FOB, of course, being short for “fresh off the boat.”
Joz: What do you think? http://mymomisafob.com
Ernie: AWESOME.
Joz: The thing I don’t like about it is lack of context.
Joz: It makes it sound like they are mocking their moms (and that’s it)
Joz: You know what I mean?
Ernie: well, they ARE mocking their moms. but there’s an undertone of them just meaning well too
Ernie: hell, half of my personal blog is me mocking my mom
Joz: I still think they are all making fun of their parents and often in a not-so nice way
Joz: Basically what MMIAF does is distills down what our parents do into a tiny post and puts it up on site that is SOLELY about mocking them. Maybe that’s what I rubs me the wrong way.
Joz: Individually those posts wouldn’t bother me if they were on the context of people’s blogs, but distilling them down “to the funny” and compiling them seems different to me.
Joz brings up a good point, but I’m still going to agree to disagree with her. Here’s why – this site is unique, sure, but it comes in the same spirit in other blogs such as Stuff White People Like. And what makes SWPL popular is the fact that it’s a giant in-joke. Asian American kids submit stuff to MMIAF. Hell, I submitted something to MMIAF. People aren’t submitting conversations with their mothers because of spite, but because there’s a moment of humor to be found trying to navigate two conflicting cultures — it’s hilarious that your Taiwanese mom mistakes Tijuana for Marijuana, but it’s endearing too, because she’s trying. Sure, some white asshole can stumble to this and make a sweeping generalizations about Asian people in the comments section, but the site wasn’t made for them. Obviously, it’s made an impact; their website gets tens of thousands of hits a day, and a book deal is in the works.
But enough about me: is My Mom is a FOB well intentioned hilarity or insensitive and inappropriate? Discuss.
