Singapore Expats

Where People Are Most and Least Racially Tolerant

Discuss about the latest news & interesting topics, real life experience or other out of topic discussions with locals & expatriates in Singapore.
Post Reply
User avatar
Wd40
Director
Director
Posts: 4591
Joined: Tue, 04 Dec 2012 10:53 am
Answers: 1
Location: SIndiapore

Post by Wd40 » Fri, 16 Aug 2013 3:39 pm

One big difference between Asians and Westerners is Westerners are better at presenting themselves and behaving in an appropriate way. Asians on the other hand think its cool to collude with a 3rd race and then berate the 2nd race.

For example I have had on numerous occasions Chinese guys while talking to me berating Malays, thinking that since I am Indian, I will kind of appreciate it. Similarly I have had Malays do that to the Chinese. Basically, I think they are not really as racist in their minds but think its kind of cool to talk bad about a different race, especially when they are in their own groups.

User avatar
Strong Eagle
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 11618
Joined: Sat, 10 Jul 2004 12:13 am
Answers: 9
Location: Off The Red Dot
Contact:

Post by Strong Eagle » Fri, 16 Aug 2013 10:51 pm

I thought it interesting that India seems so to be the least racially tolerant according to this map. Original article can be found here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wor ... the-world/

User avatar
Wd40
Director
Director
Posts: 4591
Joined: Tue, 04 Dec 2012 10:53 am
Answers: 1
Location: SIndiapore

Post by Wd40 » Fri, 16 Aug 2013 11:02 pm

Strong Eagle wrote:I thought it interesting that India seems so to be the least racially tolerant according to this map. Original article can be found here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wor ... the-world/
I really doubt that. The concept of race as known to some other multi-racial countries like the US or Singapore, isn't so clear in India.

In India, the diversity is main in terms of language, religion and place of origin.

User avatar
sundaymorningstaple
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 40376
Joined: Thu, 11 Nov 2004 1:26 pm
Answers: 21
Location: Retired on the Little Red Dot

Post by sundaymorningstaple » Fri, 16 Aug 2013 11:09 pm

There is a huge difference between the Dravidian of Southern India and the Northern Indian which has been mixed with European stock since Alexander the Great's time till now in various strengths. In fact, I believe they are considered different races.
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

User avatar
Wd40
Director
Director
Posts: 4591
Joined: Tue, 04 Dec 2012 10:53 am
Answers: 1
Location: SIndiapore

Post by Wd40 » Sat, 17 Aug 2013 12:13 am

sundaymorningstaple wrote:There is a huge difference between the Dravidian of Southern India and the Northern Indian which has been mixed with European stock since Alexander the Great's time till now in various strengths. In fact, I believe they are considered different races.
Yeah, from academic point of view they are indeed different races. However, in India the term race isn't used as the major differentiating factor. The North Indians/South Indians regional grouping is just too big. Even within South Indians, there are 4 states and each of them have their differences.

For example if you go to Bangalore, the local population(Kanndigas) hate the North Indians as much as they hate Tamils, although Tamils and Kannadigas are the same race.

Thats why I said, in India race is the last that unites/separates the people. There are other differentiating factors that are far more impactful.

bloodhound123
Regular
Regular
Posts: 133
Joined: Thu, 16 May 2013 7:58 pm

Post by bloodhound123 » Sat, 17 Aug 2013 1:28 am

sundaymorningstaple wrote:There is a huge difference between the Dravidian of Southern India and the Northern Indian which has been mixed with European stock since Alexander the Great's time till now in various strengths. In fact, I believe they are considered different races.
Recent research publications by several Indian and Western anthropologists suggests that Aryan and Dravidian are not races but just different cultures. Moreover the genetic variation across the subcontinent is close to NIL as per the recent studies. The much publicized Aryan invasion theory is a myth as well though the neo-nazis may not approve of it. This theory was propagated and was effectively used by the European colonizers to establish hegemony over the Indians. Aryan culture came sweeping across the present day Afganistan, Paksitan and Northern India spawning a new linguistic root and culture. Even today some Dravidian dialects are spoken in Balochistan ( in Pakistan ). The Indian freedom fighter Subhash Chandra Bose visited Germany when it was under the Third Reich and tried to garner Hitler's support in his armed rebellion against the British by stating that "Indians and Germans both belong to the Aryan Race". This was owing to sheer desperation to gain independence as he believed that armed rebellion was the only way to oust the British and the only way to muster fire power was to side with the axis powers.

Indians have a very very high level of intolerance towards linguistic, regional and caste differences within India and that assumes a racial face in the eyes of its own people who neither make an attempt to proactively understand their true history nor listen to people who try to do so. They are more than happy to just think lowly of the clan belonging to a different region/caste/language. If you try out the permutations and combinations across these 3 factors and the sheer number of regions/caste/languages gives rise to alarming levels of intolerance amongst themselves. Not to add to it the North-eastern Indians who are more closer to the Burmese/Chinese in terms of ethnicity and culture.

The closest setup comparable to the present day India is EU and even EU is way far off when compared to the diversity within India.

You can see why it is so difficult to manage the country after factoring in all these differences which gives rise to immense political instability and economic challenges. An Indian Union along the lines of European Union with 25 odd sovereign states might be a good solution ( in my opinion ).

In the eyes of an outsider India = Taj Mahal, Hindi, Naan & Chicken Tikka. But the reality is that these words wouldnt even ring a bell for a sizeable population of Indians.

User avatar
Mi Amigo
Manager
Manager
Posts: 1794
Joined: Sat, 19 Jun 2004 10:23 pm
Location: Kinto Pino

Post by Mi Amigo » Sat, 17 Aug 2013 5:42 pm

sundaymorningstaple wrote:Agreed but you've said basically the same thing. The curry incident, was between a PRC and an Indian family. They haven't had the "fear" stomped into them yet, so they still say what's on their minds "on your face" whereas most locals are extremely "passive-aggressive" about it because of out and out fear of the gahmen.
But many seem to have lost that fear when using various forms of online media, where unashamed racist vitriol is often openly on display.
Be careful what you wish for

User avatar
sundaymorningstaple
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 40376
Joined: Thu, 11 Nov 2004 1:26 pm
Answers: 21
Location: Retired on the Little Red Dot

Post by sundaymorningstaple » Sat, 17 Aug 2013 6:05 pm

You noticed that as well, yeah? :cool: :lol:
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

thismyvoice
Chatter
Chatter
Posts: 168
Joined: Sun, 18 Apr 2010 6:41 pm
Location: Singapore

Post by thismyvoice » Wed, 21 Aug 2013 10:56 pm

sundaymorningstaple wrote:Until you have the curry wars, you mean. :o

Locals are so racist on so many different fronts, even after 30 years here, it still boggles my mind, for all their spouting about how multi-racial they are. They are "tolerant" out of fear, as was mentioned already.

The multiculturalism is forced on them by the government sanctioned racial policies embedded in the HDB housing policy where the "mixing" of the races is micro-managed down to the individual housing block. Given their choice they would never buy next door to a minority.

I find that Malays and Eurasians are the least racist of the four main groups here. The curry crowd is just about as racist as the incense burners are and just about a tolerant. Oddly enough, though, you see a lot of Indian males with Chinese females here. But on top of the forced multiculturalism they have a healthy dose of xenophobia as well against all foreigners but more against those of their own race coming from their ethnic countries of origin. No damn wonder the survey said Singaporeans are an unhappy lot. They bring it on themselves.

Are their respective cultures responsible? Their respective religions? I don't think it's the latter though, but I could be wrong. Or is it a depleted gene pool from too much social engineering? :-k

As far as the results on the map? I think zzm is spot on.
I am surprise that this is your notion of Singapore after 30 years here. Of course there are racists in Singapore, just like there are racist in America, Australia and many other countries. KKK anybody?

I don't think the majority of the people here are racists. But that is my view, and you are entitled to yours.

User avatar
Wd40
Director
Director
Posts: 4591
Joined: Tue, 04 Dec 2012 10:53 am
Answers: 1
Location: SIndiapore

Post by Wd40 » Wed, 21 Aug 2013 11:20 pm

I can confirm SMS's statement:
Given their choice they would never buy next door to a minority.
Our house is currently on sale from the last 6 months and almost every prospective buyer, always at the end of viewing and just leaving the house, invariably ask the agent "Who are the neighbours?" and the agent replies "That one is Malay" and "That one is chinese".

Race is kind of the 1st identifier here, before anything else.

User avatar
proxymoron
Regular
Regular
Posts: 99
Joined: Sat, 15 Oct 2011 11:19 pm

Post by proxymoron » Thu, 22 Aug 2013 3:59 pm

Wd40 wrote:I can confirm SMS's statement:
Given their choice they would never buy next door to a minority.
Race is kind of the 1st identifier here, before anything else.
Sad, but true.

My take on this is that Multi-racial society is a relatively new thing to Asia as a whole, in comparison with US and Western Europe. Mixed race kids are still a rarity in this part of the world. So judging the racial tolerance of asians and westerners with same scale may not be accurate.
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.

Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Return to “General Discussions”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 14 guests