Why do people insist on hyphenating their heritage?
Answer:
I wish they would learn that if they are residents of this country - they should think of themselves as "American" - FIRST - and foremost. They should at least get the naming designation in the right order. :-) Aren't we supposed to be the UNITED States of America? - not the divided, segregated, set-apart - I think Lincoln had that saying about a "house divided." - It's especially important, in these times that we see ourselves as "all in this together." - "One for all .... etc" I don't know a lot about my "heritage" - and you know what? - I don't let it affect my day to day life - I AM AN AMERICAN! - We should all be proud to be just THAT!
i don't like to be call "African-American" term given to Blacks by whites from Europe to remind us where we came from
Good point. I particularly find it humorous when the media refers to a black person as "African-American" when they have no African ethnicity whatsoever. We've become TOO politically correct these days.
I long for the good ol' days when things were simple and no one got offended.
Only second class citizens hyphenate their heritage.
I wish I knew. My 'heritage' plays no role in my daily life. Being American does.
Political correctness and multicurturism.
it is not the peole that does that it is the govt that labels people.
I´m technically Mexican-American because my dad is Mexican but I have never called myself that. I might say that I´m half-Mexican, but never Mexican-American. I´m just simply "American".
The US seems to be the only country that has "hyphenated residents". In the UK, people who were born there whose parents are Indian still call themselves British, not "Indian-British". There´s no such thing as "Asian-British" or "French-British".
Because being American by itself doesn't say much about your heritage.
There's too many different heritages for Americans, and we haven't been around as a country long enough to really have a common identity.
Using hyphenated heritages tells people a lot about you. Where your family came from, maybe your religion, what kind of things you like to do... even what your mom probably made you for dinner...
Telling people you are American tells nothing. Except for foreigners, who think we are all pompous arrogant jerks anyways, so then people use hyphens to distance themselves from the arrogant American stereotype.
Because some of us value our heritage and want to learn more about ourselves and families. I am Irish and Austrian, because that is where my family came from. You will see many of the traditions of those cultures in my family still today. We do it to identify with our past and because it is part of who we are. Where you are born doesn't always have something to do with it. If my Irish mother and Austrian father had me in Mexico, I would not be Mexican. I would be Irish-Austrian. Being American is a state of mind and applause for people to come when they want more for themselves. I'm sure there are things far worse then someone identifying themself as Mexican-American...
The question is, why have we Americans so stupefyingly accepted and followed such suggestions like hyphenation and the other propaganda of multiculturalism, when one considers that diversity is a dogma that requires us to promote and celebrate an American culture of non-assimilation and non-acculturation? One that encourages people who are dissimilar, unalike, and different from one another, to remain that way. A Machiavellian veneration that is the complete opposite of our world famous 'American melting pot,' a dynamic process that represents the coming together of diverse peoples who willingly assimilate and integrate into our unique, blended American culture!
Interestingly, many uneducated people, including politicians, frequently state that: "After all we are a nation of immigrants, aren't we?" The answer to that question is a sound and reverberating NO, we are NOT! We are a nation of legal immigrants and mostly native Americans . . . who are not to be confused with American Indians. Hyphenated-Americans are for those immigrants who are in their first generation of tenure here in America and haven't yet become true Americans. If and when they become true Americans they will find that they have no need to continue to tie themselves, via hyphenation, to their past national origins and ancestry. Only then will they realize why we would never consider using hyphenation and relish being just 'plain' Americans.
Lastly, hyphenation raises the specter of nationalistic allegiance to a country OTHER THAN America. To most Americans that possibility is repugnant and traitorous. As for those of us who prefer to remain just 'plain' Americans, we do so because we know that we already possess the most valued status symbol in the world, that of being an American citizen, desired by many and consider to be the pinnacle of national identity! Actually we are quite 'smug' and proud about that fact. Why would we ever want to change and become something less?
They respect / cherish their heritage.They feel more a part of the other country. There are many reasons.Some good some bad. It doesn't bother me any more.
I am a native born American and very very proud of that fact. That's more than enough for me. I owe my loyalty and my allegiance to only one nation and that is the USA
RG ..Great Answer !
Because it gives credit to BOTH aspects of their lives that they embrace and love.
im puerto rican! i was born there too!
I don't think it's people "insisting" to do anything, like you insist to be irritated by something so trivial. I think of myself as Lakota Sioux first, American second. America was forced onto my tribe, like it was forced on African slaves. Let them embrace their identity that was beaten and stripped away from them, they can't even identify themselves with their ancestor's country of origin, like whites can.
Good question. I've always wondered that myself. Why can't we all just be "'Americans?' They are just so proud of where they (or their ancestors) came from, I guess. But if a white person was to be proud of anything, then they are automatically branded a 'racist.' Makes me sick. UGH!
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