this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2024

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Unpopular Opinion

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Asians are way more racist than Americans (self.unpopularopinion)

submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by oaExist to c/unpopularopinion

37 comments fedilink hide all child comments

P.S: I'm Asian

top 37 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] [email protected] 32 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Being of mixed race, I have experienced racism everywhere. Western society certainly has no monopoly on it.

For me, western racism involved a lot of schoolyard bullying. I don't remember coming home with a black eye while I was enrolled in the Japanese school system. But there, it was more of an exclusionary racism with people talking shit behind your back. In some sense, this could be worse in that there is a systematic component to it as opposed to a few worthless individuals using any pretext to go after anyone they can pick on.

Otoh when Trump got elected, we learned just how many closet racists there are in the west and how alarmingly quickly they could get organized. I think in general, racists are in the minority and I've met many more wonderful people everywhere I've gone. But when they reach positions of power and influence is when you've got a problem.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, the reality is that people will take any demographic, apply a stereotype, and act superior to that group based on the stereotype. People all across the world do it and it really has nothing to do with race or whatever demographic is in question. It's just people wanting to feel superior. If anything, I think places like America have come a long way in overcoming racism, but that's because we're so diverse that this behavior is rampant. So we're forced to address it and do so very regularly.

But there's a bunch of forms that this takes, overtly using hate speech, being fearful of a people, even complimenting someone but at the same time putting them in a box. Like "Hey, you people are really good at running" can mean "I admit you're good at that thing. But that's it. And if you're not, what good are you?"

Each culture has its own flavor and it can even be self-defeating. I hear South Americans talk shit about each other a lot, for example.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

Yeah I agree with you there. Take those schoolyard bullies. They might've beaten me up over race, but they also beat up that other kid over there because he's short, or his socks don't match, or…anything really. I eventually worked out that it's the bullies who have all the issues, though coming home all black and blue didn't make it seem that way.

[–] Potatos_are_not_friends 24 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I'm brown.

1 - Theres different range of racism.

2 - A racist hick tends to shoot before asking questions.

3 - Playing a "look whose racist more" is a stupid game, like pitting low-class & middle-class folks against each other, or being upset at minwage folks for getting a increase.

[–] Stovetop 21 points 8 months ago

I would say context matters and of course this is not a universal truth...but having lived in China, yes, East Asia is really fucking racist. Towards their immediate neighbors in Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, etc., but also to the rest of the world, and Africans and Arabs especially.

A lot, lot of racism in China. If I wasn't Chinese myself it would have been a very awkward and uncomfortable place to be.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 8 months ago (1 children)

In India, casteism is a bigger problem than racism.

PS - I am Indian.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Do south indian, bihari, north east indian classify as races?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yes. They are also discriminated. For example, if a Bihari is living in Punjab or Haryana (northern states), they won't be treated as equals. However, if they are educated enough, they will be okay. But if they are of lower caste, education won't matter, and will be discriminated regardless.

I haven't travelled a lot, so, I am not very experienced, and my experiences can differ from most people.

[–] BugleFingers 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Question, how is racism towards tourists there (or in general)? Caucasian, Asian, African, etc.?

I've heard places like Japan is Super bad and a very close minded people towards pretty much anyone not Japanese. They just deal with tourist basically

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

As far as I have seen, tourists are never discriminated based om their race. Women safety is a separate issue, though.

Again, I haven't travelled a lot, so my experiences may differ from others.

[–] BugleFingers 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Women's safety, could you explain why that'd be a bit more? Just from your experience, even if it isn't the whole of the region/country

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Personally, I have never witnessed any such thing, but people on the internet consider India to not to be a safe country for female tourists. I have seen some videos online, of some people harassing or touching female foreigners.

But if you ask me, as long as you are in a public place, a decent city, or always keep a trustwortmale friend with you, you'll be fine.

Feel free to DM if you want to talk.

[–] JackLSauce 19 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I won't pretend to know about everywhere in Asia but the number of Google Map reviews in Tokyo complaining about stores "employed by foreigners" can be jarring

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (2 children)

That's xenophobia not racism. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[–] pigup 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

In the case of Japanese, my experiences tell me it comes from the same place. At least with older generations. They don't want foreigners tainting their genepool because it would be a detriment to it.

[–] Delphia 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I started dating a Japanese girl in highschool, her parents found out I was white and forbade her fro. Seeing me. "We are very traditional" was what her father said.

Now if my daughter brings home a black guy and I insist that its "traditional" that she doesnt date him because he isnt white...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

You see it’s only racism when it’s from the white supremacy region of society, everything else is just sparkling xenophobia

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Xenophobia fueled by racism

[–] whaleross 18 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

It's not a competition. People are people, racism is racism and racists are assholes.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (3 children)

I would argue there are differences between racism and xenophobia.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago

There’s a semantic difference sure (racism presupposes a belief in the existence of superior races), but in practice, the consequences on the recipient must not be particularly different…

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (2 children)

And those would be?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I'm no philosopher so take this with a grain of salt. The following comes from the perspective of someone living in a predominantly Asian area in the southern United States.

Xenophobia generally refers to a fear or dislike of everyone who isn't of your culture regardless of who they are. Racism is prejudice against people of a specific race. East Asian cultures are vocally xenophobic, citing differences in morals and traditions. They don't hate foreigners because of their race or the color of their skin. They hate when people come into their country and behave in a way that goes against the grain. Dealing with those types of people would cause them to go against the grain as well and it makes them uncomfortable.

Xenophobia generally deals with culture while racism deals with race. Both are nasty and things we can do without, but racism is significantly worse.

[–] frickineh 9 points 8 months ago

Idk, there's a lot of colorism in Asian communities (and others, it's for sure not exclusive to them). It's extremely visible in the Asian beauty space, where there are usually like 3 shades of extremely light foundation and if you're darker, you can fuck off, I guess. Tons of "brightening" products (that are generally just bleach), too. It sucks.

[–] excitingburp 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

You don't have to get a dictionary that's too old to find the definition of racism that strictly required belief of superiority. With the old definition, things like slavery and genocide would be a direct conclusion/justification a racist would make. Words evolve though. Nowadays racism still makes you a piece of shit, but it doesn't necessarily make you literally Columbus or Hitler - and that is reflected in the dictionary as a new definition; where hatred is enough.

[–] oaExist 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Well I agree, but here you go, This is ntg but open racism

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

😬

Oh dang

[–] ThatWeirdGuy1001 6 points 8 months ago

A lot of places are a lot more racist than America but get ignored because America has spread it's bullshit to every corner of the globe so everyone knows about it

[–] j4k3 4 points 8 months ago

We all have our backwater inbred regions. If intelligence follows a bell curve I think the bulge is pretty low leaning, and stupid bleeds red regardless.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

That doesn't make it ok. Pointing out that others are worse doesn't excuse our wrongdoings, it just creates a race to the bottom.

Unfortunately it seems to be a thing that we can be as shit as we want, as long as others are worse.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 8 months ago

The racists are downvoting you 😅

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

I'm white and the only time I've faced racism in my entire life is Richmond BC lol

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfpjXcawG60

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Try being gay. Then they all hate you regardless of race.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

I love you. And if you're not gay I still love you too. Have a good day.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You're right, but you're also a racist. Therefore your opinion is unpopular. Upvote because you're a racist and that's unpopular.

This is how it's done. Good post.

You racist.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

🤣