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Traveler 86 started a thread that brought back memories to me. This on a bit different topic. It is something that I have been noticing for a long while and it came home a few days ago. I was out for my morning walk when a neighbor came along. As we often do, we stopped to visit. We had this conversation.
She: What nationality are you?
Me: American
She: No, where are you from?
Me: I was born in Florida.
She: No, I mean what country are you from?
We soon drifted off to other topics after I asked her what I ask here. Why is it that, when you ask an American what nationality he is, he will almost invariably say "Irish" or "Italian" or "German" or anything other than American? His family can have been in America for a century or more but he is still of the old country.
The simple answer to your question is that there isn't much of an actual US American culture or at least not a strong one. For many US Americans this might be seen with incredulity, but the more we scratch beyond the surface the clearer it becomes that the US doesn't really has a national culture. This is probably the reason why race identity is so important in this country and why ancestral origins take a primordial place when defining who is what.
I think the name of the US American game is not assimilation, but rather diversity. You see this everywhere with the hyphenated identities, the practice of each 'race' to stick together especially when it comes to mating, and the deep seated belief in most US Americans that 'race' is the foundation of culture and identity and this is why many US Americans have a hard time understanding that in much of the world its culture that matters most and cultural traditions that are the base of identity and kinship.
In much of the world, two different people of different races feel much closer to each other if they have a common culture than they do with people from their same race but with a different culture and value system. This is extremely hard for many US Americans to understand and this is the reason many believe that if certain peoples 'look similar,' then they should automatically get along. US Americans usually degrade cultural identity to a level below the racial when most of the world does the opposite.
And, again, the reason is because there's not much of a deep rooted national identity and culture in the United States. These types of things are quite superficial.
I think the moment this hits US Americans in the face is when they go to the country of origin and see and feel in person the fact that the people from there don't see them as 'one of their own.' This isn't 'colonialism,' they are not 'deluded,' they are not 'self-hating' or 'in denial.' They are simply going by the natural way that humanity builds identity and relationships, which is through cultural kinship. When an Italian-American goes 'home' to Italy, a Chinese-American goes 'home' to China, or an African-American goes to meet his 'brothers' in Latin America or goes 'home' to Africa; it hits them as if someone dropped a bucket full of icy waters on them. For the US Americans they are 'his people' because they look like him, but for everyone else the US American is deluded because he's really not one of them, never was and, for the most part, never will.
When I was a child, Americans simply said that they were Americans. But in recent years, everyone is emphasizing their roots meaning where did their ancestors originally came from.
Traveler 86 started a thread that brought back memories to me. This on a bit different topic. It is something that I have been noticing for a long while and it came home a few days ago. I was out for my morning walk when a neighbor came along. As we often do, we stopped to visit. We had this conversation.
She: What nationality are you?
Me: American
She: No, where are you from?
Me: I was born in Florida.
She: No, I mean what country are you from?
We soon drifted off to other topics after I asked her what I ask here. Why is it that, when you ask an American what nationality he is, he will almost invariably say "Irish" or "Italian" or "German" or anything other than American? His family can have been in America for a century or more but he is still of the old country.
Question? What nationality are you?
Many Americans use the word nationality interchangeably with race and ethnicity. A lot of people don't understand that "nationality" denotes the nation to which you belong, not your heritage.
The simple answer to your question is that there isn't much of an actual US American culture or at least not a strong one. For many US Americans this might be seen with incredulity, but the more we scratch beyond the surface the clearer it becomes that the US doesn't really has a national culture. This is probably the reason why race identity is so important in this country and why ancestral origins take a primordial place when defining who is what.
I think the name of the US American game is not assimilation, but rather diversity. You see this everywhere with the hyphenated identities, the practice of each 'race' to stick together especially when it comes to mating, and the deep seated belief in most US Americans that 'race' is the foundation of culture and identity and this is why many US Americans have a hard time understanding that in much of the world its culture that matters most and cultural traditions that are the base of identity and kinship.
In much of the world, two different people of different races feel much closer to each other if they have a common culture than they do with people from their same race but with a different culture and value system. This is extremely hard for many US Americans to understand and this is the reason many believe that if certain peoples 'look similar,' then they should automatically get along. US Americans usually degrade cultural identity to a level below the racial when most of the world does the opposite.
And, again, the reason is because there's not much of a deep rooted national identity and culture in the United States. These types of things are quite superficial.
I think the moment this hits US Americans in the face is when they go to the country of origin and see and feel in person the fact that the people from there don't see them as 'one of their own.' This isn't 'colonialism,' they are not 'deluded,' they are not 'self-hating' or 'in denial.' They are simply going by the natural way that humanity builds identity and relationships, which is through cultural kinship. When an Italian-American goes 'home' to Italy, a Chinese-American goes 'home' to China, or an African-American goes to meet his 'brothers' in Latin America or goes 'home' to Africa; it hits them as if someone dropped a bucket full of icy waters on them. For the US Americans they are 'his people' because they look like him, but for everyone else the US American is deluded because he's really not one of them, never was and, for the most part, never will.
You have thrown me a curve here that is going to take a lot of thinking. And your last sentence, if true, shows a terrible shallowness - that people would only accept someone if that person looked like them. Shallow is the only word for it. But, to your point that America has no culture. How do you define culture? What is the British culture? the German culture? Is it a basic characterization of a majority? Is it what a particular group of people is most noticed for? If so, America has a culture, I think. A rich and varied culture but, basically, it makes us American. Then, back to my original question, what happened to pride that we would not say "I am American?" What else do you say when your last immigrant ancestor arrived over 200 years ago?
I want to re-think your post but please answer my questions? What culture are we lacking and what is wrong with pride in our nationality?
P. S. A reminder. My neighbor asked what country I was from. What country? When I told her I was born in Florida? No, something is still amiss there.
The simple answer to your question is that there isn't much of an actual US American culture or at least not a strong one. For many US Americans this might be seen with incredulity, but the more we scratch beyond the surface the clearer it becomes that the US doesn't really has a national culture. This is probably the reason why race identity is so important in this country and why ancestral origins take a primordial place when defining who is what.
I think the name of the US American game is not assimilation, but rather diversity. You see this everywhere with the hyphenated identities, the practice of each 'race' to stick together especially when it comes to mating, and the deep seated belief in most US Americans that 'race' is the foundation of culture and identity and this is why many US Americans have a hard time understanding that in much of the world its culture that matters most and cultural traditions that are the base of identity and kinship.
In much of the world, two different people of different races feel much closer to each other if they have a common culture than they do with people from their same race but with a different culture and value system. This is extremely hard for many US Americans to understand and this is the reason many believe that if certain peoples 'look similar,' then they should automatically get along. US Americans usually degrade cultural identity to a level below the racial when most of the world does the opposite.
And, again, the reason is because there's not much of a deep rooted national identity and culture in the United States. These types of things are quite superficial.
I think the moment this hits US Americans in the face is when they go to the country of origin and see and feel in person the fact that the people from there don't see them as 'one of their own.' This isn't 'colonialism,' they are not 'deluded,' they are not 'self-hating' or 'in denial.' They are simply going by the natural way that humanity builds identity and relationships, which is through cultural kinship. When an Italian-American goes 'home' to Italy, a Chinese-American goes 'home' to China, or an African-American goes to meet his 'brothers' in Latin America or goes 'home' to Africa; it hits them as if someone dropped a bucket full of icy waters on them. For the US Americans they are 'his people' because they look like him, but for everyone else the US American is deluded because he's really not one of them, never was and, for the most part, never will.
Many Americans use the word nationality interchangeably with race and ethnicity. A lot of people don't understand that "nationality" denotes the nation to which you belong, not your heritage.
Pretty much. It's similar to the way many Americans say "Catholic and Christian". Christian in this case should be Protestant but this is another discussion entirely.
You have thrown me a curve here that is going to take a lot of thinking. And your last sentence, if true, shows a terrible shallowness - that people would only accept someone if that person looked like them. Shallow is the only word for it. But, to your point that America has no culture. How do you define culture? What is the British culture? the German culture? Is it a basic characterization of a majority? Is it what a particular group of people is most noticed for? If so, America has a culture, I think. A rich and varied culture but, basically, it makes us American. Then, back to my original question, what happened to pride that we would not say "I am American?" What else do you say when your last immigrant ancestor arrived over 200 years ago?
I want to re-think your post but please answer my questions? What culture are we lacking and what is wrong with pride in our nationality?
P. S. A reminder. My neighbor asked what country I was from. What country? When I told her I was born in Florida? No, something is still amiss there.
Nothing's amiss. What you had there was an encounter with a first place prize winning idiot.
Nothing's amiss. What you had there was an encounter with a first place prize winning idiot.
Could be but I've noticed this habit over the years. The closest most people get to saying "American" is to prefix it with a foreign nationality. Irish American, German American, Italian American.
Good to hear other thoughts.
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