Being "American"

[dajarrel]

/rant mode on/

I grew up in the deep south during the 50’s and 60’s when everyone was a racist. Not because there was any hate there (although I’m sure there was some), but because it was just the “culture.” As I grew older, I grew wiser (in some things!!). When my son was born in 1982, my wife and I decided that we weren't going to pass on our biases to him. We went to great effort to raise him in a “color blind” home. Certain words were not allowed in our home and we endeavored to be fair in dealing with everyone. He saw it and I feel we were successful in our efforts.

Having said that, on to the point of my rant. Why can’t people just be plain Americans? I can accept that people want to maintain their heritage, but here is a case in point. I went to Wally world last night. It wasn’t crowded because everyone was at home with swollen bellies (where I should have been). I had just finished a book and was going to buy another and went to the book section. Wal-Mart puts descriptions of the books on the strips of the shelves and in a 40 foot section of fiction books, a full 25% of the shelves were labeled, “African-American reading.”

What’s up with this? Is Wally world rubbing my nose in the fact that I can’t have a section labeled “White-American reading” or are they telling "African-Americans" that these are the only books they can read. What is the matter with “Fiction: Alpha by Author” and letting a person chose their own books?

Our nation will never truly become the melting pot it should be as long as a dollar can be made by catering to someone’s biases.

Lee Greenwood wrote a song “Proud to be an American” several years ago. The title would have become quite burdensome had he included every sub-category of American that can be listed.

/rant mode off/

….One Nation, under God, with Liberty and Justice for all.

Dennis Jarrell

[warpspeed]

AMEN D.J., AMEN

[EricW]

This is one of my biggest pet peeves. Why does it continue?

Because it's so very profitable for the ones stirring the pot.

[Guninhand]

I live in the Great Pink North, aka Canada. Here the situation is much more deteriorated than in the U.S. It's called celebrating "diversity". It's a socialist scheme to maintain power by setting group A against group B, then proffering yourself as the savior or protector of group A, thus securing group A as a voting bloc. Ghetto-ization and victimhood are encouraged. It helps grow alienation, hate, mistrust, encourages beggary (keep those government grants comming), gives old world crime syndicates communities in which to incubate predators, and leads to unending babble, squabble and degeneration. But it keeps those socialists in power.

[SiG Lady]

Yeh, god forbid we should have a little peace on earth!

It's more lucrative to keep everyone frikkin' stirred up!!

[kimel]

It isn't just the Great Pink North. We get to celebrate down here too. I have this stuff pushed in my face 5 days a week at work.

If everyone would just get off the "hypen-American" wagon and just treat everyone the same regardless of race, creed, religion, sexual orientation, etc. life would be SOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooo much better; but no, we have to celebrate every group separately but equally. Hmmm....separate but equal. Wasn't that part of some court case that kind of made the news awhile back?

[SiG Lady]

Oh, yeh... and this could get us all back into my fave topic, "Political Correctness"...!!!! Gaaaahhhh!!! But you don't want to get me started on that.

But I just thought I'd mention it. Mini-rant.

[blue edge]

American and proud of it, the true minority.

[Rufus The Bum]

I'm happy to live in a country where different ethnic groups CAN have their own culture, rather than have a culture forced upon them, I think we have all seen the affects of living in a culture where you are forced to be a certain ethnic group or be persecuted.

The true beauty of being an America is the fact that we share, celebrate and be proud of the fact that we are a nation so diverse.

The fact you are offended because someone elses culture is celebrated really shows how single-minded alot of people are when it comes to color. Accept a person on his merits rather than his color. I'm proud of the fact that my best friend is an African American, my Doctor is Egyptian and my neurologist is a Black South African.

Hard to believe in 2003, people still hate each other based on color.

[kimel]

Hmmmm...I think you misunderstood me Rufus. Perhaps clarification is in order. (or maybe you weren't aiming at me...oh well...that never stopped me)

I am not denying any group their culture nor the right to celebrate it. I am offended that I am force fed the whole "Celebrate Diversity" thing.

When I say we need to look past the differences and live as one people I am not denying anyone anything. When we accept everyone equally regardless of race, creed, religion, sexual orientation, etc. without bias then we truly can celebrate the diverse mixing pot that makes America great.

"Celebrate Diversity" has become nothing more than the catch phrase in a slick marketing campaign. It started out as much more than that but this is what is has become. Corporate America embraces the ideal because it makes them look good. Do they believe it? Probably about as much as they believe in saving the environment.

I am NOT advocating a monoculture. No way, no how. We know from biology/evolution that a monoculture is doomed to failure.

Just don't tell me I MUST celebrate "xyz month". You are free to do so, it is your right. I am free to not actively participate if I don't wish to, it is my right. And Joe Blow over there is free to protest both of us because that is his right. That is what makes America what it is. The right to choose and the right to be heard.

That help?

[Sam]

Every American who considers their national identity to be hyphenated should think about how silly this practice is. Sure, keep ethnic traditions alive in your family heritage, meals, and holidays. But don't romanticize how wonderful it was for your ancestors living under a tribal warlord or feudal king. Only together, are we Americans! A people like no other people ever before us. The very term American implies that our ethnicity is mixed. And because of our success, we are the most hated people on earth. There is no refuge for us anywhere. If we are divided, we will fall. Our enemies will come here to rape, pillage, and plunder on an epic scale. Think about that the next time some racist tries to separate you from your American heritage with a hyphen.

[spook]

Being member of any ethnic group is not an achievement. What you do/think/become/etc. in life makes the difference.

[EricW]

The greatest social crime in the U.S. are families that give up their cultural heritage in the name of homogenization. My family totally abandoned it's German heritage in the wake of Jingoism prior to and during the World Wars. I do hate Germany for what it became and has become during the 20th century, but I feel the void in the loss of heritage. I would NEVER compel anyone to do the same.

The greatest part of travelling is meeting new people and learning how the interesting differences in how they approach life and view the world around them. Even among the Western cultures there are very surprising differences. THAT is culture.

The problem is the socialist perversion of the meaning of "culture."

One's race is NOT a prime indicator of one's culture. A Chinese national is very culturally different from an American. A person of Chinese descent who was born and raised in the U.S. is almost totally culturally unrecognizable by their relatives from the east. He or she is American.

Color is not "culture."

[Chuck D]

Long before the P.C. revolution I was an Italian-American.

I'll be an Italian-American long after they throw the last shovel of dirt upon my pine box.

The REAL importance lies in knowing where your from. Cultural pride is a big part of what defines you.

To deny someone the ability to label themselves.....certainly isn't "American" is it?

It goes without saying that at the end of the day, we're ALL Americans.

[Wakal]

Perhaps the issue is not with hyphenated Americans, it is with hyphenated Americans who expect special treatment because they are a particular hyphenated American...

Personally, I don't care what anyone's background is. If I have to work with you, I expect you to do your job in a professional and workmanlike fashion. If I have to deal with you, I expect to receive professional behavior in exchange for the same from me. I don't expect any special or preferential treatment, nor do I give any for any reason save physical impairment (i.e. I don't expect a guy with a broken leg, for example, to join me at PT for a 3-mile formation run). I can't stand subordinates to expect to be excused from duty, or who expect to be allowed time off because of what they are and not who they are. I hate with a passion both deep and abiding having to work for people who foster a institutional climate where members of a certain subclass know they can do whatever they want and expect no punishment beceause they are all members of the same subclass.

The worst thing is the self-proclaimed "leaders" of any particular subgroup of hyphenated Americans (say, Jessie Jackson, Mililani Trask, Al Sharpton) who feel it is their duty (and their way to personally profit) to stir up imaginary issues and ferment conflict between various groups of people.

Alex

(English-American Indian-Russian-American )

[Rufus The Bum]

I am not denying any group their culture nor the right to celebrate it. I am offended that I am force fed the whole "Celebrate Diversity" thing.

That help?

I wasn't pointing out anyone in particular, it's just been my experience that people judge people based on color and it's absolutely stupid. Theres no getting around it, unfortunate as it is. With what has happened to the U.S. since 9/11, the last thing that should be on peoples mind is the color of each others skin. Just my thinking though.