Except that one you mention immigration, then you add a whole new facet to the experience, of the usual discrimination anyone goes through as a result of being "not from around here" -- and you can feel that, sometimes, just moving from one part of the same country to another. (Enough that for someone who'd never experienced much at all prior, even such a potentially minor bump can be a pretty harsh wakeup, and when combined with culture shock can make for a sense that "not from around here" attitude is just as bad as institutionalized, which it's definitely not, but it sure sucks to go through it all the same.)
But, for my purposes, it's not a matter of asking whether someone would feel discriminated against, were they to move (anywhere), because that measures a what-if, and says nothing about the current. So while immigration is an interesting academic digression to the main topic, it's a distraction that shouldn't overwhelm the real point: do you and your family look enough like the dominant majority of your fellow countrypeople such that you don't suffer institutionalized discrimination based on your appearance?
...unless, of course, we get into countries like, oh, South Africa under apartheid, where the "majority" was black, and the minority of white definitely were the standard to measure against -- which would render a black South African saying "yes, I look like most people in my country" to then get measured as if s/he were not regularly (and horrifically!) discriminated against...
no subject
Date: 15 May 2010 04:43 pm (UTC)But, for my purposes, it's not a matter of asking whether someone would feel discriminated against, were they to move (anywhere), because that measures a what-if, and says nothing about the current. So while immigration is an interesting academic digression to the main topic, it's a distraction that shouldn't overwhelm the real point: do you and your family look enough like the dominant majority of your fellow countrypeople such that you don't suffer institutionalized discrimination based on your appearance?
...unless, of course, we get into countries like, oh, South Africa under apartheid, where the "majority" was black, and the minority of white definitely were the standard to measure against -- which would render a black South African saying "yes, I look like most people in my country" to then get measured as if s/he were not regularly (and horrifically!) discriminated against...
*bangs head on desk*