Seriously, I’ve been called an ILLEGAL for being from a Spanish-speaking country and coming to the U.S. with paperwork. Also, my friend’s weird dad saw my name on a social media account when my friend was texting me and he said I was a “typical Mexican”. I am a white European Spanish woman, why do people assume I’m automatically Mexican?

  • GreenBeard@lemmy.caEnglish
    39·
    1 month ago

    Significant portions of the demographic you identified don’t realize New Mexico is in the US, and couldn’t find Canada on a map, and you’re expecting them to realize there’s more countries than just Mexico to the south?

  • Baggie@lemmy.zip
    14·
    1 month ago

    This is a funny question in the context of the sub, because it’s not that the question is stupid, but the answer is.

    They’re incredibly stupid. They may not know of Spain, or any Spanish speaking culture. They’re also incredibly reactionary, and egocentric, which means they may not have rubbed the two brain cells together to realise there are other possibilities than what has been parrotted to them for the past few decades.

    Actually if I were you I’d be very careful with being in America right now. Like in general, but also the rascist rhetoric is getting pretty strong over there.

    • Cyrus Draegur@lemmy.zipEnglish
      41·
      1 month ago

      Yeah, OP, Baggie has a point. Coming to the United States now, especially now of all times, is similar to buying tickets to board a sinking ship. It’s not just a waste of your resources that isn’t worth it; this shithole country might get you killed and even European folks who natively speak languages other than Spanish are in danger here and getting detained just for being here. People are dying in ICE custody, being raped by border patrol “agents”. If you have the means, please consider escaping with your life WHILE YOU STILL CAN.

      • blarghly@lemmy.worldEnglish
        42·
        1 month ago

        Holy shit the doomerism is off the charts here.

        I was literally in an arena filled with thousands Mexicans and Mexican Americans last night, watching a Mexican band absolutely bring the house down. There was a big Mexican flag on stage while they sang about their amor, their pickup trucks, and how much they love being vaqueros. Everyone was having a good time, the show went off without a hitch, and everyone went home happy except anyone who died in a drunk driving accident.

        Obviously what ICE is doing is bullshit, and they and their leaders should be sent to an El Salvadorian prison. But jesus tittyfucking christ - if you actually believe the shit you just said, then you either aren’t actually in America - in which case, shut the fuck up - or you havent left your house in 6 months and are surviving by doomscrolling and stockpiling your own urine - in which case, also shut the fuck up.

  • JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.socialEnglish
    13·
    1 month ago

    The US has been drowning in assholes & idiots for the longest time. Now it’s official, from the top on down.

  • Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world
    12·
    1 month ago

    It’s not as simple as “they’re stupid” (which they are.) It’s a symptom of their in-group vs out-group thinking pattern. They don’t think the differences between other countries matter, because they’re all “others” as far as they’re concerned. So they paint foreigners with the same brush and leave it at that.

    As to why “Mexican” in used in particular, I think other commenters make a good point about Mexico being the most prominent Spanish-speaking country to people in the US. They don’t see as many people from Spain, so that’s off their radar. If my upbringing in a racist area is anything to go by, “Mexican” became the default long ago.

  • communism@lemmy.ml
    9·
    1 month ago

    You’re in the US. Mexico is next door and speaks Spanish. A much higher proportion of Spanish speakers in the US are from Mexico than from Spain, which is across the ocean. If you were in France and identified as a Spanish speaker, many more people would think you were from Spain.

      • communism@lemmy.ml
        1·
        1 month ago

        Where did I say or imply that Mexico and Spain were the only countries?

        Spain has a distinct accent if you are a Spanish speaker. If you don’t speak Spanish, it’s likely you wouldn’t know the difference between different Spanish language accents.

  • Arthur Besse@lemmy.mlEnglish
    5·
    1 month ago

    for one thing, you’re in a country where this once happened 🤦

    I am a white European Spanish woman

    Race is a social construct and in the eyes of your friend’s racist dad you are apparently not white (even if he might have classified you as white if he had only your appearance to go by and hadn’t seen your name).

    Here are a few somewhat relevant wikipedia articles:

    and also, outside the US:

  • tomiant@piefed.socialEnglish
    4·
    1 month ago

    I am going to chalk that one up to prevalence. 20% of the US population is Latin*, half of which are Mexican. The brain kind of works like that, we presume the most common in lieu of other information. If most Spanish people they interact with are Mexican, they will presume Mexican. In your case, of course, they additionally held some preconceived bias about what “Mexicans” believe or act like, and seeing that you spoke Spanish and or said things that fit that cognitive model, it strengthened their (likely largely unconscious) decision to pigeonhole you as Mexican.

    (Dumb) people have a need to express the differences they see in others. I have some Ukrainian blood and live in a Western European country, and I get a lot of “Where are you from?” (“I’m from here” “Yes but where are you originally from?” “I am originally from the capital of this country, where I was born” “Yes but what about your parents, or their parents?” “Sigh…”)

    * in the broad definition