Question: Do you prefer reading blogs written by bloggers from your own ethnic background?
This can be a very serious question, if you try to apply it to yourself. Do you prefer reading content produced by bloggers whose ethnic background is the same as yours? Do you prefer linking or commenting on blogs written by people from the same ethnic background as yourself?
More and more bloggers are trying to link only to bloggers of the same ethnic background
I am seeing an increasing trend where many online bloggers are helping and linking mostly to bloggers from their own ethnic background only. This is probably a trait carried on from the offline world, where one prefers and gives better treatment to people depending on their ethnic background. By ethnic background, I am referring solely to the ethnic background of a person, and no other connection.
The blogs in question could be about any topic, but a person, or you, may prefer linking or reading them simply because the blogger in question is of the same ethnicity as yourself, and not because of the topic in question. In the process of doing so, a person is deliberately ignoring people from other ethnicities, simply because they are from a different ethnic background.
Is your favorite blogger giving preferential treatment based on ethnic backgrounds?
Check out majority of the top blogs on the internet today, including all the ones you visit each and every single day. Check out this very site too, and check out your sites too if you have one.
If many of the top blogs do not usually link to each other based on the amount of income one makes, then many of those blogs prefer linking to each other based on their ethnic background affiliations. Do you also notice such a trend?
Some people can mix ethnicity to country affiliations too. Americans preferring American bloggers, Australians preferring Australian bloggers, Brazilians preferring Brazilian bloggers, Canadians preferring Canadian bloggers, Chinese preferring Chinese bloggers, French preferring French bloggers, Indians preferring Indian bloggers, Japanese preferring Japanese bloggers, Mexicans preferring Mexican bloggers, Vietnamese preferring Vietnamese bloggers, and so on. Instead of using the internet to be more equal and to do away with racial and ethnic differences, we are using the internet to increase the awareness of such socially constructed differences even more.
A brief view of a brief summary my view on ethnic backgrounds and affiliations
The topic of how much I dislike ethnic affiliations requires a book of its own. I personally oppose any idea of preferential treatment based on ethnic identities. I consider everyone, including myself, to be equal unless and until someone brings me back to my senses by asking me about my ethnic background and by making me realize how different or same of a human being I may be in the eyes of others. For me, ethnic identification is just a stereotype, since every human being is unique and has her or his own abilities that may be similar to the abilities of other people.
I dislike talking about my ethnic background, since in my view talking about such a thing does nothing but give others better ways to stereotype. I am me; judge me, if you must, based on how I act and based on how I think and based on what I feel, and not based on how some specific group out there may act or think or feel. “You are from Japan? No wonder you like sushi. You are of African decent? No wonder you like rap music. You are American? No wonder you support any and all wars. You are European or Middle Eastern? No wonder you oppose any and all wars. You from the same ethnic background as me? We are good friends already! You have the same ethnicity as me? I will treat you better, and you should treat me better too.” All pure rubbish views, in my view, because they are derived solely from stereotypes based on ethnic generalities and assumptions. I do not care what your ethnicity is. All I care is how you have and will act around me and others, and towards me, others and yourself, and why. Thats is it. Nothing else matters to me when it comes to me respecting you. Absolutely nothing.
Do you prefer linking to, or reading things by bloggers who are of the same ethnic background as yourself?
What do you think? Do you support the idea of linking to or reading blogs written by bloggers from the same ethnic background?
Please let me know what you think. Thank you.
Loading ...
( August 6th, 2007 at 12:55 am )
I like reading blogs of people from various ethnic groups.
( August 6th, 2007 at 2:00 am )
If I make any distinction, and I have done, the fact that they are are of a different ethnicity is purely incidental to the fact that I dislike what they say or how they say it.
What I mean is that it is the style or the message that I dislike and that may well be influenced strongly by the person’s ethnicity, but it isn’t their ethnicity itself that I make the distinction over, but the content.
( August 6th, 2007 at 6:04 am )
How can you tell what what ethnic background a blogger comes from? I wouldn’t know what background 99% of the bloggers I read are.
Here’s my rule, if a blog is good, it’s good. If it’s crap, it’s crap. Doesn’t need to be any more complicated than that! :p
( August 6th, 2007 at 6:20 pm )
I never pay attention. I know about a few but it doesn’t matter. I subscribe to blogs of Jews, Russians, Indians, Canadians, and probably many more that I don’t know about. However, I have noticed that a lot of Indian bloggers seem to be close.
( August 7th, 2007 at 2:44 am )
I agree with swollenpickles, if its good then its subscribed to.
I think a lot is down to language and people will feel more of a connection with someone who understands their issues and local culture. Although many english speaking nationals share the same language in many respects we are quite different.
Also it could be an effect partially down to google, if you do a search it will be targeted to your specific country so if you are searching for fellow bloggers you are more likely to find ones from your country.
( August 7th, 2007 at 6:10 pm )
Hey! I was wondering if you’d like to exchange links with me?
I never take the bloggers ethnic background into consideration. Knowing the race of the blogger in question doesn’t prevent me from saying or acting differently than I would to someone who has a similar background to mine. I notice that a lot too though, and if you’d like my opinion on it, I think its terribly wrong.
( August 7th, 2007 at 8:50 pm )
Honestly, I never usually know the ethnicity of the blogger. Sometimes I am surprised to learn it but it doesn’t matter to me.
( August 7th, 2007 at 11:29 pm )
I select the blogs I read and link to based on their content. I am however limited by language barriers. I can read English, French, Spanish and Romanian blogs only. But for commenting, I have a harder time in Spanish and French.
I did notice a trend resembling to what you mentioned. Bloggers linking to blogs of the same faith, interest or ethnic background. But I guess it is sometimes also a form of solidarity: help promote those in your country for example. But this only works in communities which are strong, not in those where harsh critic and envy are main traits.
( August 10th, 2007 at 5:09 pm )
[Sorry for the late response everyone.]
Casablanca Travel, thansk for commenting. Do you tend to look for various blogs written by different ethnic groups, or do you find yourself enjoying different blogs which are written by bloggers from different ethnicity?
Andrew Rickmann, thanks for the comment.
That is interesting. I have 2 questions please:
1 : Hmmm, do you mean different ethnicities talking about different things in different manners, solely because of their cultural upbringing which they actually publicize? For example, some ethnicity talking against the war or gay people, or something similar?
2 : In your 2nd paragraph, do you mean that you consider the ethnic background of a person an important element to consider, when analyzing the biased or balanced nature of an article?
swollenpickles, thanks for the comment.
That is good point; maybe I can update the article and add that information. Sometimes you can see the “About” section of a blogger where they will list their ethnicity. Sometimes you can read about it in one of their articles. You can sometimes also get a sense of ethnic affiliation by the kind of writing that one has, a bit similar to what Andrew said above.
Your 2nd paragraph is very interesting, and probably a very good philosophy in many cases. If one wishes to find out whether or not an article is biased, then what Andrew mentioned can help in finding out the reasons one wrote an article. If one realizes that an article has nothing to do with ethnicity because one uses logic and does not hide some facts or questions from the other side of the argument, then ethnicity should be ignored.
Jake, thanks for commenting.
Do you subscribe to those blogs based on their ethnicities, or you found out that the blogs you already subscribe to are run by bloggers from those different ethnicities?
Also, you said you notice Indian bloggers to be close to each other; is this in any kind of blog, or some specific kinds of blogs, and in what fashion if I may ask?
Matias, thanks for the comment.
I agree; language and connection plays an important role in taking a message seriously. Also, having different cultural values because of ethnic differences also sends different messages when talking about the same issue.
Heh, that is a very good point about Google. With more and more localization done by search engines, we are interacting a lot with other people around the world, but we are also placing a lot of value on things that are local. In my view, everything should be treated the same. Sure, finding a local restaurant is better, but finding a local blogger when citing any information can be a bit biased unless our topic revolves somehow around local bloggers talking about that topic.
Jennifer, thanks for the comment. I have a very simply and unique linking policy. Basically, you can link to me if you wish, and I will link to you without you having to link to me at all. Give me some time [a few days to a few weeks, if that is ok], I have been reading your blog since you first commented and hopefully will link to you if I am able to keep up to date with it. How does that sound?
That is good to know, that ethnic background does not bother you. However, what do you think of ethnicity when a topic that may be heavily influenced by the ethnic background of the topic participants?
Please: I would like to know your opinion on it. I can really help me and others, I think. Please share if possible.
lcd reviews, thanks for commenting.
Like I asked Jennifer above, do you think the ethnic background can ever play any important role when judging the validity or logical nature of balanced nature of any kind of topic or article?
Also, do you think it can be possible for you to add a name or something to your comment? With more and more people online using generic words, it can be hard to identify specific people. Please let me know what you think, thanks.
Alina Popescu, thanks for coming and commenting, I really appreciate it.
Language barrier is a good thing to consider. Do you think helping fellow country-people get promoted means preferring them over others?
Also, could you explain a bit more what you mean by the idea of helping others working only in strong communities and not weaker ones?
Thanks.
( August 10th, 2007 at 9:56 pm )
Bes,
What I meant was that I don’t care about ethnicity at all. I only care about content.
There are some cases where the content really matched the stereotype, comments about gay people is a good example, and that has made me stop reading a blog.
Those individual instances have not made me decide that as a rule I wouldn’t read content from that ethnic group, after all everyone is different, but it could be argued that the content that I so thoroughly disagreed with was a result of that individual being part of that group.
It stands to reason really that, no matter how much of a “live and let live” attitude you may have, if there are two groups with opposing views, and you are part of one of them, there is a strong chance you will dislike the writing of someone who is part of the other group.
There is, however, also a chance that you will love their content, so I wouldn’t rule them out on the basis that they are part of the group.
( August 15th, 2007 at 6:41 am )
Late to the discussion, I know, sorry, but this question caught my eye because I’ve been thinking a great deal about it lately, and just put a global translator plugin on my blog despite a surprising amount of conflicting advice about whether or not it’s a good idea…
Language is more important than ethnicity, I’d say, because at base the internet is all about communication. Does the blogger have something to share that’s of interest to me, and is he/she able to communicate it clearly? (Or am I able to understand it?)
That’s the crux of the matter, when it comes to investing my time in reading a blog… or not.
But that’s not to say that ethnic and cultural differences go unnoticed, entirely. Nor should we all be a uniform shade of grey. Being a Canadian is integral to my identity and style, so of course that background shows through in my blogging. In a practical sense, my background is the greater bulk of my experience — so it also defines, in part, what I am familiar enough with to be able to write about. That’s inevitable, don’t you think?
That said, as far as my own language limitations and those of the online translation services will allow, I do like to explore far from my own particular background. It’s one of the strengths of the internet, after all, as you point out — that we should be able to ‘travel’ more widely by means of the internet, and learn more about each other, break down those unnecessary barriers, and begin to see past the stereotypes. And what greater adventure could there be?
( August 23rd, 2007 at 9:44 am )
Andrew, thanks for clarifying. I really appreciate it.
You bring up a good point: even though it may not be considered good or bad to read or stop reading blogs based on the ethnicity of the blogger, some times the blogger in question is influenced heavily or in some manner by his or her ethnicity. Your comment has a very important point to it that I would like to repeat in this manner: if more and more people were considerate of the existence of other views, regardless of their own views, then there may be fewer conflicts.
I like your “two groups” example; it is very clear.
Thanks again Andrew.
Jes / domestika, you are not late at all!
I like people talking to me [and me talking to them], so in the future, you don’t need to worry about post dates at all. 
You can bring up a post from a year ago and I will be even happier, knowing that my thoughts are good enough to get your comment.
Hmmm, that is a very interesting point about language. Language is indeed important, and I can certainly relate to numerous situations where language played a a greater role than ethnicity in many interactions on many websites too, and thus I can realize that blogging can also be affected by the language it is written in.
Also, for me and from my personal experience, personal background experience is important, and not the personal ethnic and cultural background. Yes, we do get affected by it, but I also thing that it is not inevitable, and that it can be avoided. Me personally, I try to avoid it and try to focus more on the person, what they ae doing, and what they have done. If there is indeed a trait in their personality or character that is influenced by background ethnic culture, then sure I focus on it and keep it in mind. However, when possible, I try to avoid it, so that I can focus on an individual and not what an ethnic concept has dictated to them. I have noticed that there is less stereotype and more interaction and association if things like ethnic background and cultural background are not given more focus, though every situation is different. What do you think?
You are right about the internet offering us a way to remove some barriers like cultural or political barriers, and to view different people and different things equally. If that allows us to meet more nice people and to interact with them and to have outcomes that are beneficial to all or at least the parties involved without anyone innocent being targeted negatively, then of course you are right, it is a great adventure beneficial in many ways.
Thank you Jen. I really appreciate your comment.
( September 6th, 2007 at 11:09 pm )
Jennifer, I wanted to update this thread and let you know that I have linked to you; sorry for the delay. As I said before, you don’t need to link to me at all as an obligation unless you want to. Thanks again for asking.