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Your "average person" doesn't reflect my view of an average person's feelings. Even leaving alone the assumption that it's possible to distinguish a foreigner
by __d 5y ago
Your "average person" doesn't reflect my view of an average person's feelings. Even leaving alone the assumption that it's possible to distinguish a foreigner by appearance, a feeling of being "creeped out" by seeing handfuls of them seems very extreme.
Perhaps it's a matter of experience? For instance, I've lived in Sydney, New York, and Berlin, and in each case, during my daily commute there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people of different ethnic appearances, but it's far from creepy, let alone paranoia-inducing.
- telchior 4y agoI thought of adding the caveat that the "creeped out" feeling doesn't really apply in major cities but I'm making an effort to be less long-winded. Anyway, that's what I'd say in response. In a big city, nobody blinks if they, say, see a group of Sikhs wander by with turbans and beards. But in the small/mid-sized town I grew up in there will be a lot of whispered comments and an undercurrent of fear. For other groups the fear might be replaced with other reactions (disgust, discomfort, anger, or even just a mildly hostile bemusement). Those towns far outnumber the big, metropolitan cities. And the normalization of otherness doesn't even apply to all major cities. For instance I've seen serious, in-your-face racism in Tokyo, which is one of the largest in the world. I've seen it in Manila, which is considered one of the friendliest cities (depends on your skin color!). And I've seen it in tier 2 cities in Austria (which I'd assume is pretty similar to Germany), too. Berlin isn't a very good example.