A good cheese connection, the kind you can’t find in Taiwan. I bet it was the cheddar that made him do it. Haven’t you heard of the Twinkie defense? When you’ve got a bellyfull of bleu, who knows what you’ll do.
Ahh, don’t we just love stories like this that make us feel all warm and self-rightous.
Latest news is that a court upheld the bathhouse’s decision saying that a 1995 anti-discrimination act had “only general, abstract provisions recommending appropriate measures to eliminate racial discrimination” and carried no legal obligation.
Try explaining to a Taiwanese person sometime that after years of living here and studying th language you have absorbed enough of the culture to be in a position to explain it a bit to Westerner’s - including to CBCs and ABCs. I have met lots of CBCs who don’t speak a lick of any Chinese dialect and who in fact were due for lesson in humility just as much as I was when I first landed here. On the few occasions when I tried explaining this situation to Taiwnese people I was met with complete disbelief. I don’t know what suprised them more the notion that I thought myself molded somewhat by this culture or the idea that a CBC really and truly is not Chinese/Taiwanese.
Bob,
I may have misunderstood your point and I apologize if I have but it sounds to me like you are playing right into popular stereotyping of (insert letter here)BC’s.
What do you mean you explain to Taiwanese people that ABC’s aren’t Chinese or Taiwanese?
As an African American, I am accustomed to the ignorance and the impact of racism. But it’s quite funny to me when I see someone White complaining about it, especially an American.
I lived in Japan for 18 months and encountered racism from the Japanese right up to-well this week, actually. What I took from this was 1)how can I expect a group of people who see themselves reflected back to them in all aspects of daily life to understand diversification? Much less, racism. The Japanese have their own group of Japanese to be racist toward, at the moment I have forgotten their names. 2)It’s NOT AMERICA.
How foreigners are treated in that country, weighs heavily in their responsibility. No one can treat you the way you want to be treated unless you allow them. So, that would mean if we wanted them to treat us better, we’d better start hitting them where it will get their attention and fast-their pocketbooks/economy. Then we can change their laws to work for us. If they don’t want me in their bathhouse, trust me, there is 5 other one’s I can go to. Same with the bars, restaurants and anything else. It’s Japan, and the Japanese can and should do what they want to. I think that idea of ‘eradicating’ racism is an American ideology and we need to stop forcing it on others. What bugs/trips me out the most, is that this guy gives up his US citizenship ,to me, essentially to find acceptance. And the other irony is that he was born and raised in a country that encourages and practices racism in many forms and levels everyday. Why couldn’t he make a difference there?
This sounds
Rooftop what I mean is that people who come here from the west have a lot to learn about how things are in this culture. The fact that those people might be racially Asian frequently doesn’t change that in the least. Many white/black/green/pink/blue people here have absorbed and been molded by his culture more than the ABCs have and so are actually more culturally Taiwanese. Please understand I don’t mean to stereotype _BCs. I am in fact so socially deprived that I don’t know what those stereotypes are. In my experience CBCs are just plain old Canadians.
P.S. - If white people are really white, and black people are really black, how come the child of a black and a white person isn’t gray?
I haven’t encountered discrimination here at all, really. Though those on Forumosa who have seen me in person will attest to the fact that it’s probably because I am freakishly BIG. 
I don’t think that those of us that have had to deal with racism in Taiwan are making it up. It is definately out there in folds, how it will affect you varies. Are you doing what “they” said you can do? Teach their children, and teach them well? Or are you trying to better yourself in the country you have decided to call home? As soon as you try to do more than teach, you will get a true taste of what Taiwan is all about.
It can be pretty nasty.
I find it worse to hear that the xenophobia is a recentlly adopted behavior. The DPP and other governments complain the West shuts them out, this is true only to some extent. Taiwan is environmentally careless, human right violations are still an issue and most of the time no one cares. I think this contributes to them shutting themselves out. The standard of right and wrong has been set by the international community. Hence, we have international laws. The fact that Taiwan is in breech of most of the fundamental laws regarding animal rights, and equality ect. I am not shedding any tears while watching them cry about being isolated. Should dropping your dog off to starve to death in the mountains become acceptable, just so that the Taiwanese can get what they want?
They should try to help themselves before asking for help from others. It’s not necessarily an issue of the “West says,” it’s just the way it is.
That’s just my opinion.
It’s not that I’m that big, it’s just that the Taiwanese are so small. I’m only 88 kilos, 5 foot 7, and people act like I’m a lumbering elephant. They should go to America to see what REALLY fat and REALLY big people look like.
But yeah, most people just kind of stay out of my way, same as with Jinete.
Can we also stop forcing our foreign aid and economic benefits on these countries?
In other words, they can be free to do things the way they want to, but unless they meet certain of OUR STANDARDS regarding “non-discrimination” … then all money or benefits allocated to their country by US federal or state agencies is just HELD IN TRUST until they get their act in order (according to the United States’ definiton of “getting one’s act in order”) …
That is fair isn’t it? Your country’s citizens come to the USA and preach their religion, but when our citizens go to your country they are forbidden from preaching their beliefs, because your government says you have a STATE RELIGION. Well, then, no economic, militiary, humanitarian, or other aid for you buster …
Except a barbershop, I have been in all of the others and have never seen any evidence of “Japanese only.”
I have only been a tourist, though, so those of you who have lived in Japan: Is this statement true? I feel it is not at this time in history.
Holy hell if you’re an elephant, ML, then I must be a damn Sauropod to the locals. (120 kilos, 190 cm or 6 foot 3)
I think you have answered the question of why you are never discriminated against right there!
Cheers
It sounds as though “honour” has an interesting tale to tell, but that he doesn’t feel comfortable about revealing details. I can understand that. Perhaps he could tell it in a “the names have been changed to protect the innocent” format. Thanks.
Or save the airfare and just go to the next gathering of Forumosans. 
Holy hell if you’re an elephant, ML, then I must be a damn Sauropod to the locals. (120 kilos, 190 cm or 6 foot 3)[/quote]
Actually, you’re only just a little bigger than my Taiwanese brother in law. But yeah, in general they must look at you the way you look at bears.
I believe when a Muslim delegation urged Maggie Thatcher to allow the call to prayer to go out in various British cities her reply was something along the lines of “But of course, as soon as Church bells ring out in Mecca”.
[quote=“namastestore”]
What bugs/trips me out the most, is that this guy gives up his US citizenship ,to me, essentially to find acceptance. And the other irony is that he was born and raised in a country that encourages and practices racism in many forms and levels everyday. Why couldn’t he make a difference there?[/quote]
Very well put…but like most of these guys, he seems to like the excitement of working to ‘redeem’ the rest of the world instead of taking care of his ‘own house.’ 
[quote=“Vannyel”][quote=“namastestore”]
What bugs/trips me out the most, is that this guy gives up his US citizenship ,to me, essentially to find acceptance. And the other irony is that he was born and raised in a country that encourages and practices racism in many forms and levels everyday. Why couldn’t he make a difference there?[/quote]
Very well put…but like most of these guys, he seems to like the excitement of working to ‘redeem’ the rest of the world instead of taking care of his ‘own house.’ [/quote]
Bullshit. So, if an American citizen who was born in the US marries a Japanese spouse, works in Japan, pays taxes in Japan, has a child with his/her Japanese spouse, loves Japan and decides for any number of reasons that it would be best to live the rest of his/her life in Japan and becomes a Japanese citizen, he/she cannot speak put against any unequitable treatment he/she may receive in his/her new homeland because life ain’t perfect in his/her birth country? Using this logic, Vannyel, a lot of recent immigrants to the US would need to shut the fuck up or go home and “fix” their native lands. Rubbish. :loco: