why aren't all americans simply called 'american'?

[butters]

this is a genuine question and i'm very interested to hear different (sane) points of view in order to get a better understanding of this strange land i live in:

how much is calling a person 'african-american' or 'asian-american' (+ other options) a label of celebration for historical heritage and how much is it divisive by it being used as something seen by some as less than straightforward 'american', somehow less real/patriotic/genuine a citizen of this country?

i'm wondering about this, because how often do you hear the terms 'british-american', 'euro-american', 'scandinavian-american', 'australian-american' applied to people of (generally) paler complexions but with just as much a heritage of immigration to the usa as african/asian-americans? why the difference? it's not unusual for someone of a darker skin tone to be third, fourth, or far longer generational american, born and raised here, and often even more "american" (by virtue of generational time) than lighter-skinned people who may be only first or second gen? how far back does the reference to where one's ancestors came from apply, and does that vary with the shade of one's skin? how important is it to african or asian-americans to accept/celebrate those labels? is the precursor a weapon to be used against people as a discrimination, or is it valued as a label of true importance to those it applies to?

if everyone who was born here or become naturalised citizens were referred to simply as americans, would that be more inclusive and speak to shared ideals and goals, or would it be seen as losing recognition of one's historical culture&heritage? if everyone was called american, would that put more onus on topics of importance to the concept of what america stands for or would it be regarded as a lost recognition?


okay, so kind of thinking it through, which is why i asked basically the same question in different ways. educate me, please.

 

[oggbashan]

At the start of WW2, being Japanese American (even if born in the USA) meant internment.

Even after Pearl Harbor, the US President couldn't declare war on Nazi Germany because there was a very vocal group of German-Americans who opposed the war in Europe. Hitler declared war on the US and saved the President from embarrassment.

That was Hitler's second big mistake, after invading Russia.

Now? Many German Americans celebrate their heritage with Beer Fests and traditional German Folk dancing. That doesn't stop them from being 100% Americans.

From North Hollywood:

https://youtu.be/mGf_-SNBKcA

https://youtu.be/UwqZgy6nEi8

Note how the apron is tied. One the left means unattached; on the right means married/engaged; behind means widow or don't care...

 

[AlexBailey]

Why aren't all people just called people?
Why are there different names for colors of the rainbow?
Why are there different names for different kinds of clouds?
Cats?
Dogs?
Food?
Horses?
Fish?....

Language represents ideas and descriptions. There are many birds of different feathers and there are Americans of many different heritages and origins. Some have relatively little noticeable difference while others are obvious. Qualifications are used for describing differences based on the criteria of a conversation or situation. Sometimes being American is the only important detail, other times you may refer to someone by what state of city they are from. It's the same for ethnic origin. Sometimes it doesn't matter, sometimes it does.

 

[anniebaby10]

My husband's family came from Italy and they wanted to become simply "Americans" so they quite often changed their names to remove the vowels at the end. Coppola became Couples. Severino became Severn. Bonvini became Goodwine. All people I know from his hometown. They asked for now handouts, were ridiculed and called WAPS for "without papers" or DAGO's yet they just continued to work hard, look out for their families and make sure everyone got an education. The immigrants worked in the steel mills, at the ports, did construction work.... dirty, back breaking labor. But their ultimate goal was to assimilate into the culture, have their children go to college where they could become professionals and not have to work those hard jobs.
I see the same thing with the Mexican immigrants in our town. They work outside in landscaping, on the golf courses, in the hospitality industry and make sure their children are clean, work hard in school and like the Italians of two decades ago, ensure they have a proper education. None of these two groups want a hand out nor to be an "Italian American" or "Mexican-American".... no they simply want to be and enjoy being American. So I have no idea why but the more we label anyone single group the less we are a community that wants to help one another. We are slipping away from what made us great. There is no redemption, no forgiveness and acceptance of one another or different viewpoints any more. I am only 47 but wonder what life will be like here for my daughters and fear we are becoming so divided we can never again come together as a nation. Meanwhile China is building new cities, fast speed rails, a strong military and an even stronger economy while we stagnate with aging infrastructure and huge mountains of debt. Time to wake up.

 

[missyunderstanding]

The whole point is to divide

this is a genuine question and i'm very interested to hear different (sane) points of view in order to get a better understanding of this strange land i live in:

how much is calling a person 'african-american' or 'asian-american' (+ other options) a label of celebration for historical heritage and how much is it divisive by it being used as something seen by some as less than straightforward 'american', somehow less real/patriotic/genuine a citizen of this country?

i'm wondering about this, because how often do you hear the terms 'british-american', 'euro-american', 'scandinavian-american', 'australian-american' applied to people of (generally) paler complexions but with just as much a heritage of immigration to the usa as african/asian-americans? why the difference? it's not unusual for someone of a darker skin tone to be third, fourth, or far longer generational american, born and raised here, and often even more "american" (by virtue of generational time) than lighter-skinned people who may be only first or second gen? how far back does the reference to where one's ancestors came from apply, and does that vary with the shade of one's skin? how important is it to african or asian-americans to accept/celebrate those labels? is the precursor a weapon to be used against people as a discrimination, or is it valued as a label of true importance to those it applies to?

if everyone who was born here or become naturalised citizens were referred to simply as americans, would that be more inclusive and speak to shared ideals and goals, or would it be seen as losing recognition of one's historical culture&heritage? if everyone was called american, would that put more onus on topics of importance to the concept of what america stands for or would it be regarded as a lost recognition?


okay, so kind of thinking it through, which is why i asked basically the same question in different ways. educate me, please.

The political left needs to break people into little groups and make them feel like they are victims. Then after causing division and hate to grow they can step in and claim that there policies will help the poor victims.

 

[oggbashan]

Second generations: i.e. those born in the USA, often do not want to forget their heritage or how their parents became Americans.

They celebrate aspects of their parents' culture to keep the memories alive but that doesn't make them any less American.

 

[KeithD]

Canadians and Peruvians can be called Americans too. Interesting that they aren't. Maybe by choice?

 

[NG1274]

When did the mainstream start using terms like xxx-American?

When did the political correctness philosophy surge in America?

 

[oggbashan]

Many XXX-Americans are proud to be American but do not forget where their ancestors came from. What is wrong with that? At one time Irish-Americans were a significant part of the police.

There are still more Irish-Americans than Irish in Ireland and Ulster.

 

[LukSkyFokker]

The political left needs to break people into little groups and make them feel like they are victims. Then after causing division and hate to grow they can step in and claim that there policies will help the poor victims.

No one is doing that, you fucking hysterical moron.

 

[jomar]

Maybe for ancestral pride. But it doesn’t help so much with people as the “other” issue.

 

[CornusKousa]

No one is doing that, you fucking hysterical moron.

It's literally all they do.

It's called "social justice" and only moron Democrats like yourself promote and support it.

#STAYWOKE!!!

 

[LukSkyFokker]

It's literally all they do.

You need to learn your words, Poor lil Dumb-Dumb. That's in no way literally all Dems do. They win primaries, Presidential Elections, and make bitches like you whine about them all day on a porn board.

 

[CornusKousa]

You need to learn your words, Poor lil Dumb-Dumb. That's in no way literally all Dems do.

I didn't say all dems....learn to read or put the goalpost down.

 

[LukSkyFokker]

I didn't say all dems....learn to read or put the goalpost down.

I didn't say all Dems either, dipshit. Learn to read. You jumped to shitpist before you attempted to comprehend what I wrote.

SpazBot2k in da hizzie!

 

[missyunderstanding]

With eyes like that it is no wonder

No one is doing that, you fucking hysterical moron.

So, you don't see the political left using race to divide? That explains your avatar. With eyes like that no wonder you can't see what is going on right in front of your "face."

 

[LukSkyFokker]

So, you don't see the political left using race to divide? That explains your avatar. With eyes like that no wonder you can't see what is going on right in front of your "face."

Do you have proof of this? No? STFU.

 

[CornusKousa]

I didn't say all Dems either, dipshit.

Luk pretends we can't see the quote and re-quote it again...confirming he's a liar.

You need to learn your words, Poor lil Dumb-Dumb. That's in no way literally all Dems do.

Learn to read. You jumped to shitpist before you attempted to comprehend what I wrote.

SpazBot2k in da hizzie!

LOL Luk arguing with himself

You said something dumb because Missy got you triggered with FACTS.

You were wrong and now you can't even backpedal with any honesty much less dignity....fake ass poser right to the bitter end, SoCal as it gets.

 

[LukSkyFokker]

Luk pretends we can't see the quote and re-quote it again...confirming he's a liar.







LOL Luk arguing with himself

You said something dumb because Missy got you triggered with FACTS.

You were wrong and now you can't even backpedal with any honesty much less dignity....fake ass poser right to the bitter end, SoCal as it gets.

Did you switch from pot to crack? WTF is wrong with you?
You would have a point if I said, "it's what all of the Dems do." But I didn't.

 

[oggbashan]

Did you switch from pot to crack? WTF is wrong with you?
You would have a point if I said, "it's what all of the Dems do." But I didn't.

AS I said in the other thread, Cornus will not accept that anyone but him is right. Your free speech doesn't count, only his does.

 

[LukSkyFokker]

AS I said in the other thread, Cornus will not accept that anyone but him is right. Your free speech doesn't count, only his does.

He's an indignant toddler with a loose grasp on reality.

 

[RoryN]

There's been a long-standing sentiment among folks who identify as "[qualifier]-American" that much of the quick-to-brag "I'm just `American'" contingent of the United States is the one who, despite their constant preaching of being patriotic, would actually rather have the country ruled by a bunch of racist zealots in more of a monarchial fashion. Recently, many of the ones who self-label as "American" were also the ones expressing a desire to kill the Vice President in order to keep their king in power. (Pretty big validation.)

I'm aware that other, intelligent people identify as "American" correctly. I am one of them; it suits me better. *shrug*

But I'm also fine with the [qualifier]-American identifiers because they A: are a form of identity self-expression that in no way hinders my own, and B: drive the racists in this country absolutely fucking bonkers.

 

[oggbashan]

Yesterday the UK held its ten-year census.

One of the questions was about how you see yourself.

My wife said 'English'. I was born in Wales to English parents so didn't seem justified in calling myself 'Welsh' so said 'British'.

 

[CornusKousa]

Did you switch from pot to crack? WTF is wrong with you?
You would have a point if I said, "it's what all of the Dems do." But I didn't.

LOL....desperate as EVER

You fucked up and now you're not old enough to own it.

Sit down child.

AS I said in the other thread, Cornus will not accept that anyone but him is right. Your free speech doesn't count, only his does.

Do it regularly, it just takes more than name calling to convince me which explains why you think the way you do.

Where did I try to stifle his free speech??

Free speech isn't freedom from criticism old man, lean your words....or don't and keep lying as much as you can, you only hurt yourself by doing so

 

[WillJ8787]

this is a genuine question and i'm very interested to hear different (sane) points of view in order to get a better understanding of this strange land i live in:

how much is calling a person 'african-american' or 'asian-american' (+ other options) a label of celebration for historical heritage and how much is it divisive by it being used as something seen by some as less than straightforward 'american', somehow less real/patriotic/genuine a citizen of this country?

i'm wondering about this, because how often do you hear the terms 'british-american', 'euro-american', 'scandinavian-american', 'australian-american' applied to people of (generally) paler complexions but with just as much a heritage of immigration to the usa as african/asian-americans? why the difference? it's not unusual for someone of a darker skin tone to be third, fourth, or far longer generational american, born and raised here, and often even more "american" (by virtue of generational time) than lighter-skinned people who may be only first or second gen? how far back does the reference to where one's ancestors came from apply, and does that vary with the shade of one's skin? how important is it to african or asian-americans to accept/celebrate those labels? is the precursor a weapon to be used against people as a discrimination, or is it valued as a label of true importance to those it applies to?

if everyone who was born here or become naturalised citizens were referred to simply as americans, would that be more inclusive and speak to shared ideals and goals, or would it be seen as losing recognition of one's historical culture&heritage? if everyone was called american, would that put more onus on topics of importance to the concept of what america stands for or would it be regarded as a lost recognition?


okay, so kind of thinking it through, which is why i asked basically the same question in different ways. educate me, please.

Well, who is an American? All of the following...

Canadians
Mexicans
All of Central America
South America

It is more exact and precise to call "Americans" as it is popularly used North Americans.

People who use the term "American" when they only mean people in the USA tend towards xenophobia.