Man, if I had a brother named Billy Bob in my family, I’d have banged his ex-wife when she passed out drunk in the guest bedroom at the family Thanksgiving dinner (right after the Dallas game though - priorities!)
More relevant thought, if I had a brother named Billy Bob and I wasn’t a redneck myself, and I went on a job interview, to a nice restaurant (like Popeyes), or tried to catch a taxi, I wouldn’t have a problem because none of the people involved would know I came from rednecks and had a brother named Billy Bob (because we ate him right up when the turkeys all died from the damp in the basement).
Whereas the blacks and latinos can be easily detected anywhere in the country, underclass Taiwanese can be detected by their accent (maybe) and color (maybe), and the refugees in Thailand from their accent (definitely) and features (definitely). There’s no hiding it for most of them (no Michael Jackson joke please).
Somewhat, although it’s noteworthy that in both cases, the persecution was most directly facilitated by other Scots and Irish, despite attendant controversy regarding their respective claims on those designations.
Certainly, most of those directly inflicting the persecution considered themselves to be thoroughly Scots or Irish.
The ethno-religious distinction was more an accompaniment to the economic/class separation than a direct cause.
[quote=“the chief”][quote=“GuyInTaiwan”]
The Chief: Mostly economic, though also ethnic/religious to a degree in the case of Irish and Scots.
[/quote]
Somewhat, although it’s noteworthy that in both cases, the persecution was most directly facilitated by other Scots and Irish, despite attendant controversy regarding their respective claims on those designations.
Certainly, most of those directly inflicting the persecution considered themselves to be thoroughly Scots or Irish.
The ethno-religious distinction was more an accompaniment to the economic/class separation than a direct cause.[/quote]
There’s no difference; we’re a nation of clans and tribes. Snobbery and tribalism are the foundation of British society.
To the OP: You will be stared at and pointed at - white people are too, and pointing out differences is normal in Chinese and Taiwanese society. Once you understand Chinese, you will realize that they are talking about you, and since they will never believe you can understand Chinese, the comments will be uncensored - and the Taiwanese tend to blurt out unflattering comments even when they know you can understand them, for example when speaking English.
I know lots of Nigerians who lived in Taiwan, and they never had any trouble getting a girlfriend. Getting a casual girlfriend, or just one for sex, was easier than getting a serious girlfriend whose parents would accept you, though.
TwoTongues: Surely you’d be able to distinguish people from different parts of America by their accents. Maybe I’m particularly attuned to accents. I don’t know. I can often pick a black American just by their voice, and I can pick people from the south, or certain other places (New Jersey, parts of New England). I can almost always pick someone by nationality, and I can pick particular broad regions of the U.K. relatively well. I’m getting better at picking people from different sides of Canada, as well as the English or Afrikaans Saffas. I actually find it harder to distinguish people from different parts of Australia unless they’re from South Australia (an accent closer to a Kiwi accent), or if they’re really from the outback. It’s generally more to do with ethnicity and economic class. In my own city of Melbourne (Australia), I can usually pick someone who comes from the other side of the river, someone who has immigrant parents from Asia or southern Europe, and I can usually pick someone who went to a private school. I’m sure if your family tree had no fork, the U.F.O. hotline had limited you to one call per day, your porch recently collapsed and killed four dogs, or if your mother usually took the cigarette out of her mouth before she told the state trooper to kiss her ass, a Bay Area socialite would pick it within five seconds and could discriminate against you if he wanted to.
The Chief: Yes, you’re right. It was mainly an economic thing perpetrated by locals, although in Cromwell’s case it was also motivated by religion.
Yes but having a Southern or Midwestern/bible-belt accent will not often get you red-flagged as a redneck/PWT, simply as a Southerner or Midwesterner (with its own connotations), and even when you are, what discrimination is being leveled at you to anywhere near the level that minorities in the US or underclass Taiwanese or refugees in Thailand are? Slim to none. I don’t see the comparison there discrimination wise, and in some jobs it’s considered a bonus by the employer/hirer (“real American” and so on) - you see the look they give an East Coast/West Coast guy in the south when you go to apply for a driver’s license? It’s a look of pained tolerance at best - but I wouldn’t complain about being discriminated against in a serious way.
[quote=“Goose Egg”]
I don’t know where you might classify as a “tough neighborhood” like the inner cities in the US. I’ve been told Sanchong is as rough as it gets because there is a large Triad presence there - but then, I do not know Sanchong well at all. I happen to have many friends whose families live in / come from Sanchong, and that sample actually gives me the opposite impression[/quote]
I’ll vouch for that, SanChong has a very hard vibe. Hsin Chuang is not as hard but still pretty “ghetto”. The culture in these areas is strikingly similar to US inner cities imo. What’s missing is violent crime and an antagonistic relationship with the police, but otherwise things are largely the same.
my girlfriend is very pro Taiwan mate. She avoids products from China like the plague however.
I like this is better than being embarrassed by your culture though.[/quote]
Wait… being a racist is better than being an embarrassment?
(Hey feel free to jump on my logic. It is a local sport.)[/quote]
well she is proud of where she is from, and to be honest I try and avoid talking about china and taiwan as much as possible as I have friends from both places and it seems like I get the same answers just the opposite way around depending who tells me it.
and i would say supporting products from your area, and not buying products from somewhere that claims to own you is not racism either and to be honest I dont know all the details of their history or chinas history
