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

Isn’t it just more identity politics? The more you can put in your sack the more interesting you are perceived to be so the more points you earn societally.

I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about @belleager You don’t just pick your identity.

25 years. Same point. American intervention in the North mattered.

This has irritated me so much that I haven't read the rest of the thread.
Obviously, "I'm Irish" means "I'm American, with Irish ancestors" to other north Americans. The trouble is that Americans will say it on the world wide web, or worse still, say it to actual Irish people, as if they're unaware that not everybody is American, that there are actual Irish people, born and raised in Ireland, whose ancestors didn't emigrate to America. The self-absorption is beyond belief.
It's a form of dishonesty that impedes communication. For example, when the actress in Blade Runner 2 is described as Dutch, I don't know if she's Dutch or just pretentious American.

Thank you, well articulated

This ☹️

People very very often do.

I accept that some people have connections only to one race, state, nation, ethnicity. I suppose when you are Irish that is an unusual way to view the world, when so many emigrate and when we have such widespread connections.

People identify with different aspects of their heritage. In this way, they choose their identities. Sometimes that's a match for legal citizenship. Sometimes not.

But America is a child in terms of global history and identity.

The ancestors of Native Americans may have lived on and around the Bering Strait for about 10,000 years before streaming into the Americas

There, fixed that for you.

You do know don't you that what we are taught in school as children only relates to one country's history?

Non stop Henry VIII anyone? "Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived"....

That is reasonable. As an Irish person I would feel the same way.

Of course, many of my countrypeople also supported this terrorism from a distance.

I don't see this as a reflection on the majority of Irish (or Irish-American) people though, any more than I see British war crimes in the North as a reflection on the majority of British people.

i feel like American modern history isn't really that old and so they want to feel like they come from somewhere with more history and roots.

Nope @belleager My dad is English, my mum was Welsh. I don’t say I’m Welsh as I was born and brought up in England and have an English accent. I would look a complete twat if I told a Welsh person born and bred that I was Welsh. You don’t pick the bit of your ancestry that you fancy.

My parents were Welsh, born in Wales. They moved to England and had me and my siblings. We are English. 🤷🏼‍♀️ Yes, we could play for Wales, but we’re still English. Many of my cousins are Welsh, born and brought up in Wales. They have moved all over the place but consider themselves Welsh and their DC English/Australian/Welsh etc depending on where their children were born or brought up. The non Welsh ones may have a hankering for bara brith and can say Llanfairpwchgwyngyllgogerychwyndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch but that’s as Welsh as they get!

Aside from the quite hilarious fact that you wrote that long and pompous post without knowing when the GFA was - celt-splaining indeed! - I think an objective observer would have to agree that the role of Americans believing they're Irish was at best a mixed blessing for the Troubles, what with all the funding the IRA.

Americans being sneery?

But other countries seems to judge Americans harshly for anything.

It makes. Sense to Americans and brings them a sense of kinship, culture and belonging. It’s a newish country and there is a definite sense of lack- missing that rich history that most countries have. Saying they are Irish or Scottish makes them feel they belong.

Getting involved in complex political situations and accidentally offending nations is taking kinship a bit too far.

Those of us with a rich cultural history forged by centuries of warfare have learned the subtle art if shutting up, remaining neutral, and realising that we don’t know enough to say anything. This is probably why we talk
about the weather

Oh dear. Probably better then not to watch on as people get burned out of their homes or civil rights protesters get shot in the streets. It makes people feel sad enough to try to do something about it. Not the government in charge of ensuring it doesn't happen, obviously. Or the electorate who think they have it coming. People who actually care.

Biden managed to mix up the Black & Tans with the All Blacks ruby team

So I've just been reading; I'd laugh except it's not funny

Somebody really should get this guy out of public view ...

It's daft if it is generations back - most people have mixed heritage of this sort in the UK too, but the majority will either say British, or identify with one of the four UK nations. I probably have a similar percentage of Irish as Biden (5%) but didn't know the great great grandparent who provided me with that smidge of Irish and would never claim to be Irish.

Interesting, and thanks for answering. But what you and @UrsulaBelle are talking about in your posts are subjective standards, probably roughly a match with the wider cultural consensus in the UK.

And even there, in your relatively straightforward situations, there is nuance. There's no universal rule about identity. Born and bred? Accent? Rugby rules? You have a right to identify as English, and your upbringings seem to have encouraged that, but there are choices there.

I agree with the posters who say it seems to be tinged with racism when they say it. I remember there was a bit of a fracas across the internet over the idea of Rishi Sunak being English. A lot of Americans couldn't grasp that idea that to us he's English, because he is. They saw his race and ethnic heritage first nationality second, we tend to do it the other way round here. British Asian rather than African American. It's a subtle but noticeable difference.

I find patronising Americans for being a young nation (if we are only counting from 1492. Or 1776. Though people were there before that) a bit much.

People in Europe don't go around drawing on centuries of wisdom every time they open their mouths. Most of them know very little history.

It's more relevant to the European connection that if you are a white American, your ancestors arrived some time after the introduction of print, and probably within the period of shipping lists and parish registers, and even quite likely after introduction of a census. They came from somewhere. You can usually find out where. Or your family may never have forgotten.

It's an outward looking history.

Whereas if I have Vikings among my ancestors, chances of me finding that shipping list or immigration record are fairly slim.

I don't know what type of school you went to but my history lessons were varied and included a wide scope of global history.

Of course Biden swerved the UK and who can blame him. Why would he want to be knocking about and taking photos with lunatics like Suella Braverman?

Except they do claim it. My ancestry is from Russian Ashkenazi Jew and Irish Catholic immigrants. Both marginalized communities. When both sides arrived in North America, their surnames were spelled incorrectly due to disdain. It's important for me to celebrate my heritage, and it's not "cringe" or "rude" for me to do so. Am I supposed to just forget that I had relatives in Auschwitz or suffering from the Potato Famine just because they were European and I am North American? I don't claim to have experienced it, but I certainly have their cultures as part of my own.