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0 pointsserial_dev5y ago0 comments

I moved to Germany and learned that the "Where are you from" question is not a good icebreaker. As an immigrant working in an industry with lots of other immigrants, I thought it's okay to ask, but once you ask a German person of foreign descent this question they might perceive it as if I said they are not really German (sometimes context can make it even worse).

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4 comments · 1 top-level

psychiatrist245y ago· 3 in thread

That's just propaganda by grievance activists, though. "Where are you from" is standard German small talk. Notice how effectively this method destroys communities, nobody dares to talk to each other anymore, for fear of saying something wrong.

serial_devOP5y ago

I don't think it's just propaganda, I honestly felt a couple of times that I inadvertently made people feel bad. It's not like they threw a fit and called me racist (like the "grievance activist" implies).

Also, I don't want to say that anytime I asked this question I offended someone, it's more like 3% of the time I had this feeling that I wish I didn't ask.

psychiatrist245y ago

Grievance activists teach them that they should feel bad, and it is communicated on many channels. But grievance activists should not dictate to us how to behave or feel.

zo15y ago

Why would they feel bad or offended about you asking them where they're from? That's already a weird state for people's psyche to be in. That negative link between "asking where they're from" and the person having negative feelings is precisely the effect that the "propaganda" as OP called it is having on people.

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