Growing up as an Indian, I always had a strange relationship with the term “Asian American.” Technically I was of Asian descent, but I always felt like that word wasn't meant for me and that Asian American referred to another group of people. When Americans think of Asians, they think of someone of Japanese, Chinese, or at least someone of East Asian descent. Someone I knew joked that you weren't Asian unless you had eyes. Most American cultures also take this view. When the news talks about Asian representation in the media, it always focuses on people from East or Southeast Asia and not people from South Asia. The stereotypes aimed at Asians didn't seem to apply to me either. Myself and other Indian-American men have never felt the stereotype that we are somehow less assertive than the one that has been thrown at men of Asian descent. Honestly, I can kind of understand why most Americans think of East or Southeast Asians rather than someone like me. East Asians have been in this country longer than Indians, and when they first arrived there were more of them. The opposite is true in countries like the United Kingdom, where the term "Asian" refers to Indians or Pakistanis. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay Knowing that 9/11 happened has kept people who look like me away from the word Asian-American. When people found out I was Indian, their reaction was either that South Asian or Indian was its own category, or that India wasn't different enough from the Middle East to have of importance. I was always categorized as Middle Eastern or Muslim because of the way I looked. I can't speak for other ethnic groups, but I feel like "Asian American" is too broad and an overall bad term to use. This assumes that all of Asia is somehow similar, whether culturally or physically. This brings together disparate cultures with completely different histories, religions and languages. There are irregularities between a man from Israel and a man from Korea, or a man from Uzbekistan with a man from Vietnam. These are societies and peoples who are different to the point that we should stop placing them in a larger ethnic group. Reading this last part, some of you may have thought that Israel and Uzbekistan are not Asian nations, and yet that is precisely the case. the problem with the term. Both nations are on the Asian continent, so they are Asian. Regardless, in one case we consider them Middle Eastern countries and the other as Central Asian countries, even though they are considered Asian by any effort. 'imagination. Some countries do not fit perfectly into Asia. Is Turkey Asian, European or Middle Eastern? Why is Egypt considered a country in the Middle East, or even Asia, when it is in Africa? Would we say that a man of Egyptian or Moroccan origin is African-American? Why are Filipinos considered Asian/Pacific Islanders but Japanese are not even though Japan is also an island in the Pacific Ocean? The best we can do..