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Lemmi Caution posted:It's something someone with untreated mental illness dreamed up to explain his paranoid perceptions of the world. Despite Debito being otherwise over-hysterical about discrimination against white foreigners in Japan, micro-aggressions is real and is a concept that wasn't invented by him. Also, I would definitely say that white foreigners experience micro-aggressions in Japan, despite me being otherwise somewhat even unsympathetic to their problems. As for what micro-aggressions are, they're basically what you call "subtle racism". As contrasted with overt racism like denying service to a minority or using a racial slur, they're usually seemingly innocuous verbal expressions that either have offensive implications or serve to define the recipient's "outsider" status. One well-known example is the query of "Where are you from?" that westernized Asians get. Usually a normal question when making introductions but is often used to specifically ask what ethnicity an Asian person is, even if they're very loosely connected to that heritage through being an adoptee or a generation removed.
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Jul 7, 2012 08:58
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Lemmi Caution posted:That makes sense. I guess I have a problem with what he chooses to interpret as microaggressions. I think for very many different reasons, including ones you've listed, that micro-aggressions in Japan(and indeed, the rest of East Asia) often take a different tack from the typical micro-aggressions you get in North America. I remember Debito using Japanese peoples expressing surprise at Westerners knowing how to use chopsticks, even when they know they've been in the country for a while or even seen the Westerner using chopsticks themselves. I think normally this would be a good example of an innocuous verbal exchange that serves to alienate, but I'm not actually sure how pervasive this is. I'm half-Asian and primarily Asian-looking on the appearance spectrum, so for obvious reasons I never had to deal with this. However, from my personal experience, the Nihonjinroh poo poo is probably a more insidious source of this kind of bullshit.
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Jul 9, 2012 03:33
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I am OK posted:The chopstick thing is probably more because they want to make small talk and don't really know how to do so because they're overthinking the cultural gap rather than any insidious racial agenda. Will2Powa posted:I think for very many different reasons, including ones you've listed, that micro-aggressions in Japan(and indeed, the rest of East Asia) often take a different tack from the typical micro-aggressions you get in North America. I remember Debito using Japanese peoples expressing surprise at Westerners knowing how to use chopsticks, even when they know they've been in the country for a while or even seen the Westerner using chopsticks themselves. I think normally this would be a good example of an innocuous verbal exchange that serves to alienate, but I'm not actually sure how pervasive this is. That said, I don't know how often this happens. The other thing about micro-aggressions towards Westerners, I feel, is that most Westerners probably don't care enough or been around long enough to notice; since only a very small minority are in it for the long haul. But Japan definitely has a problem with accepting foreigners assimilating into their culture. They're not as actively or openly xenophobic as many Westerners tend to exaggerate (particularly goons who seem to fall over themselves to put down Japan in anyway as some kind of misquided overreaction to weaboos), but it's clear they have problems. And knowing Japanese sensitivities, it's inevitable that it would manifest more as subtle micro-aggressions.
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Jul 9, 2012 08:37
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Munin posted:After what has been mentioned here I'm still not quite sure how different this microaggression thing is from what tends to happen when you walk around without being aware of social mores in other countries. I know that the micro-aggression thing is the only thing I've been talking about this thread but I just need to say that you're seriously misunderstanding the concept of micro-aggression. Micro-aggression has nothing to do with someone being reacted negatively to for breaking social mores, unless by breaking social mores, you mean being the wrong color or ethnicity. The examples of chopsticks used didn't involve strangers or fresh off the boat westerners, but a westerner who has been highly adapted to Japanese culture and a Japanese person who is aware of that. That is why it becomes an example of Micro-aggression rather than a misunderstood social interaction. Also, I mentioned it earlier, but the "Where are you from?" question is an example of a micro-aggression specific to Asian people living in Western Countries and not of Westerners. It's a normal, innocuous question that is used for an ulterior alienating purpose when applied to so-called "visible foreigners". I find the politics interesting and was interested in Japanese politics for a while, but I'm kind of out of it once I realized that Japan is basically a dead country walking, at this point.
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Jul 18, 2012 01:52
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Roadside_Picnic posted:Which differentiates it from the US/Europe, etc. how? Immigration and a population decline that isn't quite as severe. However, Russia is in similar straits in a lot of ways. I'm still reading the thread because I still think Japanese politics are kind of interesting but they're even more futile in their lack of concrete change or reform than a lot of other countries' politics so part of the interest now is a morbid curiosity. As for why I talked about micro-aggression, I was originally just responding to someone else bringing it up and I have a very personal interest in making sure that people understand the different dimensions of prejudice because that poo poo effects me in my everyday life.
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Jul 18, 2012 05:23
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