Job Discussion Forums

[Brooks]

When I was in Morocco I remember a man complaining about black Africans stealing jobs. But what do the Spanish say about Moroccans, I wonder?

In Poland I remember a student who complained about dirty Ukrainians who stole jobs. Poles make jokes about Russians but not about Germans. Czech is a funny sounding language to Polish ears. The Roma didn`t seem liked when I was in Warsaw.
Nor blacks.
oh, Jews too, but in Lodz. I remember a Jewish cemetary there that was damaged.

I remember a "joke" I heard from a German (actually a Roumanian German) in reference to Polish car theft -
today it`s stolen, tomorow in Poland.

In Russia, arabs and blacks were not liked.
I remember a student from Mali who just got fed up living in Russia. He just quit during the semester.

Also unliked were those from the Caucuses, the Azeris.
Chinese weren`t liked either.
too. I think there was the fear that Chinese would feel their country was too crowded so they would move up to the Russian Far East.
China does have a problem with unemployment. Lots of North Koreans work in eastern Siberia. I read that they are considered hard workers.
The people who got stopped by the Russian cops were not white, I remember.

And in Japan, let`s see. Well, there is a fear of foreign crime, especially Chinese. It has become much harder for Chinese students to get visas to come to Japan.
But of course most crime in Japan is done by Japanese.
Koreans? "too emotional" is what I hear.
In northern Japan and other parts of Japan there are places where no foreigners are admitted. In Hokkaido the signs will be in Russian.

In Canada, the anglophones vs. the francophones.

In Texas, the Mexicans.

[cafebleu]

Didn`t you know that you can`t trust the Chinese in Japan? They are the ones committing all that crime that supposedly has risen here - a recent case of Chinese students paid by gangsters to kill a man in a city here sparked so much nauseating hysteria among too many Japanese people.

Of course it`s the Japanese yakuza that is doing most of the hard work in letting illegals into Japan - with the help of the police of course. But why look at real facts when you can scapegoat the Chinese for the economic chickens that are coming home to roost because of Japan`s corruption/yakuza driven Bubble Economy? Yes, the Chinese are illegals, visa overstayers, criminals, drug pushers etc.

Oh and there`s also the Koreans when you are tired of Chinese bashing. Why they feel they are discriminated against is because of their jealousy of the Japanese - absolutely nothing to do with their forebears being enslaved and brought here to work in coal mines, factories etc under brutal conditions. And nothing to do with the fact that a Japanese person with a Korean grandfather is actually not a Japanese citizen and cannot be.
Yes, these Koreans really complain about nothing, don`t they?

[johnslat]

Tom Lehrer:

"Oh, the white folks hate the black folks,
And the black folks hate the white folks.
To hate all but the right folks
Is an old established rule.

But during National Brotherhood Week, National Brotherhood Week,
Lena Horne and Sheriff Clarke are dancing cheek to cheek.
It's fun to eulogize
The people you despise,
As long as you don't let 'em in your school.

Oh, the poor folks hate the rich folks,
And the rich folks hate the poor folks.
All of my folks hate all of your folks,
It's American as apple pie.

But during National Brotherhood Week, National Brotherhood Week,
New Yorkers love the Puerto Ricans 'cause it's very chic.
Step up and shake the hand
Of someone you can't stand.
You can tolerate him if you try.

Oh, the Protestants hate the Catholics,
And the Catholics hate the Protestants,
And the Hindus hate the Moslems,
And everybody hates the Jews.

But during National Brotherhood Week, National Brotherhood Week,
It's National Everyone-smile-at-one-another-hood Week.
Be nice to people who
Are inferior to you.
It's only for a week, so have no fear.
Be grateful that it doesn't last all year!


Reagrds,
John

[steampig]

Well, it's pretty endemic, I'm afraid. For the Greeks, it is the dreaded Albanians, who are the fount of all evil. For the Hungarians, it is the hated Romanians and the cygany (gypsies). The Poles are the most anti Jewish people on planet earth. I was stunned at the anti Jewish graffiti in Poland and not just the so-called 'humorous' football stuff, corrupting the football team Widzew Lodz to the oh so subtle 'Zydzew Lodz (zyd being Jew in Polish). Also, some of the comments I heard were jaw dropping. Amazing as well considering how well Hitler did in ridding the Poles of this cancer in their midst. Where are the Jews in Poland? Well, apparently, according to a lawyer acquaintance, all around us but they have changed their names the cunning rascals! So, now we know. I'm sorry to write this because I liked Poland and the Poles but truth will out. What amazed me at the time but doesn't in retrospect is the vehemence of the hatred. A look at the Treaty of Trianon explains the Hungarian attitude to the Romanians. The Austro-Hungarian empire explains why the antipathy is mutual. The area of northern Epirus gives you a clue about the Greek attitude. And as for the Jews they've periodically been blamed for every evil since they nailed some chap to a cross. What was the solution to the black death in europe? Of course, a really good pogrom! The curse of communism? Yes, them again. Capitalist exploiters? Who else could it be!

[Roger]

Hello, Jud,
yes, I heard this song, nice for you to show it here. Howevr, it doesn't make any explicit reference to the Tedesci or to Allemagna, does it? It has in fact never occured to me it might be anti-German! The Italians have, after all, a rather turbulent history.
Where do I live? In China, of all places. But in my childhood I had Italian friends. That's when I picked up some Italian. What I said about Germans I must qualify this way: There are lots of wealthy Germans that profess to having an intellectual love affair with Italy. And there are millions of Italian immigrants in Germany - have seen that myself, and was taken by Germans to "dem Italiener um die Eck'" (taken to Italian eateries).
There might be a certain tendency in Italy to think they are being looked down upon by the Germans. The reason might be that Italy used to be a poor country until the 1960's, and Germans were the first investors and buyers of casas for holiday purposes.
But some jealousy apart, I don't think the Italians have good reason to think the Germans despise them. Same thing in Spain: The Germans were their biggest source of tourist money. Spain, like Italy, was poor by western standards until fairly recently. As in the case of Italy, Spaniards had to emigrate to make both ends meet; many returned and were rich by local standards, while others never returned. Again, Germans began arriving in droves. Go to Mallorca, and celebrate Oktoberfest there. In a short time, the Germans began to be hated because their sheer numbers gave them more clout than is wholesome. SOme villages were bought up by Germans. The British followed suit, only to start quarrelling with Germans (as they are so wont of doing!), and now, it's bad to be either English or German.
I think it's the German economy's "fault" - in both cases.

[jud]

Roger,

Hate to quibble, BUT
Ciao Bella is a song about wanting to fight with the partisans and die for the partisans. The partisans (partigiani) were those who fought against the facists in World War II. If I say the word partisan here, anyone knows I'm speaking about WWII. Whether or not it happened to occur to you that the song was about the Nazis is immaterial. It was.

I actually lived in Germany for 5 years and was married to a German, so I am well-aware of the German schickie fascination with Italians and all things Italian. I like Germany. However, I can see where the Italians are coming from. They are treated like the thieves of the EU, their driving is insulted, etc., etc. All on a pretty-superficial level, but it seems to bother many Italians, at least here in the Northwest.

By the way, Germany, at least in modern Italian, is Germania, not Allemagna.

[Cleopatra]

The OP says that Syriansmay hate Egyptians because their country (if not the people) recognize Israel.

Not sure I agree. Egyptians, unfortuantely, are looked down on throughout the Arab world. Certainly when Ilived in Riyadh, it was a great 'joke' to call someone 'masri' or Egyptian.

I don't think they hate Egyptians, by the way. They just feel 'superior' to them because Egyptians are regarded as being poor and badly educated (usually false, at least the second part). At the same time,they love visiting Egypt and lap up Egyptian music and movies.

[scot47]

Roma or Romanies are NOT Romanians. They are gypsies. Of course you do get Romanian Roma too.

Hatred of other groups is a universal phenomenon.

[grahamb]

Roger, please substitute "English" for "British," because Germanophobia (or whatever it's called) is not a problem in Scotland; nor do we share our southern neighbours' contempt for the French, Spanish or any other nationality.

[guty]

grahamb,
not even the english?

[Dave Kessel]

I think that in the US, the welcome extended to foreigners by society obeys this 1-10 scale :

10) All kinds of Anglo Saxons-Brits, Canadians, NZders, Aussies, etc. The Irish - these are greeted with open arms and are integrated with no question. "Wow! I love your accent!"
9) N.West Europeans-Dutch, Germans, Belgians, Finns, Scandinavians- provided they speak English fluently. "Wow! That must be exciting!"
Rich E. Asians- "Cool!"
7) Italians, Greeks.-"Cool".
6) Rich Hispanics- "What part of Mexico are you from?"
5) E. Euros- "Where is that country? Do you ,guys have electricity there?"
4) Poorer E. and S. E Asians-no comment-ineffectual.
3) Poor Hispanics-ignored
2) Poor Arabs, Pakistanis, Indians-evoke a frown.
1) Poor Sub-Saharan Africans, Ethiopians, Haitians. etc.-ignored and /or avoided.

Young and pretty E. Euro, Russian and Asian girls/ladies are outside the hierarchy. They are viciously fought over and instantly snatched up by millions of relationship-starved American men the way a piece of bloody raw meat is attacked and devoured by a foaming swarm of piranha in an Amazon stream.

I remember a 39 y.o Filipina lady with four kids who put a "friendship" ad in The LA Times and got 40 responses almost overnight. One 36 y.o guy went over to her house and virtually begged to take her and adopt her four kids on the spot!

BTW, I think the best way to avoid prejudice is to go to a place where it is not your group that is hated- an Albanian should go to , say, Venezuela and a Colombian should go to Greece.

[Stephen Jones]

Thanks for the lyrics to the Lehrer John. Long time since I've heard it.

[johnslat]

Dear Stephen,
You're welcome. Lehrer is an old favorite of mine; I have some of his stuff on CDs. And although it was all written so long ago (most of them were first recorded and released between 1953 and 1965), they all still seem topical - unfortunately so, in the case of "National Brotherhood Week".
Regards,
John
P.S. Tom's still alive, you know. 75 now (as of April 9th, 2003) and as caustic as ever. Here's a link to a good interview with him in "The Onion A.V. club", back in 2000.

http://www.theavclub.com/avclub3619/avfeature_3619.html

and here

http://molelog.molehill.org/blox/CopyrightCartel/Music/TomLehrer/

(after a few more clicks), you can hear Tom singing "The Elements"

[steampig]

[kattie72]

dear grahamb
Please do not tar all English people with the same brush. Not all of us have "contempt for the French, Spanish or any other nationality"
kattie