Immigrants as scapegoats

[Dill]

(01-11-2019, 05:08 PM)Mike M (the other one) Wrote: 1. That's a money thing. They know you have it. Many of the others probably don't.
2. That was nice of her, but did the group decide as a whole? or did she simply pick you? Maybe you are tall and she thought you'd be more comfortable? that's a myriad of reasons that might not be just cause you are white.

Oh yes, developing countries, they look to whites as having money that's all. That's why we pay more sometimes, they know they can ask for more money and we have it, a local will argue over a penny.

But, who holds the majority of the positions of power in those Asian Countries? Whites or Asians?

Just a quick response. 

1. Few people have more money than Qataris.  And no Westerners are put before Qataris in any line in Qatar. Yet Qataris decide to put White westerners before brown westerners and brown anyone else, who also might have money. And they do not get any extra money for doing this.
A Jordanian friend of mine has studied a similar phenomenon in Jordan, which is not so rich. His interest was in how Jordanians themselves view white people (or westerners at least, not so much Russians). No kidding. I have been amazed at times at the unearned privilege accorded me by Jordanians. E.g. a General invites me to parties at his home and his country house.  Why? He gets no money. I get great food. Lots of it.  I'm given tour of a military base overlooking the border with Israel. Why? I don't work for any government. I am not a military person. I see no immediate benefit for my guides or the base commander beyond affirming the friendship between our countries. Either it's because I am white (and not Jewish) or because I am just an especially cool guy that people anywhere would naturally want to feed and show around.

2. The stewardess did not explain. Sure, a myriad of reasons why she picked the one white guy, not another tall guy, or, as I suggested, a mother with child. Because I had more money? She was hoping for a tip?  (By the way, there is a reverse valency here too. Once I was rousted from my 2 star hotel in Mumbai at three in the morning because police wanted to know why a white guy, visaed through an Arab country, would be staying there.  I.e., looked inappropriate to their intel. At first I was angry at the uber-apologetic hotel owner, whom I presumed had called the police. But when I went downstairs the next morning, I found they had ransacked the hotel's records as well, as these were still stacked on the floors and counter.  Apparently my visa had called surveillance down on them.)

I agree that "they" know we have money in the sense that some developing countries have very poor people who can read tourists for income.  But that does not account for the examples I have presented. It doesn't explain why people in government who have power over whites in their country should continue colonial preferences for which they receive no immediate benefit. This is in fact an issue much discussed across Asia, given that the more historically minded find this practice insulting.  India is a fine example.

https://qz.com/india/992438/the-guilty-privilege-of-being-a-white-woman-in-india/
http://theconversation.com/white-mens-privilege-in-emerging-economies-isnt-measured-it-should-be-75557
https://thefamiliarstrange.com/2017/10/18/when-white-australian-privilege-becomes-uncomfortably-familiar/
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/let-s-talk-about-racism-india-is-open-to-foreigners-if-they-are-white/story-EjiKF6iFgmMZqFYR3hrcLI.html

By the way, in all the Asian countries I have been in, I have only ever seen Asians in power. That fact is what makes my "privilege" apparent.

So to reaffirm my point--"white privilege" is NOT limited to predominately white countries.  It is not simply a function of who is in charge in a given country.  "Privilege" in this sense is not to be confused with rights of citizenship in a given country, as if there were Kenyan privilege in Kenya and Mongolian privilege in Mongolia.