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submitted 3 weeks ago by throws_lemy@lemmy.nz to c/world@lemmy.world
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[-] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 12 points 3 weeks ago

You haven't been to asia it seems, we definitely did racism by skin colour as well.

[-] FrChazzz@lemmus.org 1 points 3 weeks ago

Was in Thailand years ago helping out with an English-language program in a rural area. Noticed in the department stores when we went into town that Jergens sells a lot of lotions with "skin lightening" in the marketing...

[-] SreudianFlip@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

This typically comes from class hierarchies not genetic myths. Poor people work in the sun.

[-] FrChazzz@lemmus.org 2 points 3 weeks ago

I realize that. One of the guys who helped out as a grounds-keeper would wear a fleece-lined coat when outside. In Northeast Thailand. In June. He claimed that when a breeze came through the sleeves it cooled you down. Sure.

I also went to college with a Japanese girl who took up surfing. Her family would criticize her for how dark her skin had gotten. It was amusing to me, as an American, how we came to prize darker skin (but not too dark, yeah?) and the same companies that sold us "bronzers" and stuff sold creams that did the opposite in other parts of the world.

[-] SreudianFlip@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago

But if you are all Asian it's bigotry or xenophobia or a few other terms that don't involve the huge groups that are "races". Colour prejudice looks like racism but doesn't use the same hierarchy.

[-] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 weeks ago

Sure, we don't have the "dark skin as slave fair skin as master" history, but we definitely practice it like we have it. It's the same mindset.

In Malaysia, whiteworshipping is very real. The darker you are, the worst you're being treated, so indian are worst off because they have the darkest skin of all the ethnic in malaysia, they will have lower chance of getting jobs, house rental, and be treated as if they have higher chance of committing crime by the police. We even have derogatory name for them.

[-] SreudianFlip@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Yep that’s a prejudiced mindset alright, but as you are all the same "race" in that system, it's bigotry based on skin colour, which is similar but different. A racist would put you all in the same bucket.

To be clear, it's possible to be racist, ethnocentric, xenophobic, and classist all in the same breath, and each is a different prejudice.

Caste can be very much like racism sometimes, but it's still a different system of discrimination.

edit: removed typo

[-] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 weeks ago

as you are all the same "races" in that system

The heck are you talking about

[-] SreudianFlip@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Thanks, fixed, left it plural by accident. Racists believe in human races, breaking down into groups based on continents and general appearance. Asians, Europeans, Africans, Americans, etc. It is superficial and unscientific but the groups of Asians you are referring to as prejudiced towards one another would all be seen as one race and on the same level of their stupid hierarchy, so not racism.

this post was submitted on 25 Apr 2026
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