Asians Living Too Long: What can we do to stop Americasia?

By Rick Patel

According to a recent study from the Harvard School of Public Health, Asian males and females in the US are living far too long versus their Caucasian and African American counterparts. Christopher Murray of the Harvard School of Public Health 's study " Eight Americas: Investigating Mortality Disparities across Race, Counties in the United States" estimates that Asian males are averaging live-spans close to 82 yrs and Asian females a ripe old 87 yrs. This is in clear contrast to other ethnic groups where Middle Class White Americans are averaging about 77 yrs and Middle Class Black Americans close to 73 yrs.
                       
This 10 yr gap has raised many red flags especially to white Americans who are concerned about losing benefits. “Hey, I don't wanna no Indian Chinese guy taking all my social security I worked 50 yrs for" exclaimed a clearly frustrated Jerrel Thornbush, mechanic in Nob Hill, KY. “People payin' taxes like hard working Americans need to be getting them benefits. Not some donut salesman from Afghanistan. Hey - show me where Been Laiden is fer a change versus takin my money."

While the sentiment isn’t new, the data cannot be denied. Asian Americans are living longer, according to the study, due to an overall fewer risk factors like smoking, alcohol use, high cholesterol and obesity. Money seems to play a role as well but habits clearly have the most impact overall.

So the question remains, what can we do? A world where more and more Asian Americans win out in the "survival-of-the-fittest" has led credence to apocalyptic scenarios of a very different America than today. Just think about it for a second. Imagine a world where every generation of white Americans and black Americans are outlived by 10 yrs by a generation of Asians. Over time, this can only lead to world built on Asian themes, Asian industries and other scary consequences like....

Things we’re used to in our Current world	Things we’ll do in the new "Americasia "
NFL, MLB, NBA	Major League Cricket, Super Carrom Bowl, Kung Fu Fighting
"Gold-digger"	"Kung Fu fighting"
President George Bush	President Sulu
Jay-Z/Beyonce	Abhisek Bachan/Aishwarya Rai
"Grey's Anatomy"	Sandra Oh's Anatomy (yeah baby)
"Lost"	"Visiting South Asia"
Rachel Ray/30-minute meals	2 minute Balu's Aloo Gobi
Nursing homes	Bring your parents home like you're supposed to
Vera Wang	Vera Wang
Bud Light	Tsingtao/Sapporo
Yao Ming vs.Shaquille ONeal	Yao Ming software engineer
The Daily show with John Stewart	The Daily Margaret Cho
Wimbledon	Pakistan National Squash Tournament
Extra-curricular activities for kids	Violin or Bharat Natyam lessons
Oprah Winfrey	Oprah Winfrey

How will we make it?