America, we need to talk...

[Isabel Serpente]

On 7/23/2020 at 6:42 PM, ItHadToComeToThis said:

So, I have recently started to get into the Netflix series Queer Eye, so far I am obsessed. However, what is the deal with you all claiming to be from every other nation on earth than the one you ARE actually from and why is that the first thing you seem so desperate to tell people, even though they never asked?. Why are you so ashamed to just simply be American?.

For example. Early on in the series there is a woman who is asked “I see a lot of crosses on the wall are you guys Catholic”. Her response, “Yes, he’s Polish and I’m Irish”. I didn’t realise that they were sects of Catholicism but whatever, has this lady ever lived in Ireland, has she ever grown up in amongst Irish Celtic culture, has she lived through the Irish troubles, are her grandparents, parents etc first generation immigrants?. Has he ever lived in Poland, can he speak Polish which is one of the hardest languages on earth, does he understand anything about Slavic culture?. Nope, but she can cook one whole single Irish dish though!!.

Another example later on in the series is a lady of Mexican decent who describes herself as a “chica” who is so adamant that “being Mexican is what she is” because “I like low rider cars”. Now, can this lady cook any Mexican food, speak Spanish, know ANYTHING about the culture AT ALL....well she has eaten Tapas that her gran makes for her, that’s about it. She even goes as far as to claim that her fathers desire to give her a normal life “stole” her culture away from her. Like...what....

It is not a phenomena solely found on Queer Eye though. Literally every American I talk to / am friends with will desperately try to convince you that they are “Irish Russian British on my dads side” and “Australian Icelandic French on my mother’s side”.

The cold harsh truth is...no...you are not. You are American, you were born an American, you grew up an American, you live like an American and you will die an American. I would understand if perhaps, you had been born in said country and emigrated with your parents and had lived in and experienced said culture, spoke the language etc etc. Or, if your parents are first generation immigrants and have first hand experiences available to pass down to to teach you the exact specifics of that culture. But, 100 years later when the closest experience you have if a culture is knowing how to cook a few meals and, in the case of the Irish claimers, drinking a Guinness on St Patrick’s day then no...no...no...just stop...stop...it’s okay...it’s okay to just say “You know, I am just an American and that’s okay”. To claim otherwise on the basis that you know how bake a croissant and drink wine by the riverside is not exactly honouring a culture is it.

I mean. I am descended from a JewIsh lady but you don’t see me whipping on a Tichel and dancing up and down the town singing in Yiddish. Why?, because I am not Jewish. I am about as far away from being Jewish as you could possibly get.

America. It’s time to move on from this nonsense. It’s time to just accept your fate. You are American, you have always been American and you will always be American. And...that’s okay. It is OKAY to just...be American. It is okay for your heritage to be a bag of chips, dip and Jerry Springer. You got this

Sorry for revive this post.. I was looking for something and your title catched my attention.

You must be from Europe or any other part of Asia, because if you are from America, you will know that America is a CONTINENT, and Americans are those born from Canada to Chile: North America, Central America and South America.
Naming "Americans" to US citizens is stealing the identity of more than 50 countries (except for the ones that are british colonies)

It is an old discussion and the ones that are fed up with it are the, of course, US citizens.
It is like China decided to be named "United States of Asia" and all their inhabitants are naming themselves "Asians", ignoring the rest of Asia that has many countries and millions of Asians too... and then, the rest of the world goes along with it, like it is right.

Regarding your question, I remember a Family Guy joke, when Peter and Brian enter an Italian shop and he started to "speak" italian. 
And then I remember that tv show hosted Buddy Valastro, a guy that speaks english with italian accent, and of course, as you said: never lived in Italy, he isn't italian.  HE IS RIDICULOUS!! As any other who do that.. I mean, english isn't even a latin language... It makes no sense at all.  Sound like a joke.
I speak Spanish and live in a country were most of their inhabitants has, specially in the capital, some sort of italian accent.  And sounds nice, why? Big Italian heritage, and spanish is a latin language, just like Italian.

[ItHadToComeToThis]

You are reading far too deeply into my definition of who qualifies as "American", triggering yourself way too much and I think you know full well I was talking about the USA and what the world considers to be culturally American and the identity of said "Americans" as opposed to geographical borders.

This conversation was killed for a reason, it was becoming too much of a hot topic and caused a lot of arguing.

Please do not continue it.

Edited September 1, 2020 by ItHadToComeToThis