To me, a yank is a yank!

Efan said:

Lammastide said:

Quite simply, the United States is a country the power brokers of which, on the one hand, historically have touted an all-trumping national oneness and, on the other hand, accepted large swaths of its statesmen to that oneness through layers of institutionalized estrangement. When people are invited to that sort of "belonging," they often will opt for other modes they believe to be more affirming -- in this case ethnic/ancestral.

Many American groups, including many white ethnic groups, do this. This probably does play out more, though, among non-white Americans because -- and I say this simply matter-of-factly -- white racism (subsuming internal white ethnocentricities [Anglo over Irish, for example]) has been a chief formative factor in the development of the United States.

So, iloveannie, I don't think you're far off at all -- except that this sort of thing long precedes the internet. "How long until these ethnic attributes are so diluted that they are no longer considered?" Good question. I dunno. But I do think there will always be some way -- class, sexual orientation, religion, linguistic distraction, etc. -- that humans will seek to divide and stratify themselves over others; and those "others" will react, for better or worse.

I love your brilliant mind, and I love that you began your first sentence with "Quite simply."

That sounds douchy. I won't be doing that anymore.

Dave1992 said:

To me, a yank is a yank!

Lammastide said:

Efan said:

I love your brilliant mind, and I love that you began your first sentence with "Quite simply."

That sounds douchy. I won't be doing that anymore.

No! I didn't mean that at all!

paintedlady said:

PurpleJedi said:

BTW....uhm...wrong Forum maybe???

It will get moved with the quickness... no worries.

To the subject...

I think the way we view other people speaks for our own narrowmindedness....

We tend to attribute one specific race to any one country. So when we think of 'Americans' we think white people....

not just white people think this way.... ALL people do... and it is the conditioning in society that stems from racism IMHO.

This is why I have to explain to some black guy that my kids ARE American and not some type of American.

White people say "American"... and they aren't asked "What Type of American?" even though all white people are originally from the other side of the world... people just accept that answer and there is no reason for further explaination to validate who they are.

I say "American".... and I get total shit for it.

Let me correct you there... when the rest of the world think of "Americans" they think of fat people who are loud.

I think people want to trace back their ancestry because its about putting together

the bigger story. When you find out that you are related to so and so from spain you can go

back and find out about that person, what they did, who they married, how they died (sometimes)

etc etc.

That bigger story eventually leads back to you, and what you do continues that story. I think it is

pretty interesting.

iloveannie said:

paintedlady said:

It will get moved with the quickness... no worries.

To the subject...

I think the way we view other people speaks for our own narrowmindedness....

We tend to attribute one specific race to any one country. So when we think of 'Americans' we think white people....

not just white people think this way.... ALL people do... and it is the conditioning in society that stems from racism IMHO.

This is why I have to explain to some black guy that my kids ARE American and not some type of American.

White people say "American"... and they aren't asked "What Type of American?" even though all white people are originally from the other side of the world... people just accept that answer and there is no reason for further explaination to validate who they are.

I say "American".... and I get total shit for it.

Let me correct you there... when the rest of the world think of "Americans" they think of fat people who are loud.

Yeah and?

I don't deny it!!!

paintedlady said:

iloveannie said:

Let me correct you there... when the rest of the world think of "Americans" they think of fat people who are loud.

Yeah and?

I don't deny it!!!

I was watching the episode of Family Guy today when Peter finds out he's fat. Always makes me chuckle. Meg calls him a fat bastard which also makes me laugh. Something lovely about that term.

paintedlady said:

You know what pisses me off?

It pisses me right the fuck off when I tell any pesron white, black, Latino... that I AM Amercian, yet they say "HOW?"

I was born and raised in America by American parents who were born in America.

But I can't say I am American... I have to say I am Puerto Rican, because by some stupid ideology stupid people all over the world and including Americans think that when your are NOT Caucasian you are from somehwere else. Brown skin = immigrant.

Fuck me!!! I am a fucking NATIVE.... TAINO!!! FUNKING AMERICAN!!!!

Shit!!! I an not from South America, I am American!!! Puerto Ricans are not immigrants and we didn't 'come here...

geesh... do we call African Americans immigrants? Well, they are more immigrants than the Ricans are.

WE were HERE and they imported African slaves here because when the Europeans tried to enslave my people we died off too quickly or ran away... so they brought over slaves from Africa who didn't know the land as well as we did.

I hate that people do not believe me when I say I am American. They rather hear black/Latino

fuckin' racists bitches.

I believe you. You have American citizenship and you were born in America, therefore no one should try to make you think you aren't.

iloveannie said:

paintedlady said:

Yeah and?

I don't deny it!!!

I was watching the episode of Family Guy today when Peter finds out he's fat. Always makes me chuckle. Meg calls him a fat bastard which also makes me laugh. Something lovely about that term.

Agreed, with bastard added on, its like a term of endearment.

Its a guilty pleasure of mine.

iloveannie said:

paintedlady said:

It will get moved with the quickness... no worries.

To the subject...

I think the way we view other people speaks for our own narrowmindedness....

We tend to attribute one specific race to any one country. So when we think of 'Americans' we think white people....

not just white people think this way.... ALL people do... and it is the conditioning in society that stems from racism IMHO.

This is why I have to explain to some black guy that my kids ARE American and not some type of American.

White people say "American"... and they aren't asked "What Type of American?" even though all white people are originally from the other side of the world... people just accept that answer and there is no reason for further explaination to validate who they are.

I say "American".... and I get total shit for it.

Let me correct you there... when the rest of the world think of "Americans" they think of fat people who are loud.

I thought those were Russians!

...or is that fat, drunk and loud?

LadyCasanova said:

I think people want to trace back their ancestry because its about putting together

the bigger story. When you find out that you are related to so and so from spain you can go

back and find out about that person, what they did, who they married, how they died (sometimes)

etc etc.

That bigger story eventually leads back to you, and what you do continues that story. I think it is

pretty interesting.

Timmy84 said:

I believe you. You have American citizenship and you were born in America, therefore no one should try to make you think you aren't.

[img:$uid]http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc99/gataloca_bucket/thsmiley_huggle.gif[/img:$uid]

paintedlady said:

ZombieKitten said:

paintedlady said:

French!

So how far back can you go generation wise? I was watching Professor Gates research and he was able to trace some people back to Chinese dynasties... (Eva Longoria )

I've never done my tree. This ancestor was a bit of a celebrity so my family always knew him.

I'm loving that.

I love seeing pictures of people from past generations in people's families to see who the current generation favor.

Its so interesting to see how much someone can look like a great aunt or uncle!

My only famous relative that I know of is Pocahontas.

I've been able trace my roots as far back as Cain & Abel. Beyond that, it's a mystery of where my bloodline begins.

Visionnaire said:

I've been able trace my roots as far back as Cain & Abel. Beyond that, it's a mystery of where my bloodline begins.

ZombieKitten said:

This fancy french dude is a direct ancestor of mine

So who is this dude? I found out that I and Paris Hilton share a distant relative....LOL.

PurpleJedi said:

Hey, I'm not ashamed of being born in New Jersey. Sometimes.

( Chocolate1)

Hey!

chocolate1 said:

PurpleJedi said:

Hey, I'm not ashamed of being born in New Jersey. Sometimes.

( Chocolate1)

Hey!

(Go Yankees!)

PurpleJedi said:

chocolate1 said:

Hey!

(Go Yankees!)

Forget all that stuff. I'm a TEXAN.

RodeoSchro said:

Forget all that stuff. I'm a TEXAN.

Yeah, you get one too...

ZombieKitten said:

PANDURITO said:

I noticed the same thing when I first came here on the org. When I asked i ended up being called a racist. Don't ask me why, so now I just don't care.

My theory was than the US being a young country, people need to find their roots. To them, Knowing where they come from is knowing who they are. To the point of paying "experts" to trace their ancestors like Charlotte and her French grand grand grand father

I've been told by an orger that I probably have African blood in me (with the intention of offending me) and they couldn't believe I just couldn't care less. In fact, being Spanish, I'm pretty sure that must be the case.

I disagree with you at being a non white thing. People call themselves Italian or Irish when they have live In America for 5 or more generations

I never had to paid anyone

From what I've understood those that are descendants of slavery have lost a significant part of their history and heritage and I think it's fair enough they search to find their a place in the world. I saw a TV program where they were doing DNA ancestry breakdowns and everyone seemed really happy to find out - regardless of what their mix turned out to be - another piece in their puzzle. If people weren't curious to find out about their family backgrounds all those family tree websites wouldn't be so popular. And it IS interesting stuff

And I agree with you that in a relatively new country, Australia included, people kind of lose track once they are researching their ancestors from before they arrived in the new country. It's not like the family that has lived in the same village for centuries and they can ask anyone about their history because everyone knows them.

Thank you...nothing complicated about it. Pandy gets the reactions he gets moreso because his many wisecracks don't translate well and come off sounding disrespectful.

iloveannie said:

... non-white Americans (and others I guess) often refer to themselves by national and/or ethnic descent. It even goes as far as saying "my mother was a French Jew whilst my father was Latin-American whose parents were Romany Gypsies from Brussels." Well, maybe not quite like that but you get the picture.

May I ask why this is as I've never heard it spoken about in the UK? I'm white (although I tan really quickly so try to avoid the sun), have brown eyes and brown (well bald and grey now) hair. I have no idea where I descended from. Why would I? I find it very strange and when I read people saying it it suggests to me that they are being defensive in some way. Almost justifying their existence?

So how far off the mark am I? Or how lucky? Or even how long until these ethnic attributes are so diluted (most British people for example) that they are no longer considered? Or am I still way off?

[Edited 8/20/12 3:11am]

I'm guessing that you are referring to average people in the UK because from what I understand, heritage, bloodlines and family name are, (or were), a big deal over there what with having an aristocracy and all? I gotta tell ya, I'm glad that many in the UK took the time to care about your history/ancestry enough to write it down because it makes for great and fascinating storytelling! I recently read a historical fiction novel about the cousin's war and it made me seek out the actual historical account of that period.

Anyhoo, I guess in the US most of the population only goes back a few generations in this country so there are still many who identify with the "old country", wherever that might be. Personally, I just call myself a black person most of the time even though I'm mixed with other things.

If my pregnant mom had moved to Burma I guess I'd be a black Burmese...

But I think that there is some kind of classification that takes place amonst people in any given country whether it's class, race, religion, ethnicity, caste, etc. etc. We humans seem to have a tendency toward forming tribes of one kind or another even if we don't call it that.

PurpleJedi said:

RodeoSchro said:

Forget all that stuff. I'm a TEXAN.

Yeah, you get one too...

Jealous!

RodeoSchro said:

PurpleJedi said:

Yeah, you get one too...

Jealous!

I'm gonna go see my Dad in Texas--I really need to see a pic of a real Texas cowboy...

jaimestarr79 said:

ZombieKitten said:

This fancy french dude is a direct ancestor of mine

So who is this dude? I found out that I and Paris Hilton share a distant relative....LOL.

That guy did the interior design in some of the swedish royal castles - there are books written about him. He is significant in the evolution of swedish design. Every book about Swedish houses mentions him too!