Submitted 22 hours ago by DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works to nostupidquestions@lemmy.world
For Context: I’m Chinese American, and I do not feel “ashamed” for my heritage, neither do I feel “ashamed” for being a US Citizen.
The CCP is not my fault. I do not feel any shame of saying I’m from China.
Similarly, the trump admin is not my fault, I voted Harris. I do not feel any shame for being American.
So what is the thought process of people feeling shame/guilt?
I think it’s those who are tricked into thinking their votes are really determining government things who would directly feel at fault for america. Lot’s of us know we are nothing more than powerless blobs whose only hope is for WW3 to just happen already so America can be forcibly changed.
I think it’s a natural response to the whole “God Bless the USA” song which features the lyrics “Im proud to be an American where at least i know I’m free…” this whole concept of being proud to be American is indoctrinated into us at a very young age. Being “ashamed” is the opposite of this. Personally, I’m not proud to be American. At most I’m indifferent. Really though, I’m embarrassed or ashamed. Its hard to be even indifferent when i see so much shit my country and other Americans do.
You’re right, it’s not directly my fault, but i think that’s just copium people tell themselves. Pat ourselves on our back and say “oh well at least i tried. I did the bare minimum to fight off facism. Now i can sleep soundly at night”
Both being indifferent and ashamed are different steps in this process
Because it is their fault.
Similar question pointed at you. I now understand it’s wrong(though not sure why), but when asking an Asian American where their ancestors are from, they get offended and proudly point out that they’re American. Why would you be proud to be an American? Or was I just a few years early and thinking that way?
I mean, different views.
Like, if you gave a North Korean PRC Citizenship (which does not really happen btw, just a hypothetical), then the Now-Former North Korean would probably be proud to be a Chinese Citizen rather than being in North Korea.
Because it’s relatively better by comparison.
So its the same with me. Sure, I know there are far better countries like Norway, but I mean like… Norway does not take many immigrants, and the best place I could be, given my circumstances, is the US. So, it’s less about “I’m proud of my government” or “I’m proud of the history of this country”, more like “I’m glad I’m here instead of [their ancestral country]”. And as to getting questioned, its the fear of getting “othered”, of getting rejected. So its natural to immediately declare their US Citizenship status as a defense.
I mean, I think nowadays, that’s even more so the case.
Like I didn’t really worry about this before. But especially nowadays, if someone, especially someone claiming to be a cop, is trying to talk to me, the first thing I’ll do is immediately declare my Citizenship status and then assert my rights immediately after.
I still have memories of China, and I do not like being there. Not every Chinese American is gonna feel the same way as I do, but, at least in my case, our life in China prior to emigrating was very poor, and it got better in the US. So there’s that.
When’s the last time you were in China? I wouldn’t be surprised if it was just a pushed social media post, but it seems like every city I’ve never even heard of in China looks even better than the best city America has these days. I get wanting to announce your citizenship in defense, but it does seem like it’s in, well, defense. Like how Cuban immigrants were cheering their love for Trump, then got deported anyway. Is it just thinking the leapards wouldn’t eat your face? This, again, bring me back to, why be proud of this? It does just seem like a forced defensive shut-up-and-smile kinda deal. Oddly enough, very much North Korean :/
Hmm… So these posts are now coming up on lemmy. Seems like lemmy is getting on the radar for some mainstream narative control.
Adding that “chinese” bit is a nice touch.
Let me steal all your shit and then give it to my children and then disappear. I’m sure you won’t mind, right? and you’ll let them have it, cause it’s not their fault.
K thanks, Bye!
My personal answer is that people, particularly left-of-center folk from other Western countries, want us to feel like it’s our fault. The way they talk about us.
I don’t truly believe it, but that doesn’t mean I don’t internalize it. Maybe it’s an autism thing.
CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social 21 hours ago
Emotions aren’t entirely rational with a clearly thought our process to justify why one should feel them. In any case, its common enough for people to assign the general actions of people within a group to the group as a whole (which isnt really fair or a reflection of reality, but can be pragmatic at times and requires less thought and information than judging on an individual basis, so it makes sense that people’s brains are wired up to do it even if its not always desirable). This can get extended to the groups one is a part of oneself, to include those whose membership one did not choose. And the US at the moment has even worse than typical leadership, has a great deal of power for that leadership to abuse, still has free enough media for people within it to stand a good chance of knowing about at least some of it, and if youre here on lemmy youre probably running into people with a somewhat higher than normal awareness of a lot of the historical abuses previous Americans have perpetrated just because it leans left and anti-establishment and those things get talked about a lot in such spaces.