Why are easterners discriminated against in America?

[CossackOfAnarchy]

Maybe it is because we were the "enemy" less than 20 years ago, or perhaps it is because we have not assimilated with the Anglo-German dominating ethnicity. (I do not know a single Polish person at my school who is not part German or looks German).

I have never been discriminated against by others because of this, but I worry that someday it can happen to me as well. I'm one of the few white persons at my school who does not have the domesticated American look because of my hair, my cheekbones, and my eyes. Russians are also the butt of many jokes which understandably insults me.

Especially as an ethnic Ukrainian, I feel culturally isolated here in this country. I know of only two other Ukrainians in my school, and both of them are immigrants from Ukraine.

In movies and TV, Russians are portrayed as "fur-hat-wearing, emotionless, barbaric, racist savages". Films like "Defiance" or "Enemy at the Gates" or any other Hollywood action war film reinforce this belief.

[noway]

look we dont discriminate against anyone, that acts like us :scared:

[khad]

Well, part of it is this. Historically Russia, Ukraine, and other parts of that region are defined as the "East" and thus share many of the stereotypes targeting people of the non-Western world (from the perspective of Europe and America)--ie barbarism, irrationality, despotism, and deceitfulness.

Welcome to the club with the head chopping Arabs and the Yellow Peril.

[Il Medico]

Because it is America.

[MaoTseHelen]

I've never seen Russians or else wise discriminated against at my school, or otherwise made fun of. They're not a big enough portion of the demographic to be singled out here.

[CossackOfAnarchy]

I've never seen Russians or else wise discriminated against at my school, or otherwise made fun of. They're not a big enough portion of the demographic to be singled out here.

Perhaps Easterners in America are not discriminated against in the country itself so much, but there is prejudice against them on the news networks (which reflects the racism of the bourgeoisie in this country) where Easterners are still regarded in Cold War fashions.

[MaoTseHelen]

I suppose so, but you kind of answered your own question - Cold War + The media machine + the gov = massive propaganda for 30-40 years.

[Die Rote Fahne]

It's because america espects you to become american, fat, lazy and eating cheeseburgers.

Follow canada's way. we expect you to live your own culture here if you wish.

[ls]

It's because america espects you to become american, fat, lazy and eating cheeseburgers.

Follow canada's way. we expect you to live your own culture here if you wish.

Isn't Canada one of the hardest places to immigrate to in the world?

[manic expression]

Isn't Canada one of the hardest places to immigrate to in the world?

It's waaay easier to get there legally than the US, I'm pretty sure of that.

On anti-Eastern European sentiment, I actually think it's the most openly accepted form of bigotry in the US (along with homophobia). It's pretty pathetic how a lot of Americans will insult and stereotype entire groups of people with whom they've had minimal real-life contact.

I can't give too much advice, except it's always important to stand up for yourself and your identity, don't let the BS get to you or bother you because that's what the bigots want and finally try to hang out with people who aren't complete idiots. Cliche, I know, but that's all I got.

[ls]

It's waaay easier to get there legally than the US, I'm pretty sure of that.

This made big news here a while back: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7550653.stm.

What about for non-UK, non-EU and non-American citizens? With a disabled child like that, it would seem even more impossible, Canadian immigration authorities are meant to be pretty nasty.

I've been told before that my grandad could've chosen the UK or Canada as the places to preferably move to, but that the UK was chosen because it was the easiest to get into, so I am admittedly partly going on that. :p

As for the OP, those kids' levels of ignorance is astounding to be honest, but sure it's true that a lot of propaganda has been put out against easterners. As has been said many times over, it's probably best to just realise that and ignore them, if they insult you then you can always insult them on just how ignorant they are, of course if you're feeling inclined to stop them from insulting someone else then by all means do that too.

[LeftBackAgain]

This is sad really because a lot of the people from this area are kindhearted and friendly. There are a few eastern European families in my neighborhood and while they are a litte shy, they are good neighbors. The media distortion of any class of people always drives public opinion, and that is a terrible thing.

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

Because your stalin and hate freedom. I hope this clears things up for you. I tend to get searched at airports because my irish surname means I put bombs everywhere.

[The Red Next Door]

I have a Best Friend who is partly Polish-American have been a victim and The biggest place of racism against Eastern Europeans is Western Europe.

[Die Rote Fahne]

I'd be more worried if you were middle-eastern.

[TC]

This strikes me as the sort of 'me-to' attitude where people try to claim the mantle of discrimination to describe their own alienated experience, regardless of how appropriate it really is objectively. Were your ancestors brought here in chains on slave ships, bread like farm animals, subject to apartheid and only given the effective right to vote in 1965, while still being incarcerated at a rate many times higher then their percentage of the population? Are you unable to go to the police when you're beaten by your US-born spouse or payed a fraction of the minimum wage because you'd be arrested and deported? Were your people murdered wholesale to make room for white settlers and then herded onto the most impoverished ghettos in America that continue to enjoy among the lowest standards of living in the industrialized world? When people look at you do they assume you're a violent criminal by the color your skin without you even having to open your mouth?

As a white American who admits to not being discriminated against your exploration of your 'ethnicity' just strikes me as at best a way to avoid taking responsibility for your white privilege and at worst ethnic chauvinism.

[ls]

So TC, you think that any kind of discrimination except for that against those who have ancestors that were slaves should simply be ignored? And that you should just say "I have white privilege and I'm a terrible person"?

[RotStern]

It's because america espects you to become american, fat, lazy and eating cheeseburgers.

Follow canada's way. we expect you to live your own culture here if you wish.


If only it were.
I have never really been discriminated against much outside of simple teasing with my friends, but I know a couple of Muslims who have been victim of much discrimination, Wether it be calling them a terrorist Shouting Allah Akbar and pretending to blow up in front of them or actual bullying.
Canada is nowhere close to perfect but I agree things are much better here than in America.

[FreeFocus]

While TC raises good points, Cossack's concerns shouldn't be swept under the rug. The ignorance he encounters is part of, and reinforces, American national chauvinism. Still, I think this is probably most relevant for Russians, Ukrainians, etc, who still reside in their home countries, as they are the ultimate targets of American designs for control of Europe and Central Asia.


It's because america espects you to become american, fat, lazy and eating cheeseburgers.

Follow canada's way. we expect you to live your own culture here if you wish.

Surely you are joking. Canada is a settler state just like the US (umm, residential schools?), and has a lot of national chauvinism issues - for example, the general population believing that Canada is a peace-loving country whose military endeavors are only undertaken as part of peacekeeping missions or even to "spread freedom."

[Die Rote Fahne]

If only it were.
I have never really been discriminated against much outside of simple teasing with my friends, but I know a couple of Muslims who have been victim of much discrimination, Wether it be calling them a terrorist Shouting Allah Akbar and pretending to blow up in front of them or actual bullying.
Canada is nowhere close to perfect but I agree things are much better here than in America.

I don't even remember posting that.

[manic expression]

This strikes me as the sort of 'me-to' attitude where people try to claim the mantle of discrimination to describe their own alienated experience, regardless of how appropriate it really is objectively. Were your ancestors brought here in chains on slave ships, bread like farm animals, subject to apartheid and only given the effective right to vote in 1965, while still being incarcerated at a rate many times higher then their percentage of the population? Are you unable to go to the police when you're beaten by your US-born spouse or payed a fraction of the minimum wage because you'd be arrested and deported? Were your people murdered wholesale to make room for white settlers and then herded onto the most impoverished ghettos in America that continue to enjoy among the lowest standards of living in the industrialized world? When people look at you do they assume you're a violent criminal by the color your skin without you even having to open your mouth?

As a white American who admits to not being discriminated against your exploration of your 'ethnicity' just strikes me as at best a way to avoid taking responsibility for your white privilege and at worst ethnic chauvinism.

Are you denying that Eastern Europeans face discrimination in the US? Are you rejecting the experiences of this poster (and many like him/her)? If so, your assumption is wrong because Eastern Europeans do face discrimination and difficulties, regardless of the individual case at hand. If you're not denying that fact, and simply saying it's not as bad as it is for Blacks and Latinos, then you're being flat-out insensitive and you should stop questioning other people's concerns. What you're doing is effectively saying that one form of bigotry isn't bad because another is worse. Not only is this ridiculous and illogical, but it's downright disrespectful at best.

By the way, TC's post is one of the big reasons why groups like the new SDS are now sad, shriveled jokes. They worry more about white flagellation than uniting different nations to fight oppression, and because of this their message resonates with a fitting crowd: no one. This is unlikely to change.

[xtremerebel]

Well, part of it is this. Historically Russia, Ukraine, and other parts of that region are defined as the "East" and thus share many of the stereotypes targeting people of the non-Western world (from the perspective of Europe and America)--ie barbarism, irrationality, despotism, and deceitfulness.

Welcome to the club with the head chopping Arabs and the Yellow Peril.

Stereotypes only bring further tension to a subject where I find there is already too much. It pains me that here in the western world, where we are supposed to be educated about things, we are so discriminatory sometimes.


Maybe it is because we were the "enemy" less than 20 years ago, or perhaps it is because we have not assimilated with the Anglo-German dominating ethnicity. (I do not know a single Polish person at my school who is not part German or looks German).

I have never been discriminated against by others because of this, but I worry that someday it can happen to me as well. I'm one of the few white persons at my school who does not have the domesticated American look because of my hair, my cheekbones, and my eyes. Russians are also the butt of many jokes which understandably insults me.

Especially as an ethnic Ukrainian, I feel culturally isolated here in this country. I know of only two other Ukrainians in my school, and both of them are immigrants from Ukraine.

In movies and TV, Russians are portrayed as "fur-hat-wearing, emotionless, barbaric, racist savages". Films like "Defiance" or "Enemy at the Gates" or any other Hollywood action war film reinforce this belief.

That's quite a big generalization. Define exactly what you mean by 'eastern' first. Russians and Ukranians are not the only easterners around.


Because it is America.

You'd think having a black president would help matters.

[ls]

Stereotypes only bring further tension to a subject where I find there is already too much.

It pains me that here in the western world, where we are supposed to be educated about things, we are so discriminatory sometimes..

Lolz, yeah stereotypes OK, very rich after the first thing you said there, please fuck off.

[xtremerebel]

Lolz, yeah stereotypes OK, very rich after the first thing you said there, please fuck off.

Haha, oh boy? Did I touch a nerve, pop a blood vessel there? Maybe you would be so kind as to show me my other post there, as I'm definitely sure that was my first post in this topic. But show me, oh wise one.

If not, then you're the one that's going to have to go away! (I won't descend to your level and throw f bombs left right and center like a bad boy).

[Drace]

The only way I seen Russians be made fun of is this
"AHHH MOTHERLAND!"

[9]

Of course, cultural stereotypes are abundant in popular media, but I do think that if that's the extent of your experience with discrimination, you're in very good shape.

Having said that, I don't think it is fair to suggest that, unless your ancestors were enslaved based on ethnicity, your concerns are baseless. The original poster didn't say anything to imply that he was absolving himself of any form of white privilege, and I don't see any basis for reading ill intentions into his concern.
There is a growing population of Russian immigrants in the city where I live, and when I was in school, Russians and Eastern Slavic peoples (the latter being lumped in with 'Russians') were an extremely popular target for discrimination. "N*gger", "fag", "Jew", and "Russian" were all popular synonyms for "dumbass" throughout my time in grade school, though I haven't heard "Russian" used in that context since I graduated high school. But still, we shouldn't pretend the problem doesn't exist or that any concern about it is baseless or the product of some sinister motive.
However, I'd simply say to the original poster, there is not much to be gained from worrying about "what if" scenarios.

[Salabra]

In movies and TV, Russians are portrayed as "fur-hat-wearing, emotionless, barbaric, racist savages". Films like "Defiance" or "Enemy at the Gates" or any other Hollywood action war film reinforce this belief.

I'll post a longer reply at sometime in the future — but *I* felt that "Enemy at the Gates" portrayed the Red Army soldiers as totally heroic human beings.

Mind you, I'm a communist, and a very weird person, to boot.

[xtremerebel]

I'll post a longer reply at sometime in the future — but *I* felt that "Enemy at the Gates" portrayed the Red Army soldiers as totally heroic human beings.

Mind you, I'm a communist, and a very weird person, to boot.


Whenever I watched that video, now matter how many times again, I would always cheer for the Red Army. Go Communism!

[chegitz guevara]

It's because america espects you to become american, fat, lazy and eating cheeseburgers.

As if you aren't just like us in that regard. When I was in Winnepeg a few years back, I asked my host to take me to get some real Canadian food. She took me to get cheeseburgers and fries.

[ls]

blabla


It pains me that here in the western world, where we are supposed to be educated about things, we are so discriminatory sometimes..

How ignorant and chauvinistic is what you wrote? Just give up, your username and your posts are hilarious.

[xtremerebel]

How ignorant and chauvinistic is what you wrote? Just give up, your username and your posts are hilarious.

What died and crawled up your ass?

I can have whatever time of username I want, don't like it? Oh well :laugh:

I can really tell you're just trying to start some sort of argument to boost your self esteem here and try to put down others to make yourself feel mighty. Quoting 'blablabla' and committing about the 4th ad hominem here so far doesn't exactly say anything positive about your posts either.

[ls]

No, I just think you are incredibly ignorant and chauvinistic in saying "the western world is supposed to be more educated", you are a complete piece of shit really.

[xtremerebel]

No, I just think you are incredibly ignorant and chauvinistic in saying "the western world is supposed to be more educated", you are a complete piece of shit really.

We are though. We're the ones who are supposed to be more industrialized, have more access to education and a more opportunistic way of life. Stereotypes, misconceptions, hate and bigotry still exist largely in the western world, and this is mostly a result of being ignorant, uneducated and uninformed.

[xtremerebel]

But then again some easterners have negative misconceptions of others as well.

I really don't see how I was being chauvinistic though. I'm not pro western at all, I know western nations have been rightly accused of stirring the shit in countries like Iran and Iraq for political gain, but then again I'm not exactly anti western either. I do enjoy the freedoms I have in the west, mostly freedom of speech and, while I was living in the U.S, a right to legally bear arms. But that doesn't mean the system doesn't need to be changed.

[xtremerebel]

ls: Here (http://psp.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/9/4/551) is one modern example of discrimination against blacks in the workplace in America. Enjoy.

[Knight of Cydonia]

I'd be more worried if you were middle-eastern.
how about indonesian? you'd be more worried?

[Kayser_Soso]

I'll post a longer reply at sometime in the future — but *I* felt that "Enemy at the Gates" portrayed the Red Army soldiers as totally heroic human beings.

Mind you, I'm a communist, and a very weird person, to boot.


Absolutely not; it portrayed the Red Army as a leaderless, chaotic mass of untrained, panicky, cowardly soldiers. Just compare the demeanor of the soldiers on the boats in the beginning with that of the soldiers in Saving Private Ryan, for example. The army has to be locked in the trains(exactly the opposite in real life; troop trains rolled with doors open to defend against air raids), and when they get out we see no organization, only commissars herding everyone with megaphones.

In reality, Zaitsev came into Stalingrad with the 284th Siberian Rifle division, a rather elite unit if it was on par with other Siberian rifle divisions. Also as far as I know, the 284th division wasn't suffering a lack of rifles like the 13th Guards division, which crossed the Volga earlier.

All in all, the evil commissars, the mass-like image, and the human wave attacks show all the Western stereotypes toward Russian "Eastern" methods of combat.

[Salabra]

Absolutely not; it portrayed the Red Army as a leaderless, chaotic mass of untrained, panicky, cowardly soldiers.

Interesting - thanks for pointing out the facts about the doors etc.

I never got that negative impression (I'm actually PRO Red Army).