Comment on Cool Japan 🌸

Ostrakon@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

• baronvonj@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  The odds of a Texas BBQ joint not having any Spanish speaking employees is exceedingly small.

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  • treesapx@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    And yet they are cheering for ICE to arrest them all. No matter the status or paperwork. If they’re arrested then they are guilty. That’s how it works down here.

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    • baronvonj@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      There are for sure racist fascists and bootlickers here, but don’t paint us all with that brush.

      https://www.kxan.com/news/texas/protests-against-ice-scheduled-across-texas-this-weekend/
      https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/15/us/student-protests-walkouts-ice-texas.html
      https://www.texastribune.org/2026/07/14/texas-ice-shooting-houston-city-council-protest/

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  • Mac@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    lol what? Have you ever been to Texas?

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    • baronvonj@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Have you‽ I was born in Texas. Lived here the last 24 years, and 32 of the last 34. Even asian restaurants here have kitchens full of Spanish speaking people.

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      • Mac@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Yes, i lived on the border of TX and NM for fifteen years and i can tell you with certainty that i misread your comment. lol

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    • protist@retrofed.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Having lived in Texas for 40 years, I can confidently tell you you’re full of shit

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      • Mac@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        No i just can’t read
        I misread their comment and thought they were saying the opposite lol

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    • ToiletFlushShowerScream@piefed.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      It’s been years now, but are you saying that BBQ joints don’t have Spanish speaking employees? Is that a Texas only thing?

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      • baronvonj@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Mac is mistaken. There are Spanish speaking employees all over the food service industry in Texas.

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• DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  I mean, it’s also racism. Those people are just stupid.

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• Taldan@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  It literally isn’t racism though. You can disagree with it and think it should be banned, but there is no interpretation that it can realistically be called racism

  I lived in Japan for a while. I’ve seen a couple places with a sign like this. In my experience every place like this is perfectly willing to have foreigners that speak Japanese. They simply don’t want to deal with the hassle of a language barrier

  I should also note these places were always in touristy areas. If they don’t have a sign like that, they’ll end up with majority English speaking customers, because Japanese customers prefer places without rowdy tourists that can’t speak the local language. I did too. Going out for an after work beer, you want an entirely different atmosphere from tourists getting hammered

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  • asdfasdfasdf@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Why not just post the truth then? They could say “We’re sorry, we’re unable to accomodate non-Japanese speakers due to…”?

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    • explodicle@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Oh excellent, I have this translator app right here so they can accommodate me.

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• atopi@piefed.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  It would still not be racism

  Xenophobia at worst, only hatred of tourists at best

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  • bold_omi@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Xenophobia is inherently racist.

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    • atopi@piefed.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Arent they different things? Racism is about race, xenophobia is about country of origin

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      • mohammed_alibi@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Probably a venn diagram but with a large overlap.

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      • bold_omi@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Xenophobia is hatred of foreigners or aliens. I.e., those who are different, by one meaning of the word.

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  • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Yeah let’s start calling it racism when Barcelona locals spray tourists with water guns and see how quickly these same people scream “THAT’S DIFFERENT!”

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• SapphironZA@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Its called Xenophobia.

  Xenophobia and racism are distinct forms of prejudice: xenophobia is the fear or hatred of foreigners, while racism is the belief in racial superiority and systemic oppression based on race. Though they overlap, they target people for different reasons.

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• rdri@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  It doesn’t say “if you are of that race we are open”. It says you must understand the language. So learn it - you’ll need it anyway to live there - or go elsewhere, where staff can serve you on your language, provide a menu on your language etc.

  A hate system where you can upgrade your status by learning is not racism. Also not necessarily a hate system in the first place.

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• wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  If an American moves to Europe and doesn’t attempt to learn the local language, then by a few months to a year in with zero effort people will say they’re in the wrong for not making an effort to integrate and expecting everyone to speak English for them.

  Clearly “Americans expecting foreigners to speak English” is different from “Other countries expecting Americans to speak the local language” from a moral point of view. So why is Japan then lumped in with America as the “Local people must accept and accommodate foreigners who can’t communicate in the local language” bucket, when anywhere else it’s “If you’re traveling there and you didn’t even try learning the language, then you’re ignorant and entitled.”?

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  • kuiskaaja@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    that’s absolutely not the case in places like the netherlands and the nordic countries, people dont really give a fuck cus everyone speaks english anyway (unfortunately)

    i think the dutch and the scandinavians have hit their head or something cus their languages are so easy to learn but in iceland and finland it’s possible to never get fluent even with a lot of effort, cus the languages are damn hard, so people are understandably more forgiving

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    • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      You yourself are saying it’s unfortunate that people mostly speak English in the nordic countries, and yet you argue that it would be xenophobic and wrong to try to incentivize society to use the local languages more?

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      • kuiskaaja@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        people don’t “mostly speak english” here, they mostly speak their native language but are also proficient in english.

        i’m all for encouraging people to speak local languages but i don’t think basically banning non-fluent speakers from restaurants is the way to go

        one of the first steps of learning a language (properly) is using it in simple situations like ordering in a restaurant. how is preventing learners from using the language in any way productive?

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  • mkwt@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    If an American moves to Europe and doesn’t attempt to learn the local language, then by a few months to a year in with zero effort people will say they’re in the wrong for not making an effort to integrate and expecting everyone to speak English for them.

    My American cousin lived and worked in France as an engineer for several years. This is absolutely not true. He did make an effort to learn some French, but it wasn’t because of any pressure. He just wanted to.

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    • explodicle@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Image

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