Here we go again - A black teacher's journey to employment

Work Teaching English in Taiwan
61

[quote=“Mordeth”]
I was assistant manager at a David’s Language School. We hired our first black teacher about 6 years back. He hit on all the students…his co-workers…and his boss. He took home the attendance lists and phoned his students at home asking them out on dates. [color=red]We fired him [/color]of course. [/quote]

What is your point? The guy was acting like a manwhore cos he was black? Are you saying black people do things that other people find totally offensive as a function of being black? Dude, using your logic, you must be black, cos you have been totally offensive.

[color=red]We fired him[/color] = Oh you absolute heroes. Saving the world from that unruly man who only acted like he did cos he was black. Gasp! He may have wanted to eat them too! First class heroes.

My question is: Why do Taiwanese people have such stupid fears about black skin? What makes black skin undesirable for employment? I interviewed a black skinned guy here about 6 months ago. Boss said, “But he is black, some of the parents may object.” When I heard that I wished I was Ken from Streetfighter2 and I’d have produced a mega 'Hado-ken" to blast that stupid comment from her mind.

Some of the WHITE people I have seen working here need shooting.

62

I am white and do not work as a Teacher. My only experience of racism was working for about 6 weeks in Japan back in 2000 when I was very clearly persona non grata and it was very unpleasant, I sympathise.

BUT (Rant)
It is not easy to find work anywhere, and may be harder if you are black, or female, or handicapped, or even just plain ugly. It is worse in Asia and is exacerbated by working with people’s children. If anyone thinks it is easier in Thailand, or China, or Korea I would love to hear? I have worked in 12 markets in Asia and find that attitudes are surprisingly similar in all of them.

Asia is racist, deal with it. Presumably you had read up on Taiwan before you came here? If you want to live a US life style, with US attitudes and protection you can do that, in the US.

63

[quote=“TomHill”][quote=“Mordeth”]
I was assistant manager at a David’s Language School. We hired our first black teacher about 6 years back. He hit on all the students…his co-workers…and his boss. He took home the attendance lists and phoned his students at home asking them out on dates. [color=red]We fired him [/color]of course. [/quote]

What is your point? The guy was acting like a manwhore cos he was black? Are you saying black people do things that other people find totally offensive as a function of being black? Dude, using your logic, you must be black, cos you have been totally offensive.

[color=red]We fired him[/color] = Oh you absolute heroes. Saving the world from that unruly man who only acted like he did cos he was black. Gasp! He may have wanted to eat them too! First class heroes.

My question is: Why do Taiwanese people have such stupid fears about black skin? What makes black skin undesirable for employment? I interviewed a black skinned guy here about 6 months ago. Boss said, “But he is black, some of the parents may object.” When I heard that I wished I was Ken from Streetfighter2 and I’d have produced a mega 'Hado-ken" to blast that stupid comment from her mind.

Some of the WHITE people I have seen working here need shooting.[/quote]

Calm down tiger. I’m just saying that my school tried hiring black people…but unfortunately the two or three they hired helped to reinforce negative stereotypes. And after three strikes my school wasn’t willing to give them another chance. It’s a shame that certain individuals help ruin it for the whole.

But I can understand their point of view. If I had a school…and I hired a purple person for the first time…and they fucked up…then I hired another…and they fucked up…and then I hired a third purple person…and they were worse than the first two. Do you think I’d keep on hiring them even though the Orange people I usually hire…fuck up too sometimes…but have never failed me 3 in a row.

I’m just saying that I can understand some employers perspective. If they’ve never hired a black person before…then that’s a different story.

You wanna know what my personal opinion on black people is? Here it is. I think they are more extreme than white people, ON AVERAGE. They are often either extremely cool, nice, trusting, intelligent, interesting…like miltownkid, and a few others I can think of that post on here but am not going to name. Or they’re extremely the opposite. The nicest coolest people I’ve met in Taiwan have been black…and the most people I’ve met here have also been black.

And yes…I’ve met quite a few non-extreme ones as well.

The above is just an opinion based on personal experiences…and it doesn’t mean much…even to me.

64

The last post made me retch. I think I’m going to puke on my keyboard.

65

So why even bother posting it? Damn, but how I dislike seeing ignorant racist fucktards defended. :fume:

66

Monster wrote [quote]The last post made me retch. I think I’m going to puke on my keyboard.[/quote]

I don’t see anything wrong with Mordeth’s posts. Strange that someone who has the word “motherfucker” in his signature is so sensitive.

67

I think Mordeth is describing how racism perpetuates itself.

That is all.

68

[quote=“jdsmith”]I think Mordeth is describing how racism perpetuates itself.

That is all.[/quote]
I read it as his defending racism and saying that he would also be a racist if he was in a hiring position.
He clearly stated that if, say, Imaniou presented her resume, he would reject it purely and simply because she’s black and therefore the same as “those other blacks” who came before.
Tell me how this isn’t racist and I’ll apologize.

69

[quote=“sandman”][quote=“jdsmith”]I think Mordeth is describing how racism perpetuates itself.

That is all.[/quote]
I read it as his defending racism and saying that he would also be a racist if he was in a hiring position.
He clearly stated that if, say, Imaniou presented her resume, he would reject it purely and simply because she’s black and therefore the same as “those other blacks” who came before.
Tell me how this isn’t racist and I’ll apologize.[/quote]

Correct.

70

[quote=“sandman”][quote=“jdsmith”]I think Mordeth is describing how racism perpetuates itself.

That is all.[/quote]
I read it as his defending racism and saying that he would also be a racist if he was in a hiring position.[/quote]

Yeah, I see how you could get there from here. But again, I think he’s trying to put himself into the shoes of a racist buxiban hiring guy in order to see how a racist attitude develops and is perpetuated. Like an experiment, yeah. An experiment.

Silly, I give you, but not malicious IMHO.

71

And despite his (presumbly) better-attuned ear to racist practice and the abhorrent nature of such practices, comes down on the side of the hick racist buxiban boss, so that Imaniou, despite her sterling credentials, misses out on Mordeth’s job offer purely and simply because of her skin colour.
Colour me (sorry, should have a bad pun warning) unconvinced.

72

I see it that he groups people together according to their colour. He then ascribes attributes to those people based on the behaviour of other people of that colour. That is racism. “These people will act like this (i.e. in his words they are ‘extreme’) as a result of their colour.”
How about if you go for a job interview and the employer says, “the last guy we hired was a drunk, and he was white. Therefore I am worried you are a drunk too as you have the same colour skin. I won’t hire you based on the actions and skin-colour of my previous employee.” That would be acceptable?
Hell, you wouldn’t even have gotten that far cos the picture of your white face would have sent out clear warnings. Given your example I can imagine the conversation… “Hell he is white! He might do something that I don’t like, just like that other white guy did. Heavens above, lets hire a local.”
The behaviour of three people does not give a clear picture of anything.

Tom.

73

And despite his (presumbly) better-attuned ear to racist practice and the abhorrent nature of such practices, comes down on the side of the hick racist buxiban boss, so that Imaniou, despite her sterling credentials, misses out on Mordeth’s job offer purely and simply because of her skin colour.
Colour me (sorry, should have a bad pun warning) unconvinced.[/quote]

Never even crossed my mind to try and convince you oh blower of sax. I guess I tired of reading into it because I kept slapping myself in the head and muttering “Why? Why?”

74

I wrote a lot of nice positive stuff in my post as well. But the hate mongers single out the negative stuff and jump on it. :loco:

How’s this for an example. Let’s say for sake of an example…that everyday when Mr.white goes to work he chooses one of two elevators to take. On Monday he goes to work and there is a “purple” man in the first elevator and a white man in the 2nd. The first one is closer so he takes that…and gets mugged. The next day…same situation with two different people in the elevators…but colors remain the same…and he doesn’t want to appear “racist” so he takes the closer elevator again…and gets mugged. The next day the closer elevator has another purple person in it…and he’s worried…but he thinks to himself “what are the chances it could happen again?” …and he gets mugged again. SO FINALLY the next day he takes the other elevator…and gets called a racist.

It’s like profiling at airports…due to anti-racist finatics security guards are pretty much not allowed to randomly search young arab looking passengers. Forget about the fact that there have been dozens of bombings by people fitting that proflie…they can only search people who don’t fit the stereotype of a terrorist…or else they’ll get sued. :loco:

What am I saying? At what point does learning from ones own experiences cross the line from common sense to racism? The coolest guy (in my opinion) on this whole forum is black (I think), miltownkid. Am I just throwing that to try and avoid some hate mongering? maybe, but I think it’s true none the less…

75

Jesus Mordeth, you just don’t get it at all, do you?
Your school bases its choices on skin colour rather than on academic record. The logic being that three blacks previously hired were child molesters or drunks or whatever it was you said originally. For your half-witted racist fucker of a boss, this is enough to blanket all blacks as drunks and child molesters, and it means he loses the services of Imaniou, who despite having an exemplary resume, is passed over because she might be a drunk or whatever.
And it appears to be good enough for you as well. It’s the very definition of racism, pure and simple. :loco:

76

He could have concluded that ‘men’ are dangerous. Maybe they were all tall too. He could have concluded that tall people are dangerous. How about, people who choose the closer elevator are more likey to mug him? When he judges their actions by the colour of their skin he is indeed racist.

Also: The fact that you think MTK is cool has absolutely no relation to his colour.

I have no idea whatsoever what colour Limey is, but he is a great guy. Equally, I am a total twat and I am greenish pink.
Conclusion: anyone can be a dick, anyone can be a hero.

77

erm, I though the definition of racism was labelling people without any evidence of their characteristics. E.G assuming all purple people are muggers/stupid/drunk/whatever when you have never met any, let alone experienced any.

As asked by another poster, when does it stop being racist and start being realistic?

Example. In the UK Nigerian credit card fraud is endemic. The credit card companies came up with a way of screening the applicants out based upon the number of vowels in their surname. This model was developed statistically by computer but when the regulators realised the effect of the rule they insisted that it was racist and thus fraud rates went up again and more Nigerians got rich. In the modelling concerned a minimum of 1500 “bad” accounts is required to demonstrate statistical probability.

Under my definition this would not be labelled racist, but rather as prudent. It may well penalise some honest Nigerians (or Welsh people as it happens) but it saved the Banks a lot of money and the reasoning behind it was sound.

I do not consider myself racist and genuinely feel for people who are turned away based purely upon colour, but I am also not a fan of positive discrimination, or taking definitions too far.

The example with the lift above demonstrated human nature, and can be evidenced frequently in the US and UK when a group of youths (of any colour) walks past an old lady and she freezes. This is simply because she knows that young people mug old people and steal their pensions, but if the young people happen to be black then she is also classed as a racist…is this right?

78

And how the hell can Miltonkid be cool, for fuck’s sake? Mike Tyson bit off a piece of somebody’s EAR!

79

Mordeth and Edgar Allen: your philsophy also works in the ‘reverse’.

Hmmm let’s see…how many white pricks in Taiwan who demand all that is comming to them on a silver platter and yet they piss and moan when they are discriminated against because all in all white people are treated pretty much above the rest here in Asia. All it takes is one backhand and most are crying that they’ve been hard done by.

BUT NO…it can’t happen…YOU’RE WHITE!

Alot of white folks have never experienced discrimination in that manner and therefore cannot seem to handle it when they’re out of their element. Not even in the slightest.

I’ll say this though…being a guy who doesn’t exactly conform to the norm anywhere - I catch some serious shit over here constantly. I’m also very used to being denied positions based on my appearance as well. Same goes for home. Some of you have lived with a silver spoon placed firmly in your asscrack.

Rant Over

80

Thanks for the non-flamatory post Edgar Allen, takes balls to get into a thread like this and not be fully “with” the majority.

I found this email about profiling I recieved from a buddy of mine who’s in active duty over in Iraq.

[quote] Little Quiz

?Please pause a moment, reflect back, and take the following Multiple
Choice test . . . no need to keep score. The events are actual cuts from
past history. They actually happened!

?Do you remember?

?1. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were kidnapped and massacred
by:
???a. Olga Corbitt
???b. Sitting Bull
???c. Arnold Schwarzeneger
???d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

?2. In 1979, the U.S. embassy in Iran was taken over by:
???a. Lost Norwegians
???b. Elvis
???c. A tour bus full of 80-year-old women
???d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

?3. During the 1980’s, a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon

by:
???a. John Dillinger
???b. The King of Sweden
???c. The Boy Scouts
???d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

?4. In 1983, the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by:
??? a. A pizza delivery boy
??? b. Pee Wee Herman
??? c. Geraldo Rivera
??? d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

?5. In 1985, the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked, and a 70 year-old American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard in his wheelchair
by:
???a. The Smurfs
???b. Davy Jones
???c. The Little Mermaid
???d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

?6. In 1985, TWA flight 847 was hijacked and a U.S. Navy diver trying to
rescue passengers was murdered by:
???a. Captain Kidd
???b. Charles Lindberg
???c. Mother Teresa
???d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

?7. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:
???a. Scooby Doo
???b. The Tooth Fairy
???c. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
???d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

?8. In 1993, the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by:
???a. Richard Simmons
???b. Grandma Moses
???c. Michael Jordan
???d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

?9. In 1998, the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:
???a. Mr. Rogers
???b. Hillary Clinton, to distract attention from Wild Bill’s
women problems
???c. The World Wrestling Federation
???d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

?10. On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked; 2 were used as missiles to
take out the World Trade Centers, and of the remaining two, one crashed into the US Pentagon, and the other was diverted and crashed by the passengers.

Thousands of people were killed by:
??? a. Bugs Bunny, Wiley E. Coyote, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd
??? b. The Supreme Court of Florida
??? c. Mr. Bean
??? d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

?11. In 2002, the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against:
??? a. Enron
??? b. The Lutheran Church
??? c. The NFL
??? d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

?12. In 2002, reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by:
??? a. Bonnie and Clyde
??? b. Captain Kangaroo
??? c. Billy Graham
??? d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

?Nope, I really don’t see a pattern here to justify profiling, do you?

So, to ensure we Americans never offend anyone, particularly fanatics
intent on killing us, airport security screeners will no longer be allowed
to profile certain people. They must conduct random searches of 80-year-old women, little kids, airline pilots with proper identification, Secret
agents who are members of the President’s security detail, 85-year
old Congressmen with metal hips, and Medal of Honor-winning former
Governors, and leave Muslim males between the ages 17 and 40 alone, because of profiling. Because we don’t want to seem racist.

Let’s send this to as many people as we can so that the Gloria Aldreds
and other dunder-headed attorneys, along with Federal Justices that want to thwart common sense, feel doubly ashamed of themselves – if they have any such sense. [/quote]

Oh and you’re right about one thing…my thinking miltonkid is cool…has nothing to do with his colour…it would be racist of me if it did. The coolest foreigner girl I’ve met here was also black (just thought of it now) I dated her for a few months…and we still keep in contact. She’s the 2nd smartest girl I’ve ever met in my life.