I think if you are and you care about that and try to preserve it that’s fine and even good but it shouldn’t be used to exclude people whos family only even heard of america in the last generation
Pretty_Marsh on
Oh Jesus. So the new nativist test is whether you had family here before the Civil War. Who probably were accused of being part of the barbarian horde by a nativist when they immigrated in 1835.
Somehow my ancestors were all too young or too old to actually fight in the ACW, but I did have ancestors on both sides of the Revolution. I’m becoming more and more sympathetic to my loyalist ancestors by the day. They were probably venting on whatever the 1775 equivalent of arr/Neoliberal was about how people needed to calm the fuck down and be normal.
Edit to add: the other half of my family is a bunch of Italians who came over here in the early 1900s immigration wave. Guess from which side I get most of my values, traditions, and, most critically, food? 🤌
BelmontIncident on
I am not a Know-Nothing. That is certain. How could I be? How can any one who abhors the oppression of negroes, be in favor of degrading classes of white people? Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we began by declaring that “all men are created equal.” We now practically read it “all men are created equal, except negroes.” When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read “all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and catholics.” When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty-to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocracy
Abraham Lincoln, writing to Joshua F. Speed, August 24th of 1855
demoncrusher on
> America is not “a collection of abstract things agreed to in some social contract”
Bullshit that’s exactly what America is. That’s the entire goddamn point
Thiha_SG on
It’s just a fancy way to say ‘white’… Reinventing some racist idea to doesn’t make you more intelligent
Acies on
Very conveniently arbitrary to pick the civil war. But that’s only a few generations back, I’m not persuaded those people have put down roots yet.
Personally, I think a better practice would be to pick people who had ancestors living here when Christ was born. (All important dates should be selected by reference to Jesus). Only these people, the truest Americans, should be allowed to vote.
These ppl think this idea is some kind of novel concept when we’ve done this crap as a country in response to every wave of new migrants/citizens since the dawn of time. The irish. The Italians. Freed slaves. The Chinese. The Japanese. And it goes on and on and on.
karry9001 on
I’m honestly curious what the borders for being a heritage American are in the eyes of a person who takes this stuff seriously.
* If one side of one’s family can be traced back to colonial America, but the other side came from Asia one generation ago, are they a heritage American?
* What if it’s more lopsided? What if 75% of their ancestors are pre-Civil War Europeans but 25% are recent Latino immigrants?
* If someone has pure 100% colonial WASP ancestors, but now they’re a polyamorous socialist transgender atheist living in NYC, are they a heritage American?
* If one person’s ancestors are African slaves that arrived in 1750, and another person’s ancestors are German immigrants who arrived in 1850, is one more heritage than the other?
dweeb93 on
My Mom’s side of the family came from Britain in the 19th century to America, possibly some from the Netherlands too. Is she not a real American?
badusername35 on
> I mentioned that as a half-Iranian American who was born and raised in the U.S., I share more in common ideologically with the Anglo-Protestant Founders of the United States than I do with Middle Eastern theocrats. “I would also contend that there is something deep inside of you that is attracted to or finds familiar portions of Iranian history,” he said, as though I am genetically predisposed to find the conquests of Darius the Great uniquely moving. I don’t, and told him as much.
lol
captmonkey on
I’m about as “Heritage American” as they come. As far as I know, all of my ancestors arrived here before the US became an independent nation. That being said, I think a 1st generation immigrant who comes here and becomes a citizen is just as much an American as I am and fuck anyone who thinks otherwise.
I have several friends who are immigrants born in other countries. I’m just as proud to call them my fellow Americans as anyone. They had to fight a hell of a lot harder to become an American than I did.
12 Comments
I think if you are and you care about that and try to preserve it that’s fine and even good but it shouldn’t be used to exclude people whos family only even heard of america in the last generation
Oh Jesus. So the new nativist test is whether you had family here before the Civil War. Who probably were accused of being part of the barbarian horde by a nativist when they immigrated in 1835.
Somehow my ancestors were all too young or too old to actually fight in the ACW, but I did have ancestors on both sides of the Revolution. I’m becoming more and more sympathetic to my loyalist ancestors by the day. They were probably venting on whatever the 1775 equivalent of arr/Neoliberal was about how people needed to calm the fuck down and be normal.
Edit to add: the other half of my family is a bunch of Italians who came over here in the early 1900s immigration wave. Guess from which side I get most of my values, traditions, and, most critically, food? 🤌
I am not a Know-Nothing. That is certain. How could I be? How can any one who abhors the oppression of negroes, be in favor of degrading classes of white people? Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we began by declaring that “all men are created equal.” We now practically read it “all men are created equal, except negroes.” When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read “all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and catholics.” When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty-to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocracy
Abraham Lincoln, writing to Joshua F. Speed, August 24th of 1855
> America is not “a collection of abstract things agreed to in some social contract”
Bullshit that’s exactly what America is. That’s the entire goddamn point
It’s just a fancy way to say ‘white’… Reinventing some racist idea to doesn’t make you more intelligent
Very conveniently arbitrary to pick the civil war. But that’s only a few generations back, I’m not persuaded those people have put down roots yet.
Personally, I think a better practice would be to pick people who had ancestors living here when Christ was born. (All important dates should be selected by reference to Jesus). Only these people, the truest Americans, should be allowed to vote.
https://preview.redd.it/stmg7rdehqtf1.jpeg?width=1919&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=48bf9ab9cf4073ff533a5f3ae862a7acec67b925
These ppl think this idea is some kind of novel concept when we’ve done this crap as a country in response to every wave of new migrants/citizens since the dawn of time. The irish. The Italians. Freed slaves. The Chinese. The Japanese. And it goes on and on and on.
I’m honestly curious what the borders for being a heritage American are in the eyes of a person who takes this stuff seriously.
* If one side of one’s family can be traced back to colonial America, but the other side came from Asia one generation ago, are they a heritage American?
* What if it’s more lopsided? What if 75% of their ancestors are pre-Civil War Europeans but 25% are recent Latino immigrants?
* If someone has pure 100% colonial WASP ancestors, but now they’re a polyamorous socialist transgender atheist living in NYC, are they a heritage American?
* If one person’s ancestors are African slaves that arrived in 1750, and another person’s ancestors are German immigrants who arrived in 1850, is one more heritage than the other?
My Mom’s side of the family came from Britain in the 19th century to America, possibly some from the Netherlands too. Is she not a real American?
> I mentioned that as a half-Iranian American who was born and raised in the U.S., I share more in common ideologically with the Anglo-Protestant Founders of the United States than I do with Middle Eastern theocrats. “I would also contend that there is something deep inside of you that is attracted to or finds familiar portions of Iranian history,” he said, as though I am genetically predisposed to find the conquests of Darius the Great uniquely moving. I don’t, and told him as much.
lol
I’m about as “Heritage American” as they come. As far as I know, all of my ancestors arrived here before the US became an independent nation. That being said, I think a 1st generation immigrant who comes here and becomes a citizen is just as much an American as I am and fuck anyone who thinks otherwise.
I have several friends who are immigrants born in other countries. I’m just as proud to call them my fellow Americans as anyone. They had to fight a hell of a lot harder to become an American than I did.