Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT Strips 3941-3945 (18-22 February 2019)
Thrillho:
--- Quote from: artag on 22 Feb 2019, 13:51 ---
--- Quote from: dawolf on 22 Feb 2019, 00:13 ---I'm mixed race, UK. I get asked sometimes. I don't care, it isn't something I've ever found rude. Similarly, I ask people where they are from. No-one has ever said it's rude.
--- End quote ---
It's not rude, in the UK. At least, not that I've ever noticed. It's actually one of the first things people ask, along with 'what do you do ?' (what is your employment ?). Perhaps that's only amongst WASPs but I don't think so. If you're apparently anglo-saxon, the first thing is to attempt to recognise your accent for UK regions. If it's obvious but non-local it's likely to get a comment / request for confirmation. If it's ambiguous you get asked for clarification.
If accent or skin colour is clearly not UK you'll get asked where you come from, with an aspect of 'ooh, you're more interesting than average', not 'how strongly can I look down on you'. The only possibility of embarrassment is when you identify someone as exotic (a compliment) and discover they're actually third-generation english.
So I was truly amazed to discover here last week that it's offensive in USA-land. And a bit sorry for y'all.
--- End quote ---
I am also in the UK and have discussed at length what these things mean over here.
Question. Are you white?
Tova:
Maybe while we're at it, we could have a discussion of the meaning of the question, "Are you white?"
oddtail:
--- Quote from: artag on 22 Feb 2019, 13:51 ---
If accent or skin colour is clearly not UK you'll get asked where you come from (...)
--- End quote ---
I'm somewhat troubled you seem to be saying there's a skin colour that is "not UK" and thereby that there is, or are, skin colours that are UK. Which colours are that? Are you implying that UK, a former global colonial power, is or should be associated with particular skin tones? That's a... bold statement.
I'm trying really hard not to jump to the conclusion that you just mean "not UK" as in "not white", but I struggle to think how to interpret your words, given that former British colonies cover pretty much every shade of skin I can think of and modern UK is primarily white overall, but has significant, multiple ethnic minorities.
So, again, could you specify a skin tone that you consider typically and clearly "not UK"?
Case:
--- Quote from: Tova on 22 Feb 2019, 16:06 ---Maybe while we're at it, we could have a discussion of the meaning of the question, "Are you white?"
--- End quote ---
Far as I understand the categories used west of the chunnel, I'm 'white, other'.
chris73:
This has been discussed at length over the last two weeks (ever since Peter, IMO, came out as a xenophile[1]) but, basically, it boils down to sounding as if you are saying: "I intend to judge and categorise you on the basis of your ethnicity." It can be and, in most cases, probably is just innocent curiosity motivated by the deeply rooted instinctive response to people who look and/or behaviour differently from our close family and general community. However, it has also been a lead in to attempting to somehow justify the exclusion of the person who is being asked the question, so a lot of people react negatively to the question.
When something upsets a lot of people, even if you cannot understand why, it's best simply not to do it.
Yeah I dunno, it just sounds like another excuse for people to be offended. I've just started work as a corrections officer and one of my colleagues is Indian but has an African accent so I asked where he was from and it turns out he was from South Africa so we talked about the differences between SA and NZ but then to work in corrections you cant be too precious about minor, unimportant things I guess
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