Identity

X3 Skier said:
I think I was found under a cabbage in the back yard victory garden. No idea of the heritage of the cabbage.
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I was always told I was found at the dump. Mom used to threaten to take me back. After meeting the attendant there, I think I'm just an American.
 
It's easy for those of us who are Caucasian. Nobody looks at us and wonders if we were born here. Hence, it's easy to say "Heck, not a prob."

For those of Indian, or Japanese, or Phillipino, or Sri Lankan, or wha'evah, that's not necessarily the case. Even 3rd generation non-Caucasians can draw questioning looks (and thoughts) in many parts of our great, diverse nation. Why? They don't look like they were born here (seen through the lens of 200+ yrs of largely Anglo Saxon settlement of the USA).

Think about it.
 
flyersfan31 said:
It's easy for those of us who are Caucasian. Nobody looks at us and wonders if we were born here. Hence, it's easy to say "Heck, not a prob."
.
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until you are told you aren't "native american"
 
I bleed Husker red. The rest is just background.
 
flyersfan31 said:
It's easy for those of us who are Caucasian. Nobody looks at us and wonders if we were born here. Hence, it's easy to say "Heck, not a prob."

For those of Indian, or Japanese, or Phillipino, or Sri Lankan, or wha'evah, that's not necessarily the case. Even 3rd generation non-Caucasians can draw questioning looks (and thoughts) in many parts of our great, diverse nation. Why? They don't look like they were born here (seen through the lens of 200+ yrs of largely Anglo Saxon settlement of the USA).

Think about it.
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I don't know where you live, but in most of South Texas it's not the non-caucasians who draw questioning looks. Many of the places we fly, we are minorities, and often English is not the primary language.

America of 2012 is quite changed.

Sent from my Nexus 7
 
Mafoo said:
If we are all something, then we are all nothing.

I don't identify you as an oxygenist, because you happen to require oxygen, so why make up a word for something that everyone is?
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Because oxygen isn't a philosophy. Also, I was making a joke. :eek:
 
When it comes to identity, this comes to mind:

What kind of dog is that?
That's a GOOD dog.

I want to be the human equivalent of the good dog. My racial and ethnic heritage, my education, etcetera, all contribute to but do not define my goodness (or my lack of goodness).
 
TMetzinger said:
When it comes to identity, this comes to mind:

What kind of dog is that?
That's a GOOD dog.

I want to be the human equivalent of the good dog. My racial and ethnic heritage, my education, etcetera, all contribute to but do not define my goodness (or my lack of goodness).
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Best answer so far....:yes:
 
When my older daughter hit Columbia University in the fall of 2006, she reported "i've been here one whole week and NOBODY has asked me, "what are you?"". She was always asked that here in the Midwest (e.g, diaspora).

That's different than working it out in your head. She also has mixed heritage, and spends a good bit of mental energy working that out. But mostly, she's a smart, decent, talented young woman living in New York.
 
bbchien said:
When my older daughter hit Columbia University in the fall of 2006, she reported "i've been here one whole week and NOBODY has asked me, "what are you?"". She was always asked that here in the Midwest (e.g, diaspora).

That's different than working it out in your head. She also has mixed heritage, and spends a good bit of mental energy working that out. But mostly, she's a smart, decent, talented young woman living in New York.
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That's because she's moved to NYC, or a big city, in general. But you're right--working out your identity is very personal, and also worthwhile IMO.
 
Well, let's see....conceived in Canada, born in the U.S. Yep, 100% American! :crazy:
 
X3 Skier said:
I think I was found under a cabbage in the back yard victory garden. No idea of the heritage of the cabbage.
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Relates to a memory aide for resistor color codes - Not usable in mixed company.

Wonder how many readers have even heard of a victory garden.
 
I did find out some interesting things when I started tracing ancestors and managed to penetrate the dark ages of the Missouri Ozarks.

My grandfather was a civil war veteran - from beginning to end - 27th Indiana Infantry and U.S. 3rd Artillery, Battery C.

2 of my ancestor's names are engraved on the Hartford founders monument.

I developed an understanding of why my family was not a fan of the catholic church, even though there was no memory of why. Every branch that I could trace back to Europe emigrated because they were protestant religious refugees.

DNA testing indicates that my earliest male ancestor on the British Isles was probably a Roman auxiliary soldier from the Balkans.
 
It may not be true of many people here but I'm glad some people identify with their ethnic identity because I love being exposed to different cultures, foods and festivals. Generic "American" is kinda boring.
 
Everskyward said:
It may not be true of many people here but I'm glad some people identify with their ethnic identity because I love being exposed to different cultures, foods and festivals. Generic "American" is kinda boring.
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And that kind of attitude about "generic american" is actually kinda offensive.
 
I'm a Republican.






:D
 
As a youngster, I was invited to a party where we were all to bring foodstuffs to indicate our heritage. My mom gave me a jar of Heinz 57 pickles to bring. Nevertheless, I identify as Scottish because the only ones of my relatives who care to self-identify do, too.
 
Everskyward said:
It may not be true of many people here but I'm glad some people identify with their ethnic identity because I love being exposed to different cultures, foods and festivals. Generic "American" is kinda boring.
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I enjoy ethnic celebrations, foods, etc., but I don't enjoy when people align themselves solely with the country in which they emigrated from, and not the U.S. I think it is disingenous. Not going to get SZ here so I'll stop.

I am proud to be a "Generic American", and don't think the tenents by which many if not most Americans live are boring.
 
Anthony said:
I enjoy ethnic celebrations, foods, etc., but I don't enjoy when people align themselves solely with the country in which they emigrated from, and not the U.S. I think it is disingenous. Not going to get SZ here so I'll stop.
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As I said before, I don't really identify with any group but I am glad there are people who do because I enjoy the diversity.
 
Graueradler said:
Relates to a memory aide for resistor color codes - Not usable in mixed company.

Wonder how many readers have even heard of a victory garden.
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Hahah.. I missed this when it went by, and then saw Doc's admonishment. That's funny.

Unfortunately the mnemonic is pretty tame in today's world. :)

Victory garden - yes. I'm way too young to have lived it, but grandparents made sure we knew what it was. Especially the farmer side of the family, who would have had a garden of some sort, no matter if there was a war on or not.

I had typed up a looooong boring family history -- It basically showed that we're crazy mutts with a family tree that doesn't branch so much as it forks, and enough different religious cliques to fill an entire church registry book, but it just didn't seem like it mattered to me in the slightest.

The extended family is... broken, but happy, and full of: ex-communicated Catholics, Masons (and Eastern Stars or whatever), Episcopalians, Methodists, Evangelical Presbyterians (yes, that's a real denomination), and is friends with folks who are Jewish, Buddist, Protestant of all sorts, Catholics, Muslims, and maybe some others we're too polite to ask about.

Skin colors are even sillier to worry about, and there's a number of those too.

And everyone has friends who came out of the closet if sexual preference is a desired label to be covered in the question, also. My oldest non-family friend in the whole world is a poor black kid who grew up, moved to California, came out of the closet, and writes for a couple different TV shows. (And by far is one of the funniest and wittiest people one could ever meet.)

I have a step-sister and a half-sister and a guy who isn't related to me by any blood at all, that I'd gladly call my brother, who grew up in my house. That is, if we want to talk about the forking thing... and "traditional" families. Have a step-dad and a step-mom, and both are divorced from my parents (again). HA.

We got drunks, goodie-two-shoes, ex-cons, and widows and widowers. We got some lazy and some driven. Ultra-right-wing and ultra-left-wing, they're all here.

Karen and I are the boring responsible kids... married 17 years, known each other for over 20. Her family is more religious than my side, but under the veneer they're as nutty as my family is.

We got a hilarious PAPER OLD SCHOOL LETTER from one of Karen's crazy uncles last night, blathering on about how the Republicans are going to destroy the world and he even included pamphlets! Said we should visit with the airplane sometime in SoCal to come see them, and that the world was coming to an end, all in the same envelope. We were impressed. He spent a lot of time on it. It ended up in the trash can, and I'm sure Karen will send a nice non-partisan note to him saying we were happy to hear from him and hope he's doing well.

And her family are the SANE ones, trust me on this one...

You know what we all are? Happy to live in the U.S. as "Americans". I think both families really enjoy the 4th of July more than anything else. For the deeply Protestant, Christmas ranks right up there also, but even the devout wouldn't look down on someone for celebrating whatever their religion is.

I spent three months living and working at an inner city mission in Chicago when I was in my "overly zealous religious phase" many years ago. Also got to see way too much of the business side of those church buildings, and lost most of my respect for it as a business... as a personal matter, I have my beliefs, but I'm not going to push them on anyone.

In both families, we've got truck drivers, a database admin, a few professional photographers, a few nurses, a couple of Marines and at least one more headed there, at least one Navy guy, an oil company middle-manager, more than one teacher, a nomad who makes a living doing 3D modeling but couldn't care less about it (he'd rather go to Burning Man, and does), an Architect, an auto mechanic, a lawyer, a snowplow driver, an ex-Fire Chief, a guy who runs a foreclosure house clean-up company that auctions off the junk, a couple construction workers, and more... there's even a current Astronaut in there via marriage.

Labels are crap. Totally meaningless. None of it matters. Labels are dumb. When I was forced (it was not an optional course) to take a "Diversity" class in College, I laughed... it wasn't about Diversity at all. It was about Women's Rights, and skin color minorities... they didn't cover even two of the religious groups in my own family, nor any of the other insanity... not even close. :)

You know who you are? You. Dad and I were joking that we need to get bumper stickers made up...

"When was the last time you liked yourself?" - Seems to be the root-cause of a whole lot of the bashing and stupidity between different labels.
 
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Glad to be an American. In very few other cultures could I have experienced the upward mobility that I have.
 
Everskyward said:
As I said before, I don't really identify with any group but I am glad there are people who do because I enjoy the diversity.
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Ahh, the almighty "diversity". Heaven forbid we focus on our similarities that bring us together instead of the differences that divide us. Again, not talking about ethnic foods, or customs, more attitude, and anti-Americanism.
 
Anthony said:
Ahh, the almighty "diversity". Heaven forbid we focus on our similarities that bring us together instead of the differences that divide us.
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What makes you think differences divide us? Different cultures bring alternate viewpoints which could prove to be interesting if not valuable. The alternative is to get stuck in a homogeneous rut.
 
timwinters said:
Only close-minded people are divided by differences. Open-minded people celebrate it.
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By focusing on differences, people alienate themselves from one another, and tend not to assimilate. What happened to assimilation in this country, and becoming "American". We have an identity as Americans, and that strengthens us. By maintaining strict allegience to the previous country we are undermining the reason America exists.
 
Anthony said:
By focusing on differences, people alienate themselves from one another, and tend not to assimilate. What happened to assimilation in this country, and becoming "American". We have an identity as Americans, and that strengthens us. By maintaining strict allegience to the previous country we are undermining the reason America exists.
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What makes you think people have allegiance to a previous country, especially when they have come here for a better life? Would you immediately forget that you are from the US if you moved to another country? People also tend to stick together for a generation or two especially when they feel unwelcome. This has happened throughout the history of the US and is not just a recent phenomenon.
 
My line is that I'm half Italian, half Irish, and half no good.
(Was a line one of my great uncles used to use).

Technically, if you were born in Ireland or your parents were Irish, your Irish. It works transitively. Since I can trace my lineage back to my grandfather who emigrated from Ireland back when he was 20, I could technically apply to the Irish government for recognition of citizenship.

Of course, a man is what he makes himself to be, in my opinion. Heritage is fine if you choose to adopt it, but your actions define you. I was reading a brochure for an organization that said it was open to "congenial gentlemen of good character." I figured that let me out three ways.
 
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So what about something other than race or nationality? How many people self-identify as pilots? I don't so much but I find that other people use this as the first description of me. I'll meet someone I haven't met before who has had someone else describe me to them. The first words out of their mouth are, "oh, you're the pilot". Happened to me last night when I met the new renters upstairs in my mom's condo building. :confused:
 
If the topic comes up, "What do you do for fun?" My answer is, "I like to fly airplanes."

That usually gets the following response...

"Oh, so you're a pilot?"

Facepalm.

"Nope, I've got a truck drivers license that works in a pinch. Here's your sign."
 
Everskyward said:
What makes you think people have allegiance to a previous country, especially when they have come here for a better life? Would you immediately forget that you are from the US if you moved to another country? People also tend to stick together for a generation or two especially when they feel unwelcome. This has happened throughout the history of the US and is not just a recent phenomenon.
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Right. We are not the Borg!
 
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