Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT strips 3931-3935 (4th to 8th February 2019)
neurocase:
--- Quote from: oddtail on 08 Feb 2019, 01:10 ---Questions about race in America have certain connotations whether you (claim to) know it or not. See my post above.
--- End quote ---
As a non-American, this is utterly bizarre to me. Where I'm from, the question "where are you from?" is most oft answered with an eagerness to impart ethnic/cultural background. I guess culture-sharing isn't really a thing in the states.
oddtail:
--- Quote from: neurocase on 08 Feb 2019, 01:22 ---
--- Quote from: oddtail on 08 Feb 2019, 01:10 ---Questions about race in America have certain connotations whether you (claim to) know it or not. See my post above.
--- End quote ---
As a non-American, this is utterly bizarre to me. Where I'm from, the question "where are you from?" is most oft answered with an eagerness to impart ethnic/cultural background. I guess culture-sharing isn't really a thing in the states.
--- End quote ---
Yeah, well, cultural context obviously matters. In Poland, many people will argue the question is innocent enough, mostly because there's no history of slavery (at least, not race-based slavery) and because Poland was never a colonial power.
I personally disagree, if someone asked the question, I'd think it imparts the message of "we're an extremely ethnically uniform society, and now I'm LOUDLY DRAWING ATTENTION TO YOUR STANDING OUT". We, as a nation, are already the uncultured rubes of Europe, questions like this help none.
(and while we don't have a national history of slavery, we have a "proud" history of xenophobia and antisemitism, so we just have utterly DIFFERENT baggage there)
I wouldn't say "culture-sharing is not a thing" in the US, as you phrase it. For one thing, a question asked like this puts the burden of sharing on the non-white person (usually). It's intrusive that way, and I can only imagine that's part of the problem. Secondly, from what I understand, American culture deemphasises cultural differences on a personal level. You're invited to bring whatever you want to the table and shape the gestalt American culture. You're not supposed to be singled out because of it. And questions about ethnicity are a common tactic of "othering" a person, which can't be easily ignored.
soulofthereaver:
--- Quote from: oddtail on 08 Feb 2019, 01:21 ---
--- Quote from: soulofthereaver on 08 Feb 2019, 01:19 ---it following that there are ways in which it's proper to ask about ethnicity, if you mind common courtesy, basic empathy, and your relationship to the person you're conversing with.
--- End quote ---
Yes. "I barely know you, but I'm curious" is arguably not among those ways. Which is the case in the comic, the dude's casually sexual exoticising notwithstanding.
--- End quote ---
I can agree with that. Though if i do get someone who does that, i'd at worst assume they don't know how to deal with boundaries very well. I don't jump to racism as an explanation unless i get other signs of it as well.
--- Quote from: neurocase on 08 Feb 2019, 01:22 ---
--- Quote from: oddtail on 08 Feb 2019, 01:10 ---Questions about race in America have certain connotations whether you (claim to) know it or not. See my post above.
--- End quote ---
As a non-American, this is utterly bizarre to me. Where I'm from, the question "where are you from?" is most oft answered with an eagerness to impart ethnic/cultural background. I guess culture-sharing isn't really a thing in the states.
--- End quote ---
This. It must be horrible to live in a society where you have reason to suspect any stranger of ill-will and discrimination based on what you look like or where you're from, and to have to treat any implication they might make with suspicion.
Milayna:
--- Quote from: neurocase on 08 Feb 2019, 01:22 ---
--- Quote from: oddtail on 08 Feb 2019, 01:10 ---Questions about race in America have certain connotations whether you (claim to) know it or not. See my post above.
--- End quote ---
As a non-American, this is utterly bizarre to me. Where I'm from, the question "where are you from?" is most oft answered with an eagerness to impart ethnic/cultural background. I guess culture-sharing isn't really a thing in the states.
--- End quote ---
Not when there's a good chance that an unsatisfactory response will prompt ICE to show up in body armor, throw your kids in prison, lose your identification, and drop you off on the other side of the world.
Or if not that, get you harassed like that lawyer in the supermarket did last year, or that smug schoolboy prick from kentucky a few weeks back.
oddtail:
--- Quote from: soulofthereaver on 08 Feb 2019, 01:29 ---
(...) if i do get someone who does that, i'd at worst assume they don't know how to deal with boundaries very well. I don't jump to racism as an explanation unless i get other signs of it as well.
--- End quote ---
Unconscious racism is still racism, though. Racism is not (just) about intent. It's about power structures and power relations. A person blissfully unaware that what they said has troubling racist connotations is still being racist, even if they have the best of intentions.
I think it's harmful to frame racism in overly individualistic terms. Racism is not about this person hating black people or that person being prejudiced against people from East Asia. Racism is about systemic problems. A person not being aware of the problems is not proof racism is not at play. If anything, I'd argue such ignorance usually reinforces the idea that racism is doing well.
TL;DR - racism can exist in absence of conscious, malevolent intent. It usually is the case.
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