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

This thread is getting ridiculous.
Biden came to Ireland, he has Irish heritage which he is proud about, he talked about it.
Most Irish people were delighted to see him and happy he considers himself Irish (we understand what it means when an American says they are Irish, this is a part of American culture which we are very familiar with and understand).
He went home to America.

You are expecting rest of the world to understand American lingo Irish = American Irish. Why not Americans talk to rest of the world in the language they understand, Irish = from Ireland. American with Irish roots = exactly that.

Seems fair for Americans to speak to other Americans in terms they understand, and for Irish Americans to speak to Irish people in terms they understand.

What has this got to do with the rest of the world? I don't switch on French TV and get cross that they're not explaining things to me in English!

Great Britain has never at any time included Ireland.

(Fortunately, none of the determined literalists on this thread popped up as border guards, demanded to see his ID, and detained him for questioning. How did airport security manage such complex thinking? It's a mystery. Wrapped up in an enigma, no doubt).

Quite.

It's also very reasonable to see Irish and American independence movements as intertwined.

I haven't seen any analysis in British media of what Ireland got or expected from Biden's visit, but if you have any facts or thoughts to share, feel free. You'd need to know what Irish participants wanted, to start with.

I think the vast majority of us couldn't give a shiny shit and a small minority were merely a bit pissed off about the road closures.
I'm sure some people were delighted/annoyed/homicidal about it all, but I wouldn't know why.

Sorry - the end of my reply was to TizerorFizz, on UK thinking Ireland didn't get much from the visit. I wondered what they had in mind. But agree for most private individuals it wasn't a major event, or meant to be.

I was just agreeing with your response to re Ireland not part of Great Britain, ever. It is funny that a thread with so much discussion of what Irish Americans can call themselves throws up the usual confusion about what Great Britain means anyway.

Does anyone drink Harp anymore 🤣

It's still popular in the North I thought?

Not the same for the rest of us without Vicki Michelle, non

I saw a brilliant Tripadvisor review of an English pub LampLamp where an American tourist had marked it down because it was playing 'modern pop music' as opposed to 'traditional English or Irish folk music'

Firstly, WTF is that and secondly, why would a typical British pub play that kind of music? It's absolutely like they want a theme park, not a country. And that's just the uk I feel for Ireland as I am sure they get it a whole lot worse.

Ireland gets it a lot worse but we monetise the f*ck out of it!

Or been especially interested in making sure Ireland benefits in any situation. Although it's gently amusing that the poster imagines there's a nurturing instinct in the UK towards Ireland.

Chinese/Vietnamese/Jamaican/Pakistani etc would have the same attitude if a person with a great grandparent came to visit their country, they'd probably be warm and welcoming. That in itself is quite telling.

This is not my experience actually. I am 2nd generation British with heritage from one of these. Lived there (ancestral home country) with family for a while as a youngster and was not accepted at all. 100% treated as an outsider with a lot of racist aggression. Just saying.

Yeah and do I find it hard to understand that "I'm irish" is shorthand for Irish American, when they say the full "African American" all the bloody time. So much so in fact that when in the states wih my ex, they kept referring to him as "African american" and he had to keep saying that he was neither, he was British with a Caribbean heritage and family, and they could just call him Black if easier...but they'd still insist on calling him "African american" as if they couldn't contemplate black people living outside of those identities. Facepalm.

Other Posters have mentioned this now so not exactly a one off and yet some of us are being told how intolerant we are of American culture that dictates the, 'I am Irish' being a cultural norm that the British (Aka English, with that being the English persona of 50 years ago, aka the quintessential English man because of course nobody who is English has anything other than an anglo Saxon heritage 🙄) in their imperialist fashion insists doesn't exist and yet Americans are also insist their references are the only ones - funny that!

Insistent not insist.

Thanks, yes I am aware of this. It’s why I raised the point

It still stands though that there are a proportion of Americans whose identity is so enmeshed in their historical heritage that they’re unable to fathom a different perspective e.g that Irish is not equivalent to Irish -American globally, or that African-American isn’t a global term for any black person.

I find it interesting that people from a nation that clings so desperately to its global heritage often have such a parochial perspective

I'm Irish. Just plain boring Irish. I wouldn't ever choose to be anything else. Equally i don't diss americans or brits who are 'irish'. Why would I? They love us we welcome them. We can all get along.

That's really snooty.

I find it interesting that people from a nation that clings so desperately to its global heritage often have such a parochial perspective

I agree with this.

I can't think of a nation this doesn't apply to - the parochial perspective, that is.

I haven't seen any Americans on this thread insisting theirs is the only proper perspective. Only anecdotes about particular Americans.

It's not Americans who are posting here to say they can't understand other people having their own descriptors around culture and identity; or that even if they accept these differences, that we should remember that the Irish / Americans are wrong / naive in other ways. It all seems quite intolerant.

I'm Irish but if I moved to America I'd be delighted to have the social and cultural support of Irish-America. I would enjoy mixing with my new Irish friends there, as well as with other Americans.

Snooty - synonyms include disapproving.
Am I disapproving of parochial attitudes and an inability to see perspectives other than your own? Yes very likely I am.

I’m also pretty comfortable with that position