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I've met really nice Finish guys, so probably not everyone is an asshole. Communication culture in Northern Europe is a lot more direct than what I experienced
by carlmr 9y ago
I've met really nice Finish guys, so probably not everyone is an asshole. Communication culture in Northern Europe is a lot more direct than what I experienced in North America though. So it's not low expectations, there is a real difference in cultures here. What might seem extreme in an American context might be just the top end of the "directness" scale in Finland.
Bigotry of low expectations is something like saying voter ID is racist because black people don't have voter IDs and are not reasonably expected to be able to obtain them.
- eru 9y agoAs a German in Britain, lots of the politeness and round-about-ness I see here would be seen as wasting people's time back home, or even worse, been interpreted as implying a need for coddling.
- geofft 9y ago> What might seem extreme in an American context might be just the top end of the "directness" scale in Finland. Sure. But he knows that, right? In which case participating in an international project with the extreme of norms in your homeland is not a "he can't help it" situation. It's no different from me saying "I'm not Finnish, but I really like Finnish culture, so I'm going to be an asshole." I'm still choosing to be an asshole. > Bigotry of low expectations is something like saying voter ID is racist because black people don't have voter IDs and are not reasonably expected to be able to obtain them. (This is mostly off topic, but the standard claim here is that the legal system makes it intentionally difficult for black people, or people who live in majority black areas, or poor people to obtain voter IDs. I don't think I've seen a serious argument that anyone actually thinks black people are racially less competent at getting IDs.)