How can one tell if one is being discriminated against?

Post Reply New Topic

Particularly of the racial variety in a subtle way.

I doubt a whole lot of outright blatant discrimination is common these days in most western industrialised countries, so I wonder about subtle discrimination. I in particular want to know what it feels like, or if I was discriminated against in the past. Does anyone know where I can find some detailed examples of this?

The honest truth is I don't think you can, especially if the discrimination is very subtle.

especially the subtle discrimination is very hard to detect, especially with all the nuances and attempts at humour that use the same statements...

it is almost inpossible to define discrimination, but perhaps if you post the situation it is possible to determine it for that case

This type of discrimination is subtle because it has been forced underground, because people are just too plain scared of being labelled as ignorant. This isn't strictly about race, but I'll bet my house that deep down at least 80% of Americans hate the British all other things being equal. And at least 80% of British hate Americans all other things being equal. Experiments in chatrooms, which I used because of people's veil of anonymity there, would suggest this.

I don't know how to tell when I'm being discriminated because of race because of the subtlety. The only reason I can tell I might be is when I get that deep, visceral feeling of something not being right, but that discrimination could be for any reason. If anything, it's people of my own race who discriminate against me rather than other races.

Really? 80% of Americans hate Brits? My question is why? Because of past wars & disagreements? I've known many over the years. Some were nice, some not, some were downright mean. Just like all the Americans I've met. The only people I don't like are the mean ones....doesn't matter to me nationality, color of skin, or if they're NT or not. Treat me with respect, I'll return the favor. Treat me like a doormat, & my respect for you will be nonexistent. Unfortunately, discrimination is a part of human nature. Humans tend to be wary of things they don't understand. They might even start viscious rumors. I have been the subject of discrimination. However, because of the subtleties, & the fact I am caucasion, makes it difficult to prove. I'd have to change my skin color or be blatantly disabled to be successful at fighting it.

Here's the definition:

dis·crim·i·na·tion Noun:

The unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, esp. on the grounds of race, age, or sex. Recognition and understanding of the difference between one thing and another.

I'm not sure why. Doubt it's because of past wars and disagreements unless it's the War of Independence? The best theory I'm coming up with is that both nations have been superpowers and imperalist, particularly in recent history of the last century. Both are 'alpha nations' in a similar way to how you get alpha males. They have been rivals in terms of who rules the world - first the British Empire then the USA.

The USSR was considered one of the two superpowers along with the USA when I was young and there was no love lost, so perhaps the way in which first the British Empire then the USA was number one is similar.

I've no empirical evidence to support an 80% figure by the way. I only quoted 80% to say that most citizens of one country hate the other. In the chatroom experiment, I struck up chats with UK chatters and when asked for my location, I said California. I did this with ten UK chatters and every single one of them refused to continue the conversation.



Interestingly enough, the word 'discrimination' has two meanings as given above, which seem contradictory. That's because one would say a person is "discriminating" (adjective) when they are able to distinguish things from one another, which is the latter meaning. The former meaning, of course, is the unpleasant race/age/sex/etc. meaning.

You just lost your house. I'm American and have come across literally no fellow American who hates the British. Feelings run from strongly positive (Anglophiles) to mildly positive to neutral to mildly annoyed about some specific action but otherwise neutral.

Strong negative feelings that Americans have about other countries are generally present-focused, not past-focused. This means that the negativity is directed against whoever we have current hostile or "frenemy" relations with . (Frenemies being countries that we ally with for pragmatic reasons but whom we don't trust at all, such as Saudi Arabia or Pakistan.) The previous Cold War hate against the USSR has ceased to be relevent,having been replaced with hate against Al Queda and whatever nation we suspect of being secretly or openly positive towards them. Hate against the Brirish ended >200 years ago.

America is a very young country. We don't have a strong sense of history. So we don't hold grudges against former enemies. We can bounce easily from bombing a country to embracing them and thinking they are the coolest thing ever within one generation (Japan).

I have been at war with heavy subtle discrimination (alot of it was in my old school)
Everyone said they were my "friend" and alot of people could see the good intelligence in me.
However alot of people could not take me seriously, some did not even give any effort what so ever to understand me
backstabbing, rumors and having to stand up for myself against social superpowers of my old school was a challenge.
not everyone was like this to me.
bottom line. Its no fun.