I fit the internet SJW stereotype to an uncomfortable degree, but I don’t really identify with it (which makes sense, given that it’s a shallow idea of a person designed by people who dislike them).
At the same time, I absolutely do not fulfill the stereotype of the American in Germany, and people are often very surprised when they hear that I am.
Do you fit or break a lot of stereotypes?
To elaborate: I’m a queer leftist vegan with a bisexual partner and I’m not sure of my gender. I’ve got autism, ADHD, and anxiety, and I work part time as a barista in my thirties while very slowly getting a master’s degree in a niche liberal arts field after being unable to find work related to my bachelor’s degree in a related niche liberal arts field. When I was younger, I frequently had blue and/or pink hair, but now I donate my hair, so I don’t dye it anymore; similarly, I’ve had over 15 piercings, but could currently only wear a ring in my septum and maybe my earlobes if I put in some work. I feel very strongly about multiple causes, but do little active protesting.
At the same time, I’m (afab, received socially as a woman, but who knows?) married to a man apprenticing as a butcher, I went back to school after saving up enough money in my role as an adjuster for litigated long tailed claims (basically contract analysis and directing defense strategy), I currently work in my desired field (German language education for new arrivals here in Germany), and I help run a mutual aid group and immigrant support group instead of demonstrating because I’m an immigrant with uncertain status.
I’m very interested in preserving food, handicrafts that help me to be self sufficient, folk dance, and puzzles, but I’m also interested in TTRPGs, mtg, larping, and involved board games. Those groups of activities each fulfill different genres of SJW stereotype (puzzles and larping might work as cross category overlaps), but I also like cycling, rowing, swimming, and lifting weights, which feel like they don’t really fit.
I guess most important would be that I try not to be preachy or judgmental in my daily life and have no reason to believe I don’t succeed- it’s pretty easy to get honest feedback from large groups of students who aren’t expecting my brain to hyperfocus on all spoken English after so long in Germany. Through those aid groups and my husband’s job, I end up giving out about €75 worth of meat a week, which means people are often very surprised that I’m a vegan (but the meat can no longer be sold, though it’s still safe to consume, so there’s no profit going to the butcher, and people buy less meat when they can get it for free, so it reduces demand, so my conscience is clear).
As for being an American in Germany: again, I’m a vegan leftist, but I’ve also mastered German to the degree that I’m a German teacher, and my full married name sounds as bland in Germany as “Katherine Marie Parsons” would in the US.
Jesus, you really do fit most of the stereotypes.
I know… I’m not a dick though?
if you lived in the USA you’d be a dick.
German culture is a lot more chill. germans leave people alone generally. Americans can’t help but get in your face.
I lived in Germany a couple of times and it was glorious because nobody ever talked to me. In the USA people just come up to you and start talking. It’s so weird.
I’m from the USA and I wasn’t a dick there, either. I don’t know why you’d assume I would be, especially as I said that I’m not the stereotypical American. I definitely don’t approach strangers to start conversations and when they do it with me, I respond politely and in a friendly way, but don’t try to drive the conversation into any divisive areas (or really anywhere at all, I try to let conversations with strangers whom I’m not planning a get to know die out as quickly as possible while maintaining friendliness).
yeah, what I notice with those types is they are self-obsessed and kind of project that onto everyone else.
and if you don’t think they are ‘special’ they get really mad and feel like you are invalidating them.
every third person I meet tells me they are autistic/ahdh/socially anxious. it’s just like… wow you’re normal, we get it. i now sporty extroverted and apolitical people who claim those labels now… because they self-diagnosed on the internet…
your obsession with labels is def on par for the streotype of a SJW.
everyone i know who is one IRL is obsessed with labels and labels everyone else and themselves and acts upset if you don’t buy into their labeling nonsense.
I’m not personally big on labels (that’s part of why I’m not sure of my gender- I just don’t really care how people perceive me, so it doesn’t seem like a priority), nor do I ever introduce myself like the above irl. Very few of the people in my life are aware of all of the above, but it’s relevant for the post, so I looked for all the labels that fit.
This isn’t a topic that consumes me, it just occurred to me that I check off a lot of boxes even though I don’t think I seem to.
you’re not ‘big on labels’, but you used like 20 of them in reference to yourself…
you don’t see the hypocrisy here?
I’m aware of labels, but don’t typically use them, unless they’re relevant, like here. Not sure where you’re seeing hypocrisy, but it seems like you’re reading a lot into this that isn’t there.