Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT strips 3931-3935 (4th to 8th February 2019)
Shjade:
Different places are, as you noted, different, as are people. If it doesn't bother you, it doesn't bother you, and that's good!
To simplify the points made here: treat people like people, not tourist attractions. That's all.
Milayna:
--- Quote from: neurocase on 08 Feb 2019, 02:23 ---I'm a little confused by all this talk of "othering" people. Ethnic backgrounds differ. Countries with similar ethnic backgrounds differ, even if not identifiably (as in people from two countries might look similar, but their countries are very different from each other culturally). Why is noticing that someone is different immediately make you a racist asshole? Isn't the whole beauty of human existence the fact that we're all so different, but have so many threads linking us at the same time? Why is pretending that everyone is exactly the same helpful?
--- End quote ---
It sounds like you come from a demographic group that will never be seriously targeted for its differences wherever you are and so get the privilege of not really having to care.
I also have or appear to have almost every form of privilege. I can't speak for other people's experience nor fully understand it. But as a privilege-haver I can acknowledge that they are valid and look outside of myself to at least try to understand.
"Why is noticing that someone is different immediately make you a racist asshole?" Why do you believe that it is other peoples' responsibly to justify it to you/work out how to ram understanding that you can never fully get, into your soul? You don't need to *KNOW* it - just acknowledge that that's how it is in their lives, and that you need to accommodate that. Refusal to give that respect, ultimately, is what comes across as "racist asshole".
--- Quote from: neurocase on 08 Feb 2019, 02:34 ---So the default behavior is to treat everyone as a grey blob? Still seems strange to me, but I'll accept it's just something that I can't understand since I'm white, and move on.
--- End quote ---
Posted mine before getting to see this. Thanks.
Akima:
--- Quote from: neurocase on 08 Feb 2019, 02:23 ---I'm a little confused by all this talk of "othering" people. Ethnic backgrounds differ. Countries with similar ethnic backgrounds differ, even if not identifiably (as in people from two countries might look similar, but their countries are very different from each other culturally). Why is noticing that someone is different immediately make you a racist asshole?
--- End quote ---
Basically, because history. Lots of very bad history. The noticing of difference has far, far more often had malign consequences than good ones, so blurting out a comment on it, especially on very short acquaintance, is not generally a good idea.
I'm an Australian*, but people routinely "notice my difference", and call me "Chinese", which is essentially denying my nationality and treating my citizenship as somehow not "real". I've been told that I "don't look Australian", by people who "notice my difference" too. Suffice it to say, the consequences of having people "notice my difference" are not usually inclusive, or pleasant.
*I am an ethnic Han, and was born in China, but I am a naturalised Australian citizen.
Wombat:
--- Quote from: neurocase on 08 Feb 2019, 02:46 ---What I ask now, I don't ask sarcastically, but genuinely: I'm an expat in my country; up until now, should I have been assuming that anyone asking me where I was from didn't think I should be here? Because that genuinely didn't occur to me. I was always happy to answer because I assumed it was out of curiosity, but now I'm a little unsure what to think :/
--- End quote ---
Being asked where you're from is different as a white person than a person of color, at least in America. I'm white and currently living, like, ten miles from where I was born, and I get asked where I'm from all the time because I have a speech impediment that sounds to some people like an accent. When I'm asked, it's with a tone of excitement, while when my friends who are people of color are asked, it's less excitement and more, "So, you're different." It's hard to explain the difference, but I've found it noticeable. It also happens on top of a mountain of additional othering.
There's also a difference in an accent ("accent" in my case) vs skin color as promptimg the "Where are you from?" question. An accent could suggest that someone personally emigrated from somewhere or moved a notable distance, while skin color does no such thing. My friend who I mentioned in my previous story was born in the same hospital I was. People assume I'm American by looking at me, but don't assume the same about her, when all we've done is exist, not even speaking to the people yet.
It also still gets tiring to be asked where I'm from. I usually go into explaining I have a speech impediment, but sometimes I'll just say, "I'm from here," if I'm in my city, or the name of my city if I'm not, or Michigan if I'm in another state. And sometimes when I just do that, people insist that I'm wrong, which is a real barrel of monkeys.
BenRG:
So, here's a little bit of trivia obtained through Google and Wikipedia (so, blame them if I'm getting this wrong :-P). Lawrence, Massachusetts appears to have a past strongly linked to Germanic immigrants. So, if Brun was born there, a given name of 'Brunhilde' is not entirely unthinkable.
That aside, I think I posted this yesterday but I'm pretty sure that the big gathering Jeph is going to be drawing is a normal day shift at The Horrible Revelation, Brun's place of work. I'm thinking that she's going to be asking Elliott and/or Clinton to help her understand some of what Peter said and some of Renee's behaviour. I strongly suspect that the question: "Do you think I'm 'exotic'?" and possibly "Do you admire my butt in passing?" may be included there. The gent in question's flop-sweat attempt to dance around those questions may be quite comedic! Naturally, Brun will treat the whole conversation as something quite dryly factual and may be genuinely puzzled if the guys are too flustered to answer.
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