Boba Liberal

It describes someone of East or Southeast Asian descent living in the West who has a superficial liberal or centrist outlook. The neologism emerged as "boba liberals" were accused of only holding these beliefs to appear more white adjacent, such as engaging in progressive social movements or viewpoints, but at the same time disregarding, disparaging and trivializing issues concerning Asians.

 

The term is believed to have come into use in the 2010s, invented by Twitter user diaspora_is_red. It refers to Asians living in the West who would often use their "Asianness" to speak on behalf of the Asian population, using talking points often parroting white liberals, which has been decried as minimizing actual issues faced by the Asian diaspora.

The Asian identity of boba liberals has often been accused of being shallow and superficial since it goes directly against their goal of aspiring to whiteness, and so uses surface level stereotypical Asian traits such as "liking bubble/boba tea" to bolster their Asian credentials. Hence, the emergence of the term boba liberal.

United States

Specifically in the United States, it is said that boba liberals often use boba tea as it does not require much personal investment; it is a fairly popular drink in Asia and therefore a safe non-opinion to take and identify with, unlike contentious or serious topics such as bipartisan policies that specifically affect Asians, such as the Asian quota in American universities and colleges.

Therefore, while the word "liberal" is used in the term, it is not exclusive to one specific political ideology; it also extends to conservative-aligned Asians in some areas, as they often take advantage of the "model minority" label by defending such measures and overlooking Asians of lower socioeconomic status that are more negatively affected and discriminated against by such a label.