America, we need to talk...

[KanryDrago]

1 minute ago, Drakonadrgora Darkfold said:

And you will always be seen as an arrogant delusional individual by them. What comes around goes around. 

Better than being an american

[Nika Talaj]

 

4 minutes ago, KanryDrago said:

merely american

Sooner or later, every bigot throws off their camouflage.

Again, relax.  We're all bigots, to one degree or another, about something.

Don't you think it would be better, tho, to acknowledge that about yourself, and maybe be just a little quieter about it?  Just a thought.

[Drakonadrgora Darkfold]

Just now, KanryDrago said:

Better than being an american

Your hilarious you know.. keep it up.. keep outing your self and how you think about others. 

[Solar Legion]

Congratulations Kanry - you've identified yourself unabashedly as part of the problem Humanity needs to move past.

[KanryDrago]

I thought this was the whole point of the other thread, the woke in sl one dont culturally appropriate I am merely getting with the program don't claim to be what you aren't. I said be proud of being american....why should the rest of us think of it as a good thing when so many of you spend all your time to try and avoid being it.....we take your cue from you if you want to claim to be irish based on an ancestor from 300 years ago rather than want to be american you insult not only the irish because you are not irish but all the americans of which you are one by implying being american is not good enough

[ChinRey]

1 hour ago, Nika Talaj said:

No Kanry, you should not shut up.  You should feel incredibly complimented

I can't speak for him of course but I certainly feel incredbily compimented.

In my first post I said it was very flattering and very embarrasing at the same time and I also more than hinted at a certain comical aspect of it. Let me try to explain this with a not perfect simile.

Imagine you have an old aunt who's brain doesn't quite work the way it used to anymore. So she starts responding to simple question with non-sequitirs, forgetting what happened the last decade or two, putting her overcoat out over night instead of her cat, serving her shoes for dinner,.... No, wait! not that extreme dementia but you get idea. She's still close family, you still love her dearly and most of the time she acts perfectly rational. But when she slips, it's funny because, well because it is funny. And it's embarrasing because she's close enough to you you identify with her. Her mistakes are your family's mistakes.

Our expats aren't loosing their faculties of course, they are genuinely living in a slightly different world. But the effect is similar in many ways. They haven't forgotten what happened over here the last few decades (or centuries) but that's only because they never knew in the first place. There are certainly non-sequitirs caused by simple misunderstandings and they do strange (to us that is) things because they miss so many subtle signals and are unfamiliar with so many small conventions in our current culture. They don't known how to dress for our climate, they get over-excited about mundane things like snow and northern lights etc., etc. Yet they are still very much part of, if not our family, at least our tribe. So when they mess up simple things, we do take it personally and are embarrassed on their behalf.

Edited July 24, 2020 by ChinRey

[Nika Talaj]

  

On 7/23/2020 at 2:42 PM, ItHadToComeToThis said:

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?...   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

 

22 hours ago, ItHadToComeToThis said:

That last part about the chips, dip and jerry springer was a joke.

Right, a joke.  Perhaps you don't know that for 4 years Americans have been listening to a certain politician explain away every racist statement he makes by claiming it was a joke?  So at this juncture you'll have to forgive me if I'm a little skeptical.

24 minutes ago, KanryDrago said:

why should the rest of us think of it as a good thing when so many of you spend all your time to try and avoid being it

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OK, being serious for a moment.  I find it hard to believe this is as much a problem as the two of you (there ARE two of you, right?) are claiming.  I know a WHOLE LOT of Americans, and although some are super proud of their family's various heritages, I don't know any who claim to BE another nationality.  I've also traveled fairly extensively, and I've never noticed any compatriots doing so either.  If it makes you guys feel better to believe that we're all like the wing nuts you see on Queer Eye, or that Americans loathe themselves so much that all of us claim to be some other nationality, OK fine.  But I think it's quite possible that you're projecting your own anti-Americanism onto others.

22 hours ago, ChinRey said:

Looking at this from the other side.

I sometimes encounter "Super-Norwegians" - Americans who are sooo proudof their Norwegian roots and soo keen on preserving their Norwegian heritage and culture. Only of course, their perception of "Norwegian" is very simplified and glorified and two centuries out of date. It's very flattering to a Norwegian of course but at the same time it's also very embarrasing. The clueless prodigal son who returned "home" after many years in Americay used to be a standard character in Norwegian comedy skits and always brought a good deal of laughter. Good-natured laughter that is but still definitely splastick comedy material.

I have some Irish friends who have told me they have similar mixed feelings about American "Super-Irish" and I suppose it's the same all over the world.

I don't think there is a textbook answer. I believe everybody should honor their roots and be proud of them, but remember, you are not your ancestors and they are not you.

This phenomenon, on the other hand, I find very easy to believe.  Americans not claiming to BE another nationality, but having some time-capsuled vision, carefully preserved in family tradition, of what current-day cultures are in other nations.  I know that in our family, folks carefully preserved customs from their rather small villages of origin in 'the old country', long after that country had MOVED ON!  Yes, it must be terribly embarrassing to have to deal with such visitors. 

[Lyssa Greymoon]

1 hour ago, Nika Talaj said:

Here's another way to look at it: it could be worse.  You could be from New Zealand.

/me sticks her tongue firmly in her cheek and claims: so far as I can tell, 1 out of every 10 Americans are rooting around Ancestry.com, desperately searching for some way to justify applying for citizenship to New Zealand.  Looking for that escape hatch in case Nov 3rd turns out to be a repeat of 2016!

What's that?  You think I'm making fun of the serious concerns voiced in this thread?

Ay-yup.

I was thinking of the Netherlands since, you know three hundred years ago. Is there a Harbor Freight anywhere near Eindhoven? 

[ChinRey]

1 hour ago, Nika Talaj said:

I know that in our family, folks carefully preserved customs from their rather small villages of origin in 'the old country', long after that country had MOVED ON!  Yes, it must be terribly embarrassing to have to deal with such visitors. 

Well yes, but on balance it is actually quite nice and if we take our culture so seriously we can't handle a little bit of embarrasment on its behalf we have a serious problem at hand.

An important sidenote: immigrant communities "stuck in the past" can be very valuable to historians, anthropologists and linguists since they often preserve old traditions and conventions that would otherwise have been lost and forgotten.

Edited July 25, 2020 by ChinRey

[FairreLilette]

1 hour ago, KanryDrago said:

Better than being an american

????????????????????????

[elise Voxel]

Well... I don't even know what this thread is about anymore

[Akane Nacht]

43 minutes ago, SassySam87 said:

Well... I don't even know what this thread is about anymore

pretty much sums up 2020 

[Drakonadrgora Darkfold]

1 hour ago, FairreLilette said:

????????????????????????

Yeah, he went all anti-amercanism like I called it earlier in the thread that some people were doing in the thread.

sometimes I do know what I am saying and why..

[ItHadToComeToThis]

12 hours ago, Bree Giffen said:

So we can change our sex at will but not change our nationality? It seems that if the barrier of genetics and biological science can be questioned then surely the social construct of nationality can be questioned as well. I feel like having instant ramen today, therefore, I am now Japanese! 

Just posting this here as it easily wins the "Most idiotic comment of the day award" and deserves to be immortalised for future generations who want to peer back into the annals of history to the dark age of the transphobes

[ItHadToComeToThis]

Also I should clarify a few things.

1. This is not anti-American thread or was intended as one. I have no issues with Americans. You are all funny, friendly, pleasant people who have done me no harm.

2. Whilst it may have gotten a little out of hand, it did answer some of the questions I had as regards why Americans are so obsessed with their genetic history and culture as opposed to their current actual situational culture. So for those that gave serious answers and arguments, thank you, it made for interesting reading.

3. I do appreciate that America is a country founded on immigration and I do understand that over the years America has had a struggle in figuring out what its actual identity is with so many cultures contained within that came together to form the nation. So, from that perspective I do understand to some extent why there is an obsession with genetic history and culture.  But, in the modern age, most of these people are natural born, home grown Americans who's cultural connections are at best wooly. It was more aimed at those who are like 8th generational Americans. Not those who's parents or grandparents are immigrants or they themselves were born in entirely another country as they still have some form of direct access to the experiences of either living there OR the experiences of those people who actually lived there and would probably be able to obtain some kind of citizenship should they choose. I am talking about the 8th generational American who claims to be "absolutely Irish" and thinks that being Irish is all about hanging up a shamrock, celebrating st Patricks day and "Mom makes Irish stew on Sundays". But, I think some of that has actually been answered through this thread which made for interesting and enlightening reading.

Finally. How about instead of continuing this and angering the Linden Gods we put this thread to rest and forget about it. I didn't intend for it to "kick off" in the way that it did and I think that everything that could be said, has been said.

Lets all go back to peace, tranquility and place of pure love that this forum usually is xD.......well okay.....maybe not.....but "I can dream Harold!!"

[Ceka Cianci]

I guess migration of a people must have ended when the U.S. was made..

That's gonna save me a lot of time.

I gonna have so much more room for activities now!! \o/

hehehehe

 

[Pussycat Catnap]

2 hours ago, ItHadToComeToThis said:

3. I do appreciate that America is a country founded on immigration and I do understand that over the years America has had a struggle in figuring out what its actual identity is with so many cultures contained within that came together to form the nation. So, from that perspective I do understand to some extent why there is an obsession with genetic history and culture.  But, in the modern age, most of these people are natural born, home grown Americans who's cultural connections are at best wooly. It was more aimed at those who are like 8th generational Americans. Not those who's parents or grandparents are immigrants or they themselves were born in entirely another country as they still have some form of direct access to the experiences of either living there OR the experiences of those people who actually lived there and would probably be able to obtain some kind of citizenship should they choose. I am talking about the 8th generational American who claims to be "absolutely Irish" and thinks that being Irish is all about hanging up a shamrock, celebrating st Patricks day and "Mom makes Irish stew on Sundays". But, I think some of that has actually been answered through this thread which made for interesting and enlightening reading.

You know...

I didn't start out living calling myself a mixed raced mulatto followed by a list...

Other people beat my awareness of it into me with their fists. Literally. And they gave it to me by enslaving some of my ancestors & raping one that is my direct ancestor. Putting one in a cage, and marching another on a death march in the dead of winter across this nation.

And now they want me to deny it, but I still see their fists, I still see them tear gassing people, I still see bodies in the streets. I may have put down my knife, but I will not put down who and what I am - I earned that with my own blood. I earned that with dead friends - which is not an exaggeration.

They want to forget what they did and are still doing, you want me to forget it... but people like me are still here, still breathing. Still defying their final solution.

Edited July 25, 2020 by Pussycat Catnap

[Alwin Alcott]

7 hours ago, SassySam87 said:

Well... I don't even know what this thread is about anymore

this thread was genuine and clear ..but of course some used it again for their own agenda's, sjw and other frustrations.

[Madelaine McMasters]

On 7/23/2020 at 4:42 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?

I've lived in the US for all of my 50 years and have never encountered the behavior you describe.

[Amanda Crisp]

On 7/23/2020 at 4:53 PM, ItHadToComeToThis said:

The rest of the world who have to put up with it. Americans are like a caricature of the heritage they claim themselves to be from. It is time to abandon this nonsense and move on from it. Time to claim their rightful heritage and just say “Yo guys, I am American”

Were you referring to the heritage largely perpetrated by Hollywood and Washington DC, or the real ones?

I was born and raised in Western America (cowgirl country), the ‘Murika I see so derided in the global media has very little to do with how I grew up. Neither did the pop culture depictions of our military match my experiences in Africa, Latin America and the Balkans.

I earned my PTSD trying to identify which religious/political zealots filled various mass graves (in countries with histories much older than mine) and my objective now is to live quietly and pretend to be as sane as possible 🙂  Frequently, I fail. The globe seems to generally be a messed-up place.

America is a mishmash and experiences will vary wildly from Urban to Rural. Thats about the best you can do with so many nationalities, belief systems and agendas under one roof. If you look at how rapidly the former Soviet Empire blew apart (also ethnically diverse and lacking a unifying identity that was *real* to its Non-Great-Russians) you see how fragile such things are.

Its impossible to accurately generalize about “America” due to its size, just as it was erroneous to generalize about “Soviets” back then or “Europeans” now. 

But people on all sides will anyway 🙂  Othering seems to be universal.

Still, I am an American by nationality and I have deep affection for my Home.

Home = “the people I grew up around and know personally.”  

I am a child of Rural America; I do the best I can to understand City Folks - but at least I’m polite to them.

 

 

Edited July 25, 2020 by Amanda Crisp

[Ceka Cianci]

When someone asks me where I'm from, I usually say, The States when talking to someone from across the pond.. Which in my eyes always seemed to be the best way to say it..

Then if they keep prying and asked Where in the states, which I would say the southern states..

If they kept prying and asking which one, I would say Tennessee..

If they kept prying  even further, I would say " Why, Are you wanting to come over and play or something"? \o/

 

 

hehehe

 

 

 

[Eddy Vortex]

When someone asks me if I'm this ethnicity or that nationality, I say "That's what my mother tells me, so I guess I must be."  I only know what my mother tells me, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. That usually shuts them down real quick with them rofl.

[Drakonadrgora Darkfold]

3 hours ago, Madelaine McMasters said:

I've lived in the US for all of my 50 years and have never encountered the behavior you describe.

I know.. never seen anyone directly claim to not be of america and only of xyz while being american. most of the time its 'yeah I have some (insert here) nationality in me.' its actually a big reason for some americans to want to travel abroad. to go the homeland of their forefather's and see what its like there out of curiosity or respect of their family line's heritage. And yeah while there if someoen asked them were they are from they might say 'well I had an ancestor that lived here but im from america'.

[Luna Bliss]

1 hour ago, Drakonadrgora Darkfold said:

5 hours ago, Madelaine McMasters said:

I've lived in the US for all of my 50 years and have never encountered the behavior you describe.

I know.. never seen anyone directly claim to not be of america and only of xyz while being american. most of the time its 'yeah I have some (insert here) nationality in me.' its actually a big reason for some americans to want to travel abroad. to go the homeland of their forefather's and see what its like there out of curiosity or respect of their family line's heritage. And yeah while there if someoen asked them were they are from they might say 'well I had an ancestor that lived here but im from america'.

Same here, never encountered this, and I'm no spring chicken.

I'd say the OP must be involved in some strange SL roleplay, needs to cut down on the green stuff,  has a tendency to imagine the  complete mindset of others sporting shamrocks, or would benefit from changing the type of people she hangs out with.

[Chroma Starlight]

You *cannot* generalize three-hundred million individuals, even if literally millions among them are, regrettably, insane and perpetuating mass atrocity upon themselves and everyone around them, while everyone looks the other way and lets the rape of liberal democracy continue. See also: #Brexit.

Edited August 2, 2020 by Chromal Brodsky