Although kinda small, in this pic, they look a lot alike.
IMHO
Are some people just more “visually attuned” than others? I’m not an especially visual person, but I notice even the most minor differences in any kind of sound or posture, and especially in speech patterns.
My children go to an incredibly multi-cultural school and they can detect subtle differences in appearance and language which I wouldn’t even notice.
I know that I could always tell the identical twins with whom I grew up apart, but when I reflect on the “why” I suspect it had far more to do with their individual mannerisms and speech patterns than it did with any visual cues I could identify.
See, I’m not attuned at all. I am ashamed to say this, but all the Asians I tutor look the same to me. They are not and when I put forth the effort, I notice striking and not-so striking differences, but if I don’t consciously think about it, the differences just don’t register.
Other examples, I can’t tell “identical” twins apart at all. My best friend had twin brothers, I knew them for 12 years. I never, ever could do it.
I should add, it’s not just my Asian students. (In case the twin thing didn’t clarify.) I don’t really have a memory for faces at all, and it takes a long time before I can recognize someone instantly.
anyway, that’s my 2 cents on why the Barber brothers (to me) look nearly identical.
Visa, again I am sorry. Link:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=146324
It’s kind of interesting that just as there’s not a chance in this world that I would ever mistake an Australian Aboriginal for a Maori or a Tongan (all “Pacific Islanders”) let alone for an African American or a Pakistani or a West Indian or some other person whose most notable visual feature is dark skin, my children don’t EVER confuse the ethnicity of their fellow students who could be generically described as “Asian”.
I suspect that what they are really noticing is a combination of visual appearance, mannerisms, and use of language, but they seem to call WHICH region of Asia correctly every single time (and many of their peers have been born in Australia of Asian parents, so I have to believe that it’s nothing quite so simple as accents).
Salesclerk: Mein Gott! Der doppelt-schwarz uber mensch!
Tiki: What’d she say?
Ronde: I’m not sure, but if she begins singing Wagner be prepared to beat feet.
Just a sidenote, but I do hate referring to them generically as “Asians”. I just don’t know what country any of them are from. They come in, I read their paper, correct their English, do the tutoring thing, and they leave. The subject of where they are from rarely comes up…
Perhaps the key is exposure PLG. Just as Brits find it hard to believe that people can’t tell the difference between English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh accents, and North Americans can’t understand that people confuse US and Canadian accents, and Australians can’t believe that you people in the Northern Hemisphere could even THINK that we talk the same way as our New Zealand friends across the puddle, we can notice differences between people of other ethnicity because we come into contact with so many of them on a daily basis.
The majority of schools in our area have a predominant population of “Asian” students, closely followed by “Arabic” students. Pacific Islanders are also a major ethnic group in our schools. Perhaps our children learn to differentiate between the individuals on a group for the same reason adults do - when there is only one, they are clearly identifiable; when there are many, we start to notice their “differences” from each other (as opposed to their differences from “us”) rather than their “sameness” to each other (that came out sounding really bad and racist but I’m trusting my fellow Dopers to understand the concept I’m articulating badly).
And PLG, this post was NOT meant as a side-swipe as you. I’m very bad at picking Asian ethnicity. My kids are great at doing so. I kind of figure that’s because they come into contact with far more people of Asian origin than I ever do and because their peers point out to them the differences between the various Asian cultures.
I most certainly didn’t mean to imply that you should be able to read a paper written by a student or see them occasionally and be able to deduce their cultural heritage. I’m sorry if youtook my post that way - it truly wasn’t intended. Rather, I was exploring in totally the WRONG forum, what makes ethnicity of any kind “visible” or invisible" to us as individuals.
Sorry PLG, I hope that you know that I adore you and would never intentionally make a post which might make you feel uncomfortable. 
Oh, no, reprise, I didn’t think you were doing that at all! I’m sorry I quoted what you said in my post, it was just something that made me think about it because I do feel bad that I don’t know enough to know the differences between nationalities.
I would never assume that you would take a sideswipe like that!
Now quick, let’s hug in the Pit before anybody notices us…
Actually IME most North Americans can’t distinguish US and Canadian accents either.
Slightly off topic, but I recall reading a study where people of one ethnic group had trouble telling individuals of another ethnic group apart. IIRC had to do with the brain focusing on characteristics that it found to the most different for memorizing faces or something and skin color is definitely one of the most distinguishing characteristics of a person. There may have been a bit about exposure lessening or nullifying the effect but I’m kinda sketchy on the details and a quick google didn’t turn up anything on the study.
In effect what the study said was that people of a given ethnic group don’t look alike, just that people of a different ethnic group may have trouble telling the difference.
This would work in well with the trouble people have distinguishing accents most different from their own if those other accents are from the same geographic area.
But like I said, this is from memory and I can’t find a link so make of it what you will.
Don’t make me get a stick and seperate you two.
This is yet another one of those examples of a Pit thread from which emerge genuine issues which many of us would like to discuss civilly.
I think it’s about time the Pit mods started scolding us for having reasonable discussions in the wrong forum. 
::humbly prostrates herself before Lynn:: (while offering large bribes of Godiva chocolate for Lynn to overlook this particular transgression of the Pit rules)
Ummm Actually the commericial is asking for id on a written check
Since visa has a check card with your pic on it I’ts supposed ot be easier to use check cards than writing a check … at least id wise anyways
I agree. They need to protect us. From The Terrible Secret of Space.
At one point, I worked very closely with a black guy. We got to be good friends and spent a lot of time together, both on and off the job. People would often call me, the whiteboy, by my black friend’s name. Equally often, people would call my black friend by my, the whiteboy’s name. When called by my name, the black guy would respond by saying that I wore glasses and he didn’t and that was how people could tell us apart. When called by his name, I would respond by saying that he was somewhat taller than I and that was how people could tell us apart. Maybe he and I should have done a Visa commercial.
Christ, I know I am chiming in late on this, but the 2 guys are identical twins dumbass.
Canadians are the ones saying “aboot” all the time.
Question for the OP:
Even if you didn’t know they were twins, didn’t it occur to you that the two people looked… well… strikingly similar?
…or did it occur to him to wonder why two black men would knowingly take part in a commercial that perpetuates the myth that “all blacks look alike”?
I guess that same lack of common sense is what allows him to make the cute “Hitler’s dream” reference about the white female clerk. :rolleyes: