Since coming to Europe, I've noticed a lot of White people, especially Swedes, telling me that. When I tell them about the extreme racial bias I saw in Thailand and China, I was told it's not racism and not bad at all. That when Asians are prejudiced against black people or other Asians with darker skin, it's okay but when white people do it, it's unacceptable.
I told my flatmate about how in China, the police often to "Random checks" on Black peoples homes, raiding them in groups of 8, trashing the police, demanding all forms of paper and often arresting people who were there legally and had done no crimes. My flatmate told me that I don't know what I'm talking since I'm not as well educated as him. Yet he's never been to China, or Thailand, he's just read books and thinks he knows everything. Let me quote him so you can see what I'm talking about.
"Yeah, even after watching the video. It all depends on whether you define racism as a personal expression of intolerance/hate (in which case, ANYONE can be racist, of course), or as a systematic mechanism with large-scale reach and consequence, a historic element and consistent victimization. But even that (mostly) fails the criteria of large-scale reach and consequence, and consistent victimization. Simply put, very few foreigners in China are impacted by these mechanisms, in comparison to how systemic white racism constantly shapes and limits the entire world (the effect is felt in nearly every country on Earth - possibly excepting China and Japan and the like).
But yeah, Chine is likely bad enough that you could make the claim that there is indeed drastic local systemic racism with a limited reach and consequence. That's certainly bad enough.
But the comparison still matters. Dealing with racism takes more than just identifying it, and counteracting the destructive and oppressive effects white people and countries predominantly run by the former have on the rest of the world requires that we draw a very clear line between the practical effects of white racism, and that of other ethnicities."
What is your thoughts on this?
I told my flatmate about how in China, the police often to "Random checks" on Black peoples homes, raiding them in groups of 8, trashing the police, demanding all forms of paper and often arresting people who were there legally and had done no crimes. My flatmate told me that I don't know what I'm talking since I'm not as well educated as him. Yet he's never been to China, or Thailand, he's just read books and thinks he knows everything. Let me quote him so you can see what I'm talking about.
"Yeah, even after watching the video. It all depends on whether you define racism as a personal expression of intolerance/hate (in which case, ANYONE can be racist, of course), or as a systematic mechanism with large-scale reach and consequence, a historic element and consistent victimization. But even that (mostly) fails the criteria of large-scale reach and consequence, and consistent victimization. Simply put, very few foreigners in China are impacted by these mechanisms, in comparison to how systemic white racism constantly shapes and limits the entire world (the effect is felt in nearly every country on Earth - possibly excepting China and Japan and the like).
But yeah, Chine is likely bad enough that you could make the claim that there is indeed drastic local systemic racism with a limited reach and consequence. That's certainly bad enough.
But the comparison still matters. Dealing with racism takes more than just identifying it, and counteracting the destructive and oppressive effects white people and countries predominantly run by the former have on the rest of the world requires that we draw a very clear line between the practical effects of white racism, and that of other ethnicities."
What is your thoughts on this?