Why is there so much sneering at Americans with European ancestry?

[BrBa]

I don’t understand! I identify with all my ancestors whether they came as religious refugees or early colonisers, were already indigenous to the region or brought in as slaves.

Yours
Swiss, German, Native American North, Central and South, Sephardic, Irish, South East African, Scottish, Acadian/French, and English

@Mamaneedsadrink If they live there though, aren’t they a citizen of that country and familiar with its traditions and customs?

Are you saying that they have one great-great grandparent whose ancestors were originally from that country?

It's 25 years since the Good Friday agreement.

The people of the island or Ireland voted for it, and the people of NI have kept the fragile peace going.

There was minimal involvement from the US, unlike the Noraid funding.

The sneering, I think, is because as several people have said, saying, "I'm Irish" means "Irish American" in the US, is that it doesn't in the rest of the world, but Americans seem to assume their way is the norm.

Not just with this, the first floor in a building is what the rest of the world calls the ground floor. Keeping eggs in the fridge, again something the rest of the world doesn't do.

I find it quite amusing.

I think in Britain we are much more likely to claim we are from where we are born. Jimmy Carr calls himself a 'plastic paddy', he has Irish parents and an Irish passport but is English.

I do not understand what the problem is when someone is proud of their culture and heritage.

Being Irish American is a part of who Joe Biden is but it us not everything he is. I understand this. I also understand when Americans say they are Irish it means they have grown up with Irish culture and traditions, often to different degrees.

As an Irish person it does not bother me one bit when Americans say they are Irish or Irish American. I am happy that they are interested in Ireland and proud of their heritage.

We Irish love to see American visitors coming to lreland and I am sure their ancestor's would be so proud that they kept their culture and identity alive through the generations.

I do not understand why people who are not American and not Irish are so concerned about it tbh.

Yeah, americans say "I'm italian" they don't actually mean they are Italian.

It's the oddest thing. I lived in Italy, speak semi-fluent Italian, spend time there a lot, have close friends, could sleep on a number of sofas, and was taught to cook there. If we took a test I would be more 'Italian' than Italian Americans. I'm not Italian. It is clearly a distinct culture, but it's distinct from Italian culture as well as American. Italians don't see themselves in Italian Americans for the most part. This stuff travels one way.

Same in sub-Saharan Africa. Many Americans 'coming home' who were more fish out of water than I was with my blonde hair and Vampiric skin. The local people were bemused that the Americans considered themselves African and didn't see themselves in the newcomers at all. It was a sobering experience. And must have been very sad for the Americans.

I think it's sometimes complicated because often the indigenous cultures cash in with tartan shops and tourist stuff but it's just skin deep.

They cling to it as a cultural marker of identity and status while ignoring American culture as 'cheap'. Despite never living in the cultures they claim to hail from.

They also cherry pick.

I also find they judge those who cannot identify their heritage... despite the many awful reasons behind that.

It's because Americans think their "heritage" makes them so very interesting and different.

No. It's amusing that so many posters view someone referring to themselves as Irish-American or Italian-American, etc. as "boasting", like there's some sort of cachet in claiming an immigrant heritage. Many immigrants were looked down upon and faced a great deal of prejudice. Still do, in fact.

If anything, it was sometimes an act of defiance: " Yeah, I'm Polish-American, I've heard all the Polish jokes, so what?"

At any rate you'll rarely hear younger Americans referring to themselves as anything other than "American". Their immigrant great-grandparents are distant memories to them and the old-country traditions either forgotten or absorbed into their American way of life. Time has a way of doing that.

How often do you hear us saying "I'm Welsh English" or "I'm Italian British"?

I'll save your time. Never, We never say that, so this oft-repeated explanation helps not a jot. It's weird & daft!

Over here, we do have concepts such as "Anglo Indian" but even those are old-fashioned now. You're far more likely to hear British POC responding to questions about their origin with "London" or "England".

Agree. They were very racist against Irish and Polish looking at some history. I can only assume this made their ancestors want to be proud of their history and pass that down. Much like black people there. It's actually lovely. Instead of letting others make them feel ashamed they've embraced their heritage.

Very well said 👏

It's the weird 'Mayflower' connection that there is an air of being better than others I don't get

That’s just a dumb statement. They accept they are Americans and also recognize their ancestry, it’s not that hard to comprehend.

I'm part of a British / NZ / Australian family with branches in all three countries going back to the mid-19th century. The links are important to us, and the branches are still in touch with each other. It appears to be the same in the Biden family wrt the US and Ireland and completely unexceptional that he should feel connected to his family roots in Ireland.

As it happens, I have Irish ancestry too, but as no one is in contact with any relative in Ireland, it would be odd for me to claim much affinity to the Emerald Isle. Biden, on the other hand, clearly still does have very close and natural links.

I expect a good amount of Biden's antipathy was actually towards the way that the UK government has been carrying on, particularly when Johnson was PM. Biden is the antithesis of Johnson and it's utterly unsurprising that they didn't get on.

Yes, like being Native American for example. I guess this is the problem many mixed children have because people are happy to tell them who they can and can't identify with

My black South African friend went to university in America. She lost count of the number of times people corrected her saying she was African to "African American." They would just do it as a reflex most of the time, but generally trying to help at other times (in a weird, you can't say that sort of way, that seems to back up what someone said earlier about use of African American vs Irish American vs Irish). Over a 4 year period she found it funny, then frustrating, then insulting, then hilarious.

It was insane. She has a definate accent. She did play on it bit by the end by making a point of saying she was African as opposed to South African, which is what she would say to most people.

Obama’s mother was actually Irish born. So he’s genuinely half ethnically Irish and has more claim than the majority of presidents and Irish Americans to being Irish-American.

I was musing about this the other day, and how it is in direct contrast to Welsh. I was born in Wales to English parents, lived there for a number of years, but would never be accepted as Welsh. I have cousins born and always lived in Wales, bilingual. But to English parents, so therefore could not describe themselves as Welsh (to The Welsh). It seems to be that we expect the opposite from those in USA.

Why do you even care?

I think it’s because they behave like it’s a pedigree whereas in reality they are cross-breeds like the rest of us mutts

This is brilliant! I hope @PonyPatter44 comes back to see this 🤣😳🤦‍♀️

Yep!

So is my Pakistani son not from Pakistan because he hasn’t been?

My family emigrated to the antipodes because of a civil war on one side and the other side because of a lack of land to grow crops, so emigrated to find affordable land..

The families in these communities kept traditions alive and intermarried amongst themselves, (My generation are the first to marry outside the community, I’ve married an Englishman). So whilst we are emigrants, our language, DNA, religion and customs are firmly in the old country. My relatives many of them have never assimilated outside our community and they are 2nd generation.

A close friend of mine is Chinese/antipodean, her family go back to the first wave of emigration to the country as gold diggers. (Btw a very cool background IMO) She is the first person in her country to marry outside the Chinese/antipodean community, her blood is pretty much 100% Chinese, she looks Chinese, why shouldn’t she identify as Chinese first, antipodean second?

I also lived in America for a decade and immigrant communities tend to stick together and intermarry. Germans in Oregon for example, Chinese in SF, Irish in Boston.

Why should communities give up their heritage? Why can’t 1st,2nd 3rd generations enjoy their heritage?

If you don’t fine, but doesn’t mean others shouldn’t 🤷🏻‍♀️

@SpringBunnies , it’s because the Irish-origin vote is such a big thing in America. Funny how you don’t hear American politicians making a big song and dance about so many other ancestral roots.

It's just another way for Brits to sneer at Americans.