Again, I don't give a fetid dingo's kidney about your friends. Really, really don't.
This rather sounds like you're trying to be offensive.
Again, I don't give a fetid dingo's kidney about your friends. Really, really don't.
Would you find "What's your ethnicity?" less offensive than "Where are you from?"
You can advocate for "Don't ask don't tell" and for offence-taking all you like, but it's still a bad idea IMO.
This rather sounds like you're trying to be offensive.
As to the first quote, do you often ask strangers their ethnicity? Do you often ask anyone their ethnicity? How often do you ask white friends, "So, where are you from?" and when they say, "England", or whatever country, do you then repeat the question until you drill down where their ancestors were born? Do you do this repeatedly?
I ask white friends/acquaintances who don't appear to be ethnic English where they are from, yes. If someone has eg an Irish accent I may ask which part of Ireland. I asked my player who turned out to be Greek where she was from, a couple weeks ago.
I think "Where are you from?" is better than "What's your ethnicity". I understand why the interaction of various cultural elements in Anglo settler countries (USA, Australia, Canada, NZ) has caused the offence-taking to arise. That doesn't make it a good thing.
I think I should recuse myself from this thread now. I had a good discussion and learned a fair bit.
I ask white friends/acquaintances who don't appear to be ethnic English where they are from, yes. If someone has eg an Irish accent I may ask which part of Ireland. I asked my player who turned out to be Greek where she was from, a couple weeks ago.
I think "Where are you from?" is better than "What's your ethnicity". I understand why the interaction of various cultural elements in Anglo settler countries (USA, Australia, Canada, NZ) has caused the offence-taking to arise. That doesn't make it a good thing.
I think I should recuse myself from this thread now. I had a good discussion and learned a fair bit.
Imagine if, on a reasonably frequent basis, complete strangers accosted you to question whether or not you are a "real" ((insert whatever country you live in)). It gets very tired, very quickly.
I've had the experience of someone pushing past my initial answer, to get at my ancestry, only a few times. *That* seems rude to me. The most recent time, the asker had friendly intent; she was an immigrant from Latin America to the USA, she thought I was another such immigrant (we were chatting in Spanish), and she was looking for common ground. Even so, if I answer with the city where I was raised and attended high school, then *that's my answer*, dammit, and the most polite response is to accept my answer as final. I'm *willing* to explain the mix of my ancestry, even to a stranger met on the road, but I take that as a more personal question than my hometown.
That's my experience as a white American.
I'd also point out that the video makes it really, really clear that the two people don't know each other. It's one thing to ask a friend/acquaintance - that's kinda just polite conversation. It's very much another when someone does it to a stranger, which is what the video is talking about. The presumption that anyone who looks Asian must be born in another country is, unfortunately, very common and for some reason, being Asian seems to attract this sort of thing far more often than it should.
Imagine if, on a reasonably frequent basis, complete strangers accosted you to question whether or not you are a "real" ((insert whatever country you live in)). It gets very tired, very quickly.