Hrm, addition to my first post because of the 4300 chars max and because I had it as an afterthought:
I think the main difference between the German (and probably European but I don't want to speak for any other country since cultural differences between European countries are probably graver than cultural differences between for example federal American states) way of thinking and the American way of thinking is that we kind of skip the whole self-evaluation thing (like, you know, "I'm a German without a migration background, I'm middle class, I'm East German, I'm a woman, I'm from an urban background...").
The privileges thing baffles us and would for example make us go "What does me being a German without migration background have to do with recognizing that not inviting someone to a job interview because they look like or their name sounds like they're of Turkish descend is wrong? Why do I have to acknowledge that I don't have a migration background first when I know full well that stereotyping is bad without it? Huh?"
Or "Why do I have to acknowledge I'm straight to be able to recognize gay couples should have the same rights as heterosexual couples? This is the 21st century, of course I know that family and love are possible with all kinds of constellations. What does my sexual orientation have to do with that?"
We just take it as a given that not treating people who are equal equally is wrong, no matter where we stand. Well, mostly... at least we've come far enough that men are able to recognize that the fact that women still make 25% less than men on average in their wages is a bad thing without first having to point out to them that this is a problem for the whole of society, not just for women.
There's still a lot of discrimination on various levels and of various groups but apparently, we kind of skip the whole consious self-assessment of where we stand before pointing out a discrimination. Maybe that's really the biggest difference.
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I think the main difference between the German (and probably European but I don't want to speak for any other country since cultural differences between European countries are probably graver than cultural differences between for example federal American states) way of thinking and the American way of thinking is that we kind of skip the whole self-evaluation thing (like, you know, "I'm a German without a migration background, I'm middle class, I'm East German, I'm a woman, I'm from an urban background...").
The privileges thing baffles us and would for example make us go "What does me being a German without migration background have to do with recognizing that not inviting someone to a job interview because they look like or their name sounds like they're of Turkish descend is wrong? Why do I have to acknowledge that I don't have a migration background first when I know full well that stereotyping is bad without it? Huh?"
Or "Why do I have to acknowledge I'm straight to be able to recognize gay couples should have the same rights as heterosexual couples? This is the 21st century, of course I know that family and love are possible with all kinds of constellations. What does my sexual orientation have to do with that?"
We just take it as a given that not treating people who are equal equally is wrong, no matter where we stand. Well, mostly... at least we've come far enough that men are able to recognize that the fact that women still make 25% less than men on average in their wages is a bad thing without first having to point out to them that this is a problem for the whole of society, not just for women.
There's still a lot of discrimination on various levels and of various groups but apparently, we kind of skip the whole consious self-assessment of where we stand before pointing out a discrimination. Maybe that's really the biggest difference.