Thread by @keikoinboston

1. Any other Asian Americans feeling gaslit by the media and opinion writers saying we’re all terrified to leave our homes? 🤨

Curious what others are thinking about the psychological effects of news stories that keep repeating that we are. 🤔

My DMs are open.

2. I’ve experienced zero anti-Asian encounters since the start of the pandemic.

This is just my experience and I’m not trying to downplay the experiences—including death 😢—that others have had.

3. I have no idea if I’ve just been lucky, if it has to do with the types of stores and towns where I run most of my errands, or if it’s just not as much of a problem in the Greater Boston area as it is in other cities.

4. I also have a car & have rarely used public transit for the past year. I mostly go to healthcare appointments and to grocery/retail stores. I don’t take walks for exercise/recreation because they’re detrimental to my health as someone with ME/CFS so I'm not on the street much.

5. This study published in 2019 found that "Trauma-related media exposure perpetuates a cycle of high distress and media use."

advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/4/ea…

6. They were specifically looking at mass violence (Boston Marathon bombing & the Pulse nightclub massacre) but I’m wondering if media coverage of crimes against Asians could be contributing to high distress levels in some Asian Americans/Asian immigrants.

7. I think that fearmongering is dangerous and I resent that the message being sent to Asian Americans and Asian immigrants seems to be, “Be afraid. Be very afraid. Monsters are everywhere.” 👹

It’s just not true. 🤨

8. Old thread with my thoughts on fearmongers.

Tl;dr: fear doesn’t benefit the people being made to be afraid.

https://twitter.com/keikoinboston/status/1088957456653475841

9. A healthy amount of vigilance when one is in public, especially while alone, is fine, but I don’t believe that there’s any sense in me being terrified of going outside every time I have to go to the doctor or the store. 🤷🏻‍♀️

10. Being unreasonably anxious will raise my stress level which will raise my blood pressure, create more anxiety, and increase my pain and fatigue levels.

11. Even for those without mental/physical health problems I can’t imagine that hearing you should be afraid to go out is healthy.

12. Most of the media coverage I’ve seen has lacked nuance and painted a black & white picture without all the facts.

https://twitter.com/keikoinboston/status/1366562803323174913

13. Maybe I’ve missed it, but I haven’t seen any coverage that looked at root causes which in some cases appear to include untreated mental illness and homelessness.

14. Pawan Dhingra, professor of American Studies at Amherst College says that the only way to make communities safer is to know what is actually going on.

nbcnews.com/news/asian-ame…

15. I don’t think that emotional manipulation of non-Asians is a healthy way to build solidarity, nor is blaming attacks against Asians exclusively on “white supremacy” or “black on Asian crime”.

16. It doesn’t feel like we can have a truly open, nuanced, productive conversation that respects everyone’s humanity, when the starting point is the falsehood that ~all~ Asian Americans and Asian immigrants are terrified. 😕

17. Obviously I can’t speak for everyone but I felt it was time to speak for myself and make my discomfort public. Would love to hear from other Asian Americans who are feeling similar. If you don't feel up to responding publicly, my DMs are open.