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You All Look Alike! : International Blog Against Racism

So, shameful confession time.

I can't tell the difference between Chinese, South Korean, North Korean, Japanese, and Taiwanese just by looking at people. I know the difference if I'm looking at a map, obviously, but people? No.

Likewise, I don't really expect white people to be able to tell the difference between Bengali, Indian, and Sri Lankan people. Not unless they've spent a significant amount of time in one of those countries.

See, I have a friend from Bangladesh who was insulted when someone mistook her for being from India. I get asked if I'm from India all the time, and I usually just laugh and say "No, Sri Lanka" because hey, at least they were on the right continent and that's something. But when I think about it, I wonder if maybe I should take it a little more seriously because the sentence "Oh, but they all look alike" sounds so ignorant to me.

At the same time, though, I think the idea of thinking everyone of a particular ethnicity looks alike is more insulting if you're failing to distinguish between individuals as opposed to knowing what country they come from. Consider the two scenarios:

Person A: Hi, Chamithri!
Person B: ...I'm not Chamithri. I'm Dilkushi.
Person A: Oh, sorry. It's just that you all look alike to me.

versus

Person A: Hi! Listen, I was wondering, I was thinking about going to India for the summer and do you know any good places to visit?
Person B: No, sorry, never been there.
Person A: But aren't you Indian?
Person B: No, I'm from Pakistan.
Person A: Oh, I'm sorry. Everyone from thereabouts just looks alike to me.

To me, the second one is a lot less offensive because the differences are subtle enough that I wouldn't expect them to be able to judge people's origins by their faces or skin color. The first one, however, is just plain rude because it means that not only are you not paying attention to the people you meet but you're also trying to brush it off by lumping everyone into a big mass of brown or black or yellow or whatever color.

If anyone ever said "All white people look the same to me", they'd be considered an idiot. If they said that they can't tell the difference between people from France, Germany and Italy based on appearance, it would probably be allowed to slide.

Moral of the post? Appearances can be deceptive, and of everyone on my flist, I know the ethnicities of only very few of you. If you want me to try to guess yours, leave me a comment daring me to guess, and I'll have a try. No getting offended if I get it wrong! XD

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Hmm, alright. This sounds fun ^^ Care to guess my ethnicity? I think you may know but let's just see XD

...I don't know, actually. Uh. Chinese? Arab? German? ^^;;;;

*HIDES*

Oh my God, that gave me such a good laugh today!!! ROTFLMAO!!!! Wow.

I'm black. XD

Nice try though!

*butts in* I totally waited for her to respond to this, because I wanted to know xDDD

Yhaun, has ANYONE ever got this right?

It's...never been an issue before. ^^;; No one really tries to guess my race.

Although I have noticed surprised faces on people who have never seen me in person after talking to me and knowing my name. My name always makes them think Im oriental or something. So thats about it really. XD

Mmm, I was more meaning if anyone ever said, "I thought you were ..." or something after hearing your name or talking to you or something. Not something... never mind ^^;; Sorry.

Yeah.... I can see why there *nods*

Oh yes I've got that before. People are sometimes surprised after hearing from me on the phone or reading my name and never seeing me XD

*nods* Indeedy. I don't focus on such things, but I am usually interested of what's in everyone's blood - I find such things interesting - like... the "bigger picture" of it? But yeah... ~~Like my siblings?~~

*DIES* Oh man, that's fantastic. Could I have been more off-base? XDDDDDDDDDDD Sorry!

I find this post very interesting, I do. *nods*

LOL You know mine - and my relatives, too xD If you didn't, I was going to ask if you would guess the relatives, but too late for me XD Interesting thing to try, good luck :)

Oh f, I can't tell the difference between Chinese, Korean, and Japanese people. And I frigging am Chinese. Same with white people. There's a difference? Yes, doesn't matter where you're from, I can't tell the difference between the countries. I can barely tell the difference between people on an individual basis, but that's because I have an awful memory for faces.

But that might just be because I really, really try not to be able to make a difference. When people ask me what race I am, the thought running through my mind goes along the lines of, 'Why do you give a shit?' What difference does it make? I've always said that, no matter how ashamed I am of this country (and oh yes, there is lots of shame nowadays), I consider myself American. Who happens to be Chinese. But I consider myself American. And I honestly, honestly prefer people just not to ask because unless it's going to make a difference, I really don't see why it should matter.

^^

Oh gods. I feel you on this, so much.

I honestly HATE it when people assume I'm Mexican. I can't even speak Spanish. My mother is "White" (when she, in fact, has Native American blood in her). I've never even really been to Mexico. I was BORN here. I was raised here. I AM A US citizen. I don't understand why people can't understand that or accept it.

What difference should there be? Why is it necessary? To me, in my personal opinion, it just shouldn't. I have friends all over of so many different ethnic backgrounds, and they don't get grouped into whatever ethnic origin. The only grouping I bother giving them is that they're my friends, and how close am I to each of them.

Exactly. I've never been to China and I've only been to Taiwan like... twice. And I only remember once. I was useless there. Absolutely useless. My Chinese is completely horrible; I can do basic conversation but otherwise I can't do much else. Everyone just sorta looks at me blankly and talks to my mom instead.

I figure, if you are a citizen of a certain place or consider someplace your home, then that is who you are. I know it's probably not the most mature way to deal with the situation, ignoring race completely when so many people still care about it. But I find that for me, I really do believe that to get rid of racism, the race thing has to go too. That might just be me, but I really do feel that.

That's what I've really liked about the internet. Unless you ask, and it's sorta awkward to just randomly ask, or it just comes up somehow, you don't know what the other person is. And it doesn't really matter, and that hasn't exactly changed how I feel about those I meet on-line. If anything, I sorta like it that way.

Guh. Feel you there too. I can't speak Spanish to save my life and everyone hounds me about it.

I don't know about mature or not, but it's how I've always seen it. Applications that ask about racial background throw me off balance with little question marks inside my head behind the words, "But aren't we all AMERICAN anyhow". And what DIFFERENCE does it make? It is NOT going to affect my job skills or capability just because I'm of Native American descent, any more than being female is going to make me a different worker than if I was male. It should be about WHO THE PERSON is, how responsible they are as an individual. Gender, race...what does that have to do with ANY OF IT?

My opinion is you've got the right idea of it. Not focusing on race so much might help lower racism. But there is also nothing wrong with being proud of the country you are from and what race you are. And being more educated about the different races and cultures could help reduce racism as well. In our cases, though, if we were born here and this is what we consider our home, then we just are American. Because, yeah, it doesn't change how I feel about anyone either. I also kind of like people not knowing anything about that side of me.

I went ahead and was open about it for this post, however. But it's not something I normally like sharing, for the simple fact I don't like the confusion and assumptions that come along with the territory. Oh well.

I came to terms to it when I started to realize it was one of the reasons why I was rejecting this one guy who was very Chinese-loving. I mean... like you said, it's really good to be proud of your country and race. And I respect that, but at the same time, it's not who I am. It's not that I don't like it but more that I am really just apathetic to it all. And trying to shove it down my throat and make me be all Chinese-pride gets on my nerves. I'm proud of it, sure, but... not as proud of what I have made out of myself. As far as I see, I don't really see how my race would have anything to do with what I have managed to accomplish.

I've started to realize more that it's a pretty odd stance to take. I never really realized that until college, seriously. It's something I never really took note of before, which is such a naive thing but... I don't know. That's just how it happened with me.

^^ My grandma has totally given up on me with the Chinese thing. I think most people have. My mom always expresses surprise when I can say something in Chinese. I don't really think I am thatttt bad.... D:

Thank you! XD Or, at least, thank you for not getting mad at me for admitting I can't distinguish between the different areas when looking at people. And yes, I know that doesn't give me a free pass or anything, but it makes me cringe a little less.

On the other hand, it also sucks because I have problems telling Chinese/Japanese/Korean actors apart unless their hairstyles are different or their clothes or heights or something obvious like that. Looking at just their faces, I can confuse Jet Li's character in Romeo Must Die with his brother. Which isn't particularly good of me and I wish I had whatever sight could let me differentiate between them.

I like being able to say that I'm Sri Lankan-American because I want both sides of my heritage, maybe because I don't really belong to either. I don't care if people ask but I also don't care if people think I'm Indian because whatever, it's not a big deal to me. Right continent, right sea, wrong country.

Oh bah. If I can't tell the difference, I can't exactly expect anyone else to, can I? I'm the type of person who when someone tells me they're from a place, there's just a long silence before I reply, 'Oh rly?'

I can't tell Asian actors apart period. No, seriously. Maybe it's because I don't watch enough films with foreign actors, but... nope, can't tell the difference. But the same thing can be said about American actors too, half the time. I either can't tell them apart or I can't recognize them. I'm horrible like that. But I really do have the worst memory for faces. I spent half an hour this one time at the aquarium trying to decide if this woman was my boss (it turned out she wasn't). Okay, so it was pretty early on, but you'd think I would know what my own boss looked like... eheh, no. >>;;

Well, I've heard that telling people from other area of the world apart is a skill you pick up through familiarity. If you're not familiar with the facial shape/features, the markers that indicate differences get lost. The same is true with voices speaking in foreign languages, actually.

Totally agreed with everything

pikachumaniac said. I'm one of those ethnicities you have trouble telling apart, and I have never been able to tell the difference.

I know there are people out there who are offended if you call them Japanese if they happen to be Chinese and vice versa, but I think they seriously need to get off their high horses. There really isn't much of a difference, and if there were, I wouldn't know. :P

So! Guess me.

I think, maybe if you work with two people of of different ethnic descent that are from the same continent, or same area of the continent, you should attempt to learn the differences and be able to tell them apart. If they're your friends more so.

But real honest? People just look alike. Period. They really, really do. I was asked when I was younger if I was CHINESE. Not even CLOSE. Nothing against Asians, granted. I think they're gorgeous, but they do have similar features to Native Americans, which is where the mixup stemmed from, as I DO have Native American blood in me. Apparently a few people at my school thought I was French, also. x___X No idea where that one came from. My female boss thought me and my mother were Canadian just because of how we pronounce salmon. Some people think my father has Italian blood in him, and my boss from work actually thought my VERY WHITE LOOKING mother was MEXICAN. Because, well...there ARE people from the middle of Mexico that look like the winter Texans that come down here from CANADA, MINNESOTA, MICHIGAN, WISCONSIN and so forth. All the way down to blond hair and blue eyes.

Hispanics (heck, this goes for Americans as well) look like a lot like everything. They can look Asian, Native, like they're from some exotic island, and even African American. With all of the mixing going on, the distinctive differences are softening, and in some cases, they didn't fully exist to begin with.

Personally, I don't think someone that can't tell the difference is an idiot or ignorant. I think people shouldn't even assume and just ASK.

Also, I won't be so cruel as to even ask you to guess with me. ANYONE would fail, unless you recall everything I've told you.

So....

Irish, Dutch, Native American (this includes tribes from the Northern part (one of my ancestors from my maternal side was on the Trail of Tears, in fact), and Central American part), Spaniard. There is suspected British roots, but I've not been able to trace it back or figure it out, really. And that possibility of Italian roots on my dad's side.

I.E. Fuck it all. Just call me American. ;D I was born here, raised here, I am FROM here, everything else SHOULD not matter.

Irish, Dutch, Native American (this includes tribes from the Northern part (one of my ancestors from my maternal side was on the Trail of Tears, in fact), and Central American part), Spaniard. There is suspected British roots, but I've not been able to trace it back or figure it out, really. And that possibility of Italian roots on my dad's side.

*butts in, since I know you* Hey, I remembered ... hmm... half of it or so. Since, I knew the Native American part, just not anything of any specifics or what have you*)... and I don't recall Spaniard.

-- I wonder how many people have been mistaken to be Mexican (or any sort of Hispanic...) in Texas? *has been... a few times*

XD *snuggles you*

A lot of people. They think I'm MEXICAN.... Hispanic does NOT mean Mexican. That is very, very important to me. Nothing against Mexicans or their country, but my parents were born here, I was born here, I am AMERICAN. There isn't any ifs ands ors and or butts about it. It simply IS what it is. Assumptions in general are just aggravating sometimes. I like ALL of me, and most of me is from the Natives of America, and half of me is "white," so getting labeled as Mexican makes me want to gauge eyes out. It's completely neglecting EVERYTHING about me, including the fact I was born HERE.

And I'll stop there, because I'm ranting, and that's just annoying. XD

*snugs*

*nods* Which is why I pointed out both as I've seen both being pointed out to those that... were neither.

As for the American thing, I've tried to point it out to people before (of course, with different situations, reasons blah blah and such blah blah *disclaimer inserted here*), but it just goes ignored so I've more or less stopped saying it anywhere but to my mom.

*pats* Don't blame you for ranting - not a bit. The overall topic can lead to ranting or just overall thoughts that could move beyond ranting. Especially with different situations and *blah,blah,blah* (not dismissing it, of course, just stopping before I go on)

*huggles* I hear you. It's just crazy. People don't seem to understand...if you're not going to differentiate between the fact Hispanic =/= Mexican, then stop trying to point out differences AT ALL. That's how I feel about it. Once I get singled out as being different and called Mexican, screw it, you just started me on giving you my entire family history, and a historical vocabulary lesson on the meaning of the word Hispanic, where it came from, and how to USE IT. In truth, that word doesn't really cover me, though. I'm a MUTT. So in all, I prefer American. It covers things better.

And you can definitely talk to me about the American thing. XD I won't ignore it. *DIES* Clearly. Also, trying to watch that Gay Bomb you posted. XD

*snugs* Mmhmmm. I knew growing up, or at least real little, I lumped it together, because no one really made it a point to note any difference. Then, I was pointed out not to do that (etc). LOL!!! Actually, that does happen, doesn't it? When you do mention someone asking if you were Mexican - or speaking to you in Spanish - you do point out your history and such xDD You might want to just record it/type it out (something) and then anytime someone says it, hand it to them/play it for them ^_~ (<~light joke) And the word "mutt" usually does follow *smiles* :D

LoL ! Another person I can add to that list. YAY! The list has grown to... two people! ^_~ LOL! I... I... That thing.... It's so... just wow,

All white people can look alike to me, in certain groupings. For the longest time I was getting Meryl Streep and and another actress whose name and face escapes me right now, all confused.

And Cameron Diaz and Gwyneth Paltrow kind of merge together.

And in highschool all the white girls in leather jackets with long curly hair and preppy clothes just all -blurred-

I do not get black, brown, red or golden people confused, however. Maybe it's because I grew up learning how to identify differences in those features and in general white people were lumped together as tourist and then I came to America and there weren't just isolated groups anymore.

-Witchwillow (refusing to use her journal to post comments)

I don't understand why people would be so offended by someone not recognizing their ethnicity. I mean, I wouldn't expect everyone to be able to know that I am part Lithuanian just by looking at me, even though anyone who is familiar with Lithuanian features would know immediately. The only people outside of my immediate family from whom I would expect that would be a former classmate's family, but that's because they're also Lithuanian. And if anyone looked at my extended family (not physically, but in terms of attitudes and values), I wouldn't expect them to know that we're Irish. And I wouldn't expect anyone to know that I'm technically (regarding blood and lineage) primarily Scottish unless I'd told them explicitly.

It might just come down to that I'm a Euro-mutt no matter what way you look at it, so that it doesn't really matter to me outside of an ability to try and find some sort of appreciation for the past. Sure, my family loves to bitch about the British, but I honestly think that it's just them clinging to some aspect of kinship that they never personally experienced, so they need to keep it living on, in a way. But for me? We're all just people, regardless of where we came from; our backgrounds just help us find our way to where we presently are.

In France, the Korean students were very upset that everywhere they went, people kept thinking they were Chinese just because they are Asian. And I know lots of Chinese who would be upset if anyone thought they were Japanese. In the first situation, it's being proud of their ethnicity and upset that people don't give it as much general notice as other cultures. Personally, I don't like how Chinese is the default Asian culture. In the second situation, it's lingering animosity from WWII. For both situations, I think the reason why people cared about misjudging their ethnicity is because people judge people they see based on these physical cues. Race's relation to racism, I think, is that people take these racial markers and relate that person to generalities and the history of a certain race. I think it's this (mis)association that people react against.

While general education would help, it would be nice in some regards to separate people from their ethnicities, because I don't think ethnicity equals culture, which does play a strong influence on a person's character development. As others have mentioned above, just being Chinese doesn't mean one feels very well in-tune with Chinese culture. And there are ethnic Canadian who grew up in Japan who feel more in touch with Japanese culture than Canadian culture. Ethnicity is easier to pick on because it's something physical unlike someone's cultural background.

Going back to you very first point, I can sort of tell Chinese, Japanese, and Korean apart; I look for subtleties in eye shape, nose shape, and bone structure, but even then, it's largely a guess, because really, none of us, be it South Korean, Quebecois, Sri Lankan, or Rhwandian. I think 1994 Rwanda showed us just how little the difference based on these physical structures is, but how big of a deal we could make it.

As for your question, feel free to guess, but I'm pretty sure you know it. :)

D'oh, I never finished my sentence. I meant to say that none of us are that different, but thinking of Rwanda, which I happily misspelled, because it reminded me of the Rh factor in blood, made me forget to finish my sentence. And the Rh factor just reinforces my point, but it exists across all races. A surgical procedure that works for a person of one ethnicity works for one of another, and so do drugs. Absent-mi
nded am I? Yes!

Anyways, back to the response:
I think I completely missed your point. I see your point in that differences are much more subtle regionally than in general, but they both don't sound that much different. It's still brushing off differences by lumping them into a group, granted in the second one it's a smaller group. It's just with the smaller group, I think you run into more historical tensions. But I can't think of any positive way to respond to misjudging someone's race. I guess it's just finding the lesser of two offenses.

But I can tell you this (http://www.imdiversity.com/Villages/Asian/Secret_Asian_Man/strips/SAMIndian2.asp) is not what you should do.

I is terrible with faces. :( Of all races.

Guess for me?

*hugs* I so don't blame you, at all. XD As my comment tries to explain -- we really all look alike anyway. ALL OF US. No worries. XD

Oh I read it. ♥

I MISS J00

I'S HIDIN' FROM ELJAY! =X

SMART MOVE.

I WILL TALK TO YOU ON MSN. :(

OKAY! XD

Strangely, my only talent when telling people of different ethnicities apart are telling the major European groups apart. I can tell a Spaniard from a Frenchman from a German-- but don't ask me to tell a Brit from a German. I blame it on lots of exposure to French people in highschool.

Granted, it only works on natives, so it might be mostly cultural cues that I'm picking up on, but I can think of at least three visual cues for a French person off the top of my head and how to differentiate them from the Spanish.

Wow, missed out on this one. XD

Person A: Oh, I'm sorry. Everyone from thereabouts just looks alike to me.

I sort of feel that people can just apologize without going "everyone there looks alike to me," because... it is a problematic statement to me. I say this as I admit that even though I'm Chinese, I generally can't tell Asians apart without other signifiers (hair and clothing tend to give it away for me).

I used to think it was no big deal until I started reading more Asian-American history, because then, I learned that non-Japanese Asians would walk around with "I'm not Japanese" buttons during WWII so as to not get harassed on the streets or worse, be mistakenly interned. Ditto with Asians insisting that they weren't Korean during the Korean War or Vietnamese during the Vietnamese War. And of course, it's not just past history -- Vincent Chin, a Chinese-American, was bludgeoned to death in Detroit in the 1980s because he was mistaken for being Japanese (the American car industry was feeling economic pressure from the Japanese car industry). And a lot of Asian stores were looted and burnt down (particularly Cambodian-American stores) during the LA race riots because people weren't distinguishing between other Asians and Koreans. And Sikhs are being harassed and murdered because they're being mistaken for Arab terrorists.

So that made me look at "But you all look alike!" in a different way... because in a non-racist society, yeah, I don't care at all if I'm mistaken for another ethnicity because people make mistakes. But after I found out about the history behind it, it makes me a little sick because it can so quickly slip from "Oh, I can't tell the difference" to hate crimes against all Asians.

That sort of thing is just horrible. People need to remember it's PEOPLE who do these things, people that cause these things, NOT THE RACE.

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You All Look Alike! : International Blog Against Racism

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