More trolling instead of something better, featuring Netflix :)

[warpus]

I was generalizing there, not talking about you specifically at all. I apologize that that wasn't clear, and for the subsequent belaboring of the point that ensued.

Anyone who does not want to be lumped into "the group" based on trivial cues like skin color offhandedly by people they encounter needs to demonstrate individual traits to be judged upon...because people will make judgements.

No need to apologize, as I often misunderstand things by no fault of the author, but it is appreciated.

I completely disagree though, when I'm walking down the street I feel no need to "stand out" from my race. People who judge me by my skin colour alone do so at their own peril. First impressions I can understand, there are knee-jerk thoughts about people that you can't control, but aside from that... Judge me by who I am and we can be friends, but make assumptions about me based on my gender and/or my skin colour and you're not going to have a very good time.

It is unfortunately really easy to wander around being smiled at by everyone you meet and say "hey, there are no racial tensions here," even if there are. Maybe there really aren't. But from that perspective there's really no way to tell. In my opinion the "white guy error" is to argue the point based on having no way to tell, and I see that happen a lot. A black guy will come in seething about having been roughed up by a cop, having a liquor store owner wait on him only using one hand because the other never came above the counter, and a white girl sit in her car with the door locked until he had left the parking lot before she "felt safe" enough to get out and walk into the store...and a white guy will say " what are you talking about, there are no racial tensions here?"

I should clarify that I say what I say not from my point of view alone, but rather based on what other minorities who live here say, especially visible minorities like international students from Asia and Africa. I understand that me being white, I just won't encounter or even realize that there are other issues in our city that affect people other than me. So, I wouldn't be saying what I did if it wasn't backed up by people from other creeds and so on.

There *are* issues in this city, including racially charged ones, but all in all, compared to some of that stuff I've read about some American cities, we are doing very well. We've been trying to attract international students here in this city over the last 5-10 years or so, it's been a concerned effort by not only the University here, but also the college, as well as the city itself. So what these international students are saying about the city and community here is often on people's radars, as we want to create an atmosphere for these international students to succeed in. I admit that you don't get a complete picture this way, as students tend to gravitate to certain parts of town and so on, while other immigrants and other minorities might face issues that students just never do. But I think it's important to note that I'm not just basing all of this on my own personal experiences.