Editor’s note: The image of the Asian male was given a serious uplift in 2006 with the likes of Yul Kwon, winner of Survivor, and James Kim, C-Net commetator. But in 2007, says Ben Hamamoto, that image falters with the likes of Cho Seung-Hui.

The more I look at 2006, the more I realize that the Center for Asian American Media was right and it was indeed the ""year of the Asian man."" Yul Kwon won the racially-themed season of ""Survivor"" and put his celebrity to great use, tabloid-y accounts of C-Net commentator James Kim’s heroics gave America a fully formed image of an Asian man, the hugely successful ""Letters from Iwo Jima"" contained the best portrayals of Asian men we’ve seen in the mainstream media, like ever, and Lt. Ehren Watada broke numerous stereotypes by becoming a major figure in the Peace Movement.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but 2007 was not a new contender for ""year of the Asian man."" Not by a long shot. If anything it was the year of the Asian mug-shot. The most high-profile of which was of course Seung-Hui Cho.

I suppose it is a marker of progress in some ways, in that the media really did not make a big deal out of his Asian-ness. Commentators as well have generally stayed away from bringing up his race, with the exception of people like Pat Buchanan — who wrote a ridiculous tirade calling Cho someone who was ""never fully assimilated"" and an ""immigrant... who secretly hated us"" (he never specifies who exactly he means by ""us"" but I’m sure we all can guess). Real progress might mean taking an honest look at whether or not experiencing life as a relatively impoverished Asian American had any impact on his actions, but Rome wasn’t built in a day I suppose.

Although he had by far the highest profile, Cho wasn’t the only Asian American with his mug-shot in the paper. Not that it negates all the great things they’ve done in the past, but two Asian American celebs were arrested in Hawai’i this year, putting a smudge on their reputations. Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa managed to fulfill some stereotypes by getting arrested for allegedly battering his long-time girlfriend (and therefore being found guilty in the court of public opinion). The police did mention though, that he was cordial and cooperative.

Daniel Dae Kim, on the other hand, was picked up for the far more glamorous crime of drunk driving. He pleaded not guilty and apologized to this fans, which, to me, seems a bit contradictory. Contradictory and unnecessary; celebrities, it seems, rarely lose fans with such antics. If anything, it seems to get them a lot more attention than other matters which are almost as pressing, like say, health care, poverty, the war and the environment. Perhaps this will actually help raise his profile to the level of revered drunk drivers Halle Berry, Keifer Sutherland, and that kid from ""The Sixth Sense"" (Google it). We may even get to see his face when VH1 does their ""why we are scared to get in a celebrity’s car in 2007"" countdown or whatever.

Furthermore, our media watch-doggery — thus far one of our best tools for empowerment, I feel — officially crossed the line this year and became counter-productive. The ""Desperate Housewives"" controversy, I fear, is going to lose us some credibility in the long run. To recap, a character on the show says something ignorant and racist that demeans Filipino doctors. Activists (and even the Filipino government) jump on the show and its producers and call them racist. The problem I have is that I believe the show itself, and the writers, are not necessarily being ""racist."" They are definitely being irresponsible by writing a line that its audience will interpret to mean ""Filipino doctors are incompetent,"" but what they really meant by it is not something we can really know.

This coincided with another controversy I found to be similarly problematic. At roughly the same time, Bill O’Reilly said ""I couldn’t get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia’s restaurant [in Harlem] and any other restaurant in New York City... There wasn’t one person in Sylvia’s who [was] screaming, "MFer, I want more iced tea.""

He quickly found all manner of politicians, pundits and celebrities calling him a racist. The problem, though, is that quote was taken out of context, and transcribed without an ear to sarcasm. I took a listen to the whole thing, and this is what I took him to mean: ""This will come as a huge shock to people who buy into the media’s perception of blacks as ebonics-speaking thugs, but Sylvia’s is actually just the same as a white restaurant.""

He even told the AP that ""if you listened to the full hour, it was a criticism of racism on the part of white Americans who are ignorant of the fact that there is no difference between white and black anymore.""

Though that statement isn’t quite the lightning rod for controversy that the misinterpreted statement was, it’s actually quite racist, but in a subtler way.

He seems to be implying that ""the same as white people"" is a compliment and something to strive for and by doing so, he is belittling great things that are exclusive to black American culture. Also, the whole, color-blind, ""we’re all the same"" line of thinking conveniently seeks to ignore the massive disparities in the experiences of white and black Americans.

Overall though, trying to take O’Reilly to task for something he didn’t do really loses the activists credibility and further strengthens his base.

Not to denigrate the good work of the media watchdogs, but caution has to be exercised. Sometimes something smells fishy, but that is really not enough; our arguments need to be rock-solid in order to maintain credibility.

So what do we have to celebrate this year?
Journey. The band has seen its profile raised to the highest it’s been in at least a decade, thanks to ""Don’t Stop Believin"’" being featured in the controversial ending to ""The Sopranos."" Why is this a good thing for APIs? Well, Journey has a new lead singer and he’s Filipino. Angry Asian Man reported last week that the band hired Arnel Pineda, the lead singer of a Journey cover band from Quezon City, after seeing him on YouTube.

As silly as all this sounds, I think it’s a major step. Pineda is likely to croon in front of stadiums full of American rock fans and I consider that a milestone.

And in a year when the most high profile Asian American was a mass murderer, that seems especially positive.