Just for starters, I'd like to humbly say, "SCREW ABSOLUTELY EVERYONE EVERYWHERE who would accuse me of being 'a RACIST!'" Screw every single last one of you! Because for your information, I AM A FREAKING MINORITY!
Oh, yes, I am!
I've lived for MORE THAN A DECADE (and counting) in places (three Asian countries - though only two if you seriously think that Taiwan is NOT a sovereign nation and that Beijing should be able to continue to bully its people) where there are extremely few white people like myself. And sometimes, it hurts like HELL just to be in this region. Why? Because most of East Asia is still mired in Medieval thinking AND social practices, that's why. Despite, that is, their love for any and all bright, shiny new modern Western gadgets, trinkets and baubles.
And not that I want to be a whiner, but very few people (if anyone) in this region even understands what makes me tick, let alone the principles I was raised to value as an American citizen. Very few Asians, for example, at this stage in global development (hence, the term, "developing country"), truly understand things like EQUALITY and DEMOCRACY. Oh sure, they talk the talk, don't they? Both North Korea AND Mainland China have the word "Democratic" in their official title for their countries! What a total crock of BS, and everyone knows it. Except... maybe all the poor, dumb people in ANY country who buy into the communist propaganda machine.
Sure, the Chinese have capitalism down pat, 'cause that's EASY, see. You sell stuff to people to bolster your economy and build your imperial power, see. Big whoop!
But capitalism is NOT democracy. And I think communist China has done a better than average job of proving just exactly that - that you can enrich your powerful elite by capitalizing on the love of money, but it doesn't mean you give a DAMN about human rights or FREEDOM in general.
So, yeah, most East Asians seriously just don't quite get it yet. Because unlike most Western countries, they still have a foot (maybe a whole damn leg, an arm and a spleen to boot) in the Middle Ages!
And not everybody kisses my ass over here (OR back in the US, for your information), just because I'm white. Nor do I want anyone to. In fact, every single time I have encountered special treatment in China, Taiwan or South Korea, it was EXTREMELY EMBARRASSING and completely and totally unwanted, unnecessary, and UNWELCOME. In fact, usually, in those situations, I've gotten the distinct impression that I was being treated that way, usually in a very public fashion, to either get big face off of me, or to curry some kind of "I scratch your back, you scratch my back later" kind of favor with me. And sorry, but WHITEY DON'T NEED or APPRECIATE THAT SHAT!
But hey... I'm just here as a humble language teacher, doing something that is hopefully worthwhile, that may one day IMPROVE the lives of the ordinary East Asians that I touch every single day. Something besides being the usual "arm chair quarterback," who has never known what it's truly like to be a single soldier, with your boots on the ground in a totally foreign land, where the values you grew up with are simply not even acknowledged, much less understood.
No, I'm not in the military and I don't carry a weapon, but hopefully, day by day, I am making some kind of difference - no matter how small. And, at least I'm doing something BESIDES accusing everyone else of being a "racist" to score social points! So, RACE MONGERS out there, you are hereby cordially invited to KISS MY FREEDOM LOVING RED, WHITE AND BLUE AMERICAN ASS!
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