belM, I think you and I are just alike, in re: wanting to get to know people! Sometimes, you can just tell that someone is going to be "your kind of person", and in those cases, I just want to say, "Quick, tell me the essentials so we can get the real conversation going"!

Apparently shanks has not seen your post yet. I hope I'm not giving the wrong interpretation here, but I didn't have the impression he was embarrassed about where he's from.
Though I do know that some people are, right here in the USA; from here, that is, not immigrants.

I guess that, when one has been burned, esp. repeatedly,
that one learns to be wary of being burned again. The
theoretical conversation he posted sounds to me like typical human ignorance. Very different from deliberate
taunting/threatening, but still wearisome to have to deal with again and again, and again... Kind of like a very tall student whom people automatically assume must be on the basketball team, or maybe, that all Kentuckians are
barefoot hillbillies. (No danger of that happening to me, folks. But I've been given expressions of surprise that I and my fellow Kentuckians weren't.) Oh, dear, this is starting to sound very reminiscent of a post I made
long ago, but I'll say it again--I think the only thing we can do to combat ignorance is to do it one step (person) at a time. It's too overwhelming to think of changing the whole world.

I think you are right when you said a lot depends on how
inquiries are put. If it is obviously from friendly interest, surely not too many people would take offense.

Judging by his post in response to mine, I have to say that
I believe our sweet shanks can roll with the punches and come up smiling. Right, Sweetie?