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Sorry guys, but I tend to laugh at those that call themselves "All/Pure/ or whatever" including "just" American and get bent outta shape over hyphenating anything-American. To me, it's like saying you are your Father's son, but not your Mother's. The United States of America is my Home(or Father)Land but my ancestry is predominately North European. So I do tend to refer to myself as North European American. But then again, it depends on the context of the conversation. If we're talking religion then I'm a Heathen American, etc. The emphisis always on the AMERICAN. When I go out of country, it does shorten to American, because outside the USA, that's really all that matters. But within our boarders, we are all very different people.

 

Ya ya. I know what Teddy said, but look at his time period, the Civil War was still very much more than a dim memory(as today) and ethinic violence and xenophobia was still abundant in this country.

 

The fact that we can/do hyphenate is not a hit at being American, but a tribute to the concept. E Pluribus Unum(One out of Many) was the(& imho should be the only) original motto on our money. Only a Communistic/Theocradic nation would demand that its citizens deny their ancestry/heritage/lifstyle/etc in favor of some all encompassing societal construct. We see it around the world today. How's that working for them? How do YOU feel about them?

 

MultiCulturalism is the American Culture. Lets face it, even without foreign cultural influences, each region of the US has it's own subculture as it is. I grew up eating Mashed tatters, corn and pork for the most part. I'm damn glad we have Chinese, Mexican, Italian, etc. now. But we wouldn't if we only allowed ONE culture in this country.

 

That said, I do agree that ALL subcultures need to adhear to the basic rules of the greater Culture as a whole. Even if they tend to live in their own little enclaves. No I'm not fond of having to pik English or Spanish at the ATM or anywhere else. But visist a small country where foreign tourism is big money and it's ALOT worse. It's primarily a commercial thing.

 

Sorry if I got a bit long winded. Just saying, YMMV

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What ever floats your boat.

 

I try to not get wrapped around the axles over small stuff -- and I find that if you put your synapses to work that most everything is small stuff. Patriotism and love of country is not something I wear on my sleeve. I have lived by the credo; "Duty Honor Country" for so long that that it is part of me. Everyone nowadays wants to be "special" and one of a kind and differentiated from all others when in reality we are just humans. Really no different from each other at all. Kind of reminds me of the Hippies back in the sixties -- all were trying to differentiate themselves from the norm but all they did was become another norm; all wore the same "uniform" and the same hair...

 

I have found that alot of the basis for staunch allegiences towards ethnic loyalties is one of insecurity. It provides a firm grounding for those that may otherwise not be as confident in "who" they are. It is like when you meet someone and inquire about them -- one of the very first pieces of info you get is what work they do. Are you the work that you do? Of course not but we need that grounding to help stabilize us and define us. Sad really

 

WARNING -- JESUS ALERT FOLLOWS -- WARNING -- DON'T READ FURTHER IF J.C. GETS YOUR PANTIES IN A BUNCH

 

I was agnostic til 26 when I was "zapped" and became a no goin back follower of J.C. so my comments come from this background...

When I was agnostic I thought that those who were Christian were idiots and only needed it as a crutch. I now know that as a Christian I do indeed need J.C. as a crutch -- I am a weak MoFo who is insecure and a sinner. With J.C. I am forgiven, have a secured eternity and security beyond imagining. This permits me to not worry about the small stuff and be totally secure within myself without the need for labels or anger. I understand that J.C. becomes a polorizing dividing line for people. I don't add this paragraph to cause an uproar -- it is here to explain why I have no need of any bedrock foundation other than J.C.

 

 

 

 

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I had a lady call me racist once because I referred to my friend as Mexican, and not Latino, Hispanic, or Mexican-American. She talked for a good 3 or 4 minutes straight, not letting me or my friend get a word in edgewise. When she finally stopped, he said "I AM from Mexico. I'm here on a student visa. I'm NOT a Mexican-American, nor do I WANT to be. I'm from Mexico. I AM Mexican. You're from America. Do you get offended if someone calls you "American" and not "European-American"?

 

The small group that had gathered when she was speaking applauded a little. She walked away.

 

 

I understand the "press 1 for English" thing, but as the OP mentioned, MultiCulturalism is the American Culture.

 

 

P.S. Having my heritage be part Apache, part Mohawk and part Spanish, I'm not sure what I'd call myself if I hyphenated anything. Probably why I don't.

Edited by Corbin
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We're a melting pot. We're mutts. We all LEFT somewhere else to be HERE because it's better HERE, and we got to be a GREAT nation because we worked TOGETHER and left all the bullshit behind. Once here we assimilated and became AMERICANS. No damned hyphen.

 

If somewhere else is so damned great, then GO BACK THERE. Don't bring it with you.

 

 

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Problems come into play when people come here to be something other than American.

 

Agreed. I have no problem respecting others' cultures, nationalities, traditions. It's when non-Americans come to live in my Country (The United States of America), and bash on Americanism (gun-toting or not) all the while enjoying the unwaivering rights that so many Americans fought and died for...then go on and on about how great their country is. When it happens, I always ask myself "Would I act that way in another country?" My answer always comes up no.

 

Just my opinion; doesn't mean I'm right.

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Personally, it's more matter of what they done for the country. If you got a Purple Heart, you can call yourself Martian-American if you want to. If you are sucking the country dry, chanting "USA, USA", Flag waving, and terrorist hating talk is meaningless.

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Problems come into play when people come here to be something other than American.

 

Agreed. I have no problem respecting others' cultures, nationalities, traditions. It's when non-Americans come to live in my Country (The United States of America), and bash on Americanism (gun-toting or not) all the while enjoying the unwaivering rights that so many Americans fought and died for...then go on and on about how great their country is. When it happens, I always ask myself "Would I act that way in another country?" My answer always comes up no.

 

Just my opinion; doesn't mean I'm right.

I should add: Unfortunately, it also seems as though more and more Americans are behaving less American. Time to take down the bird feeder in this Country.

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Im Italian American and proud of it, but Im American first and Italian second. I remember in Italy I said I was Italian, and they said no! you were born in America you are American even if you have Italian blood in you. Now that I live in the midwest, everybody thinks Im was/in the mob, or from the jersey shore, pisses me off.

 

Sometimes black people tell me I look Mexican, so I say oh yeah well If I look Mexican you look Somali.

Edited by GREYLUPO
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As far as I'm concerned you can be whatever you want to be as long as there's no sense of entitlement associated with it and you don't try to push your ways or beliefs on me. I can make my own way in the world and I form my own opinions based on what's put in front of me. I don't like anything with the term extremist associated with it. By my parents I'm 1/2 Sicilian on dads side and 1/4 Cherokee/ 1/4 English on my mothers. All I was ever taught was to work hard for what I want and not to ever let anyone take anything from you. It's pretty much that simple in my world, I had good parents from a great generation...too bad a lot of those ethics been lost by todays standards.

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As far as I'm concerned you can be whatever you want to be as long as there's no sense of entitlement associated with it and you don't try to push your ways or beliefs on me. I can make my own way in the world and I form my own opinions based on what's put in front of me. I don't like anything with the term extremist associated with it. By my parents I'm 1/2 Sicilian on dads side and 1/4 Cherokee/ 1/4 English on my mothers. All I was ever taught was to work hard for what I want and not to ever let anyone take anything from you. It's pretty much that simple in my world, I had good parents from a great generation...too bad a lot of those ethics been lost by todays standards.

 

Hey now, being associated with the word "extremist" made me a little bit of money the past 2 years! LOL! ;)

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I also get wrapped around the axle a little about the XYZ-american. If you're so proud of your non-American heritage, go back there.

 

Yes, I am occasionally a raving asshat. I used to have an ethnic sensitivity, but there's this wonderful treatment that will take care of that in a week. It's called boot camp. If you're competent, I don't care where you're from. If you're not competent, you're not worth my time.

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There are many "African-Americans" who hate that title because all of their roots, at least for many centuries, are not from that continent. It doesn't seem to matter, though, society has decided that is what they will be. And then there are those like my friend who hate it just because he would just prefer to be called either "black" or "American", but there is no need to combine the two in any context.

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I saw today that children from Foreign Diplomats born in the US not only get a US Citizenship, but Diplomatic Immunity. What are they then, Immune-Americans?

 

That really sucks! If they grow up to be Politicians like their parents and are like most Politicians, They should not have these rights or any rights that a natural citizen has and there are several things they should be called and most of them I don't want to say here. We (the people) are letting our country get away from us.:devil:

 

I also don't care for the hyphenation. If they are citizens by honest means (not the above) contribute to and not take from Society (carry their own weight, earn money and pay taxes), and don't try to screw with the constitution then they are Americans and I can be friends and respect them. If they expect everything to be given to them and expect to have rights others don't have then they are not needed in the USA and should be gently :angel: escorted out of the country to where ever the first part of there hyphenation is. My daughter in law is from Japan and has earned the right to be a citizen and doesn't expect anything to be given her!

 

If I hyphenated I would be an English- Irish- Apache- Seminole- American ( Damm I'm out of breath). :super:

Edited by Palidin
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If you were a foriegn imigrant who became nationalized, or in posseses dual citizenship ( as my wife does Germany & America) then it makes sense. But if your born here your an American. If you don't believe me check your passport. Your heritage may be "blah-blah-blah", and your welcome to be proud of that and share in your culture, thats what this place is all about, but lets not forget where, who, why and how you have that freedom: cause this is The United States Of America, best damn country in the world!

Nothing pisses me off more than people who think other countries are better, yet come here to enjoy our economy and freedoms, or worse yet stupid asses who've never left our borders and don't know how great we really have it.

Dwelling our orgins is the surest way to bring along the difficulties of the nations we left behind. We can't escape who we are or where we came from, nor should we. However we should not focus on our diffrent pasts, but rather our common future.

Edited by poolingmyignorance
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I don't personally have a problem with people calling themselves "XXXX-American", or not. I'm a half-Asian mutt, but I've never called myself "Asian-American". I was born here, raised here, and will most likely die here (barring some unforeseen event), in America. I just consider myself "American". If someone wants to call themselves "American", or hyphenate it with something else, it's their business. No worries on my end, either way.

 

:2c:

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I just hope here at Saiga, we can can overcome our political correctness and openly call each other the most offensive racial-ethnic-religiously diragatory and obsene names as can be conjured in english. Because we love each other & it's FUN!..

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Pick whatever "Random Nationality-American" you wish, if you go to that "Random-Nation", you are a "Fucking-American!"

Diversity is neet-o and all, but all of us diverse people should focus on being proud "Americans."

I don't think the location of where my Great-Grandparents screwed and made more people means as much as some folks seem to think it does. Remember the one Common and Important factor with ALL of us.....Our ancestors LEFT those countries!! Well, some weren't willing Migrants, but all the rest came here to be a proud "American!"

Totally Cool to be proud of your families heritage, but remember the choice they made in the first place!

I have to say my favorite part of our diversity is all of the kick-ass food! Call me shallow.:super:

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