Irish/Italian/African ect Americans,whats wrong with just being American ? why bolt on the prefix ? Im sure most have never been to Africa /Ireland ect .
p.s unlike many on this site I like the Yanks,Im not having a dig I just dont understand it.
2007-01-22 11:16:53 · 17 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Military
I totally agree with you. We have become Hyphonated Americans. We should be proud of our ancestry, but we should be American's first. Im an American of Irish decent and I'm also proud of that, but hell, I was born here and I'm an American.
2007-01-22 12:27:19 · answer #1 · answered by gene m 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
It is a way for people to separate themselves from the pack. We are all individuals and nearly all of us feel that there must be some way of distinguishing yourself when there is nothing else with which to do so.
Interestingly enough, most people only pull the race card if it is going to help them in some way shape or form. I personally don't do that since the "group" that supposedly represents my race are a bunch of morons in white sheets.
What I mean to say is that people tend to be proud of where they came from. The term "American" is very broad based. The U.S. has long been a "melting pot society". As such the term American is something that cannot distinguish where a person came from in order to be an American. So the prefix gets added in order to give an origin.
Much the same way as married women add the prefix. Not neccesarily trying to say that the married name is unwanted or they are unproud of the name, just the hyphenation to give credit to the origins of a person.
2007-01-22 11:30:37 · answer #2 · answered by Flynn380 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Honestly, I agree with you on that. My father was from Holland, but I dont go around calling myself a "Dutch American". I'm just an American, and proud of that. The way I see it is if you were born in America, you are an American. Plain and simple. Is there such a thing as an Irish Englisher, or an African Englisher, or a Hispanic Englisher, or any other country for that matter? I've never heard of it. No matter where your forefathers came from, you are part of the country you were born in, and that's that.
2007-01-22 12:11:32 · answer #3 · answered by Mrs Z. 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Americans still do not accept all people at the same level. The people who are descendants from Americans who lived there before 1900, consider themselves to be Americans. Any that came after that are descended from the various immigrants that flooded into America at the beginning of the twentieth century. The immigrants were usually poor people, unable to speak the language and took lower paid unskilled jobs. Their children, grand children and great grand children are now fully inter grated Americans, yet out of dis-placed `loyalty` they insist on calling them selves`Italian-American` etc.
they feel the need to identify with their family's` old world country, and the right-wing Americans encourage this. Until they can think of themselves as a one people nation, they will remain a collection of American `hyphen` people. This is also the view of my daughter-in-law, who is a Texan.
2007-01-22 11:41:42 · answer #4 · answered by Social Science Lady 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The only TRUE American are the Native Americans, everybody else has a heritage. I am second generation Italian American meaning My father was the first born American from our family. Being proud of ones heritage is not wrong at all. I have visited the homeland of my bloodlines twice and would love to go back to visit, but I also love my American ways and am proud of my American culture. Don't be ashamed of ones history, learn about it and value it.
2007-01-22 11:54:30 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
America is a melting pot.... we've never been fully "American" alone - well, not that most people know. the only "true" american's are the various indian nations that were here before the country was taken over by those immigrants who deemed it for themselves. my heritage is Polish. i've been there. i consider myself an American and when people say - where are your people from I proudly say - Poland.
many american's don't understand either - the fact that people just can't be proud to be from here. personally, i say if people want to be something other then a flat out american -- go back to your "native" country!
2007-01-22 11:45:03 · answer #6 · answered by Marysia 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think it's because America is just over 200 years old and doesn't have any history. The British can trace their ancestry way-back but the American can only go, say, three...possibly four generations and then say "I'm a Irish-American". The British can trace their ancestry across Europe but still call themselves British, because really it's what they are today that matters and that's "British" as defined on their passports.
2007-01-22 11:32:29 · answer #7 · answered by GenetteS 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Thats very true. Especially the remark about english americans. But lets face it, its the same in england. But Anglo-indians wont will most likely drop the anglo prefix!
2007-01-22 11:26:38 · answer #8 · answered by jj26 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Put simply, modern America, is just that, modern in relative terms with no real history of it's own. Therefore, with the exception of the true native Americans, they have to rely on thier 'foriegn' heritage to have some sense of history.
2007-01-22 13:02:09 · answer #9 · answered by Peter M 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
The US is a melting pot and has been for 100's of years. A great many of the people living in the US immigrated from elsewhere. And even if they're 2nd or 3rd generation, those ethnic traditions carry one. People are proud of their heritage and ethnic backgrounds and they should be.
I've seen
I see nothing wrong with it.
2007-01-22 11:24:47 · answer #10 · answered by dapixelator 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋