Multicultural friends

[Howard Moon]

It's just like how it works in real life. Unless I choose to never go outside of my house, I'm forced to be among people of other races whether I like it or not. I just have to suck it up because I'm not going to let it affect my life. I just don't have have to be friends with them.

I can respect that. As long as you keep these ideals to your private life, I see nothing wrong with it.

Just make sure the ideals don't cross over to your work/professional life, IMO.

[Cybran]

All of my close real life friends are from my own country and culture. I play with loads of people on one of the biggest EU realms and have good relations with loads of people from across the continent, but i want to keep my home as homogeneous and traditional as possible.

[Soisoisoi]

Most of the (IRL) people I know are all the same as me, white-British. I know some Polish guys too, but I don't see them that often, and I also had a few friends who are Indian, but they moved. :<

I don't really care where people are from, as long as they aren't dicks.

[Azutael]

I don't have friends anymore, just "people I know"... Not that I care much, not much around people.
Say somewhere between 1 - 10 of my "friends" are from another culture.

I live in a small apartment complex with only foreign people as neighbors though, mostly people from Poland and Latvia. That should count!

[Palmatum]

Most of my friends are Chinese or Swedish, but I have quite a diverse group of friends.

[Deleted]

I can respect that. As long as you keep these ideals to your private life, I see nothing wrong with it.

Just make sure the ideals don't cross over to your work/professional life, IMO.

Lolwhut, how can you respect that? Am I the only one that's offended by this?

[Rotted]

I exclusively hang out with people of Germanic origin. I want nothing to do with people of other races.

Have to say, this is pretty much a sterotype of the German people, I went away recently to Spain, and we picked a hotel that the Germans all go to and have high reviews on, for those of you that don't get that, the Germans are a very, erm not sure how to word this politely, but demanding people, everything has to be exactly right, this hotel we were in, everything was immaculate, professional, even the cleaners, if you left your shirt on the bed folded or night dress, they would come in clean, and fold it like it was a piece of origami,

anyways back on topic, at this hotel the Germans kept themselves to themselves, or other Germans, we only had one German that talked to us through out our entire stay, don't get me wrong, nothing malicious, they were polite smiled, said hello in the corridors etc, but when the fun events were on they kept together.

Personally, I have German, French, Vietnamese, Hungarian, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese friends, thats just off the top of my head, I find it interesting because I often have cultural discussions with them, either next year or the year after, I'm actually planning to go visit our Hungarian friend,

Also I don't see a problem with dating people from other cultures, I almost went out with a Chinese girl, but two things put me off that had nothing to do with culture, the first was, when I asked for her full name to find her on FB, she gave me her email to find her directly, it has the number 1995 in, too me, being born in 1990 age gap is a little to big, and the second reason, not to start a religion bashing here, but I said I would meet her on weekend, and she suggested church, to me that was a total no go, no going out marital,

[shadowmouse]

Although I'm American (of Scots-Irish extraction), almost all of my friends and acquaintances these days are Chinese. I tend to eat Chinese food, hang out at hole-in-the-wall dives that are frequented by Chinese, I even find myself listening to Chinese music and watching Chinese movies. It's almost like there is something I'm overlooking ...

I enjoy meeting people from all over the world and I've lived in several countries over the years; however, I do find that the difference between high context and low context cultures can complicate interaction across cultures.

[vizzle]

I grew up in three different continents, going to international schools my entire middle/highschool life. My Facebook friends list is like an assembly at the UN. I don't really care where someone is from as long as they're decent.

[Deleted]

How multicultural is your friend " zone"? Do you rather hang out with people from your own culture or do you get along with pretty much anyone regardless of their background?
I myself have friends from diffrent cultures, i personally don't care much where someone is from, but i do understand why some people do not!
Not from a racial point of view ofcourse but as people from diffrent cultures can behave diffrent it might not be something you're used to or are looking for!
So are you the kind of guy/girl that hangs out with blacks whites and asians?
Or are you the person that rather hangs out with people from your own background/culture because you have much more in common.
The person that doesen't really care or the one that simply can't because of the place where you live?

I'm curious

I hope this won't end up going towards the wrong direction as that wasn't really where i was going with this

You use culture and race as the same concept? Because that would be very werid, you talk about culture at first, and then ask if your the guy who hangs out with blacks,whites and asians.. My point is that there can be many different cultures within a race.

To still answer your question, I tend to hang out with a variety of people. I'm living in a very diverse city (amsterdam) and through my work, uni and social activities i come into contact with a lot of cultural diverse people and I like this aspect very much. However personally i feel that although some cultural values might vary, the core ones are pretty much the same.

[Jackmoves]

It's a mixed bag tbh, but most I would consider very swedish. And I think, if they were to be asked, they would say something like "I'm swedish but my dad/mom/parents are from X country)

I'm 100% swedish btw if that makes any difference

Closer friends
Therese - Swedish-Hungarian(my gf, swedish dad, hungarian mom)
William- Swedish
Jonas- Swedish
Isabelle - Swedish
Daniel - Swedish-Spanish(Spanish mom, Swedish dad, we learned to know eachother in 4th grade, so thats 18 years)
Karim - Swedish-Tunisian(Swedish mom, Tunisian dad, known eachother since we were toddlers, his mom is very close mates with my mom)
Ender - Syrian(known eachother since 4-5th grade, so 17-18 years)
Natik - Iraqi(known eachother since 7th grade, so 14-15 years)
Joakim - Swedish
Victor - Swedish

Other friends that I'm quite close with that got mixed or other origin
Alexander - Swedish-Italian(Swedish mom, italian dad, know eachother for around 10 years I'd say)
Malin - Swedish-french(Swedish mom, french dad, known eachother since we were toddlers pretty much, did live in south france for a good part of her younger childhood though, moved to sweden permanantly when her parents divorced, some 15 years ago, her mom is one of my moms best friends)
Hanni - Swedish-Irani(Swedish dad, Irani mom, known her for a couple of years now, met since she is the gf of one of my best friends)
Roberto - Swedish-Spanish(Spanish dad, swedish mom, know eachother for 10 years I'd say)
Matilda - Swedish-American(swedish mom, american dad, african-american, her dad is from Arkansas, he is one of my parents closest friends)

I could add aquiantances/colleages to I guess, that would make the list longer rofl
We've had some pretty big immigration waves over the years, I'm mostly thinking of the eastern europeans in the 60s-70s, and people from Balkan during the civil war, these people(the younger generation) are quite swedish by now imo, different in some ways, but still swedish, polish, hungarians, kroats, bosnian, serbs etc are not too uncommon.

[Detheavn]

My friends mostly share the same background. Not really any particular reason for this, since I've known them all from back when I was in school. My colleagues however are a colorful and multicultural bunch. We are not hindered by country of birth, or religion. Neither my colleagues or me are easily offended, also we basically all seem more like a bunch of friends than co-workers

[Howard Moon]

Lolwhut, how can you respect that? Am I the only one that's offended by this?

So what if it offends you? I can say I am offended by your signature. Should you change it because of me? Absolutely not.

He can choose to be friends with whoever he wants. Whether that offends you or not is completely irrelevant. Like I said, as long as he keeps his views to his private life he can believe whatever he wants.

Likewise, you are free to feel offended by anything you like. Just don't expect people to change because of it.

[speedymonkey]

Have to say, this is pretty much a sterotype of the German people, I went away recently to Spain, and we picked a hotel that the Germans all go to and have high reviews on, for those of you that don't get that, the Germans are a very, erm not sure how to word this politely, but demanding people, everything has to be exactly right, this hotel we were in, everything was immaculate, professional, even the cleaners, if you left your shirt on the bed folded or night dress, they would come in clean, and fold it like it was a piece of origami,

anyways back on topic, at this hotel the Germans kept themselves to themselves, or other Germans, we only had one German that talked to us through out our entire stay, don't get me wrong, nothing malicious, they were polite smiled, said hello in the corridors etc, but when the fun events were on they kept together.

Personally, I have German, French, Vietnamese, Hungarian, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese friends, thats just off the top of my head, I find it interesting because I often have cultural discussions with them, either next year or the year after, I'm actually planning to go visit our Hungarian friend,

Also I don't see a problem with dating people from other cultures, I almost went out with a Chinese girl, but two things put me off that had nothing to do with culture, the first was, when I asked for her full name to find her on FB, she gave me her email to find her directly, it has the number 1995 in, too me, being born in 1990 age gap is a little to big, and the second reason, not to start a religion bashing here, but I said I would meet her on weekend, and she suggested church, to me that was a total no go, no going out marital,

Germanic doesn't exclusively mean Germans btw.

[Deleted]

So what if it offends you? I can say I am offended by your signature. Should you change it because of me? Absolutely not.

He can choose to be friends with whoever he wants. Whether that offends you or not is completely irrelevant. Like I said, as long as he keeps his views to his private life he can believe whatever he wants.

Likewise, you are free to feel offended by anything you like. Just don't expect people to change because of it.

People can have their opinions, of course, but there are exceptions, and racism is one of them. It is not okay to say that you want nothing to do with people of other races, that's a horrible, horrible thing to say. It's not like he said that he prefers people of his own descent because of interests or cultural bonds, or whatever, he blatantly said: "I want nothing to do with people of other races", and that's not okay to me.
I'm all for tolerating people with different values than me, but things like racism, homophobia and gender discrimination (discrimination in general, I guess) are not okay.

[Deleted]

People are making the common mistake of conflating culture with race.

I'm happy to mix with and be friends with people from any culture.

[Deleted]

I have no problem with anyone whether they are black, white, yellow, green, purple, male, female, old or young or come from mars!

I also have no issue with people following a specific religion, end of the day that's their choice. I would only take offense if said person was trying to preach the religion to me - I don't believe, I don't need/want to hear it!

I work with quite a few foreigners, its not an issue for me and I get on well with them all. In fact on work nights out, I'm regularly the only white English guy in a group of up to 12 people sometimes!!

I don't understand the whole idea of different cultures being bad, but that's just me!

[Howard Moon]

People can have their opinions, of course, but there are exceptions, and racism is one of them. It is not okay to say that you want nothing to do with people of other races, that's a horrible, horrible thing to say. It's not like he said that he prefers people of his own descent because of interests or cultural bonds, or whatever, he blatantly said: "I want nothing to do with people of other races", and that's not okay to me.
I'm all for tolerating people with different values than me, but things like racism, homophobia and gender discrimination (discrimination in general, I guess) are not okay.

Well, we'll just have to agree to disagree

Don't get me wrong, I also think that what he said is a horrible thing to say, let alone close-minded and retrograde. However, who am I to dictate what other people should or should not believe? He didn't insult anyone personally, so as far as I'm concerned what he wrote falls under freedom of speech.

[Jackmoves]

Lolwhut, how can you respect that? Am I the only one that's offended by this?

I don't really care, people are free to hangout with whatever people they like, would he act or treat a friend of mine in a racist manner he would hear about it though. I generally think it's idiotic to make broad generalizations but as long as it doesn't hurt anyone els I don't really give a shit.

It does make me wonder what his oppinion is on adopted kids though, are they germanic? They have been raised by germanic parents, lived all their lifes in germanic countries etc. In my country, parents don't often get a chance to adopt a child from germanic countries, so they got asian, or children from other poorer cultures.

My mothers friend adopted a Ukrainian girl for example.

[staart]

I am slightly racist, but as long as people are nice that's very easily overcome.

---------- Post added 2012-12-12 at 03:04 PM ----------

People can have their opinions, of course, but there are exceptions, and racism is one of them. It is not okay to say that you want nothing to do with people of other races, that's a horrible, horrible thing to say. It's not like he said that he prefers people of his own descent because of interests or cultural bonds, or whatever, he blatantly said: "I want nothing to do with people of other races", and that's not okay to me.
I'm all for tolerating people with different values than me, but things like racism, homophobia and gender discrimination (discrimination in general, I guess) are not okay.

You say I cannot be a racist because you don't like it? I'm sorry for you then but I'm not going to change my views based on what you like or don't like.