You understand that prejudice has a specific malicious intent behind it, correct? That it’s prejudiced “with intent” for something nefarious that’s being hidden behind the veil of racist remarks.
Go ahead and tell us which one of those racist behaviors is on display here.
If Italian people were offended by this, or this limited their upward travel potential in the professional world, or was a way to hide derogatory behavior that people found undesirable by “dog whistling”, then it would qualify.
Unless you can point that out in this case, I think your sense of social justice is misplaced for what is just normal, tame, cultural fun poking.
Here, we’ll include Americans in the meme:
Amer-E-cans: The police were called to handle a domestic disturbance at a nearby home. There were no survivors.
Now, as an Italian I can’t really say that I am offended by this. I don’t care and I frequent the international community for long enough that I got used to the “mamma mia”, hand gestures, “mi scuzi” etc., whatever.
That said:
or was a way to hide derogatory behavior
If you don’t consider stereotyping people as uneducated half-wits who can’t speak a second language and express themselves in super-mario sentences derogatory in itself, I guess you have a very high bar.
Also you kinda made up this definition of prejudice, which simply means having opinions about something in advance.
an unfair and unreasonable opinion or feeling, especially when formed without enough thought or knowledge
Believe it or not, the type of stereotype here represented is quite widespread. Ask any Italian abroad how often they encounter the stuff I mentioned above.
Here, we’ll include Americans in the meme:
The example you bring is then completely off the mark. It’s one thing making fun of Italian “society” as - say - unorganized, or something else. It’s another thing stereotyping individuals and their individual characteristics.
All in all I have to say that it’s quite surprising to see this kind of behavior in the Fediverse, where such behavior would be absolutely not tolerated if it were about some other category.
Again, I am fairly neutral and I take the joke for what it is, but the hypocrisy in this thread is really funny.
“If” an Italian was, and told you, you’d explain to him he isn’t really offended, like you’re doing now. Because that’s what you are doing after an Italian told you to knock this shit off.
It kinda contributes to the derogatory stereotypes that are already quite widespread in certain cultures about Italians, i.e., uneducated people who can’t speak a language and talk like super mario and whose life is basically about food.
Technically you are falling for the positive stereotype fallacy, like saying Asians are good at math or the endowment of black males doesn’t count as prejudice because those are “good things”. Same boat as the Model Minority myth for East Asians.
People from those cultures may lean into those positive stereotypes or be less bothered by them, but they are still a prejudice. They also make it a little easier for less positive stereotypes to be believed by less educated or less tolerant people.
That said, as an Italian American you can pry my cooking stereotypes from my cold dead hands.
You miss the point, and the point is that Italians are stereotyped as ignorant who only think about food.
This has nothing to do with Italian food itself.
You understand that prejudice has a specific malicious intent behind it, correct? That it’s prejudiced “with intent” for something nefarious that’s being hidden behind the veil of racist remarks.
Go ahead and tell us which one of those racist behaviors is on display here.
If Italian people were offended by this, or this limited their upward travel potential in the professional world, or was a way to hide derogatory behavior that people found undesirable by “dog whistling”, then it would qualify.
Unless you can point that out in this case, I think your sense of social justice is misplaced for what is just normal, tame, cultural fun poking.
Here, we’ll include Americans in the meme:
Now, as an Italian I can’t really say that I am offended by this. I don’t care and I frequent the international community for long enough that I got used to the “mamma mia”, hand gestures, “mi scuzi” etc., whatever.
That said:
If you don’t consider stereotyping people as uneducated half-wits who can’t speak a second language and express themselves in super-mario sentences derogatory in itself, I guess you have a very high bar.
Also you kinda made up this definition of prejudice, which simply means having opinions about something in advance.
Believe it or not, the type of stereotype here represented is quite widespread. Ask any Italian abroad how often they encounter the stuff I mentioned above.
The example you bring is then completely off the mark. It’s one thing making fun of Italian “society” as - say - unorganized, or something else. It’s another thing stereotyping individuals and their individual characteristics.
All in all I have to say that it’s quite surprising to see this kind of behavior in the Fediverse, where such behavior would be absolutely not tolerated if it were about some other category. Again, I am fairly neutral and I take the joke for what it is, but the hypocrisy in this thread is really funny.
You raise some fair criticisms of my response and have given me some things to think about and consider.
And to update the American example then:
“If” an Italian was, and told you, you’d explain to him he isn’t really offended, like you’re doing now. Because that’s what you are doing after an Italian told you to knock this shit off.
Would you mind telling me why you are offended by this?
Because it plays on harmful stereotypes.
How is this even a question?
Just how is “I cooka da meatball” harmful?
It kinda contributes to the derogatory stereotypes that are already quite widespread in certain cultures about Italians, i.e., uneducated people who can’t speak a language and talk like super mario and whose life is basically about food.
I highly respect Italians for their delicious food. I have never heard of someone making fun of Italians for that.
Technically you are falling for the positive stereotype fallacy, like saying Asians are good at math or the endowment of black males doesn’t count as prejudice because those are “good things”. Same boat as the Model Minority myth for East Asians.
People from those cultures may lean into those positive stereotypes or be less bothered by them, but they are still a prejudice. They also make it a little easier for less positive stereotypes to be believed by less educated or less tolerant people.
That said, as an Italian American you can pry my cooking stereotypes from my cold dead hands.
That makes sense, thanks for pointing out my fallacy.
You miss the point, and the point is that Italians are stereotyped as ignorant who only think about food. This has nothing to do with Italian food itself.