William Hung, Meet Chad and Ranjit

Maybe you've seen those MetroPCS commercials featuring Chad and Ranjit, which present two caricatured South Asian men sharing their technological knowledge on a mock television show called "Tech Talk". The two men are shown as nerdy and geeky buffoons, and they spend the 30 seconds of airtime plugging the supposedly insane value of MetroPCS mobile phone service while laying down the clueless immigrant schtick that Eddie Murphy popularized in Coming to America. Our two South Asian friends have bad haircuts, wear unfashionable clothes and talk in exaggerated accents that would make Apu Nahasapeemapetilon from The Simpsons cringe. Chad and Ranjit, please understand that people are laughing at you, not with you.

The reality is that we've seen this before. Around seven years ago, a University of California - Berkeley student named William Hung appeared on an episode of American Idol. It was absolutely clear that he wasn't a good singer, and he wouldn't make the cut for most high school choirs, let alone a contest to win a contract from a major record label. I'm guessing that William wasn't the only contestant who was Asian who didn't make the cut. But hey, why waste a great opportunity to make fun of the guy who personifies just about every stereotype non-Asians want to have around Asian men. Geeky, check. Heavy accent, check. Vaguely funny looking, check. Somewhat effeminate, check. Sings terribly, check. Wimpy, check. Can't dance for his life, check. Will serve as great foil so Americans - especially those who aren't Asian - can laugh at him, big-time check.

One perspective is to take it all in stride, to lighten up, get a sense of humor and yuk it up. Caricatures and stereotypes don't matter, some would argue. There's nothing really harmful about stereotypes which make us laugh, tease or otherwise condescend those individuals. I mean, it's not like people are at all conditioned into thinking that Jews are cheap, Hispanics are largely uneducated laborers and blacks have criminal tendencies, right? Oh, never mind.