Who's over here now?

Who’s over here now …?

They were everywhere. Lots of them. They were loud and ill-mannered. The way they attacked a breakfast buffet can only be compared to a herd of elephantine locusts who had not eaten for a month. Locals complained about the way they acted as through they owned the place and could do as they pleased.

Who are they?

They used to be what became known as the ugly American, especially in the decades after WWII when America was the emergent global super-power and cashed-up Americans spread all over the globe waving their USD with gusto. Americans did own the place and were not shy in acting like it. The rest of the world resented them.

The they is changing. They are now mainland Chinese who spread globally as tourists, business travelers and government representatives. Overheard conversations in Asia reveal resentment about cashed-up mainland Chinese taking local jobs, overcrowding public facilities and having bad manners at buffets. They act as they own the place – which they increasingly do. What’s interesting is that the complaints now come from diaspora Chinese, much as non-American Caucasians used to complain about the ugly American.

What’s the point?

Locals dislike an overbearing outside presence, especially if the outsider has the numbers people-wise and dollar-wise. Those who have wealth and power will typically flaunt it, with a swaggering arrogance towards the locals towards who they may have a measure of pity and despising.

But it’s not just the old ugly American or the new mainland Chinese who do this. It’s easy to act this way when any of us have the power and the money that feeds a sense of superiority.

So, before I criticise others I need to look in the mirror and remove the log from my own eye before I see the speck in my neighbour’s.

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