Joshua Wong 黃之鋒  😷Verified account

4/ In HK, we have experienced similar scenarios before, in the 2010s, there were huge social controversy over Chinese tourists and some of their behaviours. Chinese tourists, coming from a different cultural background, have different etiquette standards.

5/ As they make their visit to HK, there are behaviours that seem unacceptable to the locals. Overgeneralising a small group’s behaviour is clearly not ok, because it doesn't reflect whole picture, but is it racist if I point out that those behaviours are not acceptable in HK?

6/ Am I being intolerant or discriminative? As the arguments goes on in the society, we realised there is a line between stating facts and being biased, the line between the two is extremely delicate but distinguishable.

7/ The term racism or discrimination coins unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race. The key to identify discriminative behaviour lies in the difference of treatment.

8/ In the context of the job market, employers are not allowed to discriminate a candidate based on age, that is too say, you cannot favour a younger candidate over an older one that are theoretically equally compatible.

9/ The same logic applies to almost every scenario. If you wonder saying out loud “spitting on the street in Hong Kong is not acceptable” is being intolerant, think about what if it is a random person doing so, would you say the same?

10/ If the answer is positive then I do not think it's intolerant if you cannot accept tourists spitting on the street, because the rule of “no spitting” applies to all, instead of only targeting a specific group.

11/ If you wonder saying coronavirus comes from Wuhan, China uncomfortable, what about saying rubella coming from Germany or an encephalitis virus originating from Japan?