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From Magic City Morning Star R.P. BenDedek
From www.kingscalendar.com Editorial & Social Commentary Newsletters. This email was written while sitting in room 9030 at the TianJin Victory Hotel in Tang Gu on Tuesday July 6th 2004. It is Midday, and I have just climbed out of bed. My body is weak, my head is woosie! I don't feel like I have a hang over, but my hands are shaking. How did this happen? I rarely drink. I'm the proverbial 'two pot screamer'. In Aussie lingo that means if I drink 2 glasses of beer I will fall down drunk. And it is true. My body can handle about one ordinary glass of beer in an hour. I can't even handle prescription medicines, but always have to lower the dosage, sometimes cutting tablets in half. This probably explains why if I am ill and receive an injection, I am fully healthy within 24 hours. Herbal sedatives knock me off my feet. So why did I overindulge last night? Before I tell you that, let me draw your attention to something I received in my email some time back. It was a letter of complaint from a woman who says that my (website) stories about China are 'racist'. She feels that there is a definite 'racist slant'. That I do in fact look down on the Chinese. Firstly let me draw a distinction here between 'look down on' and 'racism'. I 'look down on' quite a lot within Australian culture. So this must mean I am racist. Actually, the fact that I prefer living in China is possibly the best indicator that I am racist against Australians. This consequently must mean that I am not racist toward the Chinese. Catch 22! Do I look down upon people who spit (read Hock!) onto the floor during dinner in a restaurant? Yes! It is gross and disgusting and potentially a serious health threat. Do I look down on people who want me to commit breaches of the Chinese law saying, 'but it doesn't matter!' Do I look down on people who refuse to think, to behave in class, to be respectful toward the school and its staff and toward each other and public property? Yes I do! Does this mean I am racist? Anti vilification laws were designed to provide redress to people who were being discriminated against on the basis of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, physical impairments etc. They were never meant to be used to silence people from expressing their thoughts, opinions, or feelings on any matter. There are various ways in psychology to classify people who constantly cry 'racism' every time they hear something they dislike or disagree with. The terms racism and sexism are highly over used terms, used primarily to build the egos of those who use them. But back to my story. The lady who wrote me the email may have gathered by my non reply that her email merited ejection into the vacuum of cyberspace. She's probably not reading anything I write at Magic City Morning Star News and has probably long given up reading anything at Kingscalendar.com as well. What a pity! I wonder what she would make of the events of the last two evenings here in Tang Gu. Two nights ago I was invited to dine with the extended family members of my former boarder and student, with whom I traveled to Tang Gu. I had been invited by his parents to come here with him and stay at his uncle and aunt's place. They however decided that they didn't want a foreigner staying in their home. I had such a bad experience within the first 24 hours of being here that I told my student that I was going to change my plane ticket and return to Wuhan Monday. Sunday he invited me to dine with his family. We arrived at the restaurant to be greeted by 6 uncles and cousins (well that is what they were called), but no women. Explanation? This is a very important dinner to welcome you, so it is just for men. Oh! OK! I spent the night arguing with them that I could not handle alcohol, but did in the end consume one 750 ml. bottle of Budweiser beer (made in Wuhan). After dinner my student and his brother and their Father's brother's wife's brother went back to my hotel and checked out the pokie machines, which of course don't exist as gambling is illegal. Then we went to another floor to the bathhouse. Wonderful! It was so modern and clean. Then we dressed in shirt pants and undies made of paper, and proceeded to... WHAT? NO WAY! MASSAGE, YES! THE OTHER, NO! 'But it doesn't matter! You can choose which girl you want!' Finally I had a massage in a room, BUT WITH MY STUDENT IN ATTENDANCE. Yesterday my student and I had an afternoon sleep at the Uncle's home, and met several sisters and brothers (cousins) who are all in primary school. Later we went out, and returned later still to join the family for dinner. I met some wives, saw the kids again, and headed off to the restaurant. But by the time we got there, there were no women. Why? Women are not allowed to such dinners! Even when there is some special dinner at home the women must not eat with the men. They can eat what is left when the men are finished. Throughout dinner I was plied with alcohol and forced to 'gumbei', drink the whole glass of beer. It is an offense not to pay homage or give thanks to this or that person demanding this behaviour. By the time dinner was finished, I was plastered. This time the uncle, a cousin, the student and his brother and I returned to my hotel room, where it was decided that they would play cards, and later go to the bathhouse and ... I fell asleep. I was woken a little later by my student who said, we must go. The wives have all telephoned and the men must go straight home! hahhahaha!!! At least I got some uninterrupted sleep. So what is my point? Simple! It is always amazing how easy it is for the politically correct to fire accusation after accusation at people for speaking their minds, but there always comes that point when such people find that they themselves disapprove. Is it racist to say some of the things I have said about the Chinese? Is the Chinese man Sexist? Is saying that 'Chinese men are sexist', RACISM? Is it racist to say that there are some things about 'ethnic' culture that you don't want to take hold in 'your' country? It is? Then you don't mind female circumcision? You don't mind spitting food onto your table or floor? You don't mind 'hocking' at the dinner table. You don't mind entertaining your husband's boss but not being allowed to eat at the same table? Maybe it is the alcohol I consumed last night, maybe it is the fact that I have been married twice, or maybe it is something else, but you know, maybe upon reflection that lady who sent me that email was right. Maybe I am racist. It is time for me to embrace total multiculturalism. NO MORE BLOODY WOMEN AT 'MY' DINNER TABLE!. I think I had better go back to bed! Talk to you later! Bye! R.P. BenDedek Email Comments to: rpbendedek@hotmail.com Worthwhile additional reading:Feminine Insecurity - By Roya Monajem, Tehran - http://www.payvand.com/news/04/may/1158.html
R.P.BenDedek is the pseudonym of the Author of 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran' (www.kingscalendar.com), and he is a guest columnist at Magic City Morning Star News. An Australian, he currently teaches Conversational English in China. King's Calendar Social Commentaries may be found at: http://www.kingscalendar.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?action=viewnews&id=331 "The King's Calendar" is a chronological study of the historical books of the Bible (Kings and Chronicles), Josephus, Seder Olam Rabbah, and the Damascus Document of The Dead Sea Scrolls. © Copyright 2002-2008 by Magic City Morning Star |