Politically incorrect observations

[The Mad Hatter]

I just got back to Ottawa after a vacation back home in Halifax (I'm sure you all missed me to bits). Halifax is the largest city in Nova Scotia, an older, conservative province in Canada. They just rejected Sunday shopping again in a provincial referendum, if that gives any indication. It's mostly white, even more English speaking, and Scottish and Irish descent is predominant.

It was sooooo refreshing for me. I realized how much I like seeing mostly faces that look like me in the malls, coffee shops, etc. They almost universally were speaking the same language too, even at the university where I did some studying. Take a bus in Ottawa and you'll have a minimum of five different languages in use around you, but in Halifax it's English. I don't have to separate the French from the English here, or struggle to understand the Haitian immigrant at the Tim Horton's asking me what I want in my coffee. I like that.

I'm all for ethnic diversity, exploring other cultures and everything, but when push comes to shove I like being around people who mostly look like me and speak languages I can understand. Is that a bad thing?

[noxiousdog]

Who are you and what did you do with The Mad Hatter?

[Kadoth Nodens]

I'm all for ethnic diversity, exploring other cultures and everything, but when push comes to shove I like being around people who mostly look like me and speak languages I can understand. Is that a bad thing?

Boo! This isn't very politically incorrect. You don't even use any racial or religious slurs! All you did was state you are comfortable being around people you can easily relate to on a superficial level. False Advertising!

Personally, I like it when I don't understand the languages being spoken on the bus. The conversations I can understand are inevitably boring.

[LawBeefaroni]

I realized how much I like seeing mostly faces that look like me in the malls, coffee shops, etc.

If I saw mostly faces that looked like mine, I'd run in horror.

The language thing I feel the same about, but simply because I like to communicate verbally and it helps when two people can understand what the other is saying.

[Dirt]

I feel the same way. I very much feel at 'home' when I go back to my native country where everyone is closer in color to myself.

[Kael]

But oggling hot foreign women is fun!

[SuperHiro]

I have a different experience from all of yous.

Being half-chinese, I'll very rarely find people who look just like me. Most of my childhood was spent in the Philippines, where everyone was considerably darker than me. And the primary town where I lived during my youth was a really small college town, which had a rather large asian population.

So my preferences are kinda weird. My 'racial comfort zone' is all over the place. One day I'm in Chinatown eating Pho and the next day I'm at Dick's Hamburgers. So really for me the diverse the better.

[gellar]

I have a different experience from all of yous.

Being half-chinese, I'll very rarely find people who look just like me. Most of my childhood was spent in the Philippines, where everyone was considerably darker than me. And the primary town where I lived during my youth was a really small college town, which had a rather large asian population.

So my preferences are kinda weird. My 'racial comfort zone' is all over the place. One day I'm in Chinatown eating Pho and the next day I'm at Dick's Hamburgers. So really for me the diverse the better.

Ditto for me. 1/4 Chinese, 1/4 Filipino, 1/4 Irish, 1/4 Basque.

If I had to wait until I found people that looked like me to be comfortable, I'd be one nervous motherfucker.

gellar

[SuperHiro]

I have a different experience from all of yous.

Being half-chinese, I'll very rarely find people who look just like me. Most of my childhood was spent in the Philippines, where everyone was considerably darker than me. And the primary town where I lived during my youth was a really small college town, which had a rather large asian population.

So my preferences are kinda weird. My 'racial comfort zone' is all over the place. One day I'm in Chinatown eating Pho and the next day I'm at Dick's Hamburgers. So really for me the diverse the better.

Ditto for me. 1/4 Chinese, 1/4 Filipino, 1/4 Irish, 1/4 Basque.

If I had to wait until I found people that looked like me to be comfortable, I'd be one nervous motherfucker.

gellar

Hey have you ever posed as a race that you aren't?

I've pulled off arab, filipino, perisan, and russian.

[gellar]

I have a different experience from all of yous.

Being half-chinese, I'll very rarely find people who look just like me. Most of my childhood was spent in the Philippines, where everyone was considerably darker than me. And the primary town where I lived during my youth was a really small college town, which had a rather large asian population.

So my preferences are kinda weird. My 'racial comfort zone' is all over the place. One day I'm in Chinatown eating Pho and the next day I'm at Dick's Hamburgers. So really for me the diverse the better.

Ditto for me. 1/4 Chinese, 1/4 Filipino, 1/4 Irish, 1/4 Basque.

If I had to wait until I found people that looked like me to be comfortable, I'd be one nervous motherfucker.

gellar

Hey have you ever posed as a race that you aren't?

I've pulled off arab, filipino, perisan, and russian.

No... my eyes are very clearly asian. I often get mistaken for Japanese though, due to the light skin.

My sister though, she can pass for damn near anything.

gellar

[Dirt]

I'm often told that I look like I'm half-Chinese, half something else (and this is by Chinese people).

The Chinese people are a mixed people.

[CSL]

Ditto for me. 1/4 Chinese, 1/4 Filipino, 1/4 Irish, 1/4 Basque.

gellar

Yeah, and all asshole.

[khomotso]

I grew up in Korea, though white. I remember traveling to the States for college and going to sit with a bunch of Japanese tourists in the airport just because it made me feel more at ease. Spent most of my life as the only white guy in the room, and still prefer it that way.

I suppose what I like about it is that I don't labor under the assumption that I can be "lumped in." I tend toward the outsiderly, the skeptical, still not really at home in the States, and assumptions that I have a certain world view, background, or a certain set of interests often causes discomfort - instead of being refreshing, it strikes some like a betrayal. When my appearance is clearly different people more rarely decide they know where I'm coming from, and we get off on a better foot.

Added to which are all the usual reasons: an environment uniformly like me feels monotonous and stifling. As someone else noted, people are generally less interesting when you know what they're saying.

[Mr. Fed]

I grew up in a mostly white area that had more and more Asians as I grew up. I went to college and law school in very diverse areas. Now I don't really notice it unless (a) I'm the only white guy there (as is the case in some shopping areas, for instance -- say, the Eagle Rock Mall or (b) my kids are the only non-whites around (as can happen at some places near us --rarely, though).

I never get mistaken for anything but mutt white. My kids get mistaken for Chinese, though usually only by whites -- Asians seem to be better at telling Korean from Chinese.

[Dirt]

Eagle Rock has a mall?

[Mr. Fed]

Yes, Eagle Rock has a mall. One of the earliest in the area - a good decade before the Glendale Galleria. Fallen on hard times now, but it still has an Electronics Boutique and a Target.

In its glory days, my grandmother used to take me to the multiplex there. I remember going there on a very rainy day to see Disney's Robin Hood (that would be the one with the very convincing fox, not the very unconvincing Kevin Costner) when it came out, and slipping on the edge of one of the fountains in my rain slicker and falling into the fountain.

The mall used to have Robinsons, May Company, a Crown Books, and higher-end stores. Now it is pretty skanky and has a high vacancy rate. But I still go there for the EB.

[Dirt]

Sounds like the Buena Park Mall.

[Eduardo X]

I'm all for ethnic diversity, exploring other cultures and everything, but when push comes to shove I like being around people who mostly look like me and speak languages I can understand. Is that a bad thing?

Imagine what it feels like to be around brown people for me!
And for that reason, of making sure like people can celebrate their cultures (but not neccesarily their race), you should be much more for diversity. Think of all the "minorities" who are constantly told to forget their old culture and assimilate! It sucks to be a person of color when you're in a white society.

[Eduardo X]

I have a different experience from all of yous.

Being half-chinese, I'll very rarely find people who look just like me. Most of my childhood was spent in the Philippines, where everyone was considerably darker than me. And the primary town where I lived during my youth was a really small college town, which had a rather large asian population.

So my preferences are kinda weird. My 'racial comfort zone' is all over the place. One day I'm in Chinatown eating Pho and the next day I'm at Dick's Hamburgers. So really for me the diverse the better.

Ditto for me. 1/4 Chinese, 1/4 Filipino, 1/4 Irish, 1/4 Basque.

If I had to wait until I found people that looked like me to be comfortable, I'd be one nervous motherfucker.

gellar

My grandpa was 1/2 Basque!

[Tareeq]

My grandpa was 1/2 Basque!

That means you're 1/8 Basque!

[The Meal]

My grandpa was 1/2 Basque!

That means you're 1/8 Basque!

I'm 3/4ths Spartacus!

~Neal

(And 1/1th bad speller.)

[Eduardo X]

My grandpa was 1/2 Basque!

That means you're 1/8 Basque!

Yes, but... what does that make my girlfriend?

[SuperHiro]

My grandpa was 1/2 Basque!

That means you're 1/8 Basque!

Tariq Aziz is a mean avatar, but that can't beat Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf

edited to add: oh wait. Tariq. Shit.

[Enough]

My grandpa was 1/2 Basque!

That means you're 1/8 Basque!

Yes, but... what does that make my girlfriend?

A Basquet-case?

[The Evil Dead]

Owned.

[Eduardo X]

Owned.

It is PWN3D

[noun]

I'm half Estonian and some mix of Irish and Spanish but I look white, which confuses the hell out of everyone who meets me since my last name is Lopez. Just ask naednek.

[Jago]

When I was growing up, we were the ~only~ Asian family in the neighborhood. When I was in grade school, there was one other Asian in the whole 1st grade. As I grew up, I found myself gravitating towards other Asians in College. However, when I went to the Phils for vacation, I got a headache because everyone looked the same.

In other words, Diversity = goood

[$iljanus]

I have a different experience from all of yous.

Being half-chinese, I'll very rarely find people who look just like me. Most of my childhood was spent in the Philippines, where everyone was considerably darker than me. And the primary town where I lived during my youth was a really small college town, which had a rather large asian population.

So my preferences are kinda weird. My 'racial comfort zone' is all over the place. One day I'm in Chinatown eating Pho and the next day I'm at Dick's Hamburgers. So really for me the diverse the better.

Ditto for me. 1/4 Chinese, 1/4 Filipino, 1/4 Irish, 1/4 Basque.

If I had to wait until I found people that looked like me to be comfortable, I'd be one nervous motherfucker.

gellar

Hey have you ever posed as a race that you aren't?

I've pulled off arab, filipino, perisan, and russian.

Filipinos represent, yo!

(Am I even saying this right?)

I remember catching lots of shit from other filipinos who weren't born here because they knew tagalog but I didn't. Kind of soured me on filipinos for a while actually.

[The Mad Hatter]

I'm all for ethnic diversity, exploring other cultures and everything, but when push comes to shove I like being around people who mostly look like me and speak languages I can understand. Is that a bad thing?

Imagine what it feels like to be around brown people for me!
And for that reason, of making sure like people can celebrate their cultures (but not neccesarily their race), you should be much more for diversity. Think of all the "minorities" who are constantly told to forget their old culture and assimilate! It sucks to be a person of color when you're in a white society.

Ah, but they aren't told that in my country. Canada is the land of multiculturalism, where the government spends millions to help newly arrived immigrants retain their original cultures. The melting pot ideal is not accepted here.

[The Mad Hatter]

But oggling hot foreign women is fun!

Heh, true, but my tastes tend towards bonnie Celtic lasses. Redheads with smooth pale skin are homegrown in Nova Scotia.

It's not really a big deal, and I do enjoy the diversity of Ottawa when I'm down in the market or something like that. It's just that it can be refreshing to be around people who are more like myself for a while.

[Jago]

I have a different experience from all of yous.

Being half-chinese, I'll very rarely find people who look just like me. Most of my childhood was spent in the Philippines, where everyone was considerably darker than me. And the primary town where I lived during my youth was a really small college town, which had a rather large asian population.

So my preferences are kinda weird. My 'racial comfort zone' is all over the place. One day I'm in Chinatown eating Pho and the next day I'm at Dick's Hamburgers. So really for me the diverse the better.

Ditto for me. 1/4 Chinese, 1/4 Filipino, 1/4 Irish, 1/4 Basque.

If I had to wait until I found people that looked like me to be comfortable, I'd be one nervous motherfucker.

gellar

Hey have you ever posed as a race that you aren't?

I've pulled off arab, filipino, perisan, and russian.

Filipinos represent, yo!

(Am I even saying this right?)

I remember catching lots of shit from other filipinos who weren't born here because they knew tagalog but I didn't. Kind of soured me on filipinos for a while actually.

Actually, I've also soured on them...but for different reasons

[Kiam]

Yeah, I never really cared about how the people around me look. Not a lot of people look like me anyway. I really can't even imagine being 'more comfortable' around people who look like me. I don't see how someone being a different race from me could possibly put me on edge. I've never cared - when I lived in Japan I rarely saw anyone from even the same hemisphere as me, and I never really thought about it unless it got brought up (as it inevitably did among gaijin.)

Language is the same way. Someone going on and on in Mandarin or Swahili or whatever doesn't really interest me, much less creep me out. I like when people I deal with can speak my language but when they don't it's fun to work together to figure things out.

Meh.

[Kelric]

But oggling hot foreign women is fun!

Heh, true, but my tastes tend towards bonnie Celtic lasses. Redheads with smooth pale skin are homegrown in Nova Scotia.

That's it, I'm moving to Nova Scotia!

[Mr. Sparkle]

I think if I heard less than three different languages on my way to work, I would freak out.

Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Brazillian Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole...

And this is in a pretty whitebread city that is more provincial than it is cosmopolitan.

In NYC, I'm used to me and my friends being the only people speaking English on the subway.

Feels like home!

Edit: Sorry, next to last sentence made no sense

[Vegetable Man]

I'm all for ethnic diversity, exploring other cultures and everything, but when push comes to shove I like being around people who mostly look like me and speak languages I can understand. Is that a bad thing?

Eew, how boring. I spent my entire childhood growing up in white suburbia, able to count the amount of black students in my high school(over 4 years) on one hand. There were a few more asians, and a few more latinos, but the vast majority of my h/s was cracka ass white boys.

I love living in the area I do now, filled with Ethiopians, Indian, and all other sources of immigrants, because everywhere I go, I'm surrounded by people who are different from me, and who through natural conversation fill a certain natural curiousity. Plus, I enjoy when they capitalize on their culture, whether through shops, restaurants, or whatever, and provide unique experiences for what would definitely be a more boring life withouth them.

Usually, when I go home, I'm only comfortable because I'm around my wierd ass family.