Is it ethical to specifically aim to become friends with someone based on a single attribute such as ethnicity, nationality, sexuality, disability etc? For example, a British person deliberately putting in more effort to become friends with any Spanish person just because they are Spanish? I know this is an odd question but I wanted to get some different opinions. For me I would probably be fine with someone becoming friends with me just because I'm British I would be uneasy with someone becoming friends with me just because I'm white I would be unhappy with someone becoming friends with me just because I'm gay Does it bother you? Is it something you've ever done?
That's just tokenisation. I am not a fashion accessory. I will not treat people as fashion accessories. It's degrading, disrespectful and shallow. Certainly certain things do help increase the viability of new friendships (common interests, similar backgrounds and similar beliefs), but not in the sense of acquiring friends as if they were a collection to put on a shelf. If a British Spanish-speaker wants to make friends with a Spaniard because they love the language and culture, then that might be different. They could genuinely find a lot to bond over in the process of sharing and learning culture. It would be entirely different if I on a whim decided I wanted a mate in a wheelchair and actively sought one out. Depending on the reasoning, it can range from patronising to merely bizarre to downright offensive. So no, in the way you have put it, I think it is not ethical or acceptable.
It doesn't bother me... Maybe it depends on the attribute, though. It might seem strange in some cases.
I'm not sure, sometimes I find stereotypes to be fulfilled in some cases and actively seek the good ones. Other than that, friendship is broader than a common interest to me so I would ultimately seek someone who was far from one dimensional; and wouldn't care where they where from who they where what they do and how they describe themselves; we are still gonna be friends.
If they are of the same group and just want somebody that can relate to them, then I don't see an issue. I guess in most senarios I'd be a little creeped out but okay with it. I wouldn't be okay with being somebody's gay best friend though.
I generally pick friends based on personality. Their; orientation, race, religion, place of birth are usually not something I worry about.
It's fine with me if someone trans wants to be friends with me because I'm trans as long as that's not our only commonality. I mean we need people who understand us so we can talk over things but when we've exhausted that what else have you got? Similarly, I'm into noise, fashion, art, cosplay and manga/anime. Someone can friend me on any of those bases as well, but it's not going any deeper unless we have more to discuss!
For me personally, I make friend based on their personality rather than anything else. Tbh I don't really notice someones ethnicity, as I was brought up to think that a person is a person. However, I can see why someone would want to make friends with someone who spoke a specific language, if for example they wanted to improve their skills in speaking that language.
