外國人: Are you being microaggressed?

                    外國人: Are you being microaggressed?

The Monkey doesn't like being looked at like that. It makes it feel "othered," you species-ist bigots!

Another worn out staple of expat online discussions is the "problematic positionality"* of being referred to by locals as "foreigner." Any posts on the subject descend into expressions of outrage at how they and foreigners in general will never be accepted here. The following is my 2NTD response to the cry bullies.

*Postmodern bullshit term courtesy of Laurier university and Goolag 

Taiwan: Where the bicycles should come with trigger warnings.

Note on the current crop of foreigners

I have to just make the general observation that, as Taiwan has gotten easier than ever for westerners to live in, there seems to be an increased sense of whiny entitlement among newly arrived foreigners. Perhaps it is just my impression... or perhaps it is millennials:

Trigger warning...

Laowai for Dummies

Sure, we've all been told the basics: that waiguoren literally means "outside country person," and that laowai is the more informal variant, "lao" being a term of endearment, as in LaoWang. Some people feel laowai is derisive. When you've been speaking Mandarin for a while, you might also notice that other Asians are not often referred to as "foreigner." Instead, they are referred to by their nationality, something that leads some to believe there is discrimination behind the use of words.

So are they racist?

No. The majority of the time the terms are merely descriptive. Of course, the terms can be used in less than flattering ways, but context, understanding of intent in specific situations and fairly advanced language skills are necessary to know when this is happening. Many foreigners react to merely hearing the words, sometimes because they are some of the only words they know in the local lingo. Learn to gauge intent and context, rather than just reacting to words. 

Local woman holding an umbrella while riding to shield herself from offended foreigner tears.

But it would be rude in my country!

But this isn't your country. In most western locales, you would not be able to identify a foreigner, because of the longer history of immigration in these places. Here, if you spot a Caucasian, you could say that s/he is a foreigner and you would be correct in almost every instance (with so few exceptions as to be statistically irrelevant). And, of course, they are not exclusively referring to citizenship; they are also pointing out that you are non-Asian (and, no, that isn't necessarily bad).

Stop expecting western behavior from Asians

Contemplate what DIFFERENT CULTURE actually means. Concepts like multiculturalism are exclusively western ideas. They exist nowhere else in the world. People here are not raised with our educations and social mores. Browbeating locals for not conforming to our standards for behavior is asinine.  

Conical hat men: tending to the grass... as well as the patriarchy and the oppression of western foreigners in Taiwan

On "Microaggressions," "Otherism" and other "isms."

Some of the worst attitudes you could come here with are those derived from Gender/Ethnic Studies and the ironically named "Critical Theory"-- basically, if you've done an Arts degree or spend a lot of time on Tumblr or reading Buzzfeed, consider REcolonizing your mind. These ideologies engender grievance and victimization mentalities as well as the state of being perpetually offended. 

People under influence of social justice ideology have a particularly hard time here, as people here do not filter what they say and PC basically does not exist here. SJW types will automatically label their intercultural experiences in terms of oppression, claiming to experience frequent racist behaviors, microaggressions and to having been "othered,' that most phenomenological of words. 

Racists certainly exist here, as they do everywhere, but they are relatively rare. Most local people's actions are not intentionally malicious toward foreigners. Yes, we face certain obstacles in life here and Taiwan could do more to make our lives easier. But consider also, that Taiwan transitioned from a one-party dictatorship into a democracy and then opened to the world all within a few short decades. 

"Long as the night will be; the sun will rise [in Taiwan] without you"

It is a choice

Between another person's actions and your reactions, there is a space. That space is called your choice. If you see racism everywhere in people's actions, then you are making a choice, a choice that will lead to much butthurt in a place like Asia. You could just as easily choose to interpret things another way. While you are living abroad, consider opening your mind to different ways of seeing the world and life in general. Don't waste your time here confirming your ideological biases and being perpetually offended.  

You will change nothing

Seriously, one of the most sage-like things I read on Taiwan when I first arrived here many, many moons ago was "Welcome to Taiwan: You will change nothing." At first this irked me. Like all young people, I wanted to think I mattered, that I could change the world. In reality, though, Taiwan doesn't need me or my ideas. I would only be swimming against the tide if I struggled to change people here. Unable to change others, I changed myself. I learned to react a lot less-- I've largely lost that tendency to have good ol' fashioned western freak outs in favor of a much more controlled, stoic way. I've learned to be the pliant grass that survives the typhoon, rather than the rigid trees that get blown over. Don't change Taiwan; change yourself.