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Oh...another reason a lot of Americans might tie themselves to some type of ethnic group is because America has no real culture. It's a land of individuality, big chain stores, and due to its nature of being a mixing pot, there are many Americans who can't identify with a lot of the history of America. If you're a second generation Korean in America, you don't want to say "I'm American" because your home is a Korean one. You follow all the Korean traditions and eat Korean food. You speak two languages at home. You are, essentially, a Korean American. It wouldn’t be fair to call yourself one or the other.
I'm proud to be an American because I believe in many of the roots of America, I love our founding fathers, I'm pro free-market and I know I'm lucky to live in a country with so much opportunity. HOWEVER, I would never consider my culture an American one. I (and many other people around the world) associate American “culture” with reality television, Jerry Springer, white trash/extravagant bimbos (so basically, a lot of people think all Americans are either like Paris Hilton or the people you see on Jerry Springer) malls, a recent influx of crappy music, stupidity, huge candy bars (most other countries sell candy bars about half the size of the ones here…they also generally have smaller serving sizes at restaurants), obesity, McDonalds, and a vast array of other things I would never touch/waste my life on.
So I kind of have a love-hate relationship with my country. I'm proud to call myself as American but I would prefer that people realize that I identify myself with certain ethnic groups/traditions not widespread in America.
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