3 ms·

When I read it, the comment sounded like the emphasis was on stereotypes of the culture, not the gender. Maybe you're reading too much into it.

by ColanR 6y ago

chki 6y ago
>the comment sounded like the emphasis was on stereotypes of the culture To be honest, that is also pretty weird, wandering into "wrong"-territory. At least if you are prescribing negative stereotypes to a culture.
ojnabieoot 6y ago
To be clear: comments about "polite" Japanese versus "strict" Germans and "angry" Italians are also bigoted and will make many immigrant coworkers deeply uncomfortable (especially if they are women). Everything about his comment is gross and 100% inappropriate for the workplace, and civilized society in general.
- sz4kerto 6y ago
  "obstinately or unreasonably attached to a belief, opinion, or faction, and intolerant towards other people's beliefs and practices." (Definition of bigoted from Wikipedia) Stereotypes can be harmful, but they oftentimes are based in reality. Yes, the formalities of an average Japanese are almost incomprehensible to an average Italian. What's the problem with that? The world is fortunately colorful, and making jokes about its colorfulness is not necessarily evil.
- fantod 6y ago
  Have you actually met a person from Europe? They play on stereotypes constantly.
  - jlokier 6y ago
    > They play on stereotypes constantly. Above is true. But below is also true: > make many immigrant coworkers deeply uncomfortable (especially if they are women) You can also add gay people, trans, etc - and even things like being smart, or stupid, or being a man or woman, or blond or redhead or... etc - to the list who have to endure feeling uncomfortable and unwelcome (and often keeping it to themselves or playing along) in a workplace where "they" are made fun of regularly. I think it's because humour and oppression both exist, and actual for real consequences of the latter have been very severe and sometimes still are. It's hard to tell how much of each is really in process at any moment, so of course it's uncomfortable, and of course if someone feels they have to fit in to keep in their colleague's good books at work, they'll tend to keep their discomfort and background to themselves.
- ColanR 6y ago
  > comments about "polite" Japanese versus "strict" Germans and "angry" Italians are also bigoted As the other commenter mentioned, "bigoted" implies "intolerant". A joke about culture differences isn't intolerant of those cultures; you're just overreacting. And as someone else mentioned, the Japanese, Germans and Italians do not want or need you to save them. Maybe you should dial it back a bit.
  - pseudalopex 6y ago
    I know a German who hates being stereotyped. He likes when other people speak up about it because people call him a typically humorless German when he does.
- chuckSu 6y ago
  I think you just need a glass of “Get the f... over yourself”. You’ll be okay
- speeder 6y ago
  As an italian-descent that wants to move to Japan and lives in a town full of german immigrants... I have no clue what on the world you are talking about.
- cassianoleal 6y ago
  I'm Brazilian and live in the UK. I constantly hear jokes about football. Having played football and being a person with "two left feet", I have heard numerous jokes about that, and about how I must not be Brazilian, since I don't command the ball like Ronaldinho. I'm fine with that. It's playful. It's fun. I make jokes back and everybody is a friend. There's also the Samba jokes and stereotypes. They are fun. They are ice breakers and can make an awkward social interaction more fluent. You know what offends me? When people from the USA call their country "America", like they own the whole continent. Amerigo Vespucci, the man whose name served as the basis for naming the so called "new world", didn't even arrive in the northern part of the continent, much less in what is now the USA. Cripstopher Columbus, who arrived in the continent even before Vespucci, didn't arrive there either, but at Guanahani, in the Bahamas. When America was named America, there was no USA. Calling that country America is the equivalent of uniting a few European countries, calling them United States of Europe and then culturally pressuring the rest of the continent (and the world) into calling them Europe, pretending the rest of the continent never had that name. The cultural, military, pollitical and economical power play that the USA have been imposing on the rest of the continent since at least the 1940s is by far worse than any stereotype joke that you might have heard in your workplace. I was born in America. The USA can never take that away from me. Uncivilised is to impose your views upon the rest of the world with zero regard to cultural differences. As my late grandfather would say: "don't judge others as though they are yourself." Edit: Even before I posted, I was aware this was going to be downvoted. That's fine. It's not easy to admit you're not as holy as you might think. It's far easier to use your own power to crush the "subordinate class" rather than actually acknowledge them. Downvote away. I will still be an American, born in America.

When I read it, the comment sounded like the emphasis was on stereotypes of the culture, not the gender. Maybe you're reading too much into it.

by ColanR 6y ago

When I read it, the comment sounded like the emphasis was on stereotypes of the culture, not the gender. Maybe you're reading too much into it.

chki 6y ago

>the comment sounded like the emphasis was on stereotypes of the culture To be honest, that is also pretty weird, wandering into "wrong"-territory. At least if you are prescribing negative stereotypes to a culture.

ojnabieoot 6y ago

To be clear: comments about "polite" Japanese versus "strict" Germans and "angry" Italians are also bigoted and will make many immigrant coworkers deeply uncomfortable (especially if they are women). Everything about his comment is gross and 100% inappropriate for the workplace, and civilized society in general.

sz4kerto 6y ago
"obstinately or unreasonably attached to a belief, opinion, or faction, and intolerant towards other people's beliefs and practices." (Definition of bigoted from Wikipedia) Stereotypes can be harmful, but they oftentimes are based in reality. Yes, the formalities of an average Japanese are almost incomprehensible to an average Italian. What's the problem with that? The world is fortunately colorful, and making jokes about its colorfulness is not necessarily evil.
fantod 6y ago
Have you actually met a person from Europe? They play on stereotypes constantly.
- jlokier 6y ago
  > They play on stereotypes constantly. Above is true. But below is also true: > make many immigrant coworkers deeply uncomfortable (especially if they are women) You can also add gay people, trans, etc - and even things like being smart, or stupid, or being a man or woman, or blond or redhead or... etc - to the list who have to endure feeling uncomfortable and unwelcome (and often keeping it to themselves or playing along) in a workplace where "they" are made fun of regularly. I think it's because humour and oppression both exist, and actual for real consequences of the latter have been very severe and sometimes still are. It's hard to tell how much of each is really in process at any moment, so of course it's uncomfortable, and of course if someone feels they have to fit in to keep in their colleague's good books at work, they'll tend to keep their discomfort and background to themselves.
ColanR 6y ago
> comments about "polite" Japanese versus "strict" Germans and "angry" Italians are also bigoted As the other commenter mentioned, "bigoted" implies "intolerant". A joke about culture differences isn't intolerant of those cultures; you're just overreacting. And as someone else mentioned, the Japanese, Germans and Italians do not want or need you to save them. Maybe you should dial it back a bit.
- pseudalopex 6y ago
  I know a German who hates being stereotyped. He likes when other people speak up about it because people call him a typically humorless German when he does.
chuckSu 6y ago
I think you just need a glass of “Get the f... over yourself”. You’ll be okay
speeder 6y ago
As an italian-descent that wants to move to Japan and lives in a town full of german immigrants... I have no clue what on the world you are talking about.
cassianoleal 6y ago
I'm Brazilian and live in the UK. I constantly hear jokes about football. Having played football and being a person with "two left feet", I have heard numerous jokes about that, and about how I must not be Brazilian, since I don't command the ball like Ronaldinho. I'm fine with that. It's playful. It's fun. I make jokes back and everybody is a friend. There's also the Samba jokes and stereotypes. They are fun. They are ice breakers and can make an awkward social interaction more fluent. You know what offends me? When people from the USA call their country "America", like they own the whole continent. Amerigo Vespucci, the man whose name served as the basis for naming the so called "new world", didn't even arrive in the northern part of the continent, much less in what is now the USA. Cripstopher Columbus, who arrived in the continent even before Vespucci, didn't arrive there either, but at Guanahani, in the Bahamas. When America was named America, there was no USA. Calling that country America is the equivalent of uniting a few European countries, calling them United States of Europe and then culturally pressuring the rest of the continent (and the world) into calling them Europe, pretending the rest of the continent never had that name. The cultural, military, pollitical and economical power play that the USA have been imposing on the rest of the continent since at least the 1940s is by far worse than any stereotype joke that you might have heard in your workplace. I was born in America. The USA can never take that away from me. Uncivilised is to impose your views upon the rest of the world with zero regard to cultural differences. As my late grandfather would say: "don't judge others as though they are yourself." Edit: Even before I posted, I was aware this was going to be downvoted. That's fine. It's not easy to admit you're not as holy as you might think. It's far easier to use your own power to crush the "subordinate class" rather than actually acknowledge them. Downvote away. I will still be an American, born in America.