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by stagas·7y ago·view on hn ↗
I'm visibly not German as well, so I understand what you are saying. Though, I believe it is better than non-looking cultures, because now that they are looking I have the chance to portray the image of who I am, which is a non-hostile, open and warm person that I believe to be, and most of the time this non-verbal communication is picked up by the person staring and I get an attitude shift that corresponds to my attitude. If you immediately feel threatened by the stare, that will be displayed on you, and that will make others look at you even more cautiously. It is not the staring the problem, it is the solution. It is a body language and it can be used collectively for acknowledging who is fit and who is not for the community and also a non-violent ostracization when that one feels so uncomfortable that flees. In a non-staring culture, people never get a chance to read you, they simply glimpse and then immediately make a judgement based on their own presuppositions and then treat you as such. Not in Germany, they will stare until they understand.