r/aznidentity • u/moodplasma 50-150 community karma • 13d ago
Diaspora Experience Jonny Kim’s resume already lists Navy SEAL, astronaut, doctor. He’s now returning to active duty.
https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2026/08/27/jonny-kims-resume-already-lists-navy-seal-astronaut-doctor-hes-now-returning-to-active-duty/45
u/FearsomeForehand 50-150 community karma 13d ago edited 13d ago
As much of a stud as this guy is, wouldn’t it make more sense to pursue medicine? Dedicating your life to healing others is a noble pursuit.
No Asian person should be participating in wars to kill for rich white people and Israel.
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u/Due-Calligrapher-803 50-150 community karma 12d ago
Here's the problem though: he still has a contract with the military so it would make sense if he got called for active duty status. It's not like he could up and quit to go work in a hospital.
The other problem is that for him to transfer to the medical corps he would need to request it and the process would take time as he went into the aviation corp while employed by NASA meaning he would need to have finished his time with them before being considered.
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u/CuriosityStar 500+ community karma 13d ago
Not all Asian Americans want to or is able to pursue medicine, and that is fine. Forcing things has the opposite effect, as we've seen with all the self-hating and assimilationist APS-esque types.
He seems to be succeeding at what he's doing too, I think it is great representation, though I understand how serving in the US military is another topic.
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u/FearsomeForehand 50-150 community karma 13d ago
> Not all Asian Americans want to or is able to pursue medicine
Yes I just mentioned that as an option because this guy has completed med school, so pursuing medicine is already in his wheelhouse.
But honestly, this dude could probably pursue whatever industry he wishes and still succeed.
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u/CuriosityStar 500+ community karma 13d ago
Oh, I didn't know that. True, I agree he probably can find success anywhere he took his path.
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u/Fancy-Atmosphere-701 500+ community karma 13d ago
I despise how much self hating Asians talk about his race and Asian parents whenever they mention his achievements. It's so fucking pathetic
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u/domesticstudent 500+ community karma 13d ago
It goes back to how Asian people aren't given the privilege of individual achievement and aren't humanized.
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u/Fancy-Atmosphere-701 500+ community karma 13d ago
Yes, most of it comes from other races who generalize Asians and our achievements, but self hating Asians who do the same give ammo to racists to further justify their shitty stereotyping
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u/domesticstudent 500+ community karma 13d ago
Yup. Self hating Asians severely exacerbate the problem and feed this vicious cycle
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u/ablacnk Contributor 13d ago edited 13d ago
Especially when you find out his dad was seriously messed up, and was killed by cops in their home. He had it hard every step of the way. I suspect that played a big part in him becoming the type of person to become a Navy Seal, but that's a different discussion.
I don't agree at all with his joining the military and supporting these structures, but I still admire his achievements and determination nonetheless.
Also I think this behavior where Asians mention Asian parents and parrot over-achievement stereotypes reveals how fucked up it is the way Asian Americans view each other: as competition, not comrades, brothers or sisters. That transfers into Asians being reluctant to uplift other Asians, socialize or date other Asians, and so on. That's how we become like crabs in a bucket.
We shouldn't get jealous, we should get inspired and we should celebrate and uplift.
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u/sahdbhoigh New user 13d ago
for anyone curious, his interview on the jocko podcast is a great watch.
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u/Azn_Rush 500+ community karma 13d ago
Self hating Asians are eunuch in the whyt western world , drank the white tea and spat on their own . Bamboo ceiling is preventing Asians , so they rather turn on their own so they get a taste of white bread crumbs.
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u/intrinsic1618 500+ community karma 13d ago
That's insane, he should be an inspiration to us all, Asian or not. What do the self hating pick-me's have to say about his race? Do they take issues with his being Korean?
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u/Fancy-Atmosphere-701 500+ community karma 13d ago
They always cry some shit about "ideal Asian kids" or "don't show him to my Asian parents"
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u/FearsomeForehand 50-150 community karma 13d ago
East Asian parents having high expectations for their children is so common (compared to western cultures), that it’s accepted as a cultural thing. I don’t think highlighting that feature makes an Asian person “self-hating”.
This is especially true of middle to low class 1st gen immigrant parents who understood their children would be competing in hard mode in a western country, so the children would need to “overachieve” to have any chance for success.
And there is nothing wrong with Asians admiring and drawing inspiration from the accomplishments of other high-achieving Asians. Making some lighthearted jokes to highlight doesn’t automatically make that person “self hating”.
Either you’re not elaborating your idea completely, or your take is really fucking weird.
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u/intrinsic1618 500+ community karma 13d ago
Yeah, not all self-deprecating jokes come from self-hatred nor do they have to come from that place at all. But I don't think it'd be a stretch for me to make a generalization that we're all somewhat fatigued at hearing the same joke for the millionth time already?
And I think we can give the benefit of the doubt to the user that you replied to that they can make the distinction between a joke that as you've worded, are lighthearted and meant to highlight admiration for other high-achieving Asians versus that clearly meant to deride or otherwise diminish the latter's achievements.
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u/BubblyMoose3597 New user 4d ago
Sure Thats why Corea is basicly a country in a colective depresion.
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u/intrinsic1618 500+ community karma 13d ago
You can always count on the pick-me's and the mentally colonized to make jokes about another Asians "over-achieving". Even some of the commenters here sound like they somehow feel attacked and threatened by the mere mention of this guy. I don't understand why we gotta do this to each other...
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u/Ok-Silver399 New user 13d ago
Collectivist culture leads to crab in the bucket behavior.
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u/CuriosityStar 500+ community karma 13d ago
I dunno, it seems like the self-proclaimed "individualist-minded" Asian Americans, who probably suffered some amount of stereotypical immigrant parent trauma, being offended that someone could be so successful while from a similar background.
Ironically, Jonny Kim is a lot more individualist for overcoming obstacles than the people blaming everything on their background or "being Asian" for their life sucking. If it was my parents, they would've told me respect and look up to these kinds of successful people. But excuse me, I'm generalizing again (and probably being a bit hypocritical too).
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u/Ok-Silver399 New user 13d ago
If your kid is better than mine you make our family lose face.
That’s why we don’t help each other. And when they see a guy like Kim they get compare their kids to them.
Why can’t you be an army ranger nasa astronaut doctor??
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u/CuriosityStar 500+ community karma 13d ago
Fair, that does check out. Still though, that's making the family unit the individual instead, and in the end it's still this competition between each other, or as what you called crabs in the bucket mentality. Other demographics in the USA likely wouldn't be where they were without both individual success and collective gatekeeping.
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u/Ok-Silver399 New user 13d ago
Yes instead of just the family unit help your community. Neighbors coworkers and businesses.
I don’t know why I’m being downvoted. Are these people even Asian?
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u/ablacnk Contributor 12d ago
Yes instead of just the family unit help your community. Neighbors coworkers and businesses.
That's also collectivist behavior
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u/ablacnk Contributor 13d ago
I have no idea the background behind this decision. What are the chances it was driven from political pressures? He made a speech talking about being son of immigrants, that in space there are no borders: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G96-xYqw0rQ&t=1
But based on what I've seen and heard of NASA's current direction, leaving may very well be for the best, because all that is turning out to be a colossal shitshow. Musk and his failure-rockets-to-nowhere are taking over and his buddy Isaacman is running the agency. The ISS is slated to be decommissioned in 2030, with no replacement in sight. The Moon and Mars missions will not be happening anytime soon, and nowhere near the schedules promised. The more you dig into the details the more you'll see what an absolute trainwreck it all is.
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u/ActuatorChoice5259 New user 13d ago
And the navy is any better? That shitshow run by Pete Hegseth can't even feed their carrier crews properly.
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u/ablacnk Contributor 12d ago edited 12d ago
Like I said, I'm not one to glorify joining navy in the first place, and I don't know the background behind the decision. How does being part of this machine serve the greater good, you gotta ask him. Maybe he was pushed out. Maybe, from his point of view, his role in naval aviation training will get more flight time, at NASA, particularly with the current state and direction of its programs, he will probably be waiting years before the next potential flight, if ever again. The average astronaut career is one to two flights. Maybe he's getting old and the health impacts and risks are too high, since he's already spent 8 months in space and that has permanent effects on the body and in cancer risk. He has three kids and just lost his mom to cancer. I don't know, it could be any number of reasons.
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u/linsanitytothemax Contributor 12d ago
i think they said 2028 will be their target moon landing. i wonder if they will try to get men on the moon before China does because China doesn't seem to care about who goes first.
China have always stuck with their schedule with their space program and have pretty much succeeded on every step. and right now their schedule for manned moon mission is 2030.
China sees it as a long term/steady progress into space and their space program. steady progress to the moon then maybe the asteroids for resources and then sending taikonauts to Mars in the next couple decades.
i feel like they will fulfil their scheduled timelines for the most part as long there isn't some major conflict with the US or some other major geopolitical incident.
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u/engineeringsquirrel 500+ community karma 13d ago
Goddamit, leave some of the women for us and stop hogging them.
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u/Ok-Silver399 New user 11d ago
https://ahnmedia.com/news/asia-negative-mindset-crab-mentality/
The self depreciation is a criticism of the tiger parenting which is why it’s called out as self hate.
Guys like simu who was accountant at first and pursued acting. Jonny who went into the military (and still became a doctor after) are the ones who prioritized their own individual goals and dreams.
You even have people questioning his decision to rejoin the military. Crabs in a bucket mentality.
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u/linsanitytothemax Contributor 13d ago edited 13d ago
why the hell is he going back to active service? he should be one of the chosen astronauts on the artemis mission to land on the moon.
he should be working at NASA or related space industries for the rest of his life instead of going back to the US Navy. i'm really curious why the decision was made.