3 ms·

I know exactly what you mean, I'm european and it bothers me too. From my perspective the United States is amazing because a lot of "white" people who stick to

I know exactly what you mean, I'm european and it bothers me too. From my perspective the United States is amazing because a lot of "white" people who stick together are actually from different parts of Europe who might not have always been fond of each other. This is all conjecture but as a european I feel like I can easier spot where a european is from based on their appearance, while white americans don't see that in each other. Similarly black americans are from wildly different parts of Africa who might have been at war during some time. But in the US they're all black americans. I find this very fascinating, which shows how much more divided we are here and definitely prejudiced.

cblconfederate 6y ago
> I feel like I can easier spot where a european is from That's because you have seen italians speaking and acting italian, romanians speaking romanian etc. Americans see americans speaking american
- StavrosK 6y ago
  That's what my American friends say, but it's easy to tell, for example, Albanians and Greeks apart, or Englishpeople and Spaniards.
  - evgen 6y ago
    It is similar for a lot of Asian populations as well. I think it is mostly just due to how much exposure you have had to the various populations where you can notice the small differences that tend to make a group distinct. Most Americans do not interact with enough European sub-groups to distinguish between them, while most Europeans I have run into tend to lump east Asians into a single group while I can easily distinguish between London tourists who are Chinese, Korean, and Japanese just from having spent a couple of decades on the west coast of the US. When you are surrounded by different groups you tend to pick up on the subtle clues.
    - StavrosK 6y ago
      Yes, exactly. I can usually distinguish between Japanese/Chinese/Korean just by realizing there are differences and noticing, but most other people just think "Asian" (or, even worse in my country, "Chinese").
      - thaumasiotes 6y ago
        > I can usually distinguish between Japanese/Chinese/Korean just by realizing there are differences and noticing, but most other people just think "Asian" (or, even worse in my country, "Chinese"). Compare the advice a Chinese teacher in Shanghai gave my class when someone asked about telling whether someone was Japanese or Chinese: "It's easy. Japanese people wear much nicer clothes."

cblconfederate 6y ago

> I feel like I can easier spot where a european is from That's because you have seen italians speaking and acting italian, romanians speaking romanian etc. Americans see americans speaking american

StavrosK 6y ago
That's what my American friends say, but it's easy to tell, for example, Albanians and Greeks apart, or Englishpeople and Spaniards.
- evgen 6y ago
  It is similar for a lot of Asian populations as well. I think it is mostly just due to how much exposure you have had to the various populations where you can notice the small differences that tend to make a group distinct. Most Americans do not interact with enough European sub-groups to distinguish between them, while most Europeans I have run into tend to lump east Asians into a single group while I can easily distinguish between London tourists who are Chinese, Korean, and Japanese just from having spent a couple of decades on the west coast of the US. When you are surrounded by different groups you tend to pick up on the subtle clues.
  - StavrosK 6y ago
    Yes, exactly. I can usually distinguish between Japanese/Chinese/Korean just by realizing there are differences and noticing, but most other people just think "Asian" (or, even worse in my country, "Chinese").
    - thaumasiotes 6y ago
      > I can usually distinguish between Japanese/Chinese/Korean just by realizing there are differences and noticing, but most other people just think "Asian" (or, even worse in my country, "Chinese"). Compare the advice a Chinese teacher in Shanghai gave my class when someone asked about telling whether someone was Japanese or Chinese: "It's easy. Japanese people wear much nicer clothes."