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DanaC · 05-13-2004, 04:08 AM

People take mental shortcuts. It's part of the way our minds work that we seek to categorise and group what we see into this mental shorthand. Unfortunately this leads to peple making assumptions ( such as the kidnapping) it also leads people to be quite surprised and a little taken aback when they encounter people who dont fit into their categories. So....someone may have gotten used, over the years, to seeing faces that didnt correspend to their own skin colour. Seeing someone of that complexion no longer surprises them. Seeing a parent and child who in their eyes " dont match up" may well throw their categorising/grouping systems into confusion causing them to feel almost slightly angered at the object of their confusion. Thats my take on it anyway.

I would imagine there are issues for children of mixed origin ( as if any of us are really anything else) The more visibly or culturally apparent those diferences, the more likely that child is( and their parents) to encounter difficulties, both in terms of other people's hostility/surprise and in terms of their own sense of "identity" as it relates to the world.

Kids are tough cookies though. They'll figure out who they are and grow up into a world which his more likely to accept them with every passing year. Funnily enough I was thinking about this the other day. There have been a few political parties campaigning in my area for the upcoming Euro elections. Alas one of those parties is a far right extreme nationalist party ( BNP) who advocate amongst other policies "peacewlls to seperate black from white"......One of the things they specifically wave their clubs and bag their chests over is what they see asa process whereby the "Native Englishman" ( aint that a beaut? at which point does my immigrant nation draw it's line? Roman? French? German? African?) loses his culture and the "white man" is transormed into a coffee coloured man........

I was thinking when I read it.....Yes...and? Strikes me that whenever I see a child of mixed indian/english extraction or African/english or African/Asian.....I am often struck by their beauty....Now i dont mean to suggest that all chidren of mixed race are beautiful, that would be a fallacy....But I have found that many of the most beautiful faces I have ever seen are these sorts of combinations.

05-13-2004, 04:08 AM	#10
DanaC We have to go back, Kate! Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Yorkshire Posts: 25,964	People take mental shortcuts. It's part of the way our minds work that we seek to categorise and group what we see into this mental shorthand. Unfortunately this leads to peple making assumptions ( such as the kidnapping) it also leads people to be quite surprised and a little taken aback when they encounter people who dont fit into their categories. So....someone may have gotten used, over the years, to seeing faces that didnt correspend to their own skin colour. Seeing someone of that complexion no longer surprises them. Seeing a parent and child who in their eyes " dont match up" may well throw their categorising/grouping systems into confusion causing them to feel almost slightly angered at the object of their confusion. Thats my take on it anyway. I would imagine there are issues for children of mixed origin ( as if any of us are really anything else) The more visibly or culturally apparent those diferences, the more likely that child is( and their parents) to encounter difficulties, both in terms of other people's hostility/surprise and in terms of their own sense of "identity" as it relates to the world. Kids are tough cookies though. They'll figure out who they are and grow up into a world which his more likely to accept them with every passing year. Funnily enough I was thinking about this the other day. There have been a few political parties campaigning in my area for the upcoming Euro elections. Alas one of those parties is a far right extreme nationalist party ( BNP) who advocate amongst other policies "peacewlls to seperate black from white"......One of the things they specifically wave their clubs and bag their chests over is what they see asa process whereby the "Native Englishman" ( aint that a beaut? at which point does my immigrant nation draw it's line? Roman? French? German? African?) loses his culture and the "white man" is transormed into a coffee coloured man........ I was thinking when I read it.....Yes...and? Strikes me that whenever I see a child of mixed indian/english extraction or African/english or African/Asian.....I am often struck by their beauty....Now i dont mean to suggest that all chidren of mixed race are beautiful, that would be a fallacy....But I have found that many of the most beautiful faces I have ever seen are these sorts of combinations.