Skip to main content

The Hello Harrassment Harangue

Even after two decades I can't get used to the Hello Harrassment that still happens, albeit less frequently. J can't understand my anger, and probably never will. "They're just saying 'hello.'" No, they are not. A greeting is an extension of one's private self to at least momentarily encompass another. Delivered by a gang of hoodlum teens or construction workers on the roof of a far off building site, or even a truck driver passing at high speed, it is an assault of sorts. It is a hello thrown out for the entertainment of others, a hoot hoot aimed at a caged monkey with the added attraction of knowing this monkey understands. There is no desire to share the world, only the distracting pleasure of making a noise at a person who you do not view as an equal. It is a noise that says "outsider" and "freak," that reminds all listening that this passerby is not one of us.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hello Kitty Hell

A couple of days ago I went to EVA Airlines ticket center to reserve my flight to California, and it was there I noticed a photograph on a poster showing an EVA Air jet sporting a Hello Kitty motif. It can't get much worse than this. Then again, maybe it can. Below are some photos of a car parked in the Costco lot. Note the bad taste in auto decoration. At bottom is a link to a pdf article on "Hello Kitty and Identity Politics in Taiwan." Article: Hello Kitty and Identity Politics in Taiwan (2000)
3 comments
Read more

Moonscape in Kaohsiung

The view of some rock formations that the locals refer to as "the moon," as seen from the window of a passing car on the Second Southern Highway. The Moon Worlds of Kaohsiung County China Post Article Speeding along a serpentine country road through the unexceptional, low rolling countryside of Kaohsiung County, our scooters round a corner when abruptly the mixed woodland bordering the lane ends, the ground on the left falls away steeply, and an extraordinary ravine of crumbly, light brown earth unfolds to the left. The Americans call this type of landscape “badlands,” but to the Taiwanese they’re more like the surface of the moon: “Lunar World,” as they call them. These strange landscapes of barren clay soil eroded into bizarre knife-edge ridges, sharp pinnacles and graceful, curved arcs are a strangely beautiful if surreal element of the landscape in parts of northern Kaohsiung and southern Tainan Counties. Badlands landscapes are by no means unique to this region of Taiwan...
Post a Comment
Read more