fickle | 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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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.

You All Look Alike! : International Blog Against Racism

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