Where are you from
It’s been two years since I posted here about discrimination.
Since then I myself have started inquiring about someone’s ethnicity soon after meeting with them. After getting this knowledge I devise my strategy of how to deal with that person.
And not to mention the countless times I have been subjected to such interrogation like which country, city and district I come from.
Culture and Human Nature
Maybe this is just a culture of Dubai. Maybe this is just a culture of any multicultural place. Maybe it’s just human nature.
I am sure it’s hard for anyone to say that his attitude will be no different if the person he is dealing with is from Asia or Europe. It does make a difference. There are prejudices associated with every race, religion, and nationality, and we act based on that, whether it’s right or wrong is different discussion. But the fact is that it happens.
To make matters worse, we generalize from our experiences. If I had a bad experience with a person belonging to a certain ethnic background, then I would always avoid people from that ethnicity, even if they are nice people. Just I had a single bad experience I will always be reluctant to give that race another chance. This obviously is not fair but again it’s human nature.
In business dealings, people prefer working with people who share a common origin with them. Again this applies more in a place where multiple ethnicity dwells. Sometimes this even surpasses merit. I would naturally want to hire someone who is from my own country, preferably from my own city, so that I can connect with him better, so that I can speak with him in my native language, and overall feel comfortable. But by doing so I might unintentionally overlook a deserving candidate who might be more qualified for that job, just because he belong to a different part of the planet. But my rationalization would be that he would get a job at a place where people from his country work.
I have seen organizations with high percentage of employees from a certain country or region because of this reason. If the leader of the organization changes and someone else comes from a different background, then within two to three years the company will be transformed and you will see many people working in that company who will be from the same country or region as the person running the company.
An Ideal World
In an ideal world, I would deal with people purely based on their individual characteristics, and not on their ethnic background. It would not make a difference to me if I have to work with an Asian, European, or North American boss. I would prefer my team members to be the smartest, most talented, and most qualified, no matter where they are from. And lastly, I would treat every experience of dealing with people as an isolated incident and not give any unfair treatment to other people based on that experience.
If only this was an ideal world.
So what should we all do about it
Well in my opinion, we should try to give everyone a chance. At least try to do that. Even if we know how bad a reputation is for a certain ethnicity, at least try to analyze a person from there independently of any stereotype. Try to work with a person as long as you can without inquiring about their nationality. It’s hard to be different but it’s worth it in the end.
The world is anyway turning into a global village. So why not treat everyone as a fellow villager.
Think about it.
Global Village and treating everyone as a fellow villager!! I agree with it… I always keep myself open to other cultures. But many a time I have felt that others are not being so open to interact. It could be because of their apprehensions as to what we will feel.
Wherever i go, I make it a point to smile at whoever I come across. Smile is a universal language, that portrays you as being friendly in spite of the language barriers.