Why does this question get asked over and over in its different manifestations?

Question

Will all real Americans: When will all real Americans: Are you a real American? Are all real Americans behind me? etc ad nauseam. If we are citizens of this country we are real Americans. This is simply short hand for: Do you agree with me? If you don't, then you aren't a real American. I fought in one war, my father fought in another. I am third generation Norwegian. There are others who have been here longer and others who have just joined, but we are all Americans. Diversity of opinion is a good thing.

Answer 1

Some people can't stand to deal with people that don't think exactly like them. Judging from the general thrust of all of the questions, a Real American appears to be:

1.) White
2.) Male
3.) Conservative
4.) Christian
5.) NOT well read
5.) Anti-immigration (they seem to forget how THEY got here)
6.) Affiliated with the KKK (okay I'm sort of making that up but you get the point.)

They are afraid of anything challenging the status quo. Hispanics are the biggest minority demographic and they are expanding rapidly. White America is genuinely afraid that "The Mexicans will take over". I say as long as they come legally and are honest and hardworking...if they do become the majority...who cares?

Answer 2

Well this is exactly it, isn't it - the idea of "real" and "not real" Americans is exactly the kind of lazy thinking that lets people get away with the idea that something, even if thought, done or expressed by an American, can be somehow "UnAmerican" as in "Investigation into UnAmerican Activities". It's the significant handicap of having a nation that was Founded On Something...
Most of the old world countries - including Norway, I think - weren't founded on anything more than the idea that "Oh, there's a piece of land over there, think I'll steal it." America has always been Founded On Principles...
Which is cool, except of course, as with any ideology, no two groups of people can exactly agree on what those principles were. So otherwise good people how think they were definitively One Thing, and believe in that One Thing themselves, will always view people who don't believe the same One Thing as they do as somehow less committed to the Principles on which the nation was based, and therefore less of a Real American...

Answer 3

I pretty much consider myself North American. I immigrated to Canada from Germany in 1952, I was 8. I didn’t speak the language (it took me about 6 months to be able to at least communicate with my classmates). That didn’t stop some from beating me up, tearing my clothes because I was considered a Nazi. Of course these ideas came from the parents. This is still happening today. If we left kids alone, they would assimilate beautifully with other cultures.

I consider myself Canadian but with a strong affiliation to my German heritage, which by the way, I am very proud of. I had nothing to do with the war. Does being German make me a bad person? Utter hogwash.

I strongly believe that it is important to keep your heritage and culture but it should be in the background only. We come to another country for several reasons. Mainly it is to attain freedoms, get away from oppressions or just go for a better life for your family. My father was 50 when he left Germany. Yes he fought in the war but he was not a Nazi. That is for all those ignoramuses out there who can’t make that distinction.
I detest people who come from another country and try to change the culture, laws, religions, etc. of that country. If you can’t adapt or accept your new country, then get the hell out. It distresses me to see what is happening today where governments bend over backwards to accommodate foreigners in order to be politically correct. God how I “love” those words. What hogwash! We are especially good at that in Canada.

No country is perfect and its citizens are not perfect. We do need to accept those from other countries and make them feel welcome here. After all, most of our ancestors came from elsewhere. At what point do you consider Americans as being true Americans. How many generations does it take to be a “pure” American, if I may use that term.
We need to stop judging people by colour, race, or because they sound funny.

Answer 4

Hey Fireball, I looked for up once and couldn't find it. It turned out that up for me was down for a friend of mine in India. Now I found that looking within was the same as looking up in the bible. I lift my eyes to the hills whence cometh my help, my help cometh from the Lord. That is to say, I put my eyes on the Kutastha Chaitanya where God is to be found. That's what the bible says anyway. And I believe it because it has been my own experience. I have prayed to God in many forms for the One God can take any form It chooses to express whatever aspect of Self that may need be expressed. That's been my experience. I have a friend who converted to Catholicism. He met an American Indian shamen who guided him on a vision quest. During the retreat of fasting, meditation and prayer he experienced Kali, the Hindu Goddess of Creation/Destruction. He had no previous knowledge of such a Deity or any knowledge of the Hindu faith. It convinced him that all the manifestations of God were real and that God can manifest any aspect of Self.

Answer 5

Theodore Roosevelt's ideas on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1907.

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

Theodore Roosevelt 1907

Answer 6

It sounds like a need to boost ones ego by diminishing anothers. Most people are prone to saying that they are a real, proud, flag saluting, apple pie eating American over saying that they disagree. Personally, agreeing with someone else doesn't make me any less of an American. Then again, I'm Canadian!

Answer 7

What it means in real American are those aborigines of America. Those who are natives of America. If you are an immigrant to America and you became a citizen , you be called American immigrant, American ****** maybe. In short American blood are real Americans.

Answer 8

It's like the "No True Scotsman" fallacy.

Person A: "Every real american thinks ......"
Person B: "I know an american that doesn't think that"
Person A: "Then he isn't a real american".

It's stupid, and there's a reason why it's called a fallacy.

Answer 9

Welcome ! I am half native , a lot of times I find that to be one of those secret code statements, that mean my relatives came here from somewhere else but I don't want anyone else to count as much as I do. If you don't look like me [ white/anglo male] you don't belong here. You can't join my club. If you don't have the same beliefs as me [ christian/Protestant ] you can't work with me.I don't care if you were here first I am better. I need to stop now cause I could anger some people.

Answer 10

I am proud to be a real American.
I was born in Greece,came to this beautiful real America when I was 3,not by myself of course....but now I am a real American