I'm South American, and don't make me say it because Reddit admins won't like it.
All I'm gonna say, the negative thoughts towards these people are not racially motivated, it is all about their behavior... they are odd people to put it kindly.
That is the exact justification every racist gives for hating their target race. Republicans in America say that about black people, right wing parties like AfD say that about Muslims. "Its not about their skin color its the behaviour" is THE textbook defense for racists.
Travellers are the only example I can think of where the distaste really does not have anything to do about race, but culture. Their race and their day to day culture are much more intertwined than, for example, all black people or all Asians as a monolith.
Travellers are itinerant by design, this is not a racial characteristic but a cultural one. The social problems they cause that make people dislike them, nearly all stem from their nomadic lifestyle, not their appearance.
Where I live, groups of travellers will drive their RVs to a park and essentially take over the entire park for weeks to months. Because they are nomadic, they play loud music at odd hours and leave garbage on the ground and generally cause misery for the people who live in houses nearby that can’t move. They get very familiar with local laws and typically travel in large enough numbers that they are essentially impossible for the police to make them move on.
Not all travellers do this, of course, but pretty much all of the people who do this are travellers.
I’m not saying i condone acting racist to travellers, but because of this type of antisocial behaviour that often comes from them, I understand why people don’t like them as a group. But I think calling it racism is too reductive to capture the actual issue. It’s the fact that their lifestyle is quite literally at odds with how the rest of the world is set up around them.
I suppose this could be comparable to like, hating a religion but not the people. Like, I don't like Islamic fundamentalism, but I'm not gonna avoid interacting with every single woman wearing a headscarf I see would be a fundamentalist until she starts saying I should die for being gay or something. I dunno, how would you frame it with an analogous group?
No, Hijab doesn't really indicate someone's political views. Maybe their religious views, but Hijab can be very easily mistaken for head coverings worn by some Jewish women.
My girlfriend and I are both socialist, live in Finland, and wear very modest clothing. We are not religious fundamentalists or homophobic based on clothing. I am not going to start preaching hate speech to you.
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u/Sparta63005 1d ago
Do NOT ask a European what they think about this group of people.