Tight minge Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 1 hour ago, Michael W said: It's quite striking the amount of times racism had been mentioned in this thread as a negative feature of countries, especially in developed ones. Is it noticeably worse than it is in the UK/Scotland in isolation, or is it more open/overt racism? Genuinely curious. As I had mentioned before, in my opinion, the worst overall was Canada. It was an eye opener. More elitism and arrogance than much else I guess though. Hungary was particularly bad, mostly against Romanians/Gypsies and latterly muslims. Been away from Hungary for over 10 years and I believe it has got worse. HK Blues nails it for Asia. There is a lot of racism here, but mostly not out of malice or its pure ignorance (especially in the case of China). Philippines is very jovial mostly. It did boil my piss being called Joe all the time and being called ‘Americano’ but can understand where it comes from. The everyone is rich, for me, comes from the Sex tourists who save up all year to spend two weeks, quick literally fucking about and throwing money around to buy there way. China is like 1970’s UK. Utterly racist, but not much intent, mostly ignorance. Except in the case of Japan. For some there is a special kind of hatred. Indonesia there is underlying, utter contempt for the Chinese. Covid and the South China seas has certainly aided more racism though. There is a lot more anti Chinese feeling and surprisingly in Singapore spats of racism against foreigners, including westerners but mostly South Asians. Indians have a special contempt for muslims. There is racism and intolerance everywhere and exaggerated in times of recession or general downturns and depends who you encounter and when. In the case of Canada, which I consider the worst, I am sure others would have differing opinions by their own experience. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross. Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 1 hour ago, Michael W said: It's quite striking the amount of times racism had been mentioned in this thread as a negative feature of countries, especially in developed ones. Is it noticeably worse than it is in the UK/Scotland in isolation, or is it more open/overt racism? Genuinely curious. I’d say the UK has a far bigger issue with racism, both overt and covert, but having grown up in and around Glasgow you switch off to a lot of it. I tend to notice that stuff a lot more here, probably because I am somewhat of an outsider here myself, even if I’m much less of an outsider than others, if that makes sense. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkmenbashi Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 2 minutes ago, Ross. said: I’d say the UK has a far bigger issue with racism, both overt and covert, but having grown up in and around Glasgow you switch off to a lot of it. I tend to notice that stuff a lot more here, probably because I am somewhat of an outsider here myself, even if I’m much less of an outsider than others, if that makes sense. This could also possibly be true in my case 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacksgranda Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 16 minutes ago, Tight John McVeigh is a tit said: As I had mentioned before, in my opinion, the worst overall was Canada. It was an eye opener. More elitism and arrogance than much else I guess though. Hungary was particularly bad, mostly against Romanians/Gypsies and latterly muslims. Been away from Hungary for over 10 years and I believe it has got worse. HK Blues nails it for Asia. There is a lot of racism here, but mostly not out of malice or its pure ignorance (especially in the case of China). Philippines is very jovial mostly. It did boil my piss being called Joe all the time and being called ‘Americano’ but can understand where it comes from. The everyone is rich, for me, comes from the Sex tourists who save up all year to spend two weeks, quick literally fucking about and throwing money around to buy there way. China is like 1970’s UK. Utterly racist, but not much intent, mostly ignorance. Except in the case of Japan. For some there is a special kind of hatred. Indonesia there is underlying, utter contempt for the Chinese. Covid and the South China seas has certainly aided more racism though. There is a lot more anti Chinese feeling and surprisingly in Singapore spats of racism against foreigners, including westerners but mostly South Asians. Indians have a special contempt for muslims. There is racism and intolerance everywhere and exaggerated in times of recession or general downturns and depends who you encounter and when. In the case of Canada, which I consider the worst, I am sure others would have differing opinions by their own experience. Are millions of Indians not muslims? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duszek Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 There's a bigger racism problem in France than in the UK. A thing that struck me in Paris when I lived there was how angry the North African youth were. Seething resentment, for pretty understandable reasons. Most French think they should just be grateful to be here, or f**k off. The occasional beheading of a teacher doesn't help matters. Another eye-opener, when attending PSG games, was how racist their fans were. Where I went (Kop of Boulogne, in with the 'Rangers' supporters group) was 100% white, while the rest of the ground was a melting pot. The Rangers were a likeable bunch of rogues in many respects, but the racist jeers and wisecracks grew pretty wearing. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tight minge Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 21 minutes ago, Jacksgranda said: Are millions of Indians not muslims? Yes, Third largest country by muslim population behind Indonesia and Pakistan. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torpar Posted August 12, 2021 Author Share Posted August 12, 2021 15 hours ago, senorsoupe said: He was a permanent resident, and it was during the final year of the last Tory government that they changed the rules. If you are eligible then why not become one of us? It was the cost at the moment, my wife is on maternity leave, though as she just pointed out to me, once she goes back to work, with the cost of child care in Toronto we won't be much better off. I just downloaded the application form and it's a lot shorter and simpler than the massive PR application form, so I may as well start filling out the form and have it on hand. I'd quite like to have my citizenship in time to vote in the next provincial election so should probably get going eh 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacksgranda Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 1 hour ago, Tight John McVeigh is a tit said: Yes, Third largest country by muslim population behind Indonesia and Pakistan. So millions of Indians have a special contempt for themselves? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torpar Posted August 12, 2021 Author Share Posted August 12, 2021 2 hours ago, Tight John McVeigh is a tit said: There is racism and intolerance everywhere and exaggerated in times of recession or general downturns and depends who you encounter and when. In the case of Canada, which I consider the worst, I am sure others would have differing opinions by their own experience. The thing about racism in Canada is while they have the same "took our jobs" type thickos that you could find in the pub in Scotland, the institutional racism here is like nothing I could compare to Scotland. The legacy of residential schools, a system implemented by the Scottish first Prime Minister, is and will be felt for a long time to come. The Chinese head tax is a shameful piece of history. There are 100s of reserve that are under boil water to drink advisories, Trudeau made a lot of big promises to the indigenous people that we failed to deliver on, The Starlight Tours in Saskatoon are hard to believe, The Colten Boushie case and numerous other cases where the killing of indigenous people are "punished" with light sentences. I think I naively shared an impression that a lot of people in Scotland had of Canada, that's it's this wonderfully peaceful utopia where everyone is overly friendly and there is no hate, especially compared to the evil neighbour to the south. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torpar Posted August 12, 2021 Author Share Posted August 12, 2021 10 minutes ago, Jacksgranda said: So millions of Indians have a special contempt for themselves? One section of the country hates another section of the population based on their religion, shouldn't be too hard for you to understand surely 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacksgranda Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 4 minutes ago, Torpar said: One section of the country hates another section of the population based on their religion, shouldn't be too hard for you to understand surely But that's not what he said. According to a lot of folk Canadians are very racist and yet you want to become one. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiegoDiego Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 Of the countries I've lived in Italy, Turkey, Slovakia and Guatemala had very noticeable racism issues. Finland and Denmark have big problems too but were more in the news/polling than than from anything I noticed personally, presumably due to the places I was living/people with whom I was spending time. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 1 hour ago, Torpar said: should probably get going.......................eh Say it like that and you'll walk it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torpar Posted August 12, 2021 Author Share Posted August 12, 2021 17 minutes ago, welshbairn said: Say it like that and you'll walk it. Not going to lie, the citizenship test worries me a bit, much like the UK citizenship test, I'm sure most born and breed Canadians wouldn't pass it but I find Canada's history, good and bad, pretty interesting so I should do alright. 28 minutes ago, Jacksgranda said: But that's not what he said. According to a lot of folk Canadians are very racist and yet you want to become one. I'm actually in no real hurry to get Dual citizenship right now, I'd say the majority of Canadians I've met aren't racist but the ones that are racist and one of the few things I dislike about the country. Also one of the things I dislike about Scotland. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tight minge Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 5 hours ago, Jacksgranda said: So millions of Indians have a special contempt for themselves? Despite being the third largest muslim population, it is still 10% of a huge population. I am sure you could grasp what I was getting at in the sentence. I’ll rephrase, The vast majority of the non muslim Indian population have huge contempt for their minority muslim countrymen who are generally looked down on and marginalised, but not as much as the Dalit. Sorry for any confusion. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacksgranda Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 Just now, Tight John McVeigh is a tit said: Despite being the third largest muslim population, it is still 10% of a huge population. I am sure you could grasp what I was getting at in the sentence. I’ll rephrase, The vast majority of the non muslim Indian population have huge contempt for their minority muslim countrymen who are generally looked down on and marginalised, but not as much as the Dalit. Sorry for any confusion. Course I could, but it was very badly worded. Not confused in the slightest. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tight minge Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 5 hours ago, Torpar said: The thing about racism in Canada is while they have the same "took our jobs" type thickos that you could find in the pub in Scotland, the institutional racism here is like nothing I could compare to Scotland. The legacy of residential schools, a system implemented by the Scottish first Prime Minister, is and will be felt for a long time to come. The Chinese head tax is a shameful piece of history. There are 100s of reserve that are under boil water to drink advisories, Trudeau made a lot of big promises to the indigenous people that we failed to deliver on, The Starlight Tours in Saskatoon are hard to believe, The Colten Boushie case and numerous other cases where the killing of indigenous people are "punished" with light sentences. I think I naively shared an impression that a lot of people in Scotland had of Canada, that's it's this wonderfully peaceful utopia where everyone is overly friendly and there is no hate, especially compared to the evil neighbour to the south. Racism/bigotry and intolerance is unfortunately a fact of life and the question posed on the feeling of racism and intolerance in other countries is a dangerous one. As said before, it is a perception of an individual based on a time, place and interaction. I unfortunately experienced eye opening racism (as I had lived as a child in Canada and had a romantic view of the place), others would live their life in Canada (or anywhere) and never experience any. Yourself being from Toronto and longer term probably have a more balanced view. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tight minge Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 4 minutes ago, Jacksgranda said: Course I could, but it was very badly worded. Not confused in the slightest. Well if you could understand it…. ah, never mind 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacksgranda Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 Good advice 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post German Jag Posted August 12, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted August 12, 2021 First moved to Germany at the end of 1990, job I had in Scotland was OK, but couldn’t see any major career progression taking place in the upcoming 5-10 years. Spotted a job advert from a German company in a trade magazine. Applied, invited over for an interview and duly offered a contract. My German language skills at that time were non-existent, so a bit of a jump in the dark. Company paid for an Inlingua intensive 1 on 1 language course for the 1st 3 months; thereafter they insisted that all communication was in German. The next 7 or so months were hard going, with quite often all you would understand was “Guten Morgen” on arrival and “Tschuß, bis Morgen” when going home. On the TV, sports programmes were the only option for watching. After ca. 7 months or so things started to click, and the ability to hold conversations, follow what the news on the radio & tv was saying, read a comic newspaper like “the Bild” resulted in a quick improvement in the quality of life. Left that company after 2 years and moved to the company I’m with (2 stints) just now, SE of Hanover. Was with them for 5 years then got headhunted and offered a job in Melbourne. Getting the employment visa was the only time in all my travels that lack of a degree etc. was a hindrance. Loved the lifestyle in Melbourne, apartment in St. Kilda, so 3-5 minute walk to Acland Street / waterfront or a 15 minute tram ride to the city-centre. The company I was working for was a fucking joke (Swiss headquartered company that had grown rapidly in Australia due to numerous takeovers, so lots of duplicate departments in various locations with everybody fighting their own wee corner to avoid being punted). The company SE of Hannover got wind of my dissatisfaction at work, and made me an offer to come back, with the future job being highly focused on Asia. Spent half of the next 5 years sitting on a plane, and then was posted to India for 2½ years. Based in Gujarat, lived in Ankleshwar during the week and Baroda at the weekends. Ankleshwar was / is one of the most polluted places in the world (is basically a chemical industrial estate with over a 1.000 companies on it). Company owned a large guesthouse that was “home” for the whole time. Power-cuts left, right and centre, a cocktail of chemical smells in the air depending on what way the wind was blowing. Add in the fact that there is prohibition in Gujarat, so “normal” night-life didn’t exist. The complete reversal of the time in Melbourne, enjoyable job but a dead as a dodo lonely life outside of work. Finished in India, and then did the sitting on a plane half the time thing for another couple of years before being posted to China for 2 years. Was based on the outskirts of NE Hangzhou. Hangzhou itself is a beautiful place to live but the town where I was based was basically a couple of hotels, restauarants, shops, residential complexes attached to the local industrial companies. Made a couple of half-arsed attempts at trying to pick up some Chinese, but just couldn’t get my head round it a thing which made life very frustrating at times due to the inability to communicate with staff in restaurants, shops etc. Been based back in Germany since end 2014. Due to Brexit made the decision to apply for German citizenship. Got my application in before the “original” Brexit date, which meant that I was applying as an EU citizen, meaning I would be able to hold dual citizenship. Citizenship application was approved end of 2019. ID Card & passport duly received. As regards Scotland, prior to Corona would fly back maybe 4 times a year. Christmas & New Year as a given plus trips for Scotland games. Haven’t been back since beginning of January 2020, thing I miss the most (apart from T) is not having ever seen my niece who was born last February (and the rest of my direct family as well). Would I do it all again? Definitely. Advice to anybody thinking about it! Go for it, if it goes wrong it goes wrong. Back home and restart. 24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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