A question to the Europeans…

I know it’s a running joke that some U.S. born citizens like to identify with their European roots (even if they go back generations) but are generally not accepted as such in Europe. But how do you feel about the first generation—the children of immigrants here, from your countries ? Do you see them as having the right to claim the European identity of their parents even though they’re personally U.S. born ?

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BlueGreenGrey ·

Hyphenated "Americans" are a bit ridiculous

I have Scottish-Irish [i]ancestry[/i] but that ultimately doesn't mean anything, I don't feel like I've ever been either Scottish or Irish, and never visited either country. I have only ever been [i]me[/i]. I am not even my [i]parents[/i]. It would be nonsensical for me to identify as either Scottish or Irish. It's already kind of nonsensical for me to identify as even "American" or anything else beyond merely [i]human[/i]. That I am human is an objective fact, everything else is subjective, suspicious and superfluous. There are both social democrat and fascist Americans, so which camp constitutes a national "American" identity? And how do colonial invaders get to claim to be American anyhow? Would the Asians who crossed the Bering Land Bridge during an ice age and are now considered to be the "natives" of the Americas also be considered colonial invaders too? Why do they not celebrate their Asian heritage, and in turn their African heritage, since that is where humans began?

Just being so attached to ancestry and tribal cultural histories (i.e., persistent divisions) in general is a bit nefarious, sometimes even bad things are done in the name of such things. White supremacy in the US ties into this penchant for instance.

Anything beyond individual and species identity in general is a distraction, and frequently an impediment to rational, necessary actions like managing the climate cooperatively as one planet, one species.

bijouxbroussard · F

@BlueGreenGrey [quote] Would the Asians who crossed the Bering Land Bridge during an ice age and are now considered to be the "natives" of the Americas also be considered colonial invaders too? Why do they not celebrate their Asian heritage, and in turn their African heritage, since that is where humans began?[/quote]

Considering that the former is estimated to happened 20,000 years ago, and the latter [b]millions[/b] of years before, not my question. The situation I was speaking of was people whose parents immigrated, and who may still even have relatives in the former country. I was curious to know how people in those countries felt, because I’ve seen it discussed here when it’s been ridiculous, eg, someone whose family has been here since the 1800s claiming European heritage.

Btw, I’m old enough to remember when the "hyphenated" American first came into vogue, and the circumstances around it.