<p>Quote from this article <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15098830/%5B/url%5D">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15098830/</a></p>
<p>"In short, we like familiar things. We come to anticipate how things are supposed to look by seeing prototypes. Then, when we encounter something that resembles the prototype, our brains dont have to work too hard to recognize and process it. Winkielman calls this fluency.</p>
<p>fluency is BS. The truth is: you are missing out if you only associate with the people you identify with.</p>
<p>At UVa, there are lots of rich southern guys who would only hang out with their rich southern fraternity brothers and the southern belles girls, there are asians who hang out among themselves, there are hippies who live in the same residential college,etc. it really is NOT that hard to step out of your comfort zone, you just gotta be confident. and no, you dont have to be whitewashed, either. I have plenty of black friends too, and they are cool as ****. The only way to break down stereotypes is to actually start mingling with other races.</p>
<p>why? why not? let them do what they want. if they want to feel secure and 'at home' during college (which ruins the purpose of college?), let them waste their time and money. </p>
<p>The people that you hang out with depends more on your interests, not your race. it may just seem like its a 'race thing'. </p>
<p>untitled: about frat boys, do you think joining the frat makes it easier to make friends than in a regular dorm, or is it indifferent? do i have to be the partying type of guy?
thanks.</p>
<p>Ok. I'm 3/4 asian. I went to a highschool that is literally 94% White. Nobody at the school treated me like an outsider. I talked to EVERYONE. I got to know everyone. Eventually, I became VP of the SGA and Class Treasurer (no, not the Asian Club.) </p>
<p>How did I do it? I talked to people. I made friends with everyone. I wasn't afraid to be outgoing and approach people of all races. That's the problem with most asians. They start at an early age (middle school to high school) and segregate themselves into these groups. Once they do, the group becomes almost a "fraternity" and they don't talk to anyone else. This then becomes a pattern that they carry into college and the rest of their lives.</p>
<p>What do asians need to do? First, seperate yourselves from yourselves. No, it's not being racist against your own kind. It's simply liberating yourselves (to a degree) from your cultural ties and being more open (and hence, more friends and less "asian-geek" stereotype) Join school events, such as homecoming (even if you don't like it) and prom (and don't have a limo with 50 asians in it. That would defeat the purpose.) Join the football team, the baseball team. Don't just join the orchestra. Play a different instrument such as guitar, etc... and not just the piano and violin. </p>
<p>Asians have too much pride. I'm sorry if that sounds bad (I'm also asian, after all) but seriously. If this was China or Korea, sure, nationalism/patriotism is a great thing to have. But this is America isn't it? You were born in America. Poop Happens. You can either go back to Asia or become an American (and i mean that literally.) So be an American. Talk to everyone. Be aggresive in making friends.</p>
<p>I mean, about 6 years ago when I was in Middle School and this japanese kid walks up to me and hes like "Asian Pride man!" And I go WHAAAAAAAAAAATTTTT?????</p>
<p>yeah, the thread name really doesn't apply to me. i have a very diverse group of friends.</p>
<p>Why look at the minority students? I think white people tend to hang out with other white people and maybe have a few minority friends. How many white people have parents who choose to live in mostly minority neighborhoods, for instance?
It is easy to be a majority and say it is nice to have some minority friends. But how many white people have MOSTLY black friends? I think it is no different if blacks have more black friends. It would be great if everyone was one big mix, but I think often no one will blink if they see 5 white kids walking by in a group, but then when it is 5 Asians eating together they say, "Look they are self-segregatng." Both sides are self-segregating. It is really up to the white kids more than the minorities to reach out, since it is easier to be a "majority."</p>
<p>true true</p>
<p>but still, I believe the reason white people don't reach out to other groups is because other groups are not very receptive of them.</p>
<p>I'm Korean (Asian). My group of friend consists of (1) Indian, (2) Caucasian, (3) Indian, (4) Chinese, (5) Caucasian, (6) Indian, (7) Indian, (8) Chinese, (9) Caucasian, (10) White/Chinese (;o Half mutt).</p>
<p>If anything, I'm hanging around a lot of Indians and Caucasians. And then some Chinese. Where'd my ethnicity go?</p>
<p>And it's certainly not from the lack of Koreans. I go to UCSD. From what I remember, 40% of whole college = Asian, and a good chunk of that 40% is Korean. Too many Koreans, I'd say.</p>
<p>And it's also not that I don't have pride in my ethnicity. I'm fiercely proud of my heritage.</p>
<p>Just saying it may occur often enough, but not all the time. It's about your own comfort zone. If you're comfortable only with people of your race, then go hang out with them. I'm not stopping you. If you're chillax with whatever people, then that's cool.</p>
<p>Catherine, I understand totally where you're coming from. In the district where I go to school, white kids seem to resent having black friends. This is usually due to stereotypes of us blacks. "If you have a black friend, you are probably a wannabe white rapper who wants to be black." And most of the time, kids from other schools are afraid of the black kids at my school (which, may I add, is ridiculous because they're really harmless). This goes for Hispanics too. I am Half Hispanic, a quarter Black, and another quarter Carribean, so I feel a lot of what goes on around the schools as well as my own. </p>
<p>I don't quite knwo why some kids self-segragate. Perhaps this is because of upbringing? Social influence? There are dozens of reasons. I just know that I am comfortable hanging ou with all my friends, Asian, Black, White, and Hispanic. It doesn't matter much to me.</p>
<p>Because the large majority of white people are really racist towards asians. It's just a thing you find out about as you settle into Western culture. Shrug.</p>
<p>The worst are white-washed Asians who still hang out with only Asians. They lose (or even reject) their culture AND manage to look like foreigners at the same time.</p>
<p>JebusTheLord: how? From what I've seen, white people (guys, specifically) are very fond of Asians (girls, specifically).</p>
<p>"JebusTheLord: how? From what I've seen, white people (guys, specifically) are very fond of Asians (girls, specifically)."</p>
<p>What? Oh come on. depending on where you live, things change bit by bit.</p>
<p>Because of common background. When I'm with a group of other Chinese kids I can make jokes about Chinese culture, my parents, upbringing, quote lines in Chinese, etc. etc. without having to worry about explaining it to someone who doesn't understand the culture.</p>
<p>Even among people who are segregated I think everyone still has friends of a different ethnicity, it's just that they form different groups. I have a group of asian friends and a group of white friends who I can both hang out with.</p>
<p>Its perfectly okay to self segregate. Although we are all Americans, there are significant cultural differences between African Americans, European Americans, and Asian Americans, just to name a few. People of the same ethnicity can relate to eachother in some ways that people of different cultural and ethnic backgrounds cannot. Do not be critical of self-segregation, just accept it!</p>
<p>
[quote]
Its perfectly okay to self segregate. Although we are all Americans, there are significant cultural differences between African Americans, European Americans, and Asian Americans, just to name a few. People of the same ethnicity can relate to eachother in some ways that people of different cultural and ethnic backgrounds cannot. Do not be critical of self-segregation, just accept it!
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<p>No, I don't agree with that. </p>
<p>Are you going to allow three basic groups of self-segregation? The blacks, the Euros, and the Asians, despite the fact all three groups were raised in America? Then I have to call your notion racist. Not you, just your idea, because the only thing unifying the aforementioned groups are according to European ideas about race.</p>
<p>I don't see how a white American of German extraction has anything in common with a white American of Italian extraction. Or at least anything significant enough to make them "brothers", yet "aliens" to Americans of African or Asian heritage. They're from the same continent? Big deal. Continents are meaningless anyway (why does Asia consist of such diverse places as India, China, and the Phillipines?). All of these Americans have much more in common with each other (being human and American) than differences. Yet they're supposed to self-segregate because of some monumental irreconciliable cultural differences? I feel that that that is a deeply prejudiced idea, and is at the root cause of ethnic/racial friction: that by the way someone looks, and where their ancestors are from, one can already judge him, regardless of his actual character makeup and history. It's superficiality at its worst: "Because you have certain ethnic features, you and I will never be alike". Wow, I didn't know our destinies were determined by eyes and noses. I thought it was more of our brains and hearts.</p>
<p>If you were to say that individual ethnic groups should stick together, then I would say that makes more sense. But having all the Euros, Africans, and Asians stick to themselves makes absolutely no sense because there is more internal strife in those groups than external ones. So the Japanese and Chinese, who have had an acrimonious relationship in the 20th century, are supposed to magically get along, whereas the Japanese and Germans, ill-fated allies in WW II, are not? Pure racism at work.</p>
<p>My school is mostly white (I'm Asian), so many of my friends here are white. The only time I hang out with a group of Asians is during our Chinese Campus Fellowship meetings.</p>
<p>"untitled: about frat boys, do you think joining the frat makes it easier to make friends than in a regular dorm, or is it indifferent? do i have to be the partying type of guy?
thanks."</p>
<p>Pledging a fraternity is a great way to get involved on campus. It's not really about "making it easier to make friends", since the type of people who pledge fraternities are already fairly social. It's about find the group of guys whom you will bond with for a life time. You don't have to be a crazy partier, but you'll have more fun in a fraternity if you love to party.</p>
<p>In my experience, still being in highschool, people do hang out with their own ethnicity a whole lot at my school. You have the indian groups, the azns (mostly flip), the hispanics (they have their own corridor they hang out in too!), and the predominant black ppl all around the school. The indian groups also semi-selfsegregate w/in their own culture...I know some indians who stay away from those who are pakistani, even though their culture and religion are related. HOWEVER, even though we self segregate ourselves, at the same time we are friends w/ ppl who are outside our race. The main reason why we self-segregate most of the time is because, like many of you guys have said, we share many things in common, we can make stereotypical jokes and understand each other. </p>
<p>I myself sometimes self-segregate (sry I have to admit it), but its because I like hanging out w/ ppl w/in my own ethnicity (filipinos), but at the same time I have MANY friends outside my ethnicity and I love hanging out w/ them too. They make me more culturally open. The way I see it, people are people, I like to friend people because of who they are not what ethnicity they are. Being w/in the same ethnicity just makes things easier is all.</p>
<p>Also, people represent their ethnicity, such as making people know what race they are and how great being that race is, only because people for many years might have looked down upon them or are ignorant to their culture. I know from my experience, many random people have asked me if I'm chinese or japanese (as if azns are only either or), or have simply made fun of me for being azn (i.e randomly passing by me and yelling out "chingchochihua" blah blah blah, stuff like that). Also, believe it or not, two of my friends had ppl come up to them and ask, "oh ur chinese?!? i thought you were azn!" Having experienced/seen much of that, it's more comfortable to be in a group, I like to hang w/in my own group and represent my ethinicity.</p>
<p>People are representing also because they love who they are and their culture. </p>
<p>wow i wrote a lot...but i think that's it ^^;;</p>
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[QUOTE]
don't see how a white American of German extraction has anything in common with a white American of Italian extraction. Or at least anything significant enough to make them "brothers", yet "aliens" to Americans of African or Asian heritage. They're from the same continent? Big deal. Continents are meaningless anyway (why does Asia consist of such diverse places as India, China, and the Phillipines?). All of these Americans have much more in common with each other (being human and American) than differences. Yet they're supposed to self-segregate because of some monumental irreconciliable cultural differences? I feel that that that is a deeply prejudiced idea, and is at the root cause of ethnic/racial friction: that by the way someone looks, and where their ancestors are from, one can already judge him, regardless of his actual character makeup and history.
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****It's superficiality at its worst: "Because you have certain ethnic features, you and I will never be alike". Wow, I didn't know our destinies were determined by eyes and noses. I thought it was more of our brains and hearts.
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<p>THANK YOU for saying this. You basically summed up what myself and alot of other people in this thread have said. I hate this justification that a lot of others here seem to have, that just because you're from the same continent (or even country), that you will be more similar to their own race/people. </p>
<p>I am Nigerian, by birth and nationality, yet I have so little in common with fellow Nigerians. And if I wanted to only be surrounding myself with them, what's the point of being in the U.S.??? I've grown up in the U.S. and find friends in people that I have things in common with. Forget race; if you listen to similar music, love the movies i do, and recognize the fun of acting like we're 10 at times, then we can be friends.</p>