Tag: thai

He’s Thai…

I heard someone say this in class one time; they were clearly gossiping about boys. After discussing his personality and appearance, one of them said “for a Chinese person, he’s hot”. I was absolutely gobsmacked at this comment, and they were too as it seemed, because afterwards they all looked at me and following some whispers, I heard the girl say “oh” and put her head down.

Why was I shocked at her comment?

Firstly, he is not Chinese. He was their friend, but I had never spoken to him in my life. Even I knew he was Thai. Like I said one of my previous posts, generalising and assuming insinuates that she is discriminating because we are an ethnic minority. I feel that she demeaned and belittled his culture, his heritage and his identity – and mine too. It is equally unacceptable to calling every White man John. Identity is very important and must be respected, please do not generalise in any circumstance.

Secondly, she implies that Asians are unattractive so “for a Chinese person, he’s hot”. Her comment suggests that she believes he has a lower standard because he is a different race. I never even knew you could get a hierarchy in the appearance of one’s ethnic origin but here we go, it’s apparently possible.  That is a tremendously self-centred comment. She compared the appearances of two races and decided that her own is prettier. Even for the purpose of humility, this is a ridiculous remark, let alone when regarding the respect of others.

Overall, that is why I was completely astonished at this girl’s comment. One should never assume another’s race and one should never rank races. It is racist, disrespectful and obscene in multiple ways.