Quote:
Originally posted by Trisk
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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Your answer made me stop and think. I think it is insightful and I hadn't looked at it from this way before. In this case calling yourself a "whatever-American" would truly be correct. But, I think my thoughts basically stemmed from the way I see it "abused". To explain, the Phenomenon said it, "On a side note: Something that IRRITATES THE SHIT OUTTA ME is when African-Americans start going off about their heritage and the mother land BLAH FUCKING BLAH while I, a white boy in Africa, know more about African culture than they do. IDIOTS STFU!" I think that is why I feel the way I do is that most people who call themselves "whatever-Americans" know nothing of their true culture. I personally do not know too much about my Italian heritage or culture, (which in itself is not a disgrace to me or any other Italians or the culture) because I consider myself American (in culture). Although I hate the fact that many Americans have a disgusting culture, like Trisk says; fat, lazy, Jerry Springer, McDonalds, etc... I have the mentality that there is another side of the American culture, which I fall into: hard work will reap benefits, original ideas can be rewarded, freedoms shouldn't be abused, etc.
Edited to add content.