Oriental people, they’re slowly taking over…they are hard, hard workers.”

Though these words are from a man notorious for public drunkenness and putting his foot in his mouth, he expresses insensitivity to Asian American and Asian Canadian people that we are pretty sick and tired of—the idea that racism is acceptable in the context of good intentions and public satire.

Sure, he expresses some admiration for the flourishing industry among Asian countries, but hasn’t it been like that for years?

He is talking about the advancement in technology and the future industriousness of Asian countries, but Asia has been making the clothes on our backs and the cell phones we use for years.

Is this an indication that he has based the wealth of Asian commerce on the idea of a model minority? And why the use of the word “Orientals”? Isn’t that a step backward?

An elected official calling Asian people “Orientals” during a council meeting in a city with one of the largest Asian communities is like our supervisors using other outdated and ignorant words during their Tuesday meetings.

Would the San Francisco public brush it off as just a silly rant from a public official? Most likely not.

Carson, the University of Colorado student columnist, accomplished what he sought out to do, and that was to spark talk about the racism on his college campus, which he claims is “a racist hell-hole.” Unfortunately, instead of revealing his concerns about the racism by the Asian American students on campus, he has done nothing but ignite a firestorm of bad press for his college paper, suspended free speech for his fellow writers and revealed that the only racism that exists on the Colorado campus is his own.

If he were really trying to ignite talk about racism on campus, why would all of his information on Asian Americans be based on stereotypes?

For example, in his supposedly satirical article about kidnapping Asians on campus and re-educating them, he explains to his fellow Caucasian students, “If you're not sure if someone is an Asian, give them a calculus problem to do in their head. If they get it right, net 'em.” He then advocates torturing them.

Instead of planning a mass kidnapping on campus, why didn’t this student think about writing an article about the racism he has seen and experienced on campus that would try to express real change instead of satire that frankly isn’t funny or provocative.

Why doesn’t he try to reveal the problem through an open discussion between him and an Asian American student who really does feel an opposition to Carson’s personal beliefs?

As a journalism student, I’m all for freedom of speech. But when the speech is from someone who has openly used derogatory terms, it defeats the purpose of moving forward and advancing beyond segregated bathrooms and bus seating.

I believe in strong columns based on hearty, well-researched information and an intelligent journalist with a stimulating opinion, not just racists who guise their work as satire when it is, in fact, bigoted ranting.

So sorry, guys, Asians aren’t trying to take over the world. The only thing we want is not to be the butt of your jokes.