Mr. Pants,
Reacting against every element of identification beyond the specifics of an individual, because some people use those identifying properties to discriminate, is ridiculously heavy-handed and narrow minded. My German ancestry doesn't define who I am. I grew up in Washington DC, and that personal history plays a huge role in who I am. That doesn't mean I can't think it's neat to think about the ancestral path from which I sprung. That's all that's happening here. This isn't nationalism or racism or labeling at all. It's just discussion of something that's neat to think about. Nobody's buying the righteous nose punching rhetoric around here. In meatspace, I don't suppose you'd be well advised to act on such words either.
G'day.
I think this conversation is actually a combination of all four of those things you mentioned. I also think it's more narrow-minded to label people rather than talk about specific concepts and ideas but you're entitled to your opinion. My opinion is simply that I would rather remain unlabelled or at least wear a series on contradicting labels instead. Asking this question therefore is akin to saying 'How should I generalise you'?
I don't mind people talking about what they think their heritage means to them personally. But this whole 'let's do a roll-call of the different races of people here' thing seems a little bit more nazi death-camp procedure than enlightened discussion. And I'm not kidding I probably really would punch anyone who had the nerve to ask me this question right in the face. Granted they weren't to much bigger than me. In which case I'd probably just make some snide comment and walk (run?) away. C'mon it's pretty unseemly. Can you imagine this as a real-world conversation starter? How about the weather today? Where did you get thet jacket? What race are you?
If you don't think there's something wrong with that, there's probably something wrong with you.
I think this thread only just became interesting. If you don't want to join in the discussion then have every right to just ignore it.
PS. I think it's neat to think about the ancestral path from which I sprung too. At some point I was realted to an amphibious fish that threw itself out of some slime onto a riverbank. No wonder I like swimming so much!
All categories of people are oversimplifications as people are individuals. But the point is labeling people into a group gives the community in which to be heard at times. Gay is too broad, I agree (and should not have used as an example), but even the label LGBQT can feel constricting for some. But a lot of good has come out of that categorization (no pun intended).
Ethnicity and nationality are two very important parts of identity for most people. You might be able to deny it, but I would not be the same person if I was born and lived in a different nation or if I came from a different ethnic group. I would not do the same things either, going back to your "gay" example. Again, constraining yourself to one label or one group is not a good thing, but ignoring those differences is very dangerous.
And to say that culture and ideology don't come from nation or ethnic group? Come on.
I see your point. And I do agree that some cultural and ideaological ideas are related to nationality. But we live in a world which is becomming increasingly globalised these national boundaries are starting to break down more and more rapidly. And sometimes now there is even greater diversity within nations than there is between them. I don't however believe that these ideas are at all related to ethincity and I maintain that.
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Topic: Whats Yo Nationality/Ethnicity/Background? (Read 15629 times)