Re: If you're Pakistani and you're mistaken for an Indian...
Mujhe to yeh samajh nahi arahi why do people expect others to know what every race and ethnicity look like? Pakistanis and Indians are very mixed to begin with. Hardly anyone in either country is pure racially. This is so idiotic!
This is the point.
Just appreciate the diversity, and move on. If certain people from certain areas look the certain way, then there's a whole history behind it. If you want people to appreciate your local population characteristics and appearances, then that doesn't mean you should go around dismissing the appearances and characteristics from areas different from your own, to prove your point.
Crying about skin colour and what not is getting sickening, and I mean that for both sides. Bury this debate for goodness sake.
Re: If you're Pakistani and you're mistaken for an Indian...
If you go back to the premise of the original post, the person mis-identifying is not doing it to intentionally insult you. They are just playing the odds. There are about 1.8 billion people in south asia and 1.1 billion are indians. Which means, when they see a south asian, and they call them indian, they are right over 61% of the time. There is no need to get offended.
It also depends on the location. If you are in a masjid, chances are they will identify you as pakistani. If you are in a bar, they will probably think you are indian or worse a hindu.
Re: If you're Pakistani and you're mistaken for an Indian...
^ I understand this argument - this makes sense that there remains long-standing animosity which affects how Pakistanis and Indians don't want to be confused for one another. Loyalty to the nation-state is a very interesting concept (Machiavelli's The Prince is a great read on this topic) and the examples that Icono has provided demonstrate that soul-deep loyalty.
But the earlier point by Mezghan about how some Pakistanis take it as a compliment to be thought of as Arab or Persian or Greek - that's where I see the hypocrisy. And I've seen it in quite a few individuals (girls and guys ) where they consider it to be the highest compliment to be mistaken for a Spanish or Greek person - where's the cultural/national pride then?
And it's not just a new/Western generation thing - I've seen moms and dads who are fresh off the boat from Pakistan proudly proclaim that their child was mistaken for ______ (insert light-skinned, non-South Asian ethnicity/nationality).
Let me hunt up the thread posted some time back on exactly that topic....
I think I had already mentioned, being mistaken for Indian is a totally different thing. If someone gets offended for being considered brown and he is a brown, then I will understand the hypocrisy. We are talking about being considered Indian. With 3 wars between two nations, threat of a nuclear war, ongoing hostilities at border, and in every international organisation, its very understandable to be offended.
Sorry to say but our nation has a huge psuedo superioririty complex purely based on some fake standards of looks. Those of us who are justifying that we should feel offended if mistaken for an Indian, would be extremely delighted if someone would mistake them for Afghan or Persian.
Re: If you're Pakistani and you're mistaken for an Indian...
I see your point about mistaking for Indian vs mistaking for other nationalities...but...
With 3 wars between two nations, threat of a nuclear war, ongoing hostilities at border, and in every international organisation, its very understandable to be offended.
... you are expecting the person mistaking you for an indian to know all this AND know how sensitive you are about it? A majority of the times they are just being nice when they bring up your nationality, not trying to insult you.
Re: If you're Pakistani and you're mistaken for an Indian...
^I agree with you, but there are some who will refuse to acknowledge this willingly, such as OP. Similarly, as I said, If you call a Korean, Japanese, he will be offended, despite acknowledging that looks are not different.
Re: If you're Pakistani and you're mistaken for an Indian...
Sorry to say but our nation has a huge psuedo superioririty complex purely based on some fake standards of looks. Those of us who are justifying that we should feel offended if mistaken for an Indian, would be extremely delighted if someone would mistake them for Afghan or Persian.
I think it has been mentioned that its not about looks but the history between the two countries.
Re: If you're Pakistani and you're mistaken for an Indian...
I for one take absolutely, and I really mean absolutely, no delight whatsoever in being called Arab or Persian. But then again, I don't wear Hijab nor tank tops with shorts nor I do drag queen make up so that totally rules out the possibility of being confused as an Arab. In fact, I've told been told numerous times that I look very Pakistani, now whatever on earth that means, because if GS posting trends can be taken as a pilot study, apparently there's is no such thing as looking Pakistani. Yes that's right, there's an entire country called Pakistan with 180 million people but there is no such thing as looking like Pakistani. All Pakistanis are either Indians or Arab clones. Now I have no problem considering myself extremely unique and special, but this is borderline spooky stuff.
Re: If you're Pakistani and you're mistaken for an Indian...
Sorry to say but our nation has a huge psuedo superioririty complex purely based on some fake standards of looks. Those of us who are justifying that we should feel offended if mistaken for an Indian, would be extremely delighted if someone would mistake them for Afghan or Persian.
This is the entire gist of it.
It has nothing to do with history or this or that. It has to do with our general idea of Indians being dark and ugly and Pakistanis believe they are fair and bootiphul.
Its a fake superiority complex.
It also makes me wonder if this is an issue deeper rooted...why do we enjoy creating and standing on differences? Being similar to someone, anyone is considered an insult - even if its another Muslim.
And if its a dark South Indian Muslim - you just might have to rush them to the haspataal.
Re: If you're Pakistani and you're mistaken for an Indian...
I think it has been mentioned that its not about looks but the history between the two countries.
But it's not exclusively about history between the countries - there is a sense of superiority that is not exclusively justified by nationalism. If that were the case, some of those people who get mistaken for Arab, Greek, Spanish wouldn't consider that to be a compliment. Like I said before, where's the national pride in those cases?
Oh and another thing, where is the distaste for all things Indian when they thumka laga to bollywood songs at weddings or think it's a compliment to be compared to Aiswarya Rai or Salman Khan as opposed to the average Indianv
It's seems to be a case of cherry-picking and taking what you like and discarding what you don't and what suits the individual.
Re: If you're Pakistani and you're mistaken for an Indian...
But it's not exclusively about history between the countries - there is a sense of superiority that is not exclusively justified by nationalism. If that were the case, some of those people who get mistaken for Arab, Greek, Spanish wouldn't consider that to be a compliment. Like I said before, where's the national pride in those cases?
Oh and another thing, where is the distaste for all things Indian when they thumka laga to bollywood songs at weddings or think it's a compliment to be compared to Aiswarya Rai or Salman Khan as opposed to the average Indianv
It's seems to be a case of cherry-picking and taking what you like and discarding what you don't and what suits the individual.
I think I mentioned that we didnt fight three wars with Arabs, Greeks or Persians. Are you suggesting that those Irish who get offended for being called English are Racist? or have some superiority complex? What about Croats or Serbs or Bosnians?
Re: If you're Pakistani and you're mistaken for an Indian...
But it's not exclusively about history between the countries - there is a sense of superiority that is not exclusively justified by nationalism. If that were the case, some of those people who get mistaken for Arab, Greek, Spanish wouldn't consider that to be a compliment. Like I said before, where's the national pride in those cases?
Exactly..
Also, it's an exaggeration to say the average Irish or Welsh person will feel 'insulted' at being mistaken for English by a stranger because they're so nationalistic.. That's a stretch and a very poor attempt at justification for some Pakistanis feeling offended at being mistaken for Indians.. Likewise they don't really go around saying 'we're much better-looking than our neighbours' lol..
Many English ppl are descendents of Germans (Anglo Saxons anyone?) inc members of the royal family, so not sure how it would be possible to tell the difference between the two which someone mentioned earlier.. People in a lot of countries realise they're a mixture of different groups that can also often be found in other nearby countries and so find it a bit ridiculous to feel offence at these sorts of comments..
I think those who have an inferiority complex because of darker skin tones, have just as much hand in perpetuating a negative stereotype, as their lighter skin toned counter parts.
And lol whoever thinks punjabis are mostly fair skinned, has probably never set foot in punjab. Or is just lying and exaggerating to prove their point. Same goes for entire Pak.
As for why people get mad when their nationalities are confused, cmon people this isnt rocket science. Some people may be more proud of their origins than others. Its not so hard to see why some may get a little fiesty when they are mistakenly associated with a nation that isnt their own.
Also, pretty shocked at some of the views on here. It seems the jahalat that many claim is the source of problem in Pakistan, thrives in many overseas Pakistanis.