I am among many who assumed Europe was more highly evolved than the U.S. on issues of tolerance. I feel paradoxically relieved and subdued at the same time. Relieved to realize that the idea of emigrating is a useless way to try to escape provincial ignorance, and subdued to realize that intolerance is so pervasive on a global scale. I’m just so sorry for others with similar stories; Many cannot begin to comprehend what life must be like as a persecuted minority, with no escape.
Unfortunately, this isn’t a new thing and more people should be talking about studying abroad in a manner that discusses the issues of racism, sexism, etc that can be experienced. For as long as we live there will racists around. You can’t control that. You can, however, control our own reaction to these racists. I challenge you, for your own good, to let their slights (and their beer) roll right off you. Don’t be a victim. Be strong. Be bigger than those small-minded people who insulted you. Pity them, perhaps even return their hate with love, and above all, refuse to let stupid words from a stranger leave a ‘deep scar’ on your heart. Don’t give them that power.
Some may say the solipsism on display here is remarkable. It never happened to me in Italy, so it couldn’t have happened to you… you brought it on … get a grip on your attitude, it isn’t that bad. A denial is a form of prejudice, not as over the top as beer in your face or racial assault certainly, but hardly subtle. The capacity to listen to another person’s experience without inserting oneself into the narrative is not so hard to do – and it indicates how secure and emotionally developed we are.
But let’s call a spade a spade and acknowledge that Many Europeans are not the most accepting of people that are not like them. Dante wrote disparagingly of them in the Divine Comedy and was exiled from the city for aligning himself with a certain political faction. Even after his political troubles passed, he never returned to the city and died and is still buried in Ravenna. City fathers often requested that his body be repatriated but the answer that always came back was NO. Must have been in his will.
My long love affair with Italy was over. I wish humans around the globe would be better people.
