What is that certain issue?And yes,I could live in a world for which there is nothing to fight.What an idyllic place that would be…
[quote=“YeboYes”]
But what I can’t understand is that all these people go on and on and on and moan and bitch about racial issues, when they now choose to live in a racist country like Taiwan?:[/quote]
Welcome to Forumosa.
So, what you are saying is that because there is some racism in Taiwan, Black people should not want to work here? There is racism everywhere, even in the countries the very people who you suggest shouldn’t apply for jobs in Taiwan come from. The thing is that people are not moaning about racism, they are opposing it.
Maybe your question and direct it at the offending party. Why do racist complain about other races when they could live in the countries of their forebears?
I asked my mother, an extremely devout Catholic, about this and her answer was that one cannot WORSHIP anyone but the Holy Trinity. But the saints in Heaven are believed to be very close to God, and to have His ear. Therefore what Catholics are doing when they ‘pray to’ (which means communicate with, and not ‘worship’) the saints is that they are asking them to intercede with God on their behalf.
And are you aware that saying things like ‘Catholics aren’t Christian’ is guaranteed to offend? Is that your goal, to piss a lot of people off? You won’t last long around here with that kind of approach, you know. (And no, I’m not Catholic.)[/quote]
If you know anything about scripture,you’d know that ANY form of communication with dead people is forbidden by God.Jesus is the intercessor,not people.
And you say “are believed to be very close to God”.Believed by whom,pray tell?
Anyhow,this is a huge can of worms & the evidence that Catholocism is a cult is overwhelming to say the least.
Consider just this about the Catholics’ view of Jesus Christ:Catholicism teaches that Christ is God, but they, nevertheless, do not believe that Christ’s death paid the full penalty for sin; i.e., they believe that those who qualify for heaven must still spend time in purgatory to atone for sin.
This is akin to blasphemy.According to the Scriptures,Jesus paid the COMPLETE price.
Keep that kind of condescending approach up and you’ll make TONS of friends here. 
I was explaining to you my understanding of the Catholic perspective, and not defending my own position. However, I see that you’re interested not in understanding the perspectives of others, but in confrontation and insulting the beliefs of others. Well, have fun by yourself then. :wanker:
What is that certain issue?And yes,I could live in a world for which there is nothing to fight.What an idyllic place that would be…[/quote]
It’s not a single issue, but up to now I’ve read that you are/were against:
- the South African flag
- the ANC,
- the South African president, I’m not mad about him either, but he’s far from being a baddie
- Catholicism
- Crime in South Africa, but obviously any thinking person would agree about that. As a victim of a few separate incidents I’m with you 100% on that one.
I don’t expect you to change your views on these things. All I’m saying is that many of your posts are against a certain issue.
There also seems to be a violent undertone in many of you posts. Your avatar and your website are a case in point.
The way I see it is that discussion is about exchanging ideas and not intimidating another person into seeing life the way you do. Of course you can convince somebody to change their mind about anything, but real and lasting change is usually achieved by reasoning with each other in a civil manner and not insulting or bullying the other person into subjection. Play the ball and not the man. As a friend and former colleague of mine was fond of saying, “It’s not what you say, but how you say it.”
[/quote] So, what you are saying is that because there is some racism in Taiwan, Black people should not want to work here? There is racism everywhere, even in the countries the very people who you suggest shouldn’t apply for jobs in Taiwan come from. The thing is that people are not moaning about racism, they are opposing it.[quote]
No, I didn’t say black people shouldn’t want to work here, they should, as part of the basic human right of freedom of choice. The issue is that they CANNOT because of Taiwannese racism.
I know there’s racism everywhere - ever been to Australia, for example?
I am also opposed to racism, but what gets my goat is that people carry on and on about racism in the old SA, as if they don’t have racism in their countries, and as if there is no racism in Taiwan - which is being portrayed as heaven on earth.
Basically, one has to get a bit sick of people singling out a certain country - especially if you’re from that country, not so?
[quote=“Taiwanderer”]
But I can’t help wondering if you’d still be singing the same tune if you become a victim of the ever escalating violence in SA.I pine for South Africa at times,but I sure as heck don’t miss having to look over my shoulder & wondering if I might have to shoot someone today.Also don’t miss struggling to get a job,paying bills etc.[/quote]
Thank you for the reply!
But I have been a victim of violence - three times, to be exact. Once in London, where a bloke in a pub on Lordship Lane tried to steal my bag and, when I caught him out and shouted at him, hit me in the face with a bottle of beer. (He was arrested, after also hitting the bouncer and the lady running the pub. OH and a policeman.) Also once in Amsterdam where I landed in the middle of “soccer violence”, and once in Johannesburg, where I was mugged. There was no violence involved in the latter instance, however. I won’t count the time in Taipei where I was unceremoniously bundled out of a queue in the post office by an old lady, who then stood on my foot.
Hey and if you carry a gun, you’re going to shoot somebody, some day.
All of the abovementioned can happen anywhere, the chances are just higher that they will happen in certain places (Joburg, Los Angeles, Rio), than in other places (uhm … heaven?).
The “struggling to get a job” is the part that interests me, as far as my studies are concerned. I’m not being sarcastic, I would really like to know more. Was it a question of qualifications or affirmative action? Send me a PM if you would like to embroider, I need the info and it will be used totally incognito, that’s a guarantee - but I need honesty.
I did feel a bit let down upon my return to SA to find that ALL my white friends were rolling in jobs and money - things surely changed in the 4 years I was away! I did manage to save quite a bit on my travels, but HELL I still couldn’t afford a brand new fancy car AND house, like all of them could. Damn!
It is very difficult for Black people to get jobs and keep them in Taiwan. Even with impeccable English and good education some African teachers have a hard time, while somebody with a beautiful Finnish accent and grammar could easily get and keep a job. However saying that Africans/African-Americans cannot get jobs here isn’t true. There are many.
I know how you feel. Everybody wants to feel proud of their own country, however South Africa has to be singled out since it endeavored to perpetuate a slightly improvised form of Nazism. By the way, Germany has the same burden. Germans are often reminded of those few, but horrid years when Hitler was around.
AAF wrote: [quote]while somebody with a beautiful Finnish accent and grammar could easily get and keep a job.[/quote]
Really? Have you actually met a Finnish teacher in Taiwan? I haven’t. Someone from Finland would have trouble getting a legal job here. Most schools insist on legal teachers and this bars people from Europe (with the exception of Ireland and Britain).
AAF, a word of advice. Think before you post.
Really? Have you actually met a Finnish teacher in Taiwan? I haven’t. Someone from Finland would have trouble getting a legal job here. Most schools insist on legal teachers and this bars people from Europe (with the exception of Ireland and Britain).
AAF, a word of advice. Think before you post.[/quote]
How dare you go to bed after I went especially to retrieve the emergency bottle of Bloody Captain Margan or whatever it is???
I’m beginning to thin k your’e not a real acloholkci.
Really? Have you actually met a Finnish teacher in Taiwan? I haven’t. Someone from Finland would have trouble getting a legal job here. Most schools insist on legal teachers and this bars people from Europe (with the exception of Ireland and Britain).
AAF, a word of advice. Think before you post.[/quote]
But I (and I’m sure many others) have indeed met many people teaching here whose only qualification appears to be that they are white. I have met white people teaching English in Taiwan who were citizens of Italy, Russia, Spain, Brazil, the Netherlands, Romania, Panama, France, Switzerland. Most of them could not speak English worth a damn. Some were pretty good, but still of course had accents and were not native speakers. Sometimes their bosses seemed clueless - one said the Brazilian had excellent English because Brazil is in America, another said his Spanish teacher had a green card and so was an American - the possession of a green card evidently instantaneously changing one’s native tongue, I guess. Sometimes the bosses didn’t seem to care - a white face was good for business and will bring in the parents.
I have also meet many legal teachers who were not native speakers of English - recent immigrants to one of the English-speaking countries, French from Canada, Afrikaans from South Africa, etc.
And, of course, I have met some native-English speakers from the approved countries who are non-white; and guess what? They usually had a hard time getting a job.
Keep that kind of condescending approach up and you’ll make TONS of friends here. I was explaining to you my understanding of the Catholic perspective, and not defending my own position. However, I see that you’re interested not in understanding the perspectives of others, but in confrontation and insulting the beliefs of others. Well, have fun by yourself then. :wanker:[/quote]
Yeah, Dragonbones, what the HELL does your understanding of the Catholic perspective have to do with FACT??? And I DO have an understanding of Catholic perspective & it seems, far more than you do, so you can have blissfully ignorant fun all by YOURself…
Speaks volumes about you when you have to resort to posting emoticons such as… :wanker:
You have just exposed yourself as NOT being the better man,as I’m sure you imagine yourself to be…
Really? Have you actually met a Finnish teacher in Taiwan? I haven’t. Someone from Finland would have trouble getting a legal job here. Most schools insist on legal teachers and this bars people from Europe (with the exception of Ireland and Britain).
AAF, a word of advice. Think before you post.[/quote]
I’ve only met one Finnish person and that was in Mozambique. I used the Finnish teacher as an example because I didn’t want to step on any toes since I know there probably aren’t any, but as for the rest of the EU, they are all here. It seems I stepped on your toes though. Sorry.
What’s this? Papists and proddies having a go at each other? Bejabers!
I don’t know how his thread morphed into a Orangemen march.
I rest my case. Can we stick to the present and stick to the countries where, at present, racism is rife?
[quote=“YeboYes”]
I rest my case. Can we stick to the present and stick to the countries where, at present, racism is rife?[/quote]
You mean, like, every country in the world?
The only countries where racism isn’t rife are countries where everybody is of the same race, like Iceland.
Hello YeboYes, sorry I’m responding in the open forum, but the heavily biased administrators have prevented me from replying to private messages after having banned me again for two weeks…
You can e-mail me if you’d like. My e-mail address is in my profile.
[quote=“AAF”]
I’ve only met one Finnish person and that was in Mozambique. I used the Finnish teacher as an example because I didn’t want to step on any toes since I know there probably aren’t any, but as for the rest of the EU, they are all here. It seems I stepped on your toes though. Sorry.[/quote]
Olet ihan perseestä! Tolla kaverilla virtaa kusi väärään suuntaan!
Well, I know a fellow from Jordan who has been teaching here (with a legal ARC) for twenty years. Last year he finally got a Permanent Residence Visa. He may not be a native speaker but he is very committed, the kids love him and his English is pretty damn good. I’ve found his English to be much better (as well as his grasp of grammar) than a Quebecois, a Mexican-American and some Afrikaans speaking South Africans I’ve worked with.
Conversely, I also know at least one black guy from America (African-American, although he personally doesn’t like to be called that) who is a native English speaker and has had some trouble finding work. That’s with a BA in English Lit. and additional TESOL qualifications.
There are a lot of stereotyped ideas out there, and Taiwan is no exception.
Maybe of interest:
I met this guy about one or two years ago. He’s one of those Taiwanese folks that you can’t quite place. He seemed to be Taiwanese looking but could just as easily have been Indonesian or from just about anywhere, really. Sort of an “everyman’s” face. He spoke perfect English without any listening difficulties or hesitation trying to find grammar etc. As a result I thought he was either a native speaker or a second language speaker whom had learnt English at a very early age. He spoke with an Indian accent (albeit not a strong one) so I asked him where he was from. Sure enough, he was a born and bred Taiwanese but his English teacher was from India.
I take my hat off to that teacher. This guy’s English was flawless (unless you think a regional accent is a flaw) and he was very well spoken.
I think English teaching would be much better served if folks stopped looking at a person’s face as a criteria, and rather considered their ability to speak and teach the language.
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