Replies

Ha! Don’t get your panties in a bunch. I’m not prejudice against the irish. I’m just stating a fact that WAS reality. There was a time when people “aspired” to assimilate to be americans.

And your example of "assimilating to be American" was the fact that your grandmother was ashamed of her 25% Irish ancestry and wanted to be considered 100% WASP when the Irish contributed so much to the creation of the USA?

But you bring up another topic that I feel strongly about. That is this nonsense more and more americans have about “being proud of one’s ancestry”. It is kinda stupid when you get down to it. We are americans. We are a heinz 57 mixture.

You might be "Heinz 57" as far as ethnic heritage. Some of us Americans were not and are not Heinz 57 but we were and are just as much "American" as Heinz 57 or any other hamburger condiment you care to mention.

That includes the Union soldiers of the Irish Brigade who died at Gettysburg. That includes the Buffalo Soldiers that died on the Western frontier. That includes the Navajo Code Talkers that died in the Pacific. That includes the Tuskegee Airmen that died over the skies of Europe. That includes my uncle that was shedding blood for the U.S. in Vietnam in 1965 after having come here from Cuba in 1960.

You are no more "American" than any of those just because you believe that your American heritage dates from the day you were born and believe that taking into account anything that your ancestors did to form your American character is "stupid".

Promoting pride in one’s ancestry is promoting balkanization and that is dangerous.

So, I should tell my children that they should have no pride that their dead maternal Polish American grandfather fought in the Pacific in World War II?

I should tell my children that they should pay no heed that one of my ancestors commanded a frigate in the Spanish fleet that defeated the British in the capture of Pensacola during the American Revolutionary War securing the American Colonies' southern flank and helping America win it's independence?

I should tell my children that they should pay no heed that, five years after coming to the U.S. from Cuba, my uncle was a U.S. Army Lieutenant who was fighting and severely wounded at the Landing Zone X-Ray at the Battle of Ia Drang and is listed seven times in the index of We Were Soldiers Once ... And Young?

There’s nothing wrong with being aware of where you came from, but pride in what culture your great great grandparents were part of is just dumb. They are dead and gone and that culture that they were part of doesn’t exist any more ......

Wow ..... That explains why public school left-wing teachers no longer teach children to be proud of being American.

"Your dead great great grandfather came to America because it was a Land of Freedom and fought at Gettysburg with the Irish Brigade? Your grandfather fought in World War II?"

"Hey! They are dead and gone! Who gives a rat's patoot! Fogetaboutit!! "

"You have no heritage. You have no History. You are Heinz 57. Or French's Mustard. Or Tony Roma's Barbecue Sauce."

Have you ever considered that heritage is what keeps a man on a steady course and lack of heritage is why slightly over 50% of America is now drifting like a ship without a rudder?

I can take pride in being a midwesterner. I can take pride in being conservative, or the specific skill set I’ve aquired. But how can you take pride in who your long dead ancestors are who you never even met?

Because, if they did their job in nurturing your family tree, they shaped the values that you have today.

As the saying goes, "Good breeding shows."

I happen to know that my genetic composition is primarily danish, dutch and german...with some english, irish, and native american. I feel absolutely no connection to any of those cultures or nations.

So that is supposed to make you more of a "real American" than my uncle who, five years after coming to the U.S. from Cuba, was bleeding from a gaping leg wound at Landing Zone X-ray at the Battle of Ia Drang and, according to the book "We Were Soldiers Once ... And Young", was cussing up a storm in Spanish after he was wounded during that battle?

In this country, you don't inherit your station in life. You work for it. That's the american way.

Well, some of us have worked and have bled for our station in America and just because we have not turned our back on the ancestors who shaped our character, that does not mean that we are less "American" than those who believe that being "American" means having no heritage at all.

"So, I should tell my children that they should have no pride that their dead maternal Polish American grandfather fought in the Pacific in World War II?"

I never said that. But there's no sensible reason for you to tell them that they should be proud of the fact that he was polish. To do THAT, would be silly...stupid even.

"Have you ever considered that heritage is what keeps a man on a steady course and lack of heritage is why slightly over 50% of America is now drifting like a ship without a rudder?"

Of course I have considered the importance of THAT kind of heritage...knowing what it took for your parents and grandparents to overcome...and learning all you can from them and their experiences. But the ethnicity of long dead ancestors is irrelevant to THAT kind of heritage.

"Because, if they did their job in nurturing your family tree, they shaped the values that you have today."

Yes they did. I'll have you know that my full blooded dane grandfather is the one that instilled in me the idea that pride in one's ancestors' ethnicity is a load of pure crap. He wouldn't speak danish and didn't try to teach his kids danish. Denmark and the danes are irrelevent in this country. He was american and made sure his kids grew up american, NOT DANISH. The more I live the more I agree with him.