As i said, taiwanese people would be offended by something equal. Look at how sensitive chinese are to japan. Do you think westerners could get away with a similar thing using japanese WW2 themed decor and costumes? Absolutely not, chinese would (understandably) lose their shit.
This is not an issue of being overly PC or some thought police thing, its simply about ignorance.
I really doubt that. Whatâs equal here? I think a kitschy store displaying the Rising Sun Flag say to attract business would pass totally without notice, and a place selling historical memorabilia even less so. It still sees some use, which doesnât seem to attract protest, among the considerable protest by Chinese against Japan that does occur (though I canât seem to find much that has occurred stateside.)
I canât think of another analogous symbol or situation.
haaretz.com/news/features/.premium-1.662779
I disagree. Iâll bet the store owner knows fully well what it means, but simply doesnât care. Do you think that if approached, and duly educated, the store owner would give a few pie-says and then remove those objects? That I wouldnât care to bet on.
Uhmmm I liked the comparison, but I guess that itâs not the same. indeed, you could sell Chan Kai Shek (yeah, whatever name he had) tshirts in London⌠and some Taiwanese would like them.
Still not the same, I guess.
You have to admit Taiwanese wearing Wehrmacht clothes is kinda sexy cute. More sexy than cute which is nice
Which Taiwanese?
reuters.com/article/2008/08/ ⌠8820080808
businesskorea.co.kr/article/ ⌠-and-japan
koreaherald.com/view.php?ud= ⌠1376&cpv=0
japandailypress.com/courting-con ⌠ag-149097/
Have you ever seen how Chinese people react to the Taiwanese flag? Now imagine the flag of their sworn enemyâŚ
I bet he has no idea what it really means. Ive asked plenty of taiwanese what it means and they were not really educated in detail about what happend in europe in ww2.
A rising sun flag is not the same as a fully kitted shop like this. This sort of thing happens because they think it is cool from seeing nazis in movies and stuff, its a kind of geeky thing. The same thing doesnât happen with japanese ww2 appeal, what i am saying is if it did and if westerners thought it was cool to dress up like japanese ww2 soldiers then of course chinese people would be offended by it.
How about i make an opium themed shop, something to gloryfy that time, chinese people would be offended. Iâm sorry but Its nonsense to think that they wouldnât be offended by an equal thing in the same way that westerners are.
Infact i would say they are quite sensitive and easily offended, so they are in no position to be so ignorant of outsiders just because they can get away with it.
Oh itâs perfectly OK for you to get offended. Nothing surprising about a Jewish person (whether merely ethnically or actually religious) being offended by a Nazi flag.
That said, all kinds of relatively trivial things seem to offend you.
Meanwhile, certain flagrant human rights abuses (apparently) donât offend you. Again, thatâs perfectly OK. Itâs natural not to question the familiar. Youâd be far from the only one with a blind spot on certain issues - if indeed you do have such a blind spot.
Finally, just as you have the right to point out that something offends you, others have the right to note that it doesnât offend them. They might even go further and note that while the something in question offers fine material for a couple of minutes of hate, itâs of little importance compared to real abuses that somehow fly under the radar - ironically partly because pointing them out causes âoffenseâ in certain quarters.
Jesus let me explain it to you clearly in case you havent figured it out yet.
One single Taiwanese person equals all Taiwanese. This is in response to their infantile classification of all non ethnic Taiwanese as outsiders. The onus is on them to change first as we are only guests
That said, I have often been the bigger person and made the required PC distinction
What, exactly, did I say doesnât offend me? Some things are trivial to you, but they arenât to me, and vice versa. Thatâs precisely the reason why itâs important to respect other peopleâs sense of decency.
When someone tells a person that doing something or saying something or showing something is deeply offensive and that person just waves it off and keeps on doing, saying, or showing it⌠thatâs called being an asshole.
Those arenât analogous to what RR was saying. One happened in Beijing, and two more involved official usage of the flag, and happened in Koreaâboth places which were directly affected by Japanese aggression. I canât open the 4th link.
In detail no, but not knowing that the Nazis were a fascist regime that killed millions? Any educated person will know that IMO, and thatâs more than enough to understand how it could be offensive, if one cared.
The store seems to have a couple of SS-themed banners on display, or is there anything else? Iâm not sure what would be more analogous. Perhaps if a store had Unit 731 banners, people would lose their shit, but itâs not a symbol that anyone knows.
Maybe youâre right. There was a pretty popular bar called âthe Opium Denâ right here in Taipei for a while though, predating the one mentioned in this article. I donât think anyone objected.
The human rights abuse I refer to is the sexual mutilation of children in the name of religion. You havenât commented one way or another on whether it bothers you, though (predictably) youâve intimated that my mentioning it in relation to Judaism is antisemitic. Apparently itâs mostly a Filipino thing.
I donât see it as important to ârespect other peopleâs sense of decencyâ if that means letting them deny other people their human rights. So both genocidal Nazis and genital mutilators should be stopped. Obviously youâd stop the former before the latter, since theyâre clearly the bigger evil. These days of course Nazis are no longer a thing (which is why Nazi flags donât seem a big deal to me) while genital mutilators obviously still are.
Indeed.
Itâs not just individuals either. Entire belief systems, whether political or religious, can also act like real arseholes and just keep on doing their thing. Who needs âhuman rightsâ when youâve got God (or the Fuhrer) on your side?
No, you were clear, I just donât agree.
Fuck it, whatever.
Iâm still trying to come to terms with the fact that Iâm a victim of genital mutilation. I shall never be able to look at my penis again⌠
Thatâs the spirit!
Just reality isnât it? Respond to it however you like.
That happened? Are you sure?
I mentioned I was Jewish, and I did not say that my being Jewish is why I think the Nazis were bad guys. I think the Nazis and absolutely everything they stood far were bad because Iâm a rational, feeling human being, and all human beings should feel this way. I didnât give my view on circumcision, nor did I imply you were an anti-Semite. I think youâre just hoping I do so you can feel that Iâm arguing my point simply because Iâm Jewish. The only person who has even used the word âanti-Semiticâ in this thread is you.
But letâs talk about why weâre even discussing circumcision. You basically said: donât sweat the small stuff because thereâs a whole world of human rights violations we should worry about. Thatâs a hugely fallacious argument. What if I told you not to care so much about circumcision because Thai fishing boat captains kidnap people and force them to work until they die? Thereâs no correlation between these two issues, and no reason that caring about one means you donât care about the other. Iâm going to continue arguing that Nazi symbols are bad, because letâs use our brains here â the Nazis were pretty bad. That does not impede your right to fight against circumcision, nor does it imply I in any way, shape, or form either endorse or reject the practice.
And obviously youâd rather stop circumcision than child soldiers, Indiaâs rape epidemic, Ebola, and Thai slavery right? Thatâs not how it works. You can care about an issue without ignoring other issues. Youâre the one who is assuming based on pure speculation that Iâm a fan of circumcision.
Howâs this?
A British band in their English-language music video used the Rising Sun flag. And then people got angry, and they removed it. I would expect the same if a Taiwanese band decided to use a Nazi flag in a video.
Pretty good, though it was all purely internet based. I believe a Taiwanese band using a Nazi flag could get expect the same.
Hereâs an interesting thread:
Itâs not really an analogous symbol in the end. I canât really imagine an ordinary business back home using anything like an SS insignia to promote their business, and I do believe they would get a negative reaction if they did.