Race- Privilege, Relations, Racism, etc.

Watch how he won't be called a terrorist. Just a lone nut with a gun. And even then, since he had PTSD, why was he allowed to keep his weapons?

Also show this story to yahoos who think Islamophobia isn't race based.

It really isn't per se. At the very least, it can be an intraracial as much as interracial issue.

In my country, conversion to Islam by minorities are extremely stigmatized to the point that one could get ostracized by other people for it. I remembered a friend of mine said that all converts are stupid, something that I find very offensive.

Then again, several high profile cases involving conversion after marriage doesn't help as well.

edited 25th Feb '17 7:29:35 AM by murazrai

What is your country and what profiles are those?

Malaysia. Those cases are all legal entanglements which involve child custody, inheritance, burial rights, child conversions, or any combinations thereof.

Why is Islam so popular in South East Asia and Oceania anyway?

Hmm. Not a fan of conversions-clause marriage.

@The Handle India.

Shouldn't it be Hinduism or Buddhism, then?

Buddism is popular over here, too. Hinduism, less so. I think we have Pakistan to thanks for that.

I don't know about other countries, but I'm pretty sure Buddhism & Hinduism came to Indonesia first, and then Islam overtook them. There are still pockets in the present day, but it's a Muslim-majority country.

Singapore is more diverse, from what I've seen.

edited 25th Feb '17 10:53:11 AM by AqueousBunnies

Honestly, Trinidad and Tobago (A North American country) being primarily Islamic is more of a surprise to me.

edited 25th Feb '17 12:24:00 PM by Bat178

...What? According to The Other Wiki that country is 55% Christian and only 5% Muslim. Hell, there are more Hindus there (18%) than Muslims. I don't think that Muslims are a majority in any country in the Western hemisphere.

Morocco is majority muslim, though.

"The Western Hemisphere" is a misonomer, a word which here means "a very wrong name."

Singapore isn't more diverse than the Malayan Peninsula - the Chinese population there just happens to be more dense than on the Peninsula.

Oh, and the PAP is better at advertising the diversity in a honest sounding manner, and shutting up the racists.

(6X) Hinduism came first, replacing animism. Then, Buddhism came and, finally, Islam came. Although, you could get the impression that Islam is the first religion that came to Indonesia and always have been the majority thanks to the fundamentalists. There has been attempts to claim Indonesian non-Muslim historical figures are actually Muslim by them like Gajah Mada is actually a Muslim and his name is really Gaj Amada. I'm not joking here, though it's indeed stupid and hilarious in a black comedy kind of way.

There are also attempt to make sure that only Muslim national heroes get to be called national heroes here, so those non-Muslim national heroes aren't really heroes. Basically, they want to turn Indonesia into a genuine Islamic nation. At this point, Indonesia's reputation as a melting pot is more like a joke. *sigh* Can't those fundamentalists get a better hobby or something?

Like trying to criminalize minorities? Sure, that sounds fun.

edited 25th Feb '17 11:26:25 PM by AqueousBunnies

Is that an attempt at a black comedy? Ehh... they already did that, so it's not a good material for a comedy even a black one. Indonesia and, to be honest, the rest of Asia are more racist and discriminating than most people think are. Heck, I even think racism and discrimination in Asia is much worse than racism and discrimination in America. So, it's a bit weird when a lot of media, Asian or otherwise, tend to portray Asia (or Asia-influenced places if it's a fantasy) as an exemplar of peace and harmony where everyone regardless of race and gender live together in perfect harmony.

Gallows Humor, more like. And I think Americans sees East/Southeast Asia that way because that kind of stuff is considered taboo to talk about, in part. That also makes it more difficult to bring up social issues in general.

It's because they (Primarily Japan) keep on giving the rest of the world good media and food and there isn't much media coverage on the identity politics of those countries. A lot of people also forget that the Middle East and South Asia, two of the biggest conflict zones in the world, are part of Asia, as is most of Russia, who have been doing really nasty shit globally lately.

edited 26th Feb '17 12:11:31 AM by Bat178

Oh, Asia is really racist. And I say this as an Asian-American who actually spends a lot of time in Asia. It just doesn't seem like it because minorities in Asia are far less common than minorities in the USA. The USA has to face those demons on a regular basis.

Also, I noticed a lot of people tend to not know White Asians are a thing (Most of Western Asia and Russia east of the Urals are White Asians, Central Asia also has quite a few White Asians though they also have a lot of Mongoloids like East and Southeast Asia, and most South Asians can also be considered Whites though they typically have darker skin) or they class them separately (Muslim-Americans) than White North Americans/Europeans/Oceanians.

edited 26th Feb '17 12:22:25 AM by Bat178

That is because most Asians don't see them as Asians. When Asians talk about "the West", most of the times, they include Russia and its surroundings in that list. To Asians, anyone that is white-skinned is a Westerner. And just like in America, white-skinned Asians look down on anyone that is dark-skinned whether they are Africans or Asians. Whitening lotions are really popular here.

On another note, the tendency of fiction to glorify Asia to the point of being Mary Suetopia can be really hilarious sometimes. Although, the fact that it's meant to be completely serious with no self-awareness makes you realize that it's borderline if not genuine propaganda (accidentally or on purpose doesn't matter) is killing the mood in the end.

I think the elephant in the room is that most East Asian countries have a long history of being ruled by authoritarian or illiberal governments, which work wonders in promoting and preserving the interests and privileges of one ethnic group above others.

The most glaring example is China, where the Han ethnicity is practically the equivalent of white people in terms of institutionalized social privilege. Considering that China is geographically about the same size as the US, the cultural influence that the Hans have on China is so large that the standard image of a "Chinese" person across the world is a pale-skinned black-haired Han.

It's basically a cross-Pacific variant of how "Americans" are seen as being stereotypically blonde and blue-eyed in most of the world.

Thus, something interesting about Han Chinese immigrants in the US and Canada is that they're disadvantaged minorities in their host nations but the privileged majority back in their country of origin.

edited 26th Feb '17 8:40:46 PM by FluffyMcChicken

Yeah the issue with Wetern peopel saying something about Asia is that it risk of looking a lot like smug occidental who is shitting on another culture.

I feel that kinda happing with Islam and inmigrant: is hard to said anything because you first have to diference between the people who come to the country and the societies back there who are very conservative and controling, so you have a very contradictoy nature.

That is why I never like the whole "racism is prejudice plust power" because it dosent acount how privilege people become minority when they move on

Actually current refugees to Europe are often complaining that immigrant Muslims are a lot more conservative than they themselves were in the homeland.