Originally Posted by
Krautwald
Well. I have worked in several countries, some of which have a VERY different mentality and values than mine. While I would never use the r-word, I am pretty sure I have been subject to an attitude that ranked me somewhere considerably lower than the natives, especially since I had to work for a living instead of enjoying the luxurious citizen status there. So that exists everywhere, and is by no means exclusive to Europe. If you ever heard some Chinese comment on Africans for example, youŽd have no further questions. That said, even if everybody tries to do their best to remove that from their attitude, there is still a bottom line of values that are not racist but legitimate in order to make things work, and I think we have already seen it in this thread in the form of "pride culture" vs. "criticism culture".
Assuming both are legitimate (although personally, I see the oppressive side of "pride culture" as an objective problem especially towards weaker groups, women etc.), this is what may be behind many experiences with "racism": not being on the same page of the book. I will give an example: My wife is a doctor and once had a younger "pride culture" colleague in residency. He ended up f**** up an operation in an inexcuseable way: not only did he alter the plan for the operation, he altered it to include a surgical technique he was not cleared for on his own, and he also performed it wrongly and punctuated heart tissue. And then while the patient was turning critical and the senior nurse stopped the show and called my wife as a senior doctor, he avoided answering clearly, so that the other staff had to find out what was wrong with the patient. Patient made it, but it was about to go wrong. The junior doc did not contribute to clarifying the situation. Now why did he do those things? He was certainly not an evil person, but the debriefing showed that he COULD not admit himself to be anything but the king of the hill. It was so ingrained in his self concept that this is what he owed to himself, his family, his role etc. They could not write this in the concluding report of course but it was the pivot of the problem: his idea of himself, and his willingness to aggressively defend this idea against the reality of his limits.
So when he ran into a situation that needed to be altered, he didnŽt ask for supervision. When that alteration required a special technique, he didnt call a senior doctor and say "I cannot do this yet". When he made a grave mistake, he did not admit it, stop himself and call for assistance. And when he WAS stopped, he was not able to tell the story of how he made three big fat mistakes. And I literally mean "able to". "This was all my fault, nobody elses". "I have to correct myself". "I am sorry". "This was beyond my abilities". "I am not yet at the top of my game". where not part of his inner vocabulary. The only self image he could muster and bear, was "I am second to none and always right". Whoever told him that wasnŽt true (for anyone!), had a problem and was being unfair or respectless.
Now, in Europe in general, some degree of self restraint and humbleness are part of the desired values in a human being. Do we have people who lack both, yes we do but they are regarded as slightly deviant. An aggressive "pride and honour" concept of oneself will rank somewhere on our "psychological immaturity" scale. While in other places, it is the only way to get anything in life at all. That is not racism, it is diversity. Some things will simply not integrate with some other things and vice versa. In critical functions such as aviation, being self critical, putting yourself second, and being able to handle AND admit/discuss your own mistakes and inabilities PUBLICLY, are absolutely mandatory to achieve proficiency. You will also receive same criticism from others / externals. Situations such as live flight lessons, assessment for cadet programs etc. will screen you for these things. I think that is what some of the posters here meant: you cannot give the impression that you react emotionally upset. It is a show stopper. You could be the most tall, blonde, blue eyed Swedish posterboy in the world, if they feel that you have a too big, unhealthy ego, you are out.
So, surprise: to be considered for a demanding and critical teamplayer role in Europe, you need to be European enough in your overall attitude. In synch with how things are done.