tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6981782.post114193189667712536..comments2023-07-30T00:48:17.375-07:00Comments on Flotsam and Jetsam: "The Question" - Rebuttal of sortsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15654306738114455921noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6981782.post-1142212115865305262006-03-12T17:08:00.000-08:002006-03-12T17:08:00.000-08:00I don't mention this to support or refute anything...I don't mention this to support or refute anything that anyone's said here, but I am asked "where I'm from" regularly. I'm white as white -- Irish, British and German extraction. But so often it's, "Where are you from? You look like you've got... <I>something</I> in you"... whatever <B>that</B> means. When I mention the German bit it seems to satisfy them, but in fact that's from my Dad's side, and I take my looks from maternal branches of the family tree. ::shrug::Mrs Robothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06150920699396425050noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6981782.post-1142195229773002552006-03-12T12:27:00.000-08:002006-03-12T12:27:00.000-08:00A surrebuttal, of sorts:You make Hill's point when...A surrebuttal, of sorts:<BR/><BR/>You make Hill's point when you say that you assume that people are asking you where in Canada you're from. They're not asking *him* where in Canada he's from -- they're asking him where *not* in Canada he's "from." The context is essential to the meaning of the question. You, they are curious to know about where you grew up, to see if maybe you might have something in common; him, they're asking what weird and wondeful mixture of alien genes makes him so different from them. They might as well walk up to him and say "Klaatu Borada Nikto." <BR/><BR/>As you point out, these people are rude, but they also have the implicit support of the silent majority in asking the question, because reasonableness demands that we not impute motives to people who have not already demonstrated them. However, there is a point where it becomes reasonable to assume that people are not asking that question quite as innocently as one might like to believe. <BR/><BR/>If I were him, I would *always* ask "why do you want to know?" because it basically cuts right to the central issue. Even so, some would argue that the damage has already been done, and the person has already had to confront a challenge of their right to be there unaccosted. <BR/><BR/>I've spoken with a number of non-white people about this issue, and I've come to understand that it is a pretty subjective experience. I can only imagine what it would be like to have my proximity to whiteness constantly noted in this fashion. It's just lazy, habitual thinking that leads us to attribute phenotype with geographical location, and the sooner people stop making those associations, the better off we'll all be. Canada is just an idea, anyway.<BR/><BR/>Mike: I can only guess that Chua made that reference (about the Russian emigre) is that it highlighted the irony of the question, and that different people have different ideas about who the "others" are. I'm reminded of a Croatian former co-worker of ours who used to make those kinds of distinctions, not realizing that, from the perspective of a WASP such as myself, he would also be technically considered an outsider. He was basing it on skin-colour; not realizing that it's a top-down, subjective system of exclusion.Tim Baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14185589107533730217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6981782.post-1141948922162605472006-03-09T16:02:00.000-08:002006-03-09T16:02:00.000-08:00June Chua had a rant about "Where are you from" wa...<A HREF="http://mike.dewolfe.bc.ca/oped/opinion.chua.asp" REL="nofollow">June Chua</A> had a rant about "Where are you from" way back. <BR/>It angered me that she both took exception at the question <I>and</I> defined her questioner as a "Russian émigré" as though that changes or embellishes this matter somehow.Shawn DeWolfehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06222971478684519650noreply@blogger.com