why do most white people look like each other?

[PSNGhost]

How is this not against the guidelines? Can a mod please close this. T_T

 

[£]

Strange. I don't really profile anyone of a certain ethnicity as looking the same etc.

Might be a bit far-fetched as ideas go, but perhaps if you see a lot of people of the same ethnicity, you notice more traits about them to determine them? And if you don't see/know many people of a certain ethnicity, your brain doesn't really take in as much detail?

Kinda like going to some place new, and everyone seems to have the same accent, even though someone living in that area finds that people sound COMPLETELY different in that area.

I don't take offence to this thread. I think being offended by something this trivial is silly. If someone seems naive, maybe try talking to them rather than giving them a naive response of "THAT'S RACIST AND HOMOPHOBIC AND NOT TO MENTION THE WRONG STEREOTYPE."

 

[Honest]

How is this not against the guidelines? Can a mod please close this. T_T

Why close a potentially good conversation? Just because the OP's perspective on things is widely against the norm apparently doesn't make the thread lock-worthy.

 

[PSNGhost]

Why close a potentially good conversation? Just because the OP's perspective on things is widely against the norm apparently doesn't make the thread lock-worthy.

No, but it's quite offensive (at least to me). If this thread were about black or Asian people I doubt it would have been open this long, although, you do have a point....

 

[Honest]

No, but it's quite offensive (at least to me). If this thread were about black or Asian people I doubt it would have been open this long, although, you do have a point....

I can't speak for Andy, even though I believe he would agree with me, but if I were still on staff, I'd have kept a thread on black or Asian people open, as well as this one.

Personally, I feel that white people are the most diverse aesthetically, honestly.

 

[Kanzler]

Why is everybody so offended by this? It's not racist for an Asian person to say that all white people look the same, just like it's not racist for me as a white man to say that to me, all Asian people or all black people look the same or similar.

It's called cross-racial identification, it's a real thing and I'm quite happy to have a healthy chat about it if everybody's not gonna get all sensitive.

I'm going to unlock this for now on a trial basis. If we can't subscribe to some kind of reality about the way the world works then we're never gonna break down any racial walls. Come on guys.

Has anybody had any experience with this phenomenon?

*hi-fives Andy*

As a Chinese man, I've heard that joke that all Asians look alike. As a disclaimer, it doesn't offend me none. But I do feel sometimes that I see the same faces among white people, and yes, I do sometimes exclaim in frustration (in my interior dialogue) "why do white people all look the same?"

Kill me.

But you can't, I'm a minority so I get away with this haha!

No seriously. I learned about cross-racial identification in first year psychology (actually probably sometime in high school from Wikipedia) and although first-hand experience doesn't mean much as far as evidence goes, I think that it's probably most likely true that cross-racial identification exists.

I think it's worse for me because I grew up in a neighbourhood that is 50% East and 30% South Asian. I used to be overwhelmed at the amount of white people I'd see in places, for example, when I travelled to the United States or elsewhere in the country. I didn't get TV nor did I watch many movies in my youth, so I really had a lack of exposure to predominantly white social environments.

No, white people do not literally look the same. I find it a loooot easier to tell Asians apart though. No, that doesn't mean I will confuse white people's faces just because they are white. It's more so that you don't really notice differences in faces when you're out on the street. Of course I can tell apart people I already know and care about.

Anyways this topic shouldn't be closed just because it gets our undies in knots. If this was in D&D when I was staff I would've kept it. If this was to be closed in CCC I would've begged Dipu or Andy to get it moved to D&D.

 

[Alexander Nicholi]

I echo what most have said that it's likely you've yet to settle in with the American populace completely, dogtree. Personally, I myself have learned to look for differences in people of any race, and I will admit that Caucasian people tend to be a little more physically diverse than other races as it's easier for me to discern amongst ourselves. Then again, that may just be me.

Also, I think that white people tend to be rather emotionally charged with racial discussions on both ends of the ladder of discrimination, although where more so has greatly shifted to the opposite end from where it was, say, 500 years ago. Basically the racial charge is better, but a charge nonetheless. Eh.

 

[Rosehip]

It's easy for me to tell the difference between people, regardless of culture. It could be something as simple as having a lighter skin colour to the others, or exploring differing personalities, interests and opinions. Once you find out what someone likes to talk about or what someone acts like, you can tell them apart really easily. I've never bothered asking that question to myself, and I've never experienced something like that.

When it comes to people I don't know, I just examine their body and face a little.

 

[Trev]

To me, all other races look exactly the same. Specifically, I see very few differences in black people and Asian people, hairstyles aside. I personally attribute it to a regional factor, considering that most people from the same area tend to look the same. Personally, however, like someone above said, if you're not around the same people constantly and staring at them like they're the last thing you'll ever look at, you'll tend to gloss over their unique features.

 

[Sydian]

This topic is not offensive. The presentation that was given by the OP for this topic is the offender.

Plus, this could be a really broad topic. Why do races have such different features? It's interesting, honestly, but I think this should be expanded on and not worded so ignorantly. That's where my personal problem with this thread lies. "I need white people opinions"? Really? dogtree, from this thread and another recent thread of yours, I'd really advise you to take a seat back, relax, and get to know people before you judge their intelligence based on their appearance or assume all white people look the same. I think it will help you in the long run.

To answer the question though, I don't think most white people look similar. Most of us (speaking for America) are a culmination of many different heritages. And there's also what Timbjerr said on the first page.

 

[Plumpyfoof]

I'm looking at this from an evolutionary stand point right?
Races developed over long periods of separation between different groups of people. Would it not stand to reason that being able to identify the people specifically in your group become easier over time? Especially considering how social our species is, to identify the different people within our group we can access information much easier. Why would we need to distinguish between people from a different group of people who we potentially don't know exist.

I'm pretty sure this is a learned social ability. If you are white and grew up in a white community you would have a similar time identifying other white people as a black person who grew up in black community would identifying other black people.
Same goes for an asian person if they grew up in the same white community, they would have an easier time identifying white people than another asian who grew up in an asian community.
This is simple, you subconsciously pick up physical traits and associate them with a group of people who share those traits and also happen to fall under a category for "race". It's like a more controversial and incredibly subtle stereotype.


Now I want to talk about why different races have different features.
I imagine it would boil down to what is deemed ever so subjectively 'attractive'. Before the "westernisation" of the modern world every race had physical preferences for whatever reason. Remember when corsets were a thing? Because you had to fit your waist into a straw to be pretty. Or how about that time when women would permanently disfigure their feet to keep them small. At one stage being morbidly obese indicated wealth and a healthy appetite.

 

[Raine]

I'm looking at this from an evolutionary stand point right?
Races developed over long periods of separation between different groups of people. Would it not stand to reason that being able to identify the people specifically in your group become easier over time? Especially considering how social our species is, to identify the different people within our group we can access information much easier. Why would we need to distinguish between people from a different group of people who we potentially don't know exist.

I'm pretty sure this is a learned social ability. If you are white and grew up in a white community you would have a similar time identifying other white people as a black person who grew up in black community would identifying other black people.
Same goes for an asian person if they grew up in the same white community, they would have an easier time identifying white people than another asian who grew up in an asian community.
This is simple, you subconsciously pick up physical traits and associate them with a group of people who share those traits and also happen to fall under a category for "race". It's like a more controversial and incredibly subtle stereotype.


Now I want to talk about why different races have different features.
I imagine it would boil down to what is deemed ever so subjectively 'attractive'. Before the "westernisation" of the modern world every race had physical preferences for whatever reason. Remember when corsets were a thing? Because you had to fit your waist into a straw to be pretty. Or how about that time when women would permanently disfigure their feet to keep them small. At one stage being morbidly obese indicated wealth and a healthy appetite.

Kind of going off your idea, I think the idea that individuals from certain races look strikingly similar to one another could be because they stick within their culture in terms of breeding. But nowadays, there are people who are adventuring outside their cultural norm, adding variety, and diversity. In other words, mixed babies! I mean, when you have 2 Asians bearing children, their children are obviously going to have the typical/signature Asian physical attributes like the tendency to have smaller eyes, and their straight black hair. And that goes the same for other cultures. In my opinion though, because there are different kinds of "white" people, and considering majority of them hail from European countries, I think there's actually a larger pool of different physical features for them compared to Asians.