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What do visitors expect Paris to be like? What do they find instead? The article is missing this critical piece of information.
I guess it's expected to be self-evident. Expectation of Paris: "the city of light", "the city of love", the home of iconic structures such as the Eiffel Tower, home of fashion, moulin rouge Reality of Paris: construction, traffic, fences, security, getting scammed on the street... a normal city
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Which part is the racist dogwhistle?
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> What would you "expect" the French to look like Like French, like Europeans. Must France be a “melting pot” too? Why do Americans project so much?
It's extremely odd that you assume it's Americans who would be the only ones to call out a racist dogwhistle, when some of the most "progressive" countries in the world are in Europe. I'm skeptical of the idea that a French person is necessarily white - nationality, race, ethnicity and citizenship can (and many times are) not all the same, yet "French" can refer to any one or more of them.
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"People are absolutely not what you’d expect french to look like ( and i’m not talking about size)" What would you "expect" the French to look like, that they do not look like in Paris (while cities in Europe are all much more non-white than the countryside, which for the commenter does not have the same problem)? This is a dogwhistle.
> What would you "expect" the French to look like Like French, like Europeans. Must France be a “melting pot” too? Why do Americans project so much?
Many immigrants in Paris who "don't look French" are from former colonies that still speak French to some extent. Keeping Paris white would be denying part of France's history.
What do visitors expect Paris to be like? What do they find instead? The article is missing this critical piece of information.
It specifically says towards the bottom that in Japanese magazines, they depict Paris as being filled with people so thin they look like stick figures and that only wear high class fashion.
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I think you're being downvoted for having a negative viewpoint, but what you said is very accurate. I'm not French, but I've spent some time in France and loved it. France is a gorgeous country and people were generally friendly and welcoming, Paris is the exception. There are parts of Paris which are nice, but a significant chunk of the city is exceptionally dreary (partly due to architectural design, heavy use of b…
The OP is probably being down voted for the racist dogwhistle in their comment.
“Renoux indicates that Japanese media, magazines in particular, often depict Paris as a place where most people on the street look like "stick-thin" models and most women dress in high fashion brands such as Louis Vuitton.”
Your personal biases made you assume the previous commenter strictly implied race/color.
As other people say, medium sized cities are gentler, and countryside is friendlier.
e.g: was lost in a small town, and after roaming around in front of some tiny store, the cashier came out proposing to help me. I didn't even try to ask her from outside, she naturally took the initiative.
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Because the only two characteristics Parisian people have are size and race? The very Wikipedia article we happen to be discussing contains " ...Renoux indicates that Japanese media, magazines in particular, often depict Paris as a place where most people on the street look like "stick-thin" models and most women dress in high fashion brands such as Louis Vuitton ...".
Are you familiar with the concept of euphemism and dog whistles? Please tell me what visual (since OP mentioned how Parisians "look") characteristic you presumed OP had in mind.
Are you familiar with the concept of confirmation bias? Look hard enough for something and you'll see it ... whether it's there or not.
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There was a HN discussion here recently which made me realise, not even Japan is without racism. There is racism there towards all kinds of people, those with family trees originating in the ancient lower caste, people with Korean heritage, the ainu, and most of all, towards people who are visibly different.
- When interacting with locals, always start off by saying Bonjour Monsieur, Bonjour Madame. That will help disarm cranky Parisians. If doing an AirBnb make sure to do this when seeing people on the “palier” — stair landing in Parisian apartment buildings.
- Consider going to the top of the Tour Maine-Montparnasse, instead of the Eiffel Tower. You will have 1/100th the foot traffic and you won’t be surrounded by pickpockets. Plus you’ll be able to see the Eiffel Tower :-)
- Check out and buy food from the local street market in your area.
- My favorite thing to do in Paris still is flâner — to stroll about the lovely city.