I enjoyed this whole entry and I absolutely love the way you brought it to an analysis of our view of "one X" vs "all X" both in terms of representation and the assurance that "I'm not homophobic" or what have you.
From personal experience (immigrant to a country whose government and press, and hence the populace, are not crazy on immigrants; plus, immigrant of the currently trendily problematic kind in terms of origin) I'd say it's a bit more complicated because there's a third component besides "the X I know" and "all X" which is "what the X want" or "what the X are doing" (rather than "what the X are (like)") and the lack of information or, more commonly, the prevalence of misinformation on the effect of X on the wider society is what tends to - ironically enough - inform the mainstream public's opinion, and that's what makes it hard for people to apply knowledge of one X to thoughts on all X.
For example, "they're taking our jobs" is the problem here even more than "they don't speak our language". If somebody meets me and sees that I can handle English, and I tell them that where I'm from we learn foreign languages like crazy and English is no exception, this may help their perception of us X as people who aren't just babbling weirdoes. But how am I to convince anyone that just because I'm not using my minority status to compete unfairly with the locals for jobs and housing (never mind that it's legally impossible; pointing this out and backing it up with official sources never works), other X are just as scrupulous? It's that difference between what X are like by themselves and what X will do to others ("us", as it were) - "you eat smelly food" vs "you're a thief", "you're effete" vs "you're a sexual predator" - that makes some prejudices easier to dispel than others on the basis of knowing somebody from group X.
I loved the bit on conveying the use of foreign languages in books. I roll my eyes a little at any solution that is not "keeping foreigners' conversation in the language of the book and without embellishments" because if Brazilian Name and Another Brazilian Name are speaking, especially if they're in Brazil, I have enough brain to understand they're not speaking in [language of the book that is not Brazilian Portuguese], unless it's explicitly pointed out that they're speaking in English or Cantonese or whatever else the plot requires them to use.
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Date: 6 Aug 2010 08:54 am (UTC)From personal experience (immigrant to a country whose government and press, and hence the populace, are not crazy on immigrants; plus, immigrant of the currently trendily problematic kind in terms of origin) I'd say it's a bit more complicated because there's a third component besides "the X I know" and "all X" which is "what the X want" or "what the X are doing" (rather than "what the X are (like)") and the lack of information or, more commonly, the prevalence of misinformation on the effect of X on the wider society is what tends to - ironically enough - inform the mainstream public's opinion, and that's what makes it hard for people to apply knowledge of one X to thoughts on all X.
For example, "they're taking our jobs" is the problem here even more than "they don't speak our language". If somebody meets me and sees that I can handle English, and I tell them that where I'm from we learn foreign languages like crazy and English is no exception, this may help their perception of us X as people who aren't just babbling weirdoes. But how am I to convince anyone that just because I'm not using my minority status to compete unfairly with the locals for jobs and housing (never mind that it's legally impossible; pointing this out and backing it up with official sources never works), other X are just as scrupulous? It's that difference between what X are like by themselves and what X will do to others ("us", as it were) - "you eat smelly food" vs "you're a thief", "you're effete" vs "you're a sexual predator" - that makes some prejudices easier to dispel than others on the basis of knowing somebody from group X.
I loved the bit on conveying the use of foreign languages in books. I roll my eyes a little at any solution that is not "keeping foreigners' conversation in the language of the book and without embellishments" because if Brazilian Name and Another Brazilian Name are speaking, especially if they're in Brazil, I have enough brain to understand they're not speaking in [language of the book that is not Brazilian Portuguese], unless it's explicitly pointed out that they're speaking in English or Cantonese or whatever else the plot requires them to use.