There was a thread on Cloudynights on a new 203mm refractor coming out from Askar. Inevitably, some person with the username "Heywood" had to comment on Asian folks and their propensity for crappy optics. It was pretty blatant racism and a day after the post, it was still there. I thought about rebutting but someone already had by bringing up Takahashi, Pentax, Nikon, and Zeiss (???) as obvious counterexamples of the racist remark. But immediately, someone questioned whether Zeiss would stoop as low as an Asian company. It was beginning to turn into a racist cesspool of comments. Which is not "rare" on Cloudynights. There is a subtle (or not so subtle) anti-Asian bias on Cloudynights which is remarkably ironic since most of the posters own Asian optics. (Not to mention the thousands of items inside their homes made in China). For anyone who knows me, it should be clear that I'm not some defender of Chinese goods and services. There are some outrageous and tragic human rights violations in China as well as a huge disregard for the safety and wellbeing of people who live in the shadow of a giant industrialized nation. And of course, the situation is different in Korea, India, Japan, etc...
From what I can tell, a lot of Chinese optics and telescopes are trying to fill a niche. It's simple business. To get a 203mm (8 inch) refractor from a premium telescope maker would cost at least $25k. There is no alternative, there is no "cheap" version of that scope... until now. (I'm not considering reflectors or other designs.) The company AiryDisk had one for $15k at the eclipse TSP in Latham Springs, Tx. There is a 20k version of the same scope offered by TS Telescope in Germany. And now Askar is offering one for about $7700. If the Askar version uses the same glass, it's probably going to sell well. My initial thought was that it should be set up next to a 8inch SCT. And I think it would be obvious how much "nicer" the views would be through the refractor.
In any event, in my frustration, I contacted a moderator and wrote the following:
"This guy is making a racist generalization based on what? Racist assumptions about a whole continent of people. These kinds of comments allow other people to "tag" on their own racist thoughts and ideas. Also these kinds of comments tend to get applied to Americans who have Asian ancestry. It makes us feel like outsiders, undeserving of respect and basic civility. I know there are a certain number of people who will try to drop little racist remarks because it amuses them to see the reactions. Cloudy Nights is a well-respected community of astronomy lovers and I feel like racist comments of any kind shouldn't have a place here."
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