Ehhhhh…. not as bad as some neighboring countries, but just this morning I had some crazy bitch imitating “excuse me” in a faux American accent really loud because I didn’t let her cut in front of me. It was actually quite amusing.
Professionally and socially, there is passive xenophobia which is expressed by exclusion from certain conversations, events, or positions (do you think I could ever become a chairperson of my department? Lol).
What Taiwan does and what Taiwan says don’t match. Taiwan says, and I believe they actually want to, improve lives for immigrants and retain migrant workers.
At the same time they won’t offer a reasonable path to permanent residency for migrant workers nor allow their family to immigrate with them.
They changed ID numbers to ‘be in line with nationals’ despite that making our lives harder and not being in line with nationals.
They won’t fix the legitimate issues faced with foreigners such as banking, property purchases, insurance discrimination. They offer tax cuts and gold cards which no one really needed or wanted. (Although it obviously has its benefits)
Articles like the above are made with no outrage from any locals.
Maybe it’s xenophobia, maybe it’s ignorance. But if they start making steps towards doing the things they say they want, then things will improve.
I mentioned this once before but I always try to remember Taiwan is a relatively new democracy. I know my country treated immigrants from Asia much worse than Taiwan does at a similar age. Fairness takes time. If people and the government are honest in wanting to make lives better for foreigners, and I think they are, all we need is time.
Xenophobic is another word for racist
Okay, I lived in Australia before and the xenophobia there of some people is crazy.
Or trying to get your legal entitlements like annual leave while your colleagues get these with no issues
Sure, I’m half Australian and lived there as a kid for a few years. Their treatment of Aboriginals (and anyone foreign from Greece, Asia, the Middle East… basically anyone who wasn’t a WASP) was abhorrent.
I agree with this. The one thing Taiwan has going for it is a lack of racism, especially of the type you will experience in Japan and Korea. Taiwanese, in my experience, do not feel that they are racially superior to other groups. So you will never fit in, but you won’t be looked down on as being inferior. Basically, you will be left alone for the most part. In some ways, I don’t mind.
I’m more convinced that the issue is, is that there are very few communication links to policymakers coupled with a general inability to place themselves in the shoes of foreigners.
That’s part of what I am working on is getting more and more contacts in government to talk.
Yeah, this is what happens in a country where 96% of the people are the same ethnicity.
If everyone is getting the same experience, it’s hard to get outraged when nobody talks about it cause it doesn’t affect 95% of people.
i think your approach is forgiving and even apologetic in some sense, but i dont see it that way. Its not stupidity or ignorance, i belive it is a question of policy, meant to prevent too many foreigners in Taiwan。
regardless of the roots of this, we still need to change it.
Does Quincy have a foreign passport as well? The wiki says he gave up his US citizenship. Even if they decide to go forward with this, are they going to designate him a “foreign player” when he has a contract with his Taiwan ID?
I don’t think that’ll fly
Not at all. You’re not going to get the change you want by calling people stupid.
I think there are some people in Taiwan that could be like that because that’s what it’s like in every country. It’s not about being forgiving, you won’t get the change you want by being confrontational. Most people are willing to listen, but we need to express love and kindness, not confrontationalism and accusations of stupidity, racism, or other accusations. If we come across as wearing our anger on our sleeves, then we express that anger to people who don’t know why we are upset, how are you going to get your point across to people who just simply don’t know?
I would say 9/10 people express sympathy upon learning or the realisation of the issues when I talk to them nicely. I’m not forgiving anything, they genuinely don’t know! So I have adjusted my approach to this reality. The vast majority of people wouldn’t have a problem with foreigners becoming Taiwanese on paper and integrating in society and that, for the government, isn’t exactly a particularly risky political option.
I am apologising for nothing. I am adjusting my strategy to take into account the reality. If people don’t genuinely know, then they need to be educated kindly.
What is your strategy? If you assume what they think and don’t take into account the concerns or lack of concerns they have, then you will fail. You have to be in touch with what people and officials think.
It’s very easy to get angry. People make mistakes when angry. I have no interest in letting my emotions guide me.
I don’t believe most people are bad so I am going to give them the respect they deserve to convince them of my needs.
No, he doesn’t. He is 100% Taiwanese citizen, using a Taiwan ID. This is what makes the whole thing so ridiculous.
They are saying that they don’t need to go by the government’s definition of what constitutes a local or a foreigner, and that the designation is up to them and no-one else.
Well if this is their idea of racism, I don’t mind it all that much: My wife and I were walking through a traditional market on Friday of Moon Festival weekend. Her family has a shop in the market. We passed a stall and the guy said something. She’s like “that really pisses me off.”
“What?”
“I’ll tell you at the car.”
So we get to the car and she tells me what the guy said. “Oooh, big American sausage!”
I laughed so hard I now want to get it printed on a t-shirt. And apparently my father-in-law has previously said that guy is an asshole. So there’s that.
Anyway, Taiwan isn’t xenophobic. They just have an identity/confidence issue. And I’m not talking about small penises here. Just as someone said above, in Taiwan, being a foreigner is considered a good thing.
It’s skin color and genetics to them…
I agree with this approach and if you look over time Taiwan has made a lot of progress. I rarely see outright nationalism or an unwillingness to be more open. Part of the reason is likely the precarious position Taiwan is in so they understand the need to be more open.
Unless you’re southeast Asian.
I only wrote that first line you quoted because I mentioned confidence and I didn’t want people to get the wrong idea.
As far as I can tell though, they still treat SEA better than say, Thais treat Laotians.
there is also a second side to this, every time i manage an achievement or promotion at work its attributed to "white man privilege " , not to the effort i put in
That’s what I wanted to say. Example:
That would be because of some stupid preconceptions, closer to racism than xenophobia. However, as long as it doesn’t mean discrimination or prejudices against her, I wouldn’t call it either.
See?
Of course. If I just jumped into the blind-rage bandwagon every time it pops up on this site, am I really taking the time to learn and gather the whole picture for my strategy?
We want someone to do something, it’s always easier to be nice and co-operate. It requires patience though. Love and kindness. Respect others for the adults they are and they will most likely approach this like an adult. If you don’t give others a chance to be an adult, they will never give you adult behaviour.
My boss just caved on something I really wanted because I bit my tongue in a dispute and acted like a rational adult. It took him two days to come around. But it worked.
I have to carefully manage relationships with flakey people all the time as a marketing manager. My tongue is full of blisters from the amounts of times i have had to bite it. My job is literally about convincing people.