P.S: I’m Asian
Being of mixed race, I have experienced racism everywhere. Western society certainly has no monopoly on it.
For me, western racism involved a lot of schoolyard bullying. I don’t remember coming home with a black eye while I was enrolled in the Japanese school system. But there, it was more of an exclusionary racism with people talking shit behind your back. In some sense, this could be worse in that there is a systematic component to it as opposed to a few worthless individuals using any pretext to go after anyone they can pick on.
Otoh when Trump got elected, we learned just how many closet racists there are in the west and how alarmingly quickly they could get organized. I think in general, racists are in the minority and I’ve met many more wonderful people everywhere I’ve gone. But when they reach positions of power and influence is when you’ve got a problem.
Yeah, the reality is that people will take any demographic, apply a stereotype, and act superior to that group based on the stereotype. People all across the world do it and it really has nothing to do with race or whatever demographic is in question. It’s just people wanting to feel superior. If anything, I think places like America have come a long way in overcoming racism, but that’s because we’re so diverse that this behavior is rampant. So we’re forced to address it and do so very regularly.
But there’s a bunch of forms that this takes, overtly using hate speech, being fearful of a people, even complimenting someone but at the same time putting them in a box. Like “Hey, you people are really good at running” can mean “I admit you’re good at that thing. But that’s it. And if you’re not, what good are you?”
Each culture has its own flavor and it can even be self-defeating. I hear South Americans talk shit about each other a lot, for example.
Yeah I agree with you there. Take those schoolyard bullies. They might’ve beaten me up over race, but they also beat up that other kid over there because he’s short, or his socks don’t match, or…anything really. I eventually worked out that it’s the bullies who have all the issues, though coming home all black and blue didn’t make it seem that way.
I’m brown.
1 - Theres different range of racism.
2 - A racist hick tends to shoot before asking questions.
3 - Playing a “look whose racist more” is a stupid game, like pitting low-class & middle-class folks against each other, or being upset at minwage folks for getting a increase.
I would say context matters and of course this is not a universal truth…but having lived in China, yes, East Asia is really fucking racist. Towards their immediate neighbors in Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, etc., but also to the rest of the world, and Africans and Arabs especially.
A lot, lot of racism in China. If I wasn’t Chinese myself it would have been a very awkward and uncomfortable place to be.
In India, casteism is a bigger problem than racism.
PS - I am Indian.
Yes. They are also discriminated. For example, if a Bihari is living in Punjab or Haryana (northern states), they won’t be treated as equals. However, if they are educated enough, they will be okay. But if they are of lower caste, education won’t matter, and will be discriminated regardless.
I haven’t travelled a lot, so, I am not very experienced, and my experiences can differ from most people.
Question, how is racism towards tourists there (or in general)? Caucasian, Asian, African, etc.?
I’ve heard places like Japan is Super bad and a very close minded people towards pretty much anyone not Japanese. They just deal with tourist basically
I won’t pretend to know about everywhere in Asia but the number of Google Map reviews in Tokyo complaining about stores “employed by foreigners” can be jarring
In the case of Japanese, my experiences tell me it comes from the same place. At least with older generations. They don’t want foreigners tainting their genepool because it would be a detriment to it.
I started dating a Japanese girl in highschool, her parents found out I was white and forbade her fro. Seeing me. “We are very traditional” was what her father said.
Now if my daughter brings home a black guy and I insist that its “traditional” that she doesnt date him because he isnt white…
