What happened to White cultural identity?

[Natan]

It's not that white people don't have pride in their origins, it's just that they aren't a monolithic group. I know I'm proud of my Ashkenazi Jewish origin, and I know a lot of people who are proud of their Irish, Italian, Russian, or Scotish origins. It's just that there's nothing special about saying "I'm jimbob and I'm proud of my low melanin count" - it takes more than that to create an identity.

[orange]

Simple...

Black Pride = good
White Pride = Racism

Gay pride = good
Straight pride = intolerance

Non-Christian religious pride = good
Christian religious pride = fanaticism

Anglo-Saxon-American is viewed as the 'dominant' race on the planet, so it is seen as the norm...every other race is like an underdog, fighting for recognition for its own greatness in history, which is why things like black history month, hispanic pride month, etc. are celebrated and why any form of expressing pride for being Anglo-Saxon-American is simply seen as overstating the obvious, supressing others with your already dominant 'superiority'

[faded glory]

well orange damn you, your right. again

[orange]

Originally posted by faded glory
well orange damn you, your right. again

Well, I'm not exactly sure your feelings on the subject, but let me make one thing absolutely clear...

I do not have any problem with the celebration of cultural history, in fact, i rather enjoy studying it! I just think that it's a shame for one type of pride to be considered a positive thing, and another type of pride considered racist.

I personally find it pointless to have pride in one's color or race, as that is not something one can chose for himself. For example, I'm not 'proud' to be white, I'm not proud to be Irish German and English, nor am I proud to be male. I don't think it makes sense to have pride in such things, but again, those are my own views and if someone is proud of any factor about them, I'm not going to think less of them or more of them. Sort of like religion, I don't have one, but if you have one it doesn't change my opinion of you in the slightest (so long as you're not spouting fanaticism and making completely illogical statements ) All I want in return is the same respect given to me, the respect to make my own choices

[mactbone]

I'm not sure how it would be if I lived somewhere else, but since I live in America, I take some pride in my Irish and German heritage. It's a way for me to look back into the past of my ancestor's and feel good about what they may have done. I think most Americans, consider themselves Americans, but their ancestor's cam from somewhere else, so there is more history thatn just American history.

[gopher]

Re: White?

Originally posted by GePap
And what exactly is white? Do you include the dirty Italians ? Those damn Pollacks? Those Drunken Irish? The sub-human Slavs? The Jews!!? White is a label created to divide Europeans from everybody else, and it is a totally false identity, since 'white' groups have different histories, languages, from each other.

True, but those are more Nationalist identities, save for Judiasm, which is religious. In my experiance, for instance, African Americans are very culturally identified, no matter if their ansectry is from the first slave ship to New Amsterdam to first generation from Africa/Carribiean/Etc.
I agree that white is a label. However, like it or not, that label is a large part of our identity. Now, I ask why is it that many people I talk to do not feel cultury identified as whites, whereas my hispanic and black friends (even some asians) identify themselfs as "African Americans" or "Hispanics", whereas my white friends and myself look twords other labels. I think that some people here have hit it on the head by saying that since white is the "norm" or "The Man" in this country, we don't tend to generalize with the norm. We crave uniqueness.

As for 'hispanic', that is also crap. Which hispanic do you feel like gopher? Mexican, Argentine, Chilean, Brazilian, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Peruvian, Guatemalan, Costa Rican, Panamanian, Honduran, nicaraguan?, so forth and so on. Back in Latin America, 'hispanic' exsist only as a way to separate out gringos and eurotrash, but most 'hispanics' hate each other as much as anyone else. Go to a Mexican neighborhood acting Puerto Rican and see how long you last.

Ah, good pont. However, we are looking from an American perspective. In S.A, an Argentinian (which I am 50%) thinks of themselfs a world apart from a Chilean. Here, however, in every case I have seen, from College to my entire family which immigrated here, those differences become mute. A sort of communial identity of Hispanic surfaces, thats why it's not just Mexicans that celebrate Cesar Chavez day, or why all my La Raza clubs and other Hispanic activities range from Puerto Rico to Cuba to Paraguay. Same for many Asian groups, and definatly for African Americans.
Go into that Mexican neighborhood as a Hispanic, then go in as a black or white person, i bet you are treated better as a hispanic.

Lesson of the day- the bigger the identity label, the more it is a work of politics and history, not real connections or feelings.

Amen, but we can't just ignore what is real life. People label eachother. Get over it. The more we reconize and question those feelings and labels, the better we are to deal with them in the future, and perhaps eventually not label people in real life, but thats messing with human nature

[GePap]

Identities

How many identities does a person have?

There is family, neighborhood, town, county, state or province, state, nationality (there is a difference between state and nationality, USA is a state, German a nationality- sometimes they are the same, but not always), politics, class, religion, sexual orientation (for those who care), hobbies (like Apolyton), an perhaps even more. How one labels themselves depends on which they view as the most important. Yes, many African Americans join clubs in their schools, but not all, those that don't because they don't place it as their key identity. Most folk see themselves as part of agroup to differentiate from the other- most whites see whites as the majority (in some places, not true anymore) so that way of classification is not important- then nationality becomes key, like Irish or Italian. Groups that have historically felt as outsider, usually becuase they were treated as such, like minorities, more easily identify themselves as being on the out, so they congragate in the identities that matter. My university has a Korean students association because Koreans see themselves as a minority and hang together for confort. Back in Korea, they might not even talk to each other.

Perhaps one of the most interesting questions in our lives, and in politics too, is which of these labels that make us, are we willing to die for. Even more impostant is which of these labels are we willing to kill for.

[Evan von Christoph]

white identity was almost destroyed by the civil rites movement and micegenation, which was all part of an evil plot by the race that killed Christ, praise to him.

I'm glad I belong to an Aryan church!

[JohnT]

Originally posted by Evan von Christoph
white identity was almost destroyed by the civil rites movement and micegenation, which was all part of an evil plot by the race that killed Christ, praise to him.

I'm glad I belong to an Aryan church!

You are such a dweeb.

[orange]

Re: Re: White?

Originally posted by gopher
Ah, good pont. However, we are looking from an American perspective. In S.A, an Argentinian (which I am 50%) thinks of themselfs a world apart from a Chilean. Here, however, in every case I have seen, from College to my entire family which immigrated here, those differences become mute. A sort of communial identity of Hispanic surfaces, thats why it's not just Mexicans that celebrate Cesar Chavez day, or why all my La Raza clubs and other Hispanic activities range from Puerto Rico to Cuba to Paraguay. Same for many Asian groups, and definatly for African Americans.
Go into that Mexican neighborhood as a Hispanic, then go in as a black or white person, i bet you are treated better as a hispanic.

I think this applies in many ways, not just America.

If I were to move to, say, Madagascar...and I met someone who was originally from Texas, one from Washington state, one from Maine, one from North Dakota, and one from Florida I would identify with them much more easily than I would if I met them in my home state of Pennsylvania, because of a common language, (probably) general skin color (again, assuming they are white) and common nationality in a land where those things are scarce. Perhaps that is why Hispanics and blacks, as minorities, tend to bond together in America becuase they share common qualities that make them closer than they are to the 'norm' WASPs. Perhaps that's why in South America an Argentinian and a Chilean are less likely to identify with each other...

I suppose the further away you get from the norm, the easier it is to eliminate some of the things that would have formerly separated you.

[Skanky Burns]

Originally posted by Hydey
At least Australia had the
"White Australia Policy" to cling on to

Good riddance too

[Saint Marcus]

I'm glad I belong to an Aryan church!

You do know Aryans are from south Asia, don't you?

[Dr Strangelove]

Many of us Amricans of lightly pigmented persuasion have a major difficulty tracing all of our roots. If your ancestors were from Britain, Scotland, Germany, and France you might as well just label yourself "white". Most southerners who trace themselves back to antebellum times will also claim some Native American ancestry. This is usually a codeword signifying a trace of "brown sugar" in the gene pool.

[Stefu]

EvC is troll! Kick troll out!
EvC is troll! Kick troll out!
EvC is troll! Kick troll out!
EvC is troll! Kick troll out!

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Saint Marcus


You do know Aryans are from south Asia, don't you?

Weren't the Aryans the people who invaded India in the 12th century BC and brought Brahmanism to the sub-continent?