White people are weird, Or Monkeys being monkeys

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I AM A GODDAMNED VIKING, LOL

I GONNA MAKE A COMMERCIAL SAYING SOME BULLFUCK LIKE I COULDN'T MAKE BEADS FOR SHIT IF I WASN'T A VIKING.

[PopeTom]

Having German and Greek heritage I try to keep my cultural traditions alive by forcing my way into the homes of other Americans with European heritage (but not English or Russian) and insisting they pay off my overdue credit card bills.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Having German and Greek heritage I try to keep my cultural traditions alive by forcing my way into the homes of other Americans with European heritage (but not English or Russian) and insisting they pay off my overdue credit card bills.

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

I think that cultural celebration/pride (depending on how you define pride) is neat and valuable. I'm not all that keen on homogeneity. And when people are still experiencing serious adverse affects from centuries of oppression, stimulating a lacking sense of pride in culture and accomplishments has a positive effect on a troubled population. But that particular video was just kind of bizarre. You want to show pride in your cultural heritage? Then talk about something that matters, not just "I'm really proud of being x heritage and I wouldn't be nearly as awesome if I wasn't x heritage".

Tell a story. Talk about an ancestor who inspired you. Show an artifact or a skill that is intrinsically, distinctly linked to your heritage. Engage the audience in some way besides "Hurrr I'm proud to be Italian".

I agree that cultural traditions can be an important source of meaning and value, but I find this too easily gets conflated with genetics or is displayed by the simplistic chest-thumping quality of that video and I just end up wanting to chew my tongue off and hurk it into their esophagus.

Why is the past few hundred years more important or more relevant than the past 10,000 or the past 100,000 for that matter? Besides, it's hard to even say where one's family may have even fit into that culture. They could have been rejected by the popular society at the time, hated the people they lived with, and disowned their own heritage. Meanwhile, I might think, oh, I'm Irish so my family must have done all this traditional bullshit, when perhaps their relationship with the predominant culture was much more antagonistic and would cringe to see me celebrating their enemies customs.

I'm curious for sure, but there's no way to tell because they're 99.9% dead and didn't write very much down.

[Triple Zero]

I'm a white Native that lives on the grey clay my ancestors claimed from the sea! Farmers, most of them. Lots of history under these lands too, this city is 1000-2000 years old depending on how you count. Hard to sum it all up, but TL/DR: we're fucking awesome.

[Don Coyote]

For me personally it gets annoying. I get asked randomly, "are you Irish?" when I am either wearing my uliti-kilt or any amount of vibrant green, to include that ridiculous tophat. My canned answer is "FUCK NO!! HOW FUCKING DARE YOU IMPLY I AM ONE OF THOSE WHISKY SWILLING POTATOE EATING PAPISTS!!!!!!" I have gotten people to apologize weeks later for asking if I was Irish. I also go with "no, do aye look Irish to ya laddie. I'm a fooking Scott ya ninny" Or "No. I'm Murrikan" and glare.

Besides we all know I am Welsh, even though I am not

I like knowing about my ancestral cultural heritage, but I am not defined by. Tacos rate right up with bangers and mash and haggis as favorite foods, but then again, if it isn't moving and someone says it food I will probably end up cramming it into my mouth hole.

I don't like people sticking me into a rather arbitrary and worthless category because of who my ancestors are, even if it is of no detriment to me.


As an end note. A utili-kilt is not "proper" kilt and is therefore not a garment that indicates a cultural heritage.

[East Coast Hustle]

As you've no doubt been told before, if you're wearing underwear underneath it, it's not a kilt of any sort.

Then it's a skirt. 

[Luna]

As you've no doubt been told before, if you're wearing underwear underneath it, it's not a kilt of any sort.

Then it's a skirt. 

[Doktor Howl]

As you've no doubt been told before, if you're wearing underwear underneath it, it's not a kilt of any sort.

Then it's a skirt. 

That's okay, if you're Welsh.

[Don Coyote]

As you've no doubt been told before, if you're wearing underwear underneath it, it's not a kilt of any sort.

Then it's a skirt. 

It gets called a skirt anyways. Someone even called it a kilt-skirt. And I think it weirds out the infantry privates that live in my barracks

That's okay, if you're Welsh.

[Luna]

As you've no doubt been told before, if you're wearing underwear underneath it, it's not a kilt of any sort.

Then it's a skirt. 

That's okay, if you're Welsh.

Well, if you're Welsh, there's no saving you, anyway.

[East Coast Hustle]

Theylllllrrrrrs nnowchtwcthcing wwllyrrownng wwytth beinggglg Wwelllchtchsh.

[Luna]

Theylllllrrrrrs nnowchtwcthcing wwllyrrownng wwytth beinggglg Wwelllchtchsh.

Hey!  That's not real Welch!  There's a VOWEL in there!

[Juana]

Why is the past few hundred years more important or more relevant than the past 10,000 or the past 100,000 for that matter? Besides, it's hard to even say where one's family may have even fit into that culture. They could have been rejected by the popular society at the time, hated the people they lived with, and disowned their own heritage. Meanwhile, I might think, oh, I'm Irish so my family must have done all this traditional bullshit, when perhaps their relationship with the predominant culture was much more antagonistic and would cringe to see me celebrating their enemies customs.

I'm curious for sure, but there's no way to tell because they're 99.9% dead and didn't write very much down.

'Cause most of us can write and/or records are easier to get a hold of because there hasn't been a millennium or more since they were written/the internet, as well as it being easier to produce them in large amounts.

I agree with your assessment and my Irish side's like that even now to some extent. My maternal grandmother's side remembers the name of the landlords (the Duckworths) and still hold a grudge. It's been ~160 years. I identify as Irish-American, but I think it's pretty silly to get your proverbial panties in a knot over dead people who your ancestors escaped and eventually did pretty well for themselves.


We've been pretty lucky in terms of getting our hands on records. My mother's side can trace back to France in the early 1620s (although to be honest, when there's only one Archambault family who ever immigrated, that doesn't really count) and my dad's back to Switzerland in the same time period, and I can trace pretty much everybody back at least 200 years to their region, county, or village, depending on which side (the German relatives are rather tight lipped, for some reason. There's no stigma attached to being German-American anymore).

[Cain]

As an European elitist, I automatically find any identity suffixed with -American to be hilarious.

I mean, every white European alive today can, theoretically, claim heritage from Charlemange.  So, like, whatever.