Thoughts on being a Caucasian American

[guids]

Also,

Is it because we, as a race, haven't been in this country that long in comparison to others?


wtf?

[danlux]

I've often thought about this, because I'm 1/4th German, 1/8th Irish, 1/8th English, 1/4th Swiss, 1/8th Norwegian, 1/8th Czech. What the hell do I celebrate?

A weird part about America is that we don't talk about history very much when it comes to culture.

In The Good Shepard they have a similar discussion to this topic when Joe Peschi asks what kind of culture Americans have. Damon's reply is "We have the United States of America, and the rest of you are just visiting."

[xorbie]

Seems like people just want to have a culture randomly. It's not like being "white" used to mean something and now it doesn't because people are too PC or something. Your post is just rambling confusion.

[owsley]

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Meh, my take on it is that everyone in america is pretty much the same, like 90% of people, no matter what your race, religion, etc, are all pretty similar, and hold fairly similar views, its just that the only people that get any attention are the 10% of whack jobs that get imus fired, wear white hoods and burn crosses, etc, and these people implant just enough divide between people so that you feel

the way you do enough to make a post on a message board about it, but otherwise dismiss most of it.

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I actually think the opposite is true, IMO there is a ton of suppressed prejudice in this country. Coincidentally I just read and a Charles Barkley quote from deadspin from his interview with The New Republic (lol!):

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Question: In some quarters Barack [Obama] has been criticized for not being black enough.
Well, that's because black people are [censored] up. One of the reasons that black people are not going to be successful is because of other black people. We tell black kids that if they make good grades, they are acting white. If they speak well, we tell them that they are acting white. We have a lot of demons in our own closet--in our own family--that we have to address. But first of all, we want black men to be intelligent and articulate and things like that. That's not acting white. That's the way it should be. ... We become our own worst enemy with random black-on-black crime, teen pregnancy, single-parent homes. You know we cannot blaming white America for our ills. Does racism exist? Of course it does. But, at some point, I have to make sure I am educated. I don't have ten kids and no job. I am not killing other black people. At some point, you have to grow up.

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I think that tons of white people agree with this but wouldn't say so in public, but the sentiment is starting to bubble over and you are hearing more and more famous black people voice it publicly. I also think that tons of black people just [censored] hate white people, at least from my experience growing up in NYC.

[Hellmouth]

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I'm white in America and I often wonder what my "culture" is. I'm not sure we really have one. Is it because we don't have anything that's ours, or is it because there is something "wrong" about White pride?

Is it because we, as a race, haven't been in this country that long in comparison to others? We really don't have a music that's ours. Rock and roll, maybe, but the influences of that are a mixture of things that we can't take credit for. My ex-wife is from Mexico. If I told her I hated mariachi music, it was an insult to her and her culture. If someone tells me that they hate rock, I figure they probably like rap. When was the last time you went out for American food? What was it? French fries? Not ours. Hamburger? Pizza?

Is it because being pro-white equates to being racist? In high school we had a Black Culture Club. There are "Historically Black Colleges" there is "BET." Substitute "white" into any of those any you have controversy. The single most hated group in this country is the KKK. Their methods are certainly wrong, but their underlying tenants are being pro-God and pro-white.

There is no name that causes us to go into a fury. Every other race has a demeaning name that can cause radio hosts to get fired. Call me "honky" or "cracker" and I'll laugh. The terms "redneck" or "white trash" are more economic monikers than racial. Call a group of black women "nappy headed-ho's" and you lose your job after being front page news for a week, call a white woman a "straight haired ho" and you may rile up a group of feminists, but most likely everyone will just think you're a chauvinist.

Have we been taught to be apologetic for being white? Is there a guilt that we are supposed to feel because our ancestors invaded a land that wasn't theirs, wiped out natural resources and forced the natives onto reservations, stole others from their homelands to come here and work in our fields and sweep our floors?

I don't know what the answers are, but I'm white and it's wierd.

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As far as the KKK, their methods are at the expense of others. IF they were a positive force and did not have a history of hate crimes they would be not nearly as reviled.

Many people in this country have culture that have been here as long or less long than caucasian americans. However, they tend to rely on the cultures of their forebearers. America is a melting pot so Italian american or african american has more meaning to some people. My business partner is "asian" and is constantly reminding people of it. Asian pride etc. To me that is pretty much unimportant, but to him it has meaning.

To me I am white. I have my white middle class culture. However, if someone doesn't like it, it doesnt bother me too much. I prefer to think of this as the correct reaction to not be offended.

Greg

[bonds]

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I think it also has to do with the fact that a lot of white people have lame customs. I mean, Im italian, 2nd gen, we do a lot of italian things (columbus day parade, st. josephs day etc), and these are all fun. What are you english guys going to do? eat some bangers and mash? Wear some wooden shoes if you are dutch?

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klompen dancing FTW!

[owsley]

There are some parts of your post I could not disagree with more and are actually pretty disgusting.

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The single most hated group in this country is the KKK. Their methods are certainly wrong, but their underlying tenants are being pro-God and pro-white.

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I think this is because they used to lynch tons of black people. Just a guess. Lynching is a really [censored] up thing. A mob of white people chasing a black person down, torturing and hanging him in front of an angry crowd. Their rep has suffered considerably since that, I think they deserve it.

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Is it because being pro-white equates to being racist? In high school we had a Black Culture Club. There are "Historically Black Colleges" there is "BET." Substitute "white" into any of those any you have controversy.

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The reason for this is that most of this country's powerful institutions are basically the white equivalent of "historically black" colleges and fraternities. Every time I hear a white kid complain about "Well the black kids started their own 'black' fraternity and everyone is ok with that, but if we started a white fraternity we would be expelled", I want to kick them in the face. I go to Upenn, and the 4-5 most popular fraternities are either all jewish, all white, all preppy people, or all rich people. They are 95%+ all white. I'm pretty sure it's the exact same thing at most other schools, or at least the best schools, maybe with less of the rich kid thing that's in the Ivy League. No one calls BS on them, you are wrong. These all white institutions of power go on from college all through life until you die. It's basically impossible for black kids to join them, but no one ever says much.

[MicroBob]

I agree with the idea that whites will be more likely to take pride of their region such as being a southerner.

I'm not a southerner and don't pretend to be. I'm just living in the south but have some amount of pride in my midwestern roots I guess.


On my recent trip to Peru with my GF I was naturally pretty much the only 'gringo' practically everywhere we went in Lima.
Cuzco and Machu Pichu had many white tourists though.

Anyway, we went to a soccer match in Lima and afterwards are walking back through the streets to catch a cab.
Some of the drunken fans are walking the other way and see me with my Peruvian GF and are staring, some are pointing and saying "gringo!" as they walk by, etc.

Tone definitely felt less playful/joking.
Not nearly as bad or dangerous as a bunch of rednecks saying the N-word to some black guy or inter-racial couple they might see on the street but it's the first time I felt like perhaps I could start to identify with that kind of feeling of intimidation.

(every other Peruvian I met btw was as nice as could be).

[MicroBob]

Something like eating a hot-dog and a beer at a baseball game strikes me as being distinctly American.

Hot-dog was invented in the U.S., right?

Plus, all of that stuff is associated with the 4th of July.

None of that is distinctly 'white' American. But it feels like part of my culture all the same.

Taking GF's Mom to a baseball game I explain that it's classic Americana tradition to get a hot-dog and a beer. She had no idea this was so engrained in American culture whereas I think we tend to think of this concept as being almost an obvious cliche.

[prohornblower]

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Not nearly as bad or dangerous as a bunch of rednecks saying the N-word to some black guy or inter-racial couple they might see on the street but it's the first time I felt like perhaps I could start to identify with that kind of feeling of intimidation.


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I don't know man...futbol houligans are scary as hell.