I nostri

Sto rileggendo un libro über. Tanto über che devo parlarvene per una cosa che mi riguarda. Non solo me ma l'ambiente, i padagni indigeni locali di qui e il loro presunto razzismo, argomento --purtroppo-- tornato molto di moda.
Ed è quello che salta fuori continuamente quando per dire uno che non conosci, che non abita al di fuori di dove sei stato dici "uno non dei nostri".

Richard Wiseman (nomen omen) racconta anche di questo in Quirkology, libro che trovate anche in italiano ma che io ho preso nella versione originale (non era ancora stato tradotto e Richard rockz!).
Facciamo che copio l'inzio del Capitolo 6, poi ne faccio il riassunto ridotto veramente all'osso. Vado.

The Psychology of When We Help and When We Hinder

In the early 1930s, Richard LaPiere, a psychologist from Stanford University, spent several months driving up and down the West Coast of the United States with one of his Chinese students and the student’s wife. The couple had been born and raised in China and had only recently moved to the United States. To them, LaPiere appeared to be a genial professor who had kindly found the time to show them around. In reality, they were unsuspecting guinea pigs in a secret experiment that LaPiere was conducting throughout the trip.

The idea for the experiment had occurred to LaPiere when the couple had first arrived at the university, and he had taken them to the main hotel in town. A relative rarity in the United States of the 1930s, Chinese people were frequently subjected to a considerable amount of blatant prejudice. According to LaPiere, he approached the hotel with a sense of trepidation because it was “noted for its narrow and bigoted attitudes toward Orientals.”

LaPiere went to the reception with his two friends and nervously asked whether they had any rooms available. To LaPiere’s surprise, the clerk didn’t display the prejudice for which his establishment had gained a considerable reputation, and instead quickly found them a suitable accommodation. Curious about the discrepancy between what he had heard about the hotel and his experience with the receptionist, LaPiere later telephoned the hotel and asked whether they would have a room available for “an important Chinese gentleman.” He was told in no uncertain terms that the hotel would not provide accommodation.

LaPiere was struck by the difference between how people said that they would behave and how they actually acted. But he realized that his experience in the hotel could just have been atypical. To investigate the issue properly he would need to repeat the same scenario with a far larger number of hotels and restaurants, and that is when he hit upon the idea of taking his two Chinese colleagues on an experimental road trip across the United States.

The journey involved driving 10,000 miles, and visiting sixty-six hotels and 184 restaurants. At each hotel and eatery, LaPiere had his student ask about the possibility of accommodation or food. LaPiere then secretly noted whether the request was successful. The results from this initial part of the study replicated his earlier experience. His two companions received pleasant and helpful service almost everywhere they went, leading LaPiere to conclude that “the ‘attitude’ of the American people, as reflected in the behavior of those who are for pecuniary reasons presumably most sensitive to the antipathies of their white clientele, is anything but negative toward the Chinese.”

Six months later, LaPiere conducted the second part of the study. To each of the hotels and restaurants that they had visited, he sent questionnaires asking: “Will you accept members of the Chinese race as guests in your establishment?” To help hide the exact purpose of the study, this question was one of many; the other items on the form inquired about whether each establishmentwelcomed Germans, French, Armenians, and Jews. The results made for disturbing reading. More than 90 percent of the respondents checked the “no, Chinese people are not welcome here” box, and almost all of the remaining 10 percent went for the “uncertain” option. LaPiere received only one “yes” response. This reply came from a hotel that LaPiere and his students had visited a few months before. The owner had added a short note to the questionnaire saying that the reason she would welcome people from China was because she had recently enjoyed a nice visit from a Chinese man and his sweet wife.

OK, riassunto: negli anni '30 uno psicologo trova che il razzismo verso i non nostri c'è, è diffusissimo ma trovandosi di fronte a uno di loro (o, in questo caso, una coppia) non produce l'effetto previsto (che cu UAU!)

Qando si dice la combinazione, il giorno precedente la lettura del capitolo uno dei nostri stava relazionando a un altro nostro che si poteva fare quella roba con Giovanni. Giovanni chi? Il rumeno di M... quello che ...
Ah! non solo qui nei dintorni c'è un rumeno che fa il contadino ma è dei nostri.
Restano piccole cose da aggiustare, per esempio il nome: Giovanni. Ma si usa ancora? Io credevo di essere l'ultimo. Davvero. Giovanni ce la sta metendo tutta, fino a ieri era Ioan o Ion o Ionel o Ionica.

Insomma tra la teoria e la pratica ci sono discrepanze e, sopratutto, si può fare! (cit.).