Posts by BenWilson
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Heather, I think you're right. Just because a foreigner doesn't have perspective on comparative racism, doesn't mean the racism they experience isn't frightening. Even if the attacks are one-off lunatics, that doesn't make it any less scary. You're out of your element when abroad. You distrust authorities, and that means you have less protection. You don't know where you are, who to turn to. That in turn means you are an easier target. The feeling of being an easy target is not nice and you tend to stick to people who make you feel safer. It's natural and normal.
And some races are victimized more than others, wherever you go. As a white man, I'm sure I got less shit in Thailand than other 'obviously foreign' people would.
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I suspect it was her tarring us with the same brush as other NZers she'd met. I like to think she wasn't just going on something she saw on 20/20 or heard from friends, but you never know. Prejudice is seldom rational, no matter what direction it's pointed.
Most of the Thais I met in Thailand were not annoying wankers. I don't think most of their racism would extend any further than the woman's hat comment, just as it doesn't seem to here.
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Kowhai, point taken. OK, there's not much we can do about racism abroad.
But actually there's not much I can do about it here either, other than not be a racist, something I heartily recommend. But so often inverse racism means people don't believe you.
The only Asian student I've met in recent times refused to come when invited to a BBQ at my place because she figured (according to my mate, her boyfriend) that we would all just think she was some silly chinese slut. I don't know why she figured that, but I have to say I felt quite pissed off about it. She'd never met any of us apart from me, and I'd never suggested anything of the sort.
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I'd tend to pass off the hard sell tactics as good business management rather than racism
I'd pass it off as good business management AND racism. Rather like not paying any attention to the Maori guy who comes into a shop other than to make sure he doesn't nick anything. That's based on the mostly true assumptions that Maori have less money and higher crime statistics. Quite similar to deciding a big white guy is probably a rich American pervert.
You might ask what was I doing near the red light area of Bangkok? Surely I should expect such treatment? My counter is that any Asian going to Nelson probably should expect the shit that goes on there. That doesn't make it right in either Nelson or Bangkok. It's simply racism.
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Charles, it wasn't the currency they were interested in, it was what they perceived I'd spend it on, and why they perceived that. And that does equate to racism. And yes, the old lady was a funny racist, who rightly judged that I would take her joke with the good humour that it deserved. Or she didn't care and got lucky.
A bottle thrown is certainly annoying. But so is being pursued for miles, pulled at, and told that you might like to watch young boys sticking bananas up their arses. So is being physically dragged 20metres into a strip club by 5 people when you were actually looking for cheap CDs. So is having money extorted off you by a gang of bikers because one of them was stupid enough to crash into your car and you had the cheek to be foreign. So is being questioned for several minutes by the police about whether you're a drug dealer because you're slightly drunk. There were so many minor racisms that you just ignore it.
I'm not saying any of that was good or that it makes it OK to do it here. But I am saying that here is not the only place it happens, and asians are not the only people it happens to.
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That may be so but I can assert that in both those cities, I've never once had a complete stranger come up to me and assault me or abuse me for being a foreigner.
In Bangkok a few years back I was in a marketplace, and an old lady looked at me and said something very loud in Thai, which got a roar of laughter from the surrounding 30-odd people. One of the Thais I was with translated: "Only a barbaric foreigner would wear such a stupid looking hat".
She had a point, it was not a hat that was common in Thai marketplaces, particularly on a head that was riding about a foot and a half above the rest of the crowd. But it just goes to show that ragging on foreigners is not a uniquely NZ experience.
But what actually shat me off more in Thailand was the automatic assumption that because I was a white guy, I was the perfect target for scamming, that I was only there to go to strip bars, and that it was OK to follow me 200 metres continuing to pester me, yank on my sleeve and suggest lurid things, after I'd clearly and loudly said no at least 2 dozen times.
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I get an increased sense of not being from Wellington every time I'm there. It's because I'm absolutely positively a Dorklander.
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although Liu Shueng says it was a label that 'other people' called us, it was only a label that *other Chinese people* called us. So that's not really 'other people' is it?
Not if you consider yourself to be Chinese. But if you are actually a Banana, then they are an 'other people'. Either way they are being rude, you said so yourself earlier. But I've heard the term from many a non-asian (it's not reserved only for Chinese IMHO), to describe their friends who grew up here. The only difference in usage is that it's not meant unkindly by the non-asians. So it's sort of the opposite of N>(gga, which seems only allowable from a member of the group. Bounty Bar or Potato seems more akin.
And no, of course the Banana-sayers are not a major source of oppression, since they are almost always a minority with little influence. That's what they're bitter about, why they're saying Banana.
I personally find it an amusing term, it springs to mind whenever I see my Japanese mechanic eating a meat pie. But the one time I hinted at it he giggled and said "No, meat pie is nice, but Holden still total shit".
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To me, 'Banana' is still pejorative
Since it's two main references are to skin color it's not surprising people feel that way. It's not like there's only one yellow culture, or one white culture. And it's not like the color/ethnicity defines the culture anyway. Bagpipes set my teeth on edge.
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FOB=Fresh Off Boat
Coconut!=Bounty Bar
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