Comment on The US Secretary of Education referred to AI as ‘A1,’ like the steak sauce
half_fiction@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 days agoThe level of authority that you’re speaking with about another country’s culture while clearly only having a surface-level understanding is actually wild. Maybe accept that the Americans who are telling you otherwise have more knowledge and understanding of their own culture.
I understand the cultural grouping that happens when large migrant communities form. What I don’t understand is why Americans portray themselves as Dutch when coming to the Netherlands. Their customs, language, culture, and nationality are different. They’re not Dutch whatsoever.
Use it to identify yourselves within the USA, that makes sense. Don’t use it to claim being part of a culture that you know nothing about.
What I don’t understand is why Americans portray themselves as Dutch when coming to the Netherlands.
Do they, though? Are there really that many Americans who think or try to pretend they are actually Dutch, instead of Americans who are have Dutch ancestry?
It honestly sounds like they are just trying to connect by sharing a commonality and something that is (probably) important to them in some way. It’s an expression of appreciation. Even if the cultural traditions carried on in the US are different than in the modern-day country–so what? It doesnt make those cultural traditions less important to the people who celebrate them. I fail to understand what is wrong with acknowledging or appreciating where those traditions originated.
Is it just a matter of semantics and an objection to the label itself “(whatever nationality)-American”?
They actually seem to be quite educated on the topic. Unlike yourself who seems to think that you’d have authority to speak on this issue because you have a certain passport? It’s really not that wild. I moved here as a first generation immigrant about 10 years ago & I pretty much concur what they are saying. Irish and American Italians in Boston and NJ respectively feel that they have more in common with their ‘home’ countrymen than fellow Americans, just one example. Personally I think there’s also an aspect of “oh I’m not just white, I’m actually 1/8 Irish”. Mind you that’s not what I think at all, why would I have a bias against you if you are white? But it’s almost like I’m asked to view them as more than “white American” when people tell me that stuff after I tell them where I’m from. You can imagine what their answers typically were when I asked about whether they often go back to visit family/home or foods they cook. It’s just ancestry, they have no actual ties to those lands.
One thing I will say though is that whenever I’d talk about this kind of thing is that people get weirdly defensive about it. Overall I learned just to let them say what they want to say, it’s not worth my energy trying to understand their mental gymnastics as to why they’re actually as Irish as I am Egyptian. They’re not ready or willing to have that conversation.
Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 5 days ago
Americans totally have more knowledge and understanding of their own culture.
Irish-Americans have very little knowledge and understanding of Irish culture
half_fiction@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 days ago
Right, and Irish-Americans have more knowledge and understanding about Irish-American culture.
The other poster was making it seem like American culture is homogenous or like descendants of immigrants can’t still retain distinct cultural traditions and identities outside of generic American. Whether or not those traditions are the same as the original country of origin is immaterial. Nobody is claiming that it is.
Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 4 days ago
I suspect the Irish part of that description is highly misleading.
In 2025, is Irish-American culture anything more than wearing green on “St. Pattys” day and supporting Boston Celtics?
ExtantHuman@lemm.ee 4 days ago
Yeah, it often involves being Catholic and having massive families