10-03-2023, 03:31 PM
(10-03-2023, 04:54 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: Has racism increased in the region in the past few years? I definitely feel like it has, just perusing the Waterloo subreddit. More complaints about "foreign students", foreign drivers, people not speaking English.
I don't think people's internal views regarding race/ethnicity shift at nearly the speed that you're observing in public discourse. The other option is that the increase in racism is stemming from the newcomers themselves, which while I think is probably true outside of this discussion, is definitely not what you're referring to and is not who is leaving the comments you're reading online.
Rather, I think what you're observing is a shift in the environment causing greater contact between diverse cultures and thus more opportunity for conflict. In my own opinion, what you're observing is multiculturalism as it has functioned throughout basically the entirety of human history up to and including today.
I think it's also important for this discussion to not conflate critique of culture and cultural issues with racism.
(10-03-2023, 02:31 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: Leaving aside the question of what the level of immigration should be (I mean, I'm of the opinion that more open borders are a good thing--but I also live in the EU)...
You also, perhaps not consciously, moved to a less diverse place (especially compared to SW Ontario) and one that has more or less rejected multiculturalism.