I 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, tha

I 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.