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Yeah, it's kind of hard to empathize with if you haven't seen ti happen. Imagine random people coming up to you and asking you "where you're from" and "what's

Yeah, it's kind of hard to empathize with if you haven't seen ti happen. Imagine random people coming up to you and asking you "where you're from" and "what's your homeland like" and so on, just on the basis of your appearance. Especially if you're "from" Seattle and your "homeland" is just like here but with less weirdos treating you like a fucking zoo exhibit. It's supposed to come across as a polite curiosity, but for many people, it comes across as a "midwestern nice" way of reminding you you're different and don't belong. Or, in the best case, simply annoying and vaguely insulting. FWIW both intentions and perceptions matter in human communication, so neither side of this possibly miscommunicated hostility is necessarily "right" or "wrong". But swolchok's point stands none-the-less.

folknor 9y ago
You seem to interpret swolchoks comment as a negative, in the sense that his wife doesn't like that kind of question. That's what I am unable to do based on what he wrote. I am unable to infer anything from it. Where I'm from, that type of question is never a negative, and everyone is subjected to it in the starting phases of all social interactions. That's probably why I'm having problems inferring anything from the comment, because it's supposed to convey a negative about something I view as exclusively positive.
- leggomylibro 9y ago
  It's based on a long history of xenophobia and subjugation; this is the country that sent its Japanese citizens to concentration camps with the blessing of the Supreme court during WWII, and which needed special guidebooks to help African Americans find diners/hotels/gas stations/etc willing to serve them on road trips up until fairly recently. Plenty of countries deal with xenophobia and racism, but it always feels a little different in the US because as endemic as it is, people do ostensibly agree that it is wrong and strive to call out and condemn it. At least, I've always thought they did...

folknor 9y ago

You seem to interpret swolchoks comment as a negative, in the sense that his wife doesn't like that kind of question. That's what I am unable to do based on what he wrote. I am unable to infer anything from it. Where I'm from, that type of question is never a negative, and everyone is subjected to it in the starting phases of all social interactions. That's probably why I'm having problems inferring anything from the comment, because it's supposed to convey a negative about something I view as exclusively positive.

leggomylibro 9y ago
It's based on a long history of xenophobia and subjugation; this is the country that sent its Japanese citizens to concentration camps with the blessing of the Supreme court during WWII, and which needed special guidebooks to help African Americans find diners/hotels/gas stations/etc willing to serve them on road trips up until fairly recently. Plenty of countries deal with xenophobia and racism, but it always feels a little different in the US because as endemic as it is, people do ostensibly agree that it is wrong and strive to call out and condemn it. At least, I've always thought they did...