While throwing old timey cultural ignorance-themed parties might be cool kitschy fun for a certain subset of the Urban Youths, blogger Angry Asian Man saw things differently.
He writes,
Basically, it's an excuse for ignorant, misguided people to get their Orientalist thrills for the night.
Presented by hipster party purveyor Rubulad, the evening promises there will be "Open Sesame Noodles," "Ancient Chinese Secrets" and other culturally insensitive bullshyt, and guests are encouraged to dress in "coolie couture, dragon dancing, silk pajamas" — whatever the hell that means.
Here's what "coolie couture" means — it means that the organizers of the party either don't know what a "coolie" is or are Olympian dikkheads. One unamused Facebook commenter noted,
You're seriously telling people to come in coolie couture? Excerpted from Wiklipedia: Coolies were Asian laborers—some of these laborers signed contracts based on misleading promises, some were kidnapped, some were victims of clan violence whose captors sold them to coolie brokers, while others sold themselves to pay off gambling debts. Most were shipped on American vessels and numbered about 600,000 per year. Conditions on board these and other ships were overcrowded, unsanitary, and brutal. The terms of the contract were often not honored, so many laborers ended up working on Cuban sugar plantations or in Peruvian guano pits. Like slaves, some were sold at auction and most worked in gangs under the command of a strict overseer.
The coolie has trade has often been compared to the slave trade. Many coolies were first deceived or kidnapped and then kept in barrac00ns (detention centres) or loading vessels in the ports of departure, as were African slaves. Their voyages, which are sometimes called the Pacific Passage, were as inhumane and dangerous as the notorious Middle Passage. Mortality was very high. They were sold like animals and were taken to work in plantations or mines under appalling living and working conditions. The duration of a contract was typically five to eight years, but many coolies did not live out their term of service because of the hard labour and mistreatment. Those who did live were often forced to remain in servitude beyond the contracted period.
they want us gone.
