America, we need to talk...

[ChinRey]

1 hour ago, Caroline Takeda said:

If you do not have a German ID or German passport you are not a German, no matter how often you claim to be.

It is really that simple.

No, it's not as simple as that.

But yes, that is a part of it too and a part we shouldn't ignore.

[Janet Voxel]

17 minutes ago, Drake1 Nightfire said:

Why is any continent a continent? Because someone a long time ago said so and everyone agreed.. Screw it, since all land above water is touching below the water, lets just say its all one continent called Earth. Lets go even further and say there is only one race called, Human. If we all agreed on that one there might be less war in the world. 

One Vision!

[Theresa Tennyson]

1 minute ago, Drake1 Nightfire said:

Why is any continent a continent? Because someone a long time ago said so and everyone agreed.. Screw it, since all land above water is touching below the water, lets just say its all one continent called Earth. Lets go even further and say there is only one race called, Human. If we all agreed on that one there might be less war in the world. 

Everyone didn't agree.

This whole thread is basically about language. Ultimately things are what they are; language is a tool to communicate. The real question is whether what we say is useful to communicate.

A big factor here is context. As it happens, I'm currently studying the Japanese language, which is incredibly dependent on context. Things completely change their meaning depending on the situation and the rest of the sentence.

Now let's look at the OP. Panties were bunched because an American said, in response to a question as to whether they were Catholic, “Yes, he’s Polish and I’m Irish.” They were not saying, 'We're not American, we're...', they were indicating, in response to that question, 'Yes, as we both grew up with an ancestry that was traditionally Catholic.'

If they were saying that sentence to a customs official it would be fraud.

But they weren't. They were using a sort of linguistic shorthand that was suitable to answer that question.

If that bothers you I hope you refer to your lunch using by using your soup's official name on the can, which is "Italian-Style Wedding Soup."

[ChinRey]

10 minutes ago, Theresa Tennyson said:

Why is Europe a continent?

There are several theories but the concept of Europa and Asia as seperate areas of land goes back to ancient Greece and it seems to simply have been a distinction between east and west. Thi became more relevant when the Roman empire split and more or less establihed as we know it today during the rule of Charlemagne.

Some scholars believe that  the words "Asia" and "Europa" but such a direct correlation has never been adequately proven ond isn't widely accepted.

[Syo Emerald]

 

30 minutes ago, Drakonadrgora Darkfold said:

It is 'not' their choice or decision and never was or ever will be no matter how much they might try and claim or think or believe or demand or say it is.

Again, you or anyone can claim whatever they want. That is indeed nothing that can be taken away from you. But what you can't demand is that everyone else isn't going to treat you as the village idiot.

34 minutes ago, Drakonadrgora Darkfold said:

You do not have to have lived there or know the language or history or current social/political/economical situation of there to be of or from there.

Actually in order to be from somewhere, you have to have been there at least once. Just to make that clear. Nobody is denying you that great, great, great grandfather either. You can tell people all you want that your ancestors came from this or that place 250 years ago. What people do find annoying is adoption of a foreign identity out of novelty and parading it around, like its a purchasable gimmick. Especially when this ignorance leads to ameri-splaning to a native what their identity is about.

42 minutes ago, Drakonadrgora Darkfold said:

Again the responses in this topic sort of smell as anti-americanism.. basically people getting upset that some american may be trying to steal or devalue their heritage that they are overly proud of.

You know who is the country known for being overly proud and patriotic? I'll give you a minute to think about that glashouse.

43 minutes ago, Drakonadrgora Darkfold said:

You live in america.. you can't be from my country.. how dare you smudge my countries name with your american thoughts or beliefs...

You dont know enough about my country or its history or language so you cant claim to be of my country...

how dare you try to claim to be from x when you are 'only' from y in my limited delusional arrogant opinion and view.. because I say otherwise...

stop stealing my countries culture... stick to your own where you belong... you filthy american..

stop making my country/culture/hertiage seem like just some label you can slap on yourself.. your not allowed because I say so!!!111!!!

You sound like you have a lot of internalized insecurites regarding the USA. You are the one being arrogant and entitled. And if someone is against you, its anti-americanism.

49 minutes ago, Drakonadrgora Darkfold said:

at the end of the day your opinion and view and thoughts and feelings and likes or dislikes are completely irrelevant to them even if you dont like it or want to claim or say or demand or think or feel or believe otherwise.

If anything and anyone is so irrelevant (as you often like to claim), why are you always so angry and aggressive? Aren't you always eager to point out how superior and mighty you are? So why do you even get so worked up about someone saying "No"? All I see is an angry toddler stomping their foot on the ground.

52 minutes ago, Drakonadrgora Darkfold said:

smells like there are some neo-nazi's in this thread too.

Please, go full Godwin. You are a bold one, you don't need to hide it in small caption. Make a full *****storm on fire out of it. Your accid is already leaking in at least one other thread, so you can just go all in and blow this one up.

[ChinRey]

23 minutes ago, Drakonadrgora Darkfold said:

But drake1.. then I could not say I was superior or better than you!!!111!!!

This may get out of hand so just in case, perhaps we should draw a line between patriotsm and chauvinism:

• Patriotism: My people/nation is as good as anybody else's
• Chauvinism: My people/nation is better than everybody else's

Or to ou it another way, patriotists are proud of what they are, chauvinists are proud of what they aren't.

Edited July 24, 2020 by ChinRey

[Theresa Tennyson]

1 minute ago, Syo Emerald said:

You know who is the country known for being overly proud and patriotic? I'll give you a minute to think about that glashouse.

Deutschland, Deutschland über alles?

[Syo Emerald]

1 minute ago, Theresa Tennyson said:

Deutschland, Deutschland über alles?

A line that has been scrapped for good reasons.

[ChinRey]

7 minutes ago, Syo Emerald said:

You know who is the country known for being overly proud and patriotic? I'll give you a minute to think about that glashouse.

"Known for" does not count as proof.

The fact is that Germany has a history of being one of the most tolerant and least racist nations int he world. THis is a tradition that goes back to even before it became established as a nation.

But yes, that one time they went the other way, they really went all they way, no half measures! This was almost a century ago and people are still talking about it today.

I think there's a very important lesson for us all there, especially in these troubled times. What happened in Germany during the 1930s and early 1940s can happen anywhere. There's nothing special about Germany that made it more vulnerable to being taken over by racist extremists than other nations.

 

[FairreLilette]

6 hours ago, ItHadToComeToThis said:

Again. I am not saying that people can't honour their heritage, research their family tree or even claim a descendancy from said specific country. That is all fine and well. If you want to dress up in lederhosen once a year, put your hair in pig tails and dance round a campsite drinking beer and eating bockwurst celebrating your German heritage then by all means go for it. But, unless you know the political, social, historical aspects of the country, that you would gain from having actually lived there for an extended period, as well as all the other experiences of living in that country then you can't honestly say that you are a German because you have never experienced life as a German. By all means you could say "My great great great grandfather came from Germany in 1843 with nothing but a straw hat and a pan to find gold" and be proud of that, but, that doesn't make you "A German" that makes you "Descended" or "Part" German. Someone born in 2004 would probably be looking at themselves in reality as like 1/512th German. My original query though was more....why

It's part of life; it's part of one's roots.  The Queen of England is often referred to as German.  Though when I say the Queen of England is German, I mean of German heritage.   I'm just saying it the lazy way.  

Are the Royal Family German?

The British royal family is said to be German because, basically, of the Hanoverian (Georgian) dynasty. ... The current royal family descends directly from these people, and their family name was deliberately changed from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor during the First World War.

Edited July 24, 2020 by FairreLilette

[Drakonadrgora Darkfold]

40 minutes ago, Syo Emerald said:

 

Again, you or anyone can claim whatever they want. That is indeed nothing that can be taken away from you. But what you can't demand is that everyone else isn't going to treat you as the village idiot.

Actually in order to be from somewhere, you have to have been there at least once. Just to make that clear. Nobody is denying you that great, great, great grandfather either. You can tell people all you want that your ancestors came from this or that place 250 years ago. What people do find annoying is adoption of a foreign identity out of novelty and parading it around, like its a purchasable gimmick. Especially when this ignorance leads to ameri-splaning to a native what their identity is about.

You know who is the country known for being overly proud and patriotic? I'll give you a minute to think about that glashouse.

You sound like you have a lot of internalized insecurites regarding the USA. You are the one being arrogant and entitled. And if someone is against you, its anti-americanism.

If anything and anyone is so irrelevant (as you often like to claim), why are you always so angry and aggressive? Aren't you always eager to point out how superior and mighty you are? So why do you even get so worked up about someone saying "No"? All I see is an angry toddler stomping their foot on the ground.

Please, go full Godwin. You are a bold one, you don't need to hide it in small caption. Make a full *****storm on fire out of it. Your accid is already leaking in at least one other thread, so you can just go all in and blow this one up.

typical response from you. it was expected you would reply in that manner.

I do not have any insecurities at all, it is people that get annoyed by others making a claim to be of or from an area that does.

the rest of your comments pretty much sum up what I said about this topic being more about the perceived idea that someone is stealing their culture unfairly.

Im not angry or aggressive, if you think this is me being angry or aggressive you know so very little about me at all. there you go again making judgments about people thinking you know them better then they do themselves. i will be waiting for you to try and turn this statement against me too like I know you will want and try and do so.

if you think this is me being acidic or venomous.. you really have no clue at all. this is not even level 1 acidicness..

seems I touched some sore spots for you. you might want to look at that. perhaps you should see a counselor about your insecurities.

And regardless if you like it or not others peoples opinions and views are mostly irrelevant most of the time to everyone else. they dont have to agree or like what you say or think or feel ever. that is a serious delusional and arrogance problem you have there.

and how I chose to respond in any topic is none of your concern, its not for you to decide how I should or should not respond and never was or will be ever. if ya dont like it you can just ignore me like others have. I have no problem with someone being insecure and doing that.

and trying to act superior by bringing up godwins law is pretty sad really. attempting to use some random persons saying as some high brow insult is pretty sad really.

Edited July 24, 2020 by Drakonadrgora Darkfold

[Drakonadrgora Darkfold]

23 minutes ago, ChinRey said:

This may get out of hand so just in case, perhaps we should draw a line between patriotsm and chauvinism:

• Patriotism: My people/nation is as good as anybody else's
• Chauvinism: My people/nation is better than everybody else's

And see that is my point a lot of people are acting chauvinist in this thread by trying to say no one else can claim to be of 'or' from some other place then where they currently live or was born.

Edited July 24, 2020 by Drakonadrgora Darkfold

[Akane Nacht]

22 minutes ago, Drakonadrgora Darkfold said:

this topic being more about the perceived idea that someone is stealing their culture unfairly.

I don't think "stealing" culture is possible. Humans freely mix cultural things (food, clothes, language) all the time. 

The bloodlines thing is where I am more skeptical. Supposedly 1 in 200 men are descended from Genghis Khan, but they don't all go around calling themselves Khan Jr. 

However it's totally cool to love Mongolian Metal. The Hu rocks.

[FairreLilette]

5 hours ago, Alwin Alcott said:

yes but the point is; you'r not allowed to question USA things, they have all rights to question the world, and force their ideas allover the globe, if you do other way you'll end with the mind your business attitude, insulting, discrimitation or even the racism card.

Could you elaborate on some particulars here, and you are not allowed by whom?   

The USA holds the world's reserve currency.  So, it is a super power.  However, the USA is not the only super power in the world.  

As a result of the Bretton Woods Agreement, the U.S dollar was officially crowned the world's reserve currency, backed by the world's largest gold reserves. ... Although there have been periods of stagflation—high inflation and high unemployment—the U.S. dollar has remained the world's reserve currency.

SUPER POWERS

These countries include the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Japan, France, Germany, United Kingdom, China, Russia, and the United States. US, China, and Russia are considered the top three most powerful superpowers, as they are the most influential globally.

[Drakonadrgora Darkfold]

1 minute ago, Akane Nacht said:

I don't think "stealing" culture is possible. Humans freely mix cultural things (food, clothes, language) all the time. 

The bloodlines thing is where I am more skeptical. Supposedly 1 in 200 men are descended from Genghis Khan, but they don't all go around calling themselves Khan Jr. 

However it's totally cool to love Mongolian Metal. The Hu rocks.

Its not possible but some people like to think it is and get defensive about it. or they like to think that such behavior is an insult to them and their feelings about their culture. 

cultural appropriation. there is a big stink about it by several different groups on the internet.

OMG stop claiming to be something your not! Stop disrespecting my culture!

[Ceka Cianci]

there are a couple physical test someone hasto pass to becoming an American..

Here's one..

[Drakonadrgora Darkfold]

4 minutes ago, FairreLilette said:

Could you elaborate on some particulars here, and you are not allowed by whom?   

The USA holds the world's reserve currency.  So, it is a super power.  However, the USA is not the only super power in the world.  

As a result of the Bretton Woods Agreement, the U.S dollar was officially crowned the world's reserve currency, backed by the world's largest gold reserves. ... Although there have been periods of stagflation—high inflation and high unemployment—the U.S. dollar has remained the world's reserve currency.

SUPER POWERS

These countries include the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Japan, France, Germany, United Kingdom, China, Russia, and the United States. US, China, and Russia are considered the top three most powerful superpowers, as they are the most influential globally.

points a finger at herself and others that have a similar view about this topic in their eyes no doubt.

[FairreLilette]

35 minutes ago, ChinRey said:

The fact is that Germany has a history of being one of the most tolerant and least racist nations int he world. THis is a tradition that goes back to even before it became established as a nation.

I think there's a very important lesson for us all there, especially in these troubled times. What happened in Germany during the 1930s and early 1940s can happen anywhere. There's nothing special about Germany that made it more vulnerable to being taken over by racist extremists than other nations.

 

No, Germany invaded Poland in World War I also.  That is when my Grandmother and Grandfather fled from Poland in 1917, my grandmother with just one steamer trunk that later became mine - World War I, not World War II.  

Edited July 24, 2020 by FairreLilette

[Syo Emerald]

25 minutes ago, Drakonadrgora Darkfold said:

Im not angry or aggressive, if you think this is me being angry or aggressive you know so very little about me at all.

I'm purely making my statements based on what you write here. This does not require an indepth knowledge of you as a person. If you write in an angry manner and throw wild accusations of people being anti-american and nazis around, that speaks for itself.

25 minutes ago, Drakonadrgora Darkfold said:

if you think this is me being acidic or venomous.. you really have no clue at all. this is not even level 1 acidicness..

And here you go again, acting all though, telling the world what a badass you are and bragg about how toxic you could be. Should I be impressed by your edgyness?

25 minutes ago, Drakonadrgora Darkfold said:

seems I touched some sore spots for you. you might want to look at that. perhaps you should see a counselor about your insecurities.

"You don't know me. You are so judgemental" -> Starts giving armchair psychology lessons.

26 minutes ago, Drakonadrgora Darkfold said:

and trying to act superior by bringing up godwins law is pretty sad really.

So you feel that I'm attacking you by bringing myself in a "superior position", because I pointed out, you were defending your position by calling "some" participants in this thread Nazis? There is nothing about superiorty to simply point out, what you willingly wrote. If anything, I admit to taunting you to show us your supposed levels of venom, which you are so proud of. Didn't you once also brag about, how you could destroy people? Now come on, show something.

[FairreLilette]

5 minutes ago, Drakonadrgora Darkfold said:

points a finger at herself and others that have a similar view about this topic in their eyes no doubt.

You yourself don't want people to say certain things?  

IMO, this thread is toxic.  It will be shut, I'm sure.

 

[Drakonadrgora Darkfold]

16 minutes ago, Syo Emerald said:

I'm purely making my statements based on what you write here. This does not require an indepth knowledge of you as a person. If you write in an angry manner and throw wild accusations of people being anti-american and nazis around, that speaks for itself.

And here you go again, acting all though, telling the world what a badass you are and bragg about how toxic you could be. Should I be impressed by your edgyness?

"You don't know me. You are so judgemental" -> Starts giving armchair psychology lessons.

So you feel that I'm attacking you by bringing myself in a "superior position", because I pointed out, you were defending your position by calling "some" participants in this thread Nazis? There is nothing about superiorty to simply point out, what you willingly wrote. If anything, I admit to taunting you to show us your supposed levels of venom, which you are so proud of. Didn't you once also brag about, how you could destroy people? Now come on, show something.

you are cute ya know.. dont stop being you. I really needed the laugh.

its not worth my time or energy to go above what I do here as it is. 

taunt all you want, you will come up wanting every time.

psst.. there are no arms on my chair.. so got it wrong again..

Edited July 24, 2020 by Drakonadrgora Darkfold

[Drakonadrgora Darkfold]

4 minutes ago, FairreLilette said:

You yourself don't want people to say certain things?  

IMO, this thread is toxic.  It will be shut, I'm sure.

 

no. its that some here think that me and others wont let them say what they want without us replying in a negative manner that does not agree with them, so they feel they cannot reply or else be attacked in their view aka being insecure...

Edited July 24, 2020 by Drakonadrgora Darkfold

[CaerolleClaudel]

15 hours ago, Lindal Kidd said:

While you are correct, Molly, ItHadTo is calling out those U.S. citizens who identify only, or primarily, as something other than "American".

(I should also point out that calling yourself an "American" when speaking to a citizen of any other North or South American country can ALSO be seen as offensive.  They're 'Americans' too.)

That's why I use the term USian.

[Luna Bliss]

13 minutes ago, Drakonadrgora Darkfold said:

you are cute ya know.. dont stop being you. I really needed the laugh.

its not worth my time or energy to go above what I do here as it is. 

taunt all you want, you will come up wanting every time.

psst.. there are no arms on my chair.. so got it wrong again..

I've agreed with much of what you've expressed but uhhhh

 

[FairreLilette]

17 minutes ago, Drakonadrgora Darkfold said:

no. its that some here think that me and others wont let them say what they want without us replying in a negative manner that does not agree with them, so they feel they cannot reply or else be attacked in their view aka being insecure...

Oh.

Well, this thread is kind of silly really.  I've referred to the Queen of England as German as her lineage is German, but what I really meant was she is 'of German heritage'.  Many of us say things the lazy way.  

Our ancestors or predecessors traversed all over this globe for millennia.  We are all a bit of everything.  

Edited July 24, 2020 by FairreLilette