Short answer: No
Long answer: No
Taiwanese are not, unless we survey all of them and they all say yes they are racist.
You have to remember were talking about the whole society (I think, can’t really remember lets just hit 50). I’m sure there are racist Taiwanese people but, every country/society has them. So big NO from me folks.
[quote=“Steviebike”]Short answer: No
Long answer: No
Taiwanese are not, unless we survey all of them and they all say yes they are racist.
You have to remember were talking about the whole society (I think, can’t really remember lets just hit 50). I’m sure there are racist Taiwanese people but, every country/society has them. So big NO from me folks.[/quote]
You would not need to survey all of them to get a general tendency. If we had to survey everyone to get an answer then we could never have an answer for nearly anything. For example to find out if most people in Manchester support Manchester City FC it would not be needed to survey everyone in Manchester, just survey a sample that was large enough to have a small standard error.
Obviously not everyone in Taiwan is a racist we have established that in the thread. What is being discussed is “If Taiwanese are in general racist”. The thread title was a bad one but I thought we had established the question was of a general nature ?
Can you please verify that by listing which rules and regulations and show which races are targeted?
[quote=“jimipresley”][quote=“Gman”][quote=“Muzha Man”]I was in a fast food joint this afternoon as I was starving, and the table next to me was empty. A woman came and edged the table about two inches farther away from me than it was. I thought, hmm, this could be perceived as her wanting to avoid me because I am a foreigner. Bloody racist.
The woman dropped a bag on the table and left to go buy her meal. Meanwhile, another woman came and sat down at the table, thinking it was empty (she sat next to me whereas the other woman had placed her bag on the far seat, so I didn’t say anything).
First woman comes back and gives the other the sourest look. The second asks if this was her seat (now seeing the bag) and the other barely grunts a yes. She then proceeds to sit sideways so she doesn’t have to face the other woman.
So I hadn’t encountered a racist, but someone who just didn’t want anyone near her (or maybe she was a racist-misanthrope combo).
In that situation though WWFHT (what would forumosans have thought)? 
[/quote]
So? What’s your point? You could have told us the lady came in muttered anti-foriegner curses at you and all you would have been able to say is that you found a single racist in the country. Big deal, surely your not suggesting that you could judge a society based on encounters with a single individual? Whether racist or not. If you are going to judge a society you do it on the basis of their laws and how those laws are applied you also look at their media and how news and incidents involving other races are treated by the press.[/quote]
Are you Taiwanese? Does irony utterly elude you?[/quote]
Actually, point out the irony for me in MM’s post Jimi. I get that he’s trying to make some point about percieved racisim in individaul interactions. Big deal, I can find you a racist in every society the important question isn’t whether I may encounter an individual racist. The important consideration is how the society as approaches the treatment of minority races. Also it is relative. As I stated earlier I find Taiwanese society more racist than my home Country however if I grew up in South Africa maybe I’d have a different perspective.
Spock:
This wouldn’t happen in Canada; forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopi … 75&t=86488
another topical thread; JFRV holder denied captain's license exam
Afterwards Jimi, can you point out the point of Gman’s post?
We at fifty yet?
How about we say expats in Taiwan have experienced more frequent racist incidents than would happen in our home countries?
50 yet?
[quote=“dasmania”]How about we say expats in Taiwan have experienced more frequent racist incidents than would happen in our home countries?
50 yet?[/quote]
or since this thread is not just about racist attitudes towards foreigners, how about we mention that Han-Chinese in Taiwan have been (and still are?) racist regarding their non-Han-compatriots. No I’m not talking about “TV Satellite”, but Taiwanese aborigines (原住民, yuan2 zhu4 min2).
[quote=“touduke”][quote=“dasmania”]How about we say expats in Taiwan have experienced more frequent racist incidents than would happen in our home countries?
50 yet?[/quote]
or since this thread is not just about racist attitudes towards foreigners, how about we mention that Han-Chinese in Taiwan have been (and still are?) racist regarding their non-Han-compatriots. No I’m not talking about “TV Satellite”, but Taiwanese aborigines (原住民, yuan2 zhu4 min2).[/quote]
That is true, however Taiwan government policy has improved in regard to its treatment of yuan zhu min since I first arrived on the island; such as affirmative action etc
[quote=“fenlander”][quote=“Steviebike”]Short answer: No
Long answer: No
Taiwanese are not, unless we survey all of them and they all say yes they are racist.
You have to remember were talking about the whole society (I think, can’t really remember lets just hit 50). I’m sure there are racist Taiwanese people but, every country/society has them. So big NO from me folks.[/quote]
You would not need to survey all of them to get a general tendency. If we had to survey everyone to get an answer then we could never have an answer for nearly anything. For example to find out if most people in Manchester support Manchester City FC it would not be needed to survey everyone in Manchester, just survey a sample that was large enough to have a small standard error.
Obviously not everyone in Taiwan is a racist we have established that in the thread. What is being discussed is “If Taiwanese are in general racist”. The thread title was a bad one but I thought we had established the question was of a general nature ?[/quote]
Ok. My answer is no. What is your answer? I’m only trying to prolong the thread 
Racist might be too strong a word, but the way most Taiwanese people think about foreigners is highly stereotypical and far from reality. The media uses this habitus to get more ratings by hyping up everything single piece of negative news they can get on foreigners and the Taiwanese eat it up and don’t doubt a thing. If this isn’t the case, then why do these meaningless news reports – a fight in a gym over a towel 
– come out on what seems to be a weekly basis. Perhaps ignorance or an inability to think in terms outside of Taiwan is a better description of what’s going on here.
[quote=“touduke”][quote=“dasmania”]How about we say expats in Taiwan have experienced more frequent racist incidents than would happen in our home countries?
50 yet?[/quote]
or since this thread is not just about racist attitudes towards foreigners, how about we mention that Han-Chinese in Taiwan have been (and still are?) racist regarding their non-Han-compatriots. No I’m not talking about “TV Satellite”, but Taiwanese aborigines (原住民, yuan2 zhu4 min2).[/quote]
Yes indeed. I heard from my mother-in-law this afternoon on why Han-Chinese-Taiwanese (平地人) discriminate against aborigines (原住民). 原住民 are perceived as lazy, heavy drinking, good-4-nuthin’ runts while 平地人 are hard working individuals that are paying taxes to support them.
Perception leads to racism (how’s that?).
Let’s try to hit 50, folks.
The two complement each other. Because of the news and the stereotypes it pedals about foreigners, the Taiwanese believe the stereotypes. Because the Taiwanese believe the stereotypes, the news tries to pedal more rubbish to meet demand. It’s a never ending cycle.
Wait, you are saying that white guys fighting in gyms over towels are not all moonlighting as strippers illegally?
Afterwards Jimi, can you point out the point of Gman’s post? [/quote]
Too funny
Your story contained no irony. Perhaps if in the second part or your story this assumed racist came to your rescue as you choked on your fast food. Then you could say there was a possible aspect of irony.
To the point of your story;’
In the first interaction between you and this lady her actions lead you to believe she is possibly racist in her attitudes. Fine, that’s your opinion. What’s odd is that if you assumed that her behaviour was racist, nothing in how she behaved towards the other Chinese lady provides any evidence that counters this assumption. The fact that she interacted negatively with the other Chinese lady was clearly as a result of having her seat taken. In fact, one could say that her over reaction to the Chinese lady would lend further credence to her possibility being a racist as hardcore racists tend to be angrier people in general. As for what would a forumosan think, well what is a typical forumosan? Frankly, I think your story is fiction. Mr. ‘Natural peanut butter’ in a fast food joint, yeah right.
[quote=“tommy525”]Wait, you are saying that white guys fighting in gyms over towels are not all moonlighting as strippers illegally?
[/quote]
No Tommy, what we are saying is that not all white guys illegally moonlighting as strippers fight over towels in gyms.
Sign up as a Facebook friend and you’ll find all sorts of interesting things about me. 
[quote=“Gman”][quote=“tommy525”]Wait, you are saying that white guys fighting in gyms over towels are not all moonlighting as strippers illegally?
[/quote]
No Tommy, what we are saying is that not all white guys illegally moonlighting as strippers fight over towels in gyms.[/quote]
so what do they fight over then? 
I don’t know if I’d say the tabloid media is any real indication of much with regard to the national psyche. They paint a pretty grim picture of people in general and people eat it up. That the audience eats it up is perhaps more indicative of some sort of human inclination towards self-righteousness and being able to point a finger at someone else and say, “I’m not like that, I’m a good person.” Many other countries also have a pretty appalling tabloid media.
I don’t know if I’d say the tabloid media is any real indication of much with regard to the national psyche. They paint a pretty grim picture of people in general and people eat it up. That the audience eats it up is perhaps more indicative of some sort of human inclination towards self-righteousness and being able to point a finger at someone else and say, “I’m not like that, I’m a good person.” Many other countries also have a pretty appalling tabloid media.[/quote]
Can you give some examples of other countries whose media that report on stories such as “the towel argument” incident? Honestly I cannot think of any developed country whose media reports on things of such a trivial nature; especially when neither of the characters are celebrities. Even if there were I certainly cannot remember anything of this trivial nature that made headline news. Perhaps “News of the World” in the UK does report on such trivialities, but is regarded as nothing lessthan a comic book by most; whereas this “towel incident” made nearly every paper and TV news channel in Taiwan.
Can someone also tell me with examples of any developed country where the minister of either the opposition or reigning political party comments on such incidences as “an argument and spitting fight over a towel” between two previously unknown individuals? I have read the Sun and the Daily Mail quite a few time and there is much trivial rubbish but I have never seen any such as the above.
An" argument over bringing a towel to a gym" sparks a media frenzy as well as government interaction on how foreigners should be treated. Nope never heard of such tripe anywhere in the developed world.