I'm procrastinating big time so I'm making a post...

[agriking]

This got me to thinking; the other day an on line acquaintance on another forum asked the question: what is your nationality and don't say white, say which country your from because we're all immigrants. Now for me the Finnish side of the family is easy; all four of my mother's grandparents were born in Finland. The side of the family that I call

Comments

[kernando]

How come you're both confusing nationality and ethnicity? The acquaintance is wrong by definitions, but then you went along with it?

The rest of the world probably didn't force the WalMart fat rednecks into a pigeonhole. They forgot and gave up all their ethnic distinction from the rest of the world and all got fat and shopped at WalMart together.

But then it's some libeals who will worship certain races and ethnicities at the expense of American identity. They won't actually get very far with that from the rest of the world, who would still see them as ugly Americans.

Oh, they can find Europe because they're Caucasian. They could probably find other continents. They'd get lost at the country level.

I like Twinkies. Jelly Krimpets are better, but not as funny. The Midwest should try Chocodiles.

[84glyde]

Jelly krimpets are great! Tastycake, right? I'll have to start keeping these next to my map of Europe.

[kernando]

Yeah, Tastykake. I was in Philadelphia and the Wawa had the pies slightly discounted so I had to get some. They're bigger and baked and not glazed, instead of small and fried and glazed, so it's only 1 per dollar instead of multiples. Then I saw Kandy Kakes and had to get them because I'd heard of them. They're peanut butter and milk chocolate, but apparenlty there's a raspberry jam with dark chocolate that I never saw.

I had never heard of tandy cake before.

Of course, if it's a map just of Europe, you just need to find it. But finding snack cake with it would be more fun.

[buddha17]

Nationality = American [and maybe soon Canadian ;-)]
Ethnicity = Taiwanese, Caucasian (consisting of 1/4 French Canadian, some English, not sure what else).

There's a distinction between nationality and ethnicity. I would say a lot of the immigrant population in the US identify their nationality as "American." Of course, that's a bit of a generalization.

Perhaps if US political leaders inspired us a bit more and made us a bit more proud of the country we call home, you would see a bit more pride in our nationalistic threads.

[84glyde]

Half the fam are Scots-Irish. That's mom's side. Dad's side are Native Americans. I agree with you, we need more of an American identity than this fractured thing we've been handed. I think it was FDR who spoke against "hyphenated Americans".

Anyway, when you look at history, you see the other ethnic influences in certain nations. Many survivors of Spain's failed armada of 1588 wound up remaining in England. You can also see the Moorish influences in European nations close to Africa. I don't think some of the Europeans are as homogenous as they fancy themselves. They've just had more time for the effects to blend in, and to be able to get over it.

[tko_ak]

There's such an emphasis on diversity and culture that ethnicity is glorified, when, especially for most white people, it isn't of much consequence (I guess for minorities it holds more value, but that may well be a social construct).

I guess that's a result of being such a heterogeneous society. Most people in Finland are Finnish, and aside from some Russians and Swedes, have always been Finnish.

[halogencycle]

I think connections to national origins elsewhere diminish steadily over time. What's defined as "white" and "ethnic" has changed a lot over 150 years. Germans, Italians, Irish, Slavs and Jews all went through periods of not being considered "white" when they arrived. Now they've intermarried heavily and Old World connections matter less.

It was such a big deal in 1960 to have a Catholic president. Catholicism was so tied to specific ethnic groups held in low esteem in the early 20th century. So was Judaism, in a different way. How many people even realize we have a Catholic vice president right now? I bet it's under 25%. Imagine how people in 1920 would have reacted if they knew that in 90 years the Supreme Court would consist of six Catholics and three Jews. But does anyone actually care about that now? Not really.

[halogencycle]

I think there's an American identity, but that we take it for granted because Americans don't get out and visit the rest of the world as the citizens of most rich nations do. Living in Argentina and Chile has made me very conscious of the ways I'm culturally American