Page 10 | Is this racist or am I being sensitive,

NotGaming · 2023-01-04T18:46:35+00:00

Just saw on my local reisdents Facebook page, Chinese restaurant has posted to say that they’re shutting for a month to allow family to travel home for Chinese new year. Most responses are people saying to enjoy their well earned time off. Then someone has posted ‘make sure you don’t bring anything home with you 😷 🤢’ i think this is really inappropriate, but loads of people have posted laughing emojis and liked the post. I’ve reported to page admins who have said it doesn’t breach their rules and left the comment up.

ImaginaryDragon · 04/01/2023 22:02

Bestcatmum · 04/01/2023 21:48

My Chinese Dil doesn't think its racist.

She may not or she may restrict her conversations on racism to allies. I like lots of people very few of them are allies.

AngelinaFibres · 04/01/2023 22:15

Not racist at all. Perfectly reasonable thing to say

Meifly · 04/01/2023 22:18

Of course its racist!

Would any one who said it isn't think it would be acceptable to make the same 'joke' about a west african person bringing back ebola during the crisis there a few years back?

Sometimes I really do feel that racism towards Asian people is just viewed as a non issue in the UK :/

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 04/01/2023 22:20

The restaurant owners will not correct racist comments, they know they will be the losers if they do.

How would they have been the losers if they'd replied "We're going to Taiwan, actually, so you should be safe!!" ? It's clearly not intended to be offensive as it's their customers who have made the comment - not the 'keep 'em out' knuckle-draggers.

People who have racist feelings towards any/all non-white/non-British people and are liable to kick off about it and get nasty don't tend to be the ones who regularly enjoy going to Chinese/Indian/other foreign cuisine restaurants. They decry it as 'foreign muck' and consider it far beneath them to think they'd ever want to go there to eat.

On the other hand, many of the regulars will frequently come to be on friendly terms with the staff and will have a laugh and a joke with them, just like they would any other friends and regular acquaintances; but all I'm getting from this thread is that a white person should treat the non-white waiter who serves them every time at the Chinese restaurant coldly and distantly - as sharing any kind of friendly humanity, which may include little jokey comments, is apparently racist.

If the waiter in any restaurant is another white Brit, though, they're fine to engage with them on friendly terms. Making that deliberate distinction and treating them differently seems to me to be quite.... racist.

TheOrigRights · 04/01/2023 22:21

Meifly · 04/01/2023 22:18

Of course its racist!

Would any one who said it isn't think it would be acceptable to make the same 'joke' about a west african person bringing back ebola during the crisis there a few years back?

Sometimes I really do feel that racism towards Asian people is just viewed as a non issue in the UK :/

Neither are racist though - they are in very poor taste. Joking about visiting a place where there is a pandemic isn't racist, it's just stupid.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 04/01/2023 22:27

Would any one who said it isn't think it would be acceptable to make the same 'joke' about a west african person bringing back ebola during the crisis there a few years back?

They wouldn't be unreasonable to be concerned about the significant risk. I doubt people would say it lightheartedly, though, as ebola is perceived to be a far more serious virus, with a very high risk to life.

Considering that the vast majority of people who have caught covid have had 'feeling grotty' symptoms and then got over it in a week or two, there isn't the same fear of it amongst many people.

ImaginaryDragon · 04/01/2023 22:30

Mark19735 · 04/01/2023 22:01

There's a danger though. Being super clinical about defining exactly what does and doesn't constitute discrimination may be of academic interest, but it also plays into the hands of some fairly unpleasant agendas.

Technically, the way Brits talk about ginger-haired people meets all the criteria for discrimination and there is a strong case for it to become a protected characteristic. But, the more characteristics you protect, the greater a proportion of the population becomes deserving of protection.

But in reality - ginger haired people aren't stopped and searched twenty times more often by the police than blonde haired people. Young black men are. That is a tangible, pervasive, oppressive way for them to have to live their lives, and is a function of the systemic bias and discrimination that that still permeates the police, criminal justice system, education system.

All that is achieved by crying 'racism' at every opportunity where intent to harm is barely apparent, and the harm caused is trivial, at best, is to create a culture in which everything is 'problematic'. And in a world where everyone is a victim, no-one is a victim. All this does is provide an alibi and a fig leaf for those with an interest in perpetuating the status quo - which actually hinders the cause for greater justice and a less prejudiced world.

So ... still not racist. And really not helpful to keep banging on about how it could be.

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Moderates can be black, white etc, but you get the gist.

I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Councillor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice [...]

Martin Luther King Jr

ImaginaryDragon · 04/01/2023 22:38

Meifly · 04/01/2023 22:18

Of course its racist!

Would any one who said it isn't think it would be acceptable to make the same 'joke' about a west african person bringing back ebola during the crisis there a few years back?

Sometimes I really do feel that racism towards Asian people is just viewed as a non issue in the UK :/

It's only at joke though... <<Sigh>>

Flannan · 04/01/2023 22:40

UWhatNow · 04/01/2023 21:36

Well I actually explained in my post. 🙄

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You said this:

I actually think it was quite clever and satirical. You could’ve said that to anyone of any race visiting China right now (or any insert name of any country with a massive Covid emergency). What about that statement denigrates or diminishes Chinese people or the Chinese restaurant people? It’s a statement on the current covid crisis there surely?

No explanation of clever or satirical there.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 04/01/2023 22:48

To be honest, many people on here are only centring the restaurant owners and how they might or might not feel upset at people's comments; but for all we know, those might only have been 'semi-jokes' in an attempt to deflect people's anger at the irresponsibility of people in their community travelling from the UK to a country that's hugely in the grips of covid and running the very real risk of bringing it back home into the community.

I think we've all had occasions where we've said things apparently in jest but through gritted teeth as an exasperated way of expressing "I really can't believe you're actually intending to do such a foolish and/or selfish thing". If it doesn't make me racist to say so (as a Brit), it's a very stereotypically British trait.

ImaginaryDragon · 04/01/2023 23:04

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 04/01/2023 22:20

The restaurant owners will not correct racist comments, they know they will be the losers if they do.

How would they have been the losers if they'd replied "We're going to Taiwan, actually, so you should be safe!!" ? It's clearly not intended to be offensive as it's their customers who have made the comment - not the 'keep 'em out' knuckle-draggers.

People who have racist feelings towards any/all non-white/non-British people and are liable to kick off about it and get nasty don't tend to be the ones who regularly enjoy going to Chinese/Indian/other foreign cuisine restaurants. They decry it as 'foreign muck' and consider it far beneath them to think they'd ever want to go there to eat.

On the other hand, many of the regulars will frequently come to be on friendly terms with the staff and will have a laugh and a joke with them, just like they would any other friends and regular acquaintances; but all I'm getting from this thread is that a white person should treat the non-white waiter who serves them every time at the Chinese restaurant coldly and distantly - as sharing any kind of friendly humanity, which may include little jokey comments, is apparently racist.

If the waiter in any restaurant is another white Brit, though, they're fine to engage with them on friendly terms. Making that deliberate distinction and treating them differently seems to me to be quite.... racist.

Just as not hero's wear capes, not all racist or prejudiced people wear pillow cases. White people don't get to define what the boundaries are or what is funny for non white people. Have you ever sat down with different non white people and had honest conversations of what racism and prejudice, conscious and unconscious looks and feels like for them? The similarities and/or differences in treatment of different ethnicities or genders within those ethnicities?

ImaginaryDragon · 04/01/2023 23:11

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 04/01/2023 22:48

To be honest, many people on here are only centring the restaurant owners and how they might or might not feel upset at people's comments; but for all we know, those might only have been 'semi-jokes' in an attempt to deflect people's anger at the irresponsibility of people in their community travelling from the UK to a country that's hugely in the grips of covid and running the very real risk of bringing it back home into the community.

I think we've all had occasions where we've said things apparently in jest but through gritted teeth as an exasperated way of expressing "I really can't believe you're actually intending to do such a foolish and/or selfish thing". If it doesn't make me racist to say so (as a Brit), it's a very stereotypically British trait.

Selfish and foolish like this? Pot... Kettle anyone?

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 04/01/2023 23:18

Yes, selfish and foolish exactly like that. What's your point?

Flannan · 04/01/2023 23:18

ImaginaryDragon · 04/01/2023 23:04

Just as not hero's wear capes, not all racist or prejudiced people wear pillow cases. White people don't get to define what the boundaries are or what is funny for non white people. Have you ever sat down with different non white people and had honest conversations of what racism and prejudice, conscious and unconscious looks and feels like for them? The similarities and/or differences in treatment of different ethnicities or genders within those ethnicities?

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Great post.

Coxspurplepippin · 04/01/2023 23:21

ImaginaryDragon · 04/01/2023 23:11

Selfish and foolish like this? Pot... Kettle anyone?

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Exactly like that - and those people fleeing London were derided for their selfish behaviour. All of them (and let's face it, if they were heading off to their second homes in Cornwall they were probably white middle class eejits).

FlorenceAndTheVendingMachine · 04/01/2023 23:21

If they're 'going home' to China as stated then surely it means don't take anything back to China? If anything, this would be racist towards the UK, although it's not something I'd lose any sleep over tbh.

jcyclops · 05/01/2023 00:31

Chinese restaurant has posted to say that they’re shutting for a month to allow family to travel home for Chinese new year.

Virtually everyone seems to have assumed that only Chinese people own Chinese restaurants, and that the family are travelling home to China. That may well be the case. Even if they are Chinese, 40m live outside China and Taiwan so "home" could be Taiwan (97% ethnic Chinese), Singapore (75%), Thailand (23%) or even New York (800,000 ethnic Chinese).

ZiriForEver · 05/01/2023 00:52

I don't know whether it is racist, but it is logically wrong and kind of stupid.

COVID is spreading through the UK/Europe/America on exponential scale. At this moment the variant in China is practically the same as everywhere else.
Each COVID positive traveler adds just one more infected person.

Moreover, they will spend there a whole month. Surely if they should catch it in China, they will get it soon after getting there and should be ok before getting back.

If the UK isn't willing to put masks on when feeling ill and going to a shop, testing travelers from China won't do anything.

And I am not from "COVID is cold" camp, I see it as a serious illness causing long term harm. I just don't understand the panic over traveling from china when COVID in the UK was allowed a free reign, sounds to me more like politics than public health position.

So it is either racism or ignorance mixed with double standards.

Hiimblahblah · 05/01/2023 00:55

I feel like the word “racist” is thrown around for too liberally these days and it’s irritating.

It’s not racist, but it’s not funny either 🙄

sst1234 · 05/01/2023 01:27

Thereisnolight · 04/01/2023 19:11

This has to be a joke?!!
They we’re all flying on a plane to China….to study pollution??!

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Isn’t that how environmentalists operate?

FeelingwearyFeeelingsmall · 05/01/2023 02:13

you Re right tht it's a joke but it's not 'only' a joke. It's also a racist joke.

Flannan · 05/01/2023 02:16

I feel like the word “racist” is thrown around for too liberally these days and it’s irritating

This kind of comment just floors me, it really does.

Where to start?

Onebelow · 05/01/2023 02:18

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startfresh · 05/01/2023 06:04

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Difference is, your example IS racist. Nothing to suggest the woman was from China, nor that she had ever been there.

Stating Covid/Corona at people based on their appearance is 100% racist.

Saying to someone who is going to a covid infected country not to bring covid with them when they come back, is not racist. And could be said the same to anyone, regardless of race.

InsomniacVampire · 05/01/2023 06:13

Thereisnolight · 04/01/2023 19:01

Your OP is what’s racist.
It’s as though you think no one should mention the fact that someone is from China. Because it’s rude. Because there’s something wrong with being from China.

I think you need to check what racism is, maybe ask for a dictionary next year for Xmas.
Mentioning where the owners are from is quite relevant in the context.