In yesterday’s Taipei Times, there was an editorial on this incident. The editorial was entitled, “Clash of cultures and personalities.”
The editorial accuses Mr. Starok of making xenophobic comments. The editorial also mentions xenophobia on the part of others, but the other fellow’s comments and behavior seem to escape the charge, or at least to escape an emphasis on it. I take it that the other fellow’s behavior constitutes part of the cultural difference thing, and that the main issue is Mr. Starok’s behavior.
Further, I take it that in the eyes of many, things of this sort are mainly a matter of cultural differences. And then there is also the advice that one should mind one’s own business and not antagonize anyone, which of course, nicely reinforces the cultural idea.
As it happens, this board contains some examples of this kind of cultural clash, incidents in which a foreigner refused to mind his own business and ended up antagonizing someone. I provide three of them below for illustration of the problem:
[quote]Today whilst going through a junction on a green light with the right of way in my favour, a dickhead 40ish year old bloke decided to turn left 12 feet, yes 12 FEET in front of me even though we both had eye contact with each other and he had actually stopped. But anyway, he decided to make a dash for it.
I narrowly missed the body of his bike by skidding around him, but I hit the tip of his wheel.
Now, to add insult to injury, he shouted at the top of his voice "GAN NI NIAO (Or F*%k your mother) to which I replied something like Beitz le (stupid or idiot).(Incorrect pinyin for both I think), but it’s quite a harmless comment.
He got off his bike and ran towards me and grabbed my shirt. Then he ran into the noodle shop by the side of the road and came out with a 6" knife which he grabbed off the laobans table.[/quote] [forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.ph … 69#p209169](What is it that makes them flip?
In the cultural clash described above, the foreigner clearly should have refrained from antagonizing the other person by calling him an idiot in response to his actions and comments. After all, the person in question was merely adhering to the precepts of his culture. And anyway, what that other person did was none of the foreigner’s business.
[quote]The first time it happened to me, I took a filed off screwdriver right through the earlobe. This was from someone in the crowd who snuck up behind me during a heated verbal exchange with a taxi driver who had just run over my foot.[/quote] [forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.ph … 14#p209414](What is it that makes them flip?
Here we see another example of cultural clash, and another example of a foreigner who imprudently thought that a cabbie running over his foot was somehow his business. He seems to have learned his lesson, though.
[quote]Yeah, your only choice in Taiwan is to either accept the a*****e behavior of 50% of the other drivers or be prepared to deal with a baseball bat, a watermelon knife, or a gun. . . . [/quote] [forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.ph … 97#p907297](German guy gets bullet - traffic dispute
Well, I wouldn’t have put it that way, but the advice is good, that one should mind one’s own business, and not interfere when one sees displays of the culture.
I do have a minor quibble, though, and I hope no one is offended by it. Someone mentioned that one should not tell another person how to raise his children. It seems to me that there could be another issue involved:
[quote]Probably make a bit of difference to have something separating the skull from the pavement on initial impact. More important is that the child won’t be seriously hurt in a minor accident where the bike just falls over. I know a few cases where this has happened (to adults) not wearing helmets and the results were fatal. I was in an accident myself where I lost control of the bike going over a manhole cover that was raised from the road a few inches. I had a helmet on but still had a headache for a week. I have little doubt that the helmet saved my life. [/quote] [forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.ph … 6#p1383036](Beaten up for commenting on helmetless kids
I don’t have a scooter, so I don’t have a full, detailed conception of the risks, but if the above is an accurate depiction of the situation, wouldn’t the better advice be that a person shouldn’t tell another person whether to raise his kids, that is, whether to allow them to reach adulthood? This, of course, is not to justify Mr. Starok’s imprudent behavior in any way.
Having said the above, I must add that I am in no position to judge Mr. Starok or any of the other posters for their cultural contretemps, because in the past I committed a similar transgression. About seven years ago, as I was walking down a street in Miaoli County, I saw a toddler, two or three years old I guess (whatever his age, he was quite sawed-off and kind of a newb about the walking thing), coming out of a store unattended and heading straight for the street. I don’t recall how much traffic was in the street, or even if there was any traffic at the time, but it just didn’t seem like a good idea for him to go out into the street by himself. So I stopped him with my hand and held him there, hoping that some adult would come and get him. Knowing very little Chinese, I foolishly just said “no” to him repeatedly. In response to my actions, the child began complaining loudly. I peered into the store and saw some adults by the cashier’s counter. None of them seemed in a hurry to retrieve the child, but they had heard the child, and reading their faces, I sensed that they were antagonized. Not wanting to trigger any cultural clashes, I took my hand off the child and walked on. I think that the fact that I quickly corrected my mistake should count in my favor.
Since then I have specifically resolved to try very hard to avoid antagonizing anyone by presuming to interfere with how, or even whether, they raise their kids to adulthood. And more generally, I intend to try very hard to be a credit to my race, and to stay in my place.