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submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by oaExist@lemmy.world to c/unpopularopinion@lemmy.world

P.S: I'm Asian

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[-] Shirasho@lemmings.world 8 points 5 months ago

I would argue there are differences between racism and xenophobia.

[-] folkrav@lemmy.ca 7 points 5 months ago

There’s a semantic difference sure (racism presupposes a belief in the existence of superior races), but in practice, the consequences on the recipient must not be particularly different…

[-] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 6 points 5 months ago
[-] Shirasho@lemmings.world 14 points 5 months ago

I'm no philosopher so take this with a grain of salt. The following comes from the perspective of someone living in a predominantly Asian area in the southern United States.

Xenophobia generally refers to a fear or dislike of everyone who isn't of your culture regardless of who they are. Racism is prejudice against people of a specific race. East Asian cultures are vocally xenophobic, citing differences in morals and traditions. They don't hate foreigners because of their race or the color of their skin. They hate when people come into their country and behave in a way that goes against the grain. Dealing with those types of people would cause them to go against the grain as well and it makes them uncomfortable.

Xenophobia generally deals with culture while racism deals with race. Both are nasty and things we can do without, but racism is significantly worse.

[-] frickineh@lemmy.world 9 points 5 months ago

Idk, there's a lot of colorism in Asian communities (and others, it's for sure not exclusive to them). It's extremely visible in the Asian beauty space, where there are usually like 3 shades of extremely light foundation and if you're darker, you can fuck off, I guess. Tons of "brightening" products (that are generally just bleach), too. It sucks.

[-] excitingburp@lemmy.world 0 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

You don't have to get a dictionary that's too old to find the definition of racism that strictly required belief of superiority. With the old definition, things like slavery and genocide would be a direct conclusion/justification a racist would make. Words evolve though. Nowadays racism still makes you a piece of shit, but it doesn't necessarily make you literally Columbus or Hitler - and that is reflected in the dictionary as a new definition; where hatred is enough.

[-] oaExist@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago
[-] thisbenzingring 3 points 5 months ago
this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2024
45 points (75.3% liked)

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