Just nak clarify

Sambungan kepada cerita semalam. Moral of the story is that kalau orang tanya soalan yang kau rasa pelik, jangan cepat melatah. Tak semestinya niat orang tu adalah offensive dan sengaja nak malukan kita.

However...

Ada certain isu yang memang terang lagi bersuluh offensive dan patut dibetulkan. Contohnya:

• Menuduh orang berkulit gelap  & beragama Islam sebagai pengganas
• Menggelar orang asal Afrika menggunakan "N-word" & menggelar orang India menggunakan "keling"
• Menuduh orang yang mempunyai adat dan budaya berlainan sebagai kolot
• Berkata bahawa makanan dari kaum tertentu sebagai jijik
• Cubaan untuk menanggalkan tudung/niqab pada tubuh wanita
• Asking someone who has dreadlocks or cornrows if you can touch their hair
• Catcalling & sexual harassment 
• Tanya "Are those bombs?"
• Rape
• Domestic violence
• Chopsticks on EVERY Asian food (like seriously nasi goreng pun kau nak guna chopsticks, apa kes?)
• Brutalities against unarmed civilians
• Offensive stereotypes like Melayu malas, Africans penyangak, etc
• Cultural appropriation

The list is not exhaustive. There are plenty of issues that are legitimately offensive to certain groups of people. Tak sure dan ingin tahu? Boleh tanya directly kepada orang-orang yang bersesuaian. If you want to know about dreads and cornrows, ask people of the African descent. If you want to ask anything about the Indian culture, ask Indians. If you want to know about Islam and Muslims, ask Muslims. Juga harus diingat walaupun sebangsa dan seagama, tidak bermakna mereka mempunyai lifestyle yang sama. The lifestyle of British Indians are different from the American Indians, Indians who live in India and Indians who live in Malaysia. The same thing goes to African Americans and British Blacks. Heck, even the lifestyle of a Malaysian Muslim is different from an American Muslim, British Muslim, Chinese Muslim and an Arab Muslim. Masing-masing ada lifestyle masing-masing. For example, Japanese American and local Japanese have different reactions to Katy Perry wearing a kimono. Local Japanese felt that Katy Perry was appreciating their culture while Japanese Americans felt that Katy Perry was appropriating their culture. I understand both sides actually. Japanese Americans were forced to assimilate into the American culture and when they want to embrace their culture, they are deemed as backwards and refusing to be American but when Katy Perry did that, it was celebrated. Nampak lah logik dia "Kimono tu pakaian aku. Aku pakai, kau kata aku kolot tapi Katy Perry pakai kata cantik pulak. Apa kes?" While local Japanese suka pasal they felt that their culture dah sampai ke dunia luar. Bagi aku, mungkin locals berpendapat bila orang lain pakai pakaian diorang and makan makanan diorang, itu menunjukkan bahawa orang tu cuba belajar pasal budaya. Wishful thinking sebab most Westerners pakai just nak nampak hip dan stylo je.

And also, expectations locals. As a Malaysian, kalau foreigners datang, memang aku expect diorang untuk cuba makanan Malaysia, pakai pakaian Malaysia (tak kisah cheongsam ke, sari ke, baju kurung ke). Asalkan kau appreciate dan hormati budaya kami dan bukan sengaja mahu mengaut keuntungan at the expense of certain ethnic groups.

Anyway, despite me saying that each people have different lifestyle, they are still who they are. Not matter who they are, African Americans and British Blacks STILL face discrimination in the country of their domicile. American Indians, British Indians and Malaysian Indians are STILL minorities in the country of their domicile. Basically, walaupun lifestyle berlainan, don't forget that there are some similarities with each other.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that we have to understand each other. If someone is offended about something, try to understand why. If someone is not offended about something, try to understand why also. Don't simply label people as 'sensitive snowflake' or 'too stupid to see' or 'naive'. Basically, we as citizens of the world should be nicer to each other and understand each other better. While we're at it, we must learn how to pick and choose our battles. Jangan nak main redah semua sampai kawan kita punya battle pun kita nak ambik sekali. No way! Jangan camtu, dong! Show your concern but at the same time, realise that if it's their own batle, let them choose.