Skip to main content

New top story from Time: Quarantine, What Quarantine? Nicole Kidman, Expats and White Privilege

https://ift.tt/38jNJQt

The unsaid but common understanding about foreigners in many parts of the non-Western world is that there is one group of them who can get away with a great deal: white people. They are mostly referred to as expats, whereas non-white aliens fall into such categories as immigrants and guest workers. And being an expat comes with a range of privileges. Call it white privilege if you want. It does not only exist in America; it is a global phenomenon.

This privilege was the subject of heated debate last week in Hong Kong, a city that has for a long time been enthralled by all things Western due to its 150 years of colonization by the British. But even in Westernized Hong Kong, outrage was sparked because the Hollywood actor Nicole Kidman was allowed into the city without quarantine (7 days for Australian travelers at the time of her arrival, but increased shortly after to 14 days for the fully vaccinated and 21 days for the unvaccinated). This waiver was so that she could take part in the filming of an upcoming American drama series for Amazon Prime. Ironically, the series is called Expats.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

The Janice Y.K. Lee novel on which the series is based is a nuanced reading of race and class, and one that does not always portray expats in a positive light. But the filming of the series seems to be making the opposite point: that a world famous white actor can do what they want and skip isolation at a time when local authorities had just made a very unpopular decision to reinstate, for several countries, a three-week quarantine period—the world’s longest. This restriction has affected thousands of people trying to reunite with loved ones or run their businesses.

Read more: I’m Tired of Trying to Educate White People About Anti-Asian Racism

Neither Kidman nor Amazon seem to have commented on the controversy, but in any case the culpability mainly rests with the Hong Kong government, which has vigorously defended the exemption it granted to the actor and four other members of the production team. Officially, there have always been exemptions for those providing “professional services in the interest of Hong Kong’s economic development,” and the government points out that thousands of Hong Kong residents returning to the city from China can enter without quarantine, as do long haul truckers and diplomats. But this has not gone down well with most business leaders, local or foreign. It has also sparked fury and despair among Hong Kong residents in Australia seeking to travel home.

Business owners, whose activities have a much more direct impact on the economy than an Amazon Prime TV show, are frustrated that they have not been granted the same privileges. Many travelers have had to endure 21 days in a cramped hotel room—paying thousands of dollars, with some experiencing PTSD, depression and insomnia long after their confinement. But Kidman gets to come and go from an $83,000-a-month mansion and Amazon has not even waited for the scandal to subside before starting filming. In fact, the initial shoots have only drawn more flak. According to local media, the production crew orientalized a street market, in cringeworthy fashion, by bringing in “exotic” Chinese props such as lanterns and calligraphy scrolls. Criticism has also been made of dozens of crew members and extras gathering together without masks, which are compulsory in public spaces in Hong Kong.

Preventive Measures Against COVID-19 In Hong Kong
Zhang Wei/China News Service via Getty Images ‘Day 12’ stickers are displayed on the window of Dorsett Wanchai Hong Kong Hotel to record quarantine days on August 17, 2021 in Hong Kong, China.

Hong Kong’s Commerce and Economic Development Bureau says it does not “collect any information on the race or ethnic background” of those exempted from quarantine, but it seems unlikely that an Indian, Vietnamese, or Nigerian actor, even if they were to have a global reputation, would have been simply waved through. A Philippine director shooting a film about the lives of tens of thousands of female domestic helpers in Hong Kong—who are all critical to the economy—would have a slim chance of getting the same perk, even if they, like Kidman, had arrived from Australia. Thousands of domestic helpers stuck in the Philippines and Indonesia are only just now being allowed back in—and naturally have to undergo the three-week isolation.

Sadly, the people of Hong Kong have long viewed white privilege as how the world works. It is what they even seek, with their Western names, love of Western brands and enthusiasm for Western passports and Western universities. This was evident during the protests of 2019, when the Stars and Stripes and the Union Jack flew from the barricades, and young demonstrators assaulted mainland Chinese bystanders but left white people alone. Many protesters even sought support from Donald Trump and his merry band of white supremacists. This “colonization of the mind” is the result of decades of subjugation.

Across Asia, white privilege has persisted well after the end of empire. A 2016 study by the U.K.’s Economic & Social Research Council found that expats in low-income countries can earn up to 900% more than their local colleagues. In Hong Kong, a foreign middle manager costs an average of $284,466 a year to employ, taking into account benefits such as accommodation, cars and so on. The average salary for a local middle manager, who almost never receives such benefits, is just over $98,000.

But it isn’t just employment. Almost every aspect of life—the sports we play, the clothes we wear, what children are taught in schools, the books and news we read, the television we watch—is predominantly influenced by the West. With white privilege integrated across the region, expat communities routinely get away with bad behavior. In the early days of COVID-19, they were some of the worst offenders of the rules about wearing masks, gathering in groups, and social distancing. From Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok, individual expats did not appear to feel an obligation to the welfare of the local population. In Hong Kong, a news report said the expat community was “widely perceived” to be “more reluctant to engage in social distancing or put on masks,” and spoke of a “cultural gulf.”

Read more: The Fight Against White Supremacy Isn’t Just an American One

The preferential treatment accorded to white people is so widespread that even wealthy, Western-educated Asians can experience discrimination in restaurants, airports and upscale shops. Many will know the humiliating experience of being challenged at the entrances to posh apartment buildings or hotels, while white people are allowed to saunter through.

The Kidman affair also invites discussion of an often ignored subject—that white women profit from this structural racism. It confers privileges that they leverage even as they selectively oppose other injustices that affect them, such as sexism. Common conversations around the privilege of white women extend to Karens, white savior complex, white tears, and missing white women syndrome. These phenomena are not seen as having anything like the impact of white men. But white women are certainly the allies of white men, who are often portrayed as the sole flag bearers of Western efforts to maintain economic and social power across the globe.

Nicole Kidman may not perceive herself as part of that pecking order. She once famously refused to use a racial slur in the script of The Paperboy and that is to her credit. But while she may reject the most obvious and offensive acts of racism, the truth is that she remains the beneficiary of a wretched global system—one that is obligingly upheld, far too often, by non-white people themselves. However sensitively Expats tries to portray race, it is now associated with a callous display of white privilege, and Eastern obsequiousness, in their crudest forms.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Bihar: Stages collapse during Congress rallies in Darbhanga, West Champaran https://ift.tt/37QFnks

The stage on which Congress candidate from Jale assembly seat, Mashkoor Ahmad Usman was addressing a rally broke and collapsed in Bihar's Darbhanga on Thursday. In a similar incident, another stage collapsed and took down party leaders Imran Pratapgarhi and Akhilesh Singh along with several party workers who were on the dias, during a Congress rally at Bagahi Deoraj in Champaran.

New Dashboards Give a Window into Muni Service Changes

New Dashboards Give a Window into Muni Service Changes By Kate McCarthy An inspector manages Muni service. New dashboards that help inform changes to Muni service are now live at SFMTA.com/MuniData Many factors inform our decisions about Muni service adjustments. These include making sure changes to service support the SFMTA’s values, which are economic vitality, environmental stewardship, trust and equity. We also evaluate travel patterns. You can now explore these patterns using the new Muni data dashboards  (SFMTA.com/MuniData). When looking at possible Muni service changes, the first thing we do is turn to the Muni Service Equity Strategy for guidance. Using the Muni Service Equity Strategy, we prioritize providing Muni service along routes that more often serve people of color, members of low-income households, and/or those who are dependent upon transit service, including people with disabilities and seniors. We also use ridership data to analyze where riders are boa...

India reports first 6 cases of new coronavirus strain after UK returnees test positive https://ift.tt/3pA0T2j

India on Tuesday reported the first six cases of the new coronavirus strain after six people who had returned from the United Kingdom were tested positive for the new UK variant genome. According to the details, the new coronavirus strain cases were reported from Hyderabad, Pune and Bangalore. Samples of 3 UK returnees were tested and found positive for the new UK strain in NIMHANS, Bengaluru. The other two cases were tested at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad; while the last case was tested at the National Institute of Virology, Pune.

FOX NEWS: Ohio amusement park shut down after multiple fights break out Kings Island in Mason, around 20 miles north of Cincinnati, closed down 30 minutes early Saturday night after several fights among teenagers occurred, reports suggest.

Ohio amusement park shut down after multiple fights break out Kings Island in Mason, around 20 miles north of Cincinnati, closed down 30 minutes early Saturday night after several fights among teenagers occurred, reports suggest. via FOX NEWS https://ift.tt/3wsn8uI

PM Modi lauds IFS officers for their work towards serving nation, furthering national interests https://ift.tt/36HoEzw

Greeting Indian Foreign Service officers on IFS day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that their work towards serving the nation and furthering national interests globally are commendable. Their efforts during the Vande Bharat Mission, which was launched to bring Indians home from abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic as international travel came to a halt, and other related help to our citizens and other nations is noteworthy, Modi added.

FOX NEWS: Bride's father asks stepdad to help walk her down the aisle in sweet viral moment A selfless gesture by the father of a bride was shared on social media in a viral moment of him surprising the girl’s stepfather by asking him to help walk her to the altar.

Bride's father asks stepdad to help walk her down the aisle in sweet viral moment A selfless gesture by the father of a bride was shared on social media in a viral moment of him surprising the girl’s stepfather by asking him to help walk her to the altar. via FOX NEWS https://ift.tt/ZkQ1Rpt

Better Connections from Bayview and Hunters Point to Downtown

Better Connections from Bayview and Hunters Point to Downtown By Enrique Aguilar To better connect southeast San Franciscans with downtown, the SFMTA debuted the 15 Bayview Hunters-Point Express in late January, coinciding with the return of T Third train service. Within weeks, average daily boardings reached 1,000 customers on this new service. The 15 Bayview Hunters Point Express  We added this route based on community feedback from the Southeast Muni Expansion Project in 2018, which prioritized a more direct trip to downtown from the Bayview. With the sudden rise of the COVID-19 pandemic and its disproportionate impacts on communities in the Bayview and Hunters Point, fast-tracking the project became critical to our transit planning. Adding service capacity and a direct connection between these neighborhoods and downtown is a crucial step in supporting the City’s economic recovery and increasing job access for essential workers using transit. Using data from the SFMTA Equ...

Plan Your Next Golden Gate Park Trip with Muni

Plan Your Next Golden Gate Park Trip with Muni By Eillie Anzilotti   A map of San Francisco showing Muni lines that offer direct service to Golden Gate Park, including: The 18 46th Avenue, the 29 Sunset, the 5 Fulton and 5R Fulton Rapid, the N Judah, the 44 O’Shaughnessy, the 33 Ashbury/18th Street, the 7 Haight/Noriega, the 43 Masonic and the 28 19th Avenue. Around each bus route shown on the map, a red zone shows the range within 1,000 feet of a stop, orange shows within 2,000 feet of a stop, and yellow shows within 3,000 feet. Here’s a fun fact: 70% of San Franciscans are within a 15-minute walk of a transfer-free Muni ride to the largest public space in our city: Golden Gate Park.   Especially as COVID-19 has heightened the importance of outdoor recreation and park access, SFMTA has made efforts to update Muni service to get people to Golden Gate Park. As of now, ...

New top story from Time: ‘I Should Be Presumed Innocent.’ Hong Kong Media Tycoon Jimmy Lai Criticizes His Arrest

https://ift.tt/342b8VJ Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai said he was arrested on “trumped up” charges, pushing back against landmark national security legislation that has raised questions about press freedoms and the future of the democracy movement. “They’re trumped up. I can’t go further on the details,” Lai said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Friday morning. “Before any evidence, they just claimed and presumed that I’m guilty. This isn’t the way the law is. I should be presumed innocent. We have never supported the independence of Hong Kong.” He said Hong Kong’s future as Asia’s main financial hub was uncertain if there was no respect for the rule of law under the new security measures. “The future of Hong Kong is the future of any other Chinese city,” he added. “Without the rule of law, the international financial center will be finished.” He added that the law sent a “very negative” message to the business community in Hong Kong and overseas. Lai has ...

अगर मैंने आत्महत्या की तो लोगों को पता होना चाहिए किसकी वजह से की - फूटकर रोते दिखे विकास गुप्ता

सुशांत सिंह राजपूत की आत्महत्या हर किसी को एक गहरा सदमा दे गई है और अब सुशांत के करीबी दोस्त विकास गुप्ता ने एक वीडियो में अपनी आपबीती सुनाई है। विकास इस वीडियो में बेहद टूटे हुए नज़र आ रहे हैं from टेलीविजन की खबरें | Television News in Hindi | TV Serials Update in Hindi – FilmiBeat Hindi http:/hindi.filmibeat.com/television/vikas-gupta-reveals-people-want-him-to-commit-suicide-cries-his-heart-out-for-sushant-singh-rajput-090284.html?utm_source=/rss/filmibeat-hindi-television-fb.xml&utm_medium=23.213.205.12&utm_campaign=client-rss