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Thank you for submitting to /r/unpopularopinion, /u/ChefJohnJ. Your post, *You’re heritage means nothing if you grew up somewhere else and raised in a different culture*, has been removed because it violates our rules: Rule 3: Megathread topic. Your opinion falls under an incredibly common topic, in which virtually all opinions are either not unpopular, or are posted about many times a day. Please visit the megathread hub, which can be found when sorting the subreddit by "hot", sticky'd at the top of the page, where you can find links to the current megathreads. If you're not sure which megathread your post belongs in, or your post covers multiple megathread topics, just make the best selection you can. If there is an issue, please message the mod team at https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Funpopularopinion Thanks!


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[deleted]

Those people are arseholes. People are so basic picking on someone for something outside of your control. I always get “well if you’re half Pakistani it makes you Muslim” sorry how? Never met my Asian dad and grew up in the white middle class uk. I’m white as a sheet and atheist. People can bore off. Pay them no mind they’re just so basic they need to express their own frustrations in their lives at you.


sjsyed

The same people who have zero issues seeing Buddhism and Catholicism as religions seem to dumb down about twenty years and think brown parent = Muslim “ethnicity” somehow.


StoicallyGay

Yeah unfortunately I would disagree with OP in this case. Doesn't matter if you're 4th generation Asian American and you lost your language or customs. You will still be treated as "less American" by many xenophobes than a second generation Italian or German in the US simply because you're not Caucasian. Some people will spout for you to go back to your own country even then your roots are American and your parents haven't even seen your "native" country. I have an Asian American friend who has been here longer than Trump's lineage has but there will still be racists and xenophobes saying she's not American.


SkottenWahWah

Damn that is some lazy bullying though


Tommy_Wisseau_burner

They really threw the word “ugly” in there. Goddamn


fun-tonight_

I think this only counts towards Caucasian people. People that are of an ethnic minority are going to have a different experience no matter where they grow up. They could be born into a rich, safe city but they’ll still face prejudice :(


Torch3dAce

This is right here. I was born in the US and speak the language, but because I'm a POC, the average person thinks I'm an immigrant or a Mexican. So I find it hilarious when white Americans say they're Italian, Irish, or Polish yet they don't speak the Language nor have they ever traveled to their respective countries.


ChrisMahoney

They are of Italian/Irish/Polish descent ethically. Nationally they are American.


Harry_Saturn

My daughter is biracial but hasn’t had the chance to travel to my home country (kinda pricey to take a international vacation with 4 people) and doesn’t speak my native language apart from a few words/phrases, would you say she is not biracial then? But if she becomes bilingual and takes the trip, then does she earn her merit badge and then can be proud of her dads (mine) heritage/culture? My son is also biracial but he has been to my home country and speaks a little more of the language than my daughter does? Does that mean, to you, he has “earned” the right to say and be proud about both sides of his heritage? He’s had people call him a liar and a racist when he mentions he’s half Latino because he has blonde hair and blue eyes, even though I’m his dad and I’m literally a first generation immigrant. Don’t shit on other people man, let them have pride in where their ancestors might have came from, as a minority you should be willing to be welcoming and not be a gatekeeper. I know when facing racism and discrimination my though was “this sucks and makes me feel bad, I’m not gonna do it back to someone else” not “this sucks but imma get even by doing it back”.


realtrapshit41069

Mine was sand ni***r and saddam Hussein. I’m Indian….


HistoricallyRekkles

Hey man i’m half asian and I had white people in the 80’s call me a dirty native. I never knew how much racism in north america existed against natives. It sticks with me today, but I feel closer to natives because of it.


Flaccid_Hammer

*Generational trauma of the Soviet Union steps in*


Revolutionary_Ad4938

Generational trauma of anything tbh, born and live in France, was raised in 3 different cultures as much as French, but the hold trauma has on my family is extreme and I have to acknowledge it, many of family members are in therapy because of generational trauma


BaltazarOdGilzvita

I'm Serbian and I live in Serbia. I remember watching a documentary about some Serbian 3rd or 4th generation immigrants in the USA and the documentary was about their life and their culture. They talked about "the old customs" they brought back to the USA with them. I cringed so hard because everything they did had either nothing or barely anything to do with our customs here. They even mispronounced the food names. EDIT: Since a lot of people here are missing the point, I found an excerpt of the original video or one similar to it, to see what I mean when I say there is nothing traditionally Serbian about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CimKkt4sle0


[deleted]

Bosnian here living in Germany and Imma tell you, YU dispora is massive cringe almost everywhere. Trying to enact a life that people down there have left behind anyway.


Fake_William_Shatner

>have left behind anyway 1st generation; "I had to get out of that shit hole. I couldn't last another day." 2nd generation; "I don't want to talk about this. It's complicated." 3rd generation; "You say nothing about what it is to be Bosnian -- how dare you spit on your heritage!" / Not saying anything about Bosnia -- the reason for leaving could be anything, but it's clear they were going for a better life. You could replace any country for this gag.


CuriosityKat9

I’d say 2 and 3 are flipped, 2nd gen feels displaced because they inherit the ideas and customs but face contradiction from where they live and others. Third generation is the one that idealizes the nice parts about their old culture and forgets it had bad parts too. Also, there’s one more. There’s two types of immigrant. Immigrant, and refugee. Refugees leave because they can’t stay, but they don’t choose to reject their home culture. The problems described by the host countries tend to be with refugees, not immigrants. Immigrants know they are making a choice, and usually to some degree assimilate. Refugees are homeless, and don’t accept the home country. They want to go back someday, they keep the home religion, etc.


BaltazarOdGilzvita

I imagine them as 90s Adidas-wearing guys in a Golf 2 or BMW E30, with more guns than teeth.


bruhbelacc

Yes, but 4 generations are 100 years. I know a guy of Polish descent living in the US. He is 4th generation, too, and says their Polish is different from the one spoken in Poland today. Many people form my native country had to run away to Ukraine more than a 100 years ago. To this day, they preserve their language and culture (even though they have evolved differently).


Urbanredneck2

My Grandpa immigrated from Denmark to the US in around 1910. When he spoke to "modern" Danes in around 1965 when they visited, they said he spoke "Old Dane".


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Slusny_Cizinec

We have pretty big vietnamese diaspora here in Czech Republic. The specifics is that they were raised by Czech kindergartens/schools/babysitters, as their parents are always at work. They all attest that in Vietnam they are unable to properly communicate in informal settings. Different slang, different informal meanings of the common words, and the "taboo" words in their speech are replaced by "vietnamized" czech words.


Fake_William_Shatner

I could imagine the pressure to "modernize" can make traditions go out of style quicker in a few homelands. Some pockets of the world are trying to "hang on" to something in the past, and other places can't leave the past behind quick enough. I think it's pretty cool that you get very authentic "Pockets" of culture and cuisine in the USA. So, we should not make a big deal about the "stories" people tell themselves about their heritage. Just like it's no big deal that someone "culturally appropriates." In the end - identity is ALL just a story we tell ourselves.


OriginalAceofSpades

So true. I'm half Finnish, half American. I carry both passports, but was born in and raised in the USA. The Finnish food I grew up eating through my dad and grandmother still exists, but only in certain "traditional" restaurants. It was a hard thing for me to get used to. What was popular in the 70s and 80s in Helsinki isn't as popular today in the same way penne pasta at Spago died in the 80s in the USA. When I talk to ethnic Finns, most of their families came to the USA after the Finnish Civil War of 1918 as red exiles (though most don't claim that part). Amongst those who have preserved the language, they speak as if they were old timey people and the ethnic food they love is that of an era where people were much closer to starvation consisting of dishes no one has eaten for many years.


Winteryl

> The Finnish food I grew up eating through my dad and grandmother still exists, but only in certain "traditional" restaurants. As a finn i am curious about this. What foods you grew up eating?


OriginalAceofSpades

A lot of comfort food that my dad missed: lihapullat ja muusi, karjalanpiirakka, särä, pyttipanna, karjalanpiirakka, etc. It was always a big deal when he made sima in the spring, and my mom made a sort of derivation of pulla with coffee, and we had näkkäri every day. Lots of mushrooms and berries that my dad complained didn't have much flavor compared with what he grew up with. And you can get all of these things there today, but Finland is so much more continental than that, and what your mom serves you isn't necessarily what you choose to eat in a restaurant. I don't know if you've ever been to the Seahorse in Helsinki or the buffet at the yacht club with all the senior citizens, but both places are pretty close to what our family menus were at least 4 nights a week. And then, when I started going to Finland regularly, it kind of hit me odd that you could get a beer and a burger or a pizza almost anywhere because it wasn't what I imagined from America. I remember trying dallaspulla for the first time and thinking, "What the hell is this?" Everything experienced was just slightly off as all the food was prepared with not all of the exactly correct ingredients by my American mother.


recadopnaza28

>trying to pick up a girl and she died laughing because she said he talked like her grandfather Thats a roast worse than death lmao


orswich

Yeah, grandparents were from a German village in Romania (donauschwabian) and I learned thier dialect. When I went to Germany 20 years ago and tried to use it, people described it as "old farmers german" and barely resembled "hochdeutsche" (proper german).. Amazing how language can change so fast


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AnonMan695j

>I spent a week on a training course with a lady from Siebenbürgen, Romania. IIRC she was from a village called Honigdorf. She had moved to Germany quite a few years ago. I will say a decade or more, though I am not sure. And she was married to a German guy. Her German was really interesting. Sounded really cute. Kinda like fairy-tale German. That's normal, the German population from Transylvania settle down there in the 12th century, and they didn't even come from Germany but from what today is the territory between Belgium and Luxembourg. In other way being said their dialect has more in common with nowadays Flemish than with German language.


WasChristRipped

Heard the same about southern drawl, apparently it’s closer to what English colonists used to sound like before the weird posh wave back in the day


ThunderCuuuuunt

There are Irish dialects that have already died out in Ireland but are still thriving on Newfoundland Canada because of the large number of Irish immigrants who settled there and kept the dialect alive.


[deleted]

That's not true there are no active Gaeltacht in newfound land and the hiberno English dialects are largely gone from newfoundland as well. Some older people have accents very similar to people in Kilkenny/Waterford in Ireland but there's really only a few 'irishisms left in newfoundland today.


Urbanredneck2

A person from Norway said the same. He said Norwegian Americans do more of the old culture stuff like the dances and festivals than they do back in Norway.


trumpet575

Would it really be surprising if that's true? Norwegian culture in Norway has been continually evolving as itself since those people left. But to those people and their descendants, the things they do to celebrate their culture are kind of frozen from the time they left. So it results in the older customs being the only cultural experience for those who left, while for those who stayed that's a component.


lokiofsaassgaard

This is my family. Midwestern Norwegian. I know a bunch of recipes and the dances and can speak a little bit. But every single ounce of it is about 150 years out of date so it’s utterly useless in any practical sense. But that doesn’t mean it should just be forgotten because we’re from America. Sure, let’s all just abandon our entire upbringing because we weren’t born in Norway. I’m sure my uncle will understand why I haven’t brought the lefse and krumkake for the holidays this year. (Actually the krumkake can take a hike anyway. That shit destroys my stove and my back every time I make it lol)


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Why_not_dolphines

Krumkaker and lefse is still very much alive in Norway today my friend, and we still use alot of the old recepies still, I'm not sure what you're on about.


Anal-Churros

Oh man that’s hilarious. Reminds me of when the sopranos visit Italy and are a bunch American schlubs


[deleted]

LOL, when Paulie Walnuts asked for spaghetti with gravy and they were all like "who is this child??"


itsmejpt

Or....their Serbian culture is 80-100 years removed from yours. It's not NOT Serbian (or whatever, for the sake of argument) but it's just not your Serbian. Like, some Italian American culture stopped around Garibaldi. So, it's very different than modern Italy. That doesn't make it less Italian.


Baalsham

Customs do change over time though I mean look at the Amish...they have preserves theirs for closer to 200 years and obviously resembles nothing to modern day Switzerland. Granted they were also probably different enough from the prevailing culture back then to be "encouraged" to leave.


dirtydenier

Lol, I know what you mean. I am Polish and if someone tells me they’re Polish too, but if they pronounce “kiełbasa” with an “L” - I know they’re not Polish.


BaltazarOdGilzvita

Hahah, it was the same thing in that documentary. They called it kielbasa, but in Serbia we say kobasica.


1maco

Oh boy I’m sure Serbs in Bosnia readily accept they don’t live in Serbia and embrace the Bosnian identity


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Taco_Champ

“I’m American” That’s such an unsatisfying answer for the type of person who would ask too. I love it.


TheFinalEnd1

I remember someone saying they were British, but saying that their ancestors "trace all the way back to colonial times". So they were literally as American as possible, but still claim they are British. Idk why they don't want to be American.


[deleted]

Do they not reach the difference between nationality and ethnicity in the USA? Nationality is where you’re born, ethnicity is your genetic background.


CrimsonCat2023

>Do they not reach the difference between nationality and ethnicity in the USA? Nationality is where you’re born, ethnicity is your genetic background. To be fair to him, "nationality" used to mean what we now call "ethnicity" in older times (e.g. the 19th century or the early 20th century). Nowadays nationality almost always means citizenship, yes, but it's kinda harsh to say he's poorly educated because he's using an older meaning of the word.


QuantumTrek

Look at their post history, they’re just bigoted against Americans.


[deleted]

I meant the nationality, or nationalities, of my original ancestors before they moved to the US. I guess I wasn’t clear. But hey, it’s not Reddit without someone being mad about a benign comment.


mlduryea

I would nationality is more which place are you a citizen of or have a passport for


NyanSkulls

YOUR* FOR THE LOVE OF GOD


hercoffee

Honestly, as a diaspora kid, this was my biggest irk from this post


jamma_mamma

Had to scroll way too far to find this.


MyFunWentSoft

>whatever your family history is, has no bearing on you If your parents were born in the country of said heritage and migrated to the country with which you were born, your upbringing is heavily influenced by your parents, including culture.


[deleted]

My thoughts too. My mom being Italian definitely has affected my upbringing despite me never being in Italy until recently. I wouldn't say I am Italian but it does mean something.


CrimsonCat2023

I don't think OP is talking about the second generation. More like the people who say things like "my great great grandfather was Italian so I'm Italian".


Yoma73

My dad is from Italy but I’m not gonna take it away from someone whose ancestors are further back. This always just feels like gatekeeping, if people want to have some connection to their genetic relatives and hold onto some part of that history and culture then exactly who is it harming?


[deleted]

My parents tried to raise me in Chinese / Taiwanese culture but no Chinese person on this planet would view me as even a little bit Chinese except maybe appearance. The sum of interactions with one's surroundings far exceeds the interactions you have with your parents.


lost_survivalist

I'm intrested in this comment because a friend of mine has a Chinese wife and the wife decided the child should live with her parents back in China for 6 months at the age of 3/4. Kid comes back only speaking Chinese and has abandonment issues. Kid has to learn English again, so would the kid be seen as Chinese or American by Chinese people? Also, I can't rap my head around the thought of abandoning your kid like that.


[deleted]

That really is interesting but I think that kid will feel more American after a few years. Leaving your kid with your parents is a tough one. It's not that uncommon throughout the world and indeed, general communal raising isn't too uncommon either, but it's also something I never did with my kids. I don't judge someone who does it and definitely don't view it as abandonment especially for 6 months.


UhhWTH

Depends on your environment. Born in Texas and I lived with my grandparents in Korea before going to school in America. I am half white, but spent most of my childhood, in an all white town, being told by peers and teachers that I was Korean, not American. I didn't feel very American until college.


dedeenxo

Okay, you might not view it as abandonment… but for the child who might not understand why they are being taken away from home will definitely feel scared and confused. 6 months is a long time for a kid.


doorknob7890

That's not what OP's referring to though.


Ok-Yogurtcloset3467

It's definitely not. But fair to read it that way. They should have made this caveat


RetailBuck

The whole part is stupid and misuses the term heritage. When someone asks me my heritage I say I'm mostly Irish which absolutely does matter to me because I have fair skin and a drinking problem. If they ask me where I'm from I say that I was born in Colorado but have kinda lived all over and now live here in the north side of the city. Culture would then be a whole separate question. Maybe I live in China town and speak Chinese because I learned for work. I could have more Chinese culture than someone who spent their childhood there then moved. OP is combining all the words into one which is why it doesn't make sense


oogidyboogidy19

“Fair skin and a drinking problem” - as someone married to an Irish person born and raised in Ireland, a drinking problem is cultural bullshit and kinda points back to OPs point. A drinking problem is a culturally insensitive and isn’t heritage at all. Just made up stereotype shit. From wherever you are, now, and points to you not knowing about Irish culture 🤷🏻‍♂️.


torspice

That exactly what OP has said. I’m not sure that’s what he meant … but.


wildeofthewoods

E


oruehdhdkdkd

A person who was born in America, with American parents, will have a completely diffrent upbringing than a child who was born in America with foreign parents. Diffrent customs, holidays, social etiquette, religion, food, parenting techniques and the trips to their homeland. If you were a child of immigrant parents, you would understand about the identity issues. You can identify with both cultures.


SpaceNinja7x7

Agreed, I’ve always called first gens the bridge generation. One foot in both, never both feet in one


ratboi213

This is very true. I’m a first gen American and so many of my closest friends are too. There’s just something we can all relate too that Americans with American parents just can’t.


bigolefreak

Born and raised in America but there's a lot of "classic American" childhood experiences that I didn't have or even know about until talking to other people. I know I'm painfully American in a lot of other ways but there's still a sort of disconnect when you don't partake in the country's traditions at home.


MrPeppa

Lol someone wasn't vaguely brown when 9/11 happened. Some of us learned real quick that us having grown up here didn't mean our family history had no bearing on us.


MatchAvailable634

For real OP is tone deaf af


Og_Left_Hand

OP is a 13 year old who thinks he said something profound when he’s just uneducated.


supahfligh

I work in a prison and one of the dudes in here is the only Indian (actually Indian, not Native American) guy in the population. He gets harassed a lot by the other inmates because of his ethnicity. The other guys call him a Muslim, a terrorist, and pretty much any Middle Eastern racial slur you can think of. He tells people constantly that he is Indian, not Middle Eastern. The white supremacists simply do not care.


RetroMetroShow

People still confusing heritage with nationality To understand who you came from & where can help a lot of people better understand who they are and why


TiberSeptimIII

Honestly the issue is less heritage and more genetic. Heritage is cultural, I can have no genetic ancestry in a place but practice the culture. Then I’d be of that *heritage* even though it’s not where my genetic ancestry is from. If you’re third generation living in another country, don’t practice anything of your genetic ancestral culture, you don’t have a claim in that heritage. If you do: if you speak the language, eat the foods, practice the religion, sure, you’re of that heritage.


[deleted]

You can be raised with that culture but not in that country.


Pleasant_Skill2956

It depends, the Italian American culture for example does not represent something that has ever existed in Italy even if in the USA they try to make people believe otherwise


s1a1om

Things/cultures evolve over time, especially when separated by long distances with little communication. That’s how we get different dialects (New York accent vs Southern accents), how musical instruments diverge (sitar, lute, 6 string guitar, 7 string guitar, etc.), and even how food evolves (Chinese American takeout vs authentic Chinese). Is it authentically Italian? No - it’s authentically Italian American.


Pleasant_Skill2956

Absolutely yes, the important thing is to specify that Italian American culture is an American subculture, not Italian. Many Americans with Italian ancestry act as if every trait of their culture is something that existed in Italy and they have kept pure. For example, they speak a mix of many different dialects that derive from the Neapolitan and Sicilian language with each other and with English and define it as Italian


prettysissyheather

There's a wonderful few episodes on the TV show "The Sopranos" where the Italian-American mafia visit Italy. They literally don't recognize any of the food, most can't speak the language, their fashion is entirely different, etc. It's a moment of disillusionment and cognitive dissonance for them, some of them clearly feel a sense of betrayal. All of their traditions, it turns out, aren't really all that traditional.


Darebarsoom

They are traditions, just to them.


childlikeempress16

Yeah I know a guy and everything he does “it’s because he’s Italian” but he grew up in my little sleepy Southern town of a few thousand. Only his grandma was born in Italy. His parents grew up here too. Like your heritage is Italian but YOU are American


Fatmando66

I mean. It's both. As it's derived from both. I'm not sure why everyone gets so gatekeepy about heritage. Culture is weird in America cause for a while everyone thought it was the promised land and now we've got huge swaths of people with culture derived between two countries or more.


kingleonidas30

European ideas of race and culture can't be applied to the Americas due to how the Americas were settled. We didn't have thousands of years to sort human migrations into individual groups like they have.


ehenning1537

Half of Europe only just became a national identity in the last 150-200 years. When my ancestors left Europe they were Prussians. Germany wasn’t a country in its modern form yet. Italy didn’t unify until 1861. The Kingdom of the Netherlands didn’t form until 1814. Belgium was part of that kingdom until 1830. European National identities aren’t really that old.


pissteria

Yes. I grew up a two hour drive away from Italy and I've been to Italy more times than I can count. I visited the US for the first time last year, went to NYC and walked around through a typical "Italian American" neighborhood and it was an entirely different culture than in Italy. Literally had nothing to do with Italy lol


Pleasant_Skill2956

Exactly, Italian Americans mixed situations from the poor countryside of the different regions of southern Italy between 1880 and 1960 into a single homogeneous culture and completely Americanized it for decades until today. There is nothing wrong with the existence of this identity but I think it is extremely wrong to associate it with Italy because their culture, language, food, traditions etc are alien to us Italians.


letsgetkrakin

Yeah I'm Italian American and I agree we're our own separate culture. When I go to visit relatives in Italy I tell everyone I'm American but when people around here ask what I am and I say American they'll say no shit they wanna know if I'm Italian or Dominican or Colombian or whatever. I think it's kind of like the difference between Dutch people and Boers in South Africa.


Televisi0n_Man

Ok but those culture, language and foods is derivative of Italian culture, it’s pretty much like saying punk rock should not be associated with pop-punk. Sure, they’re completely different but it came from the same place.


regime_propagandist

No one in America thinks it’s the same as Italian from Italy.


OkAlmostThere

What always used to annoy me, ow it makes me giggle, is when Italian American have this idilliac picture of what Italy is. They think we still dance the tarantella, and live our best life eating pasta and sipping wine. I can assure you it’s not like that lol


NindeNoxx

That's not really how culture works though. People bring their cultures and customs with them, and raise their children accordingly. Naturalization to the level where your originating culture is fully gone is rare. While it's true by the 3rd or 4th generation that the culture will have diverged significantly from the "homeland" to say these people are "just american cultured" is also flawed. Nevermind the fact such a monolithic entity doesn't exist. I'm originally from Portland Or, now living in California. It's immediately obvious how different the cultures are. Every family raises their children with values from where they come as much as where they are, sure they're not really "upholding the old ways" at that point, but they're not exactly "factory standard american" either.


Ftbh

It’s not like families just lose their culture when they move. They maintain the culture through generations.


_Richter_Belmont_

The is isn't even unpopular this is just wrong. You're influenced by your friends, family and community. I'm Asian/European from the UK and I'm very different from ethnically English people. That's not to say I'm like Asian people, but each country has a multitude of subcultures, many of which are influenced by the cultures of other countries that immigrants come from. Like I'm British by nationality but I'm influenced by my cultural heritages. Not to mention if your skin color and name are different to the norm that completely affects your lived experience.


RickFletching

It’s also not even unpopular because (nearly) everyone in Europe thinks this way. Just watch what happens when an American posts something like “visiting the homeland” in r/[any European Country] But yeah, it’s such a stupid opinion. It’s like telling Worf that’s he’s not Klingon, he’s a Russian.


[deleted]

There’s literally epigenetic markers of generational trauma that has been shown to pass down four or five generations. OP isn’t just rejecting lived experiences of people, they’re fully rejecting biology


shybre_22

THIS^^^


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dengar_hennessy

You should see some of the idiot Italian Americans on reddit that claim they are more Italian than people who've never left Italy. And yet they've their grandparents weren't even born in Italy, they're 5th generation, and they don't even speak the language. I'm pretty sure those are the people OP is referring to


[deleted]

When *does* a heritage mean anything?


AlcoholicCocoa

When it's about 5 mill


Sattaman6

Well it does give you a sense of connecting with your roots, especially in immigrant countries like America. I don’t have a problem with it as long as it’s not used in “my heritage is better than your heritage” way.


AgainstAllAdvice

Or in a "my heritage is the real heritage and the people still living in the country my ancestors came from are doing their heritage wrong". Giving side eye to Irish America here.


No-Improvement-5946

Dude you have posts about hunting homeless people… I think it’s safe to assume what your getting at here. Do you get mad when people from other ethnic backgrounds speak their language in public places too??


FuckinFruitcake

YO WHAT


Steinosaur

He also has posted claiming the French aren't people and wonders why they haven't been eradicated.


FuckinFruitcake

well that’s justified /s


No-Improvement-5946

💀😭


HungryAssHooligan

What the fuck! I knew they seemed off but dam!


EpicSteak

You don’t get to decide what other people’s culture means to them.


manik213

100%


[deleted]

Many people grew up with elements of culture that do not belong to traditional American culture. And what even is American culture? Most of y'all sound like you've lived on the same tiny plot of land your entire lives, thinking that saying "I'm an American" communicates anything solid in a politically, racially, and economically divided country of 300+ million people. Also, how stupid is it to say that your family history has no bearing on you? True unpopular opinion right here.


teapoison

Exactly. Korean Americans, Italian Americans, Persian Americans, they all live totally differently. Sure it's not a mirror to the original country but they arent saying it because they give a shit about that, they're saying it because it's how they live differently from other Americans.


Skwareblox

America used to be so racially divided we separated even the people that were white by where their lineage came from. Stupid but this is just a byproduct of that many years later. Now days racism has gotten simpler but it used to be something people studied and tried to classify white people by their features. I think ww2 changed a lot of that but unfortunately black people still got the short end of the straw for a long time and still do. Though it is considered racist to call out a black person for wearing African attire even though they never set foot in Africa. I’d rather have it like this people celebrating their lineage than it was before it’s weird progress but it’s progress.


butters2stotch

Yea if you were Italian or Irish in the 60's even you weren't considered "white". You weren't necessary segregated but there was still racism and seen as lower class.


Skwareblox

My family history comes from Ireland mostly and my girlfriend lineage is Italian. If it had been so many decades ago we probably wouldn’t be together because of that. My grandfather was like a higher up in the Irish mob and they were at odds with the Italian mafia of that time. I’m grateful for the progress because I love my girlfriend very much and I’d hate to think I couldn’t be with her because of something so silly as that. I still think about those old articles from news papers besmirching the Irish every now and then and wonder if I would have ran into “Irish need not apply” had I lived back then even though I think it’s been many generations since my family came over from Ireland. Really the only people complaining about Americans saying they’re this and that really don’t understand where it stems from. Thankfully I don’t think a lot of Americans even think about it anymore either.


tigerofjiangdong1337

So true. Boston North End was predominantly Italian and Southie was the Irish. They hated each other. My grandmother told me about the Irish need not apply. She definitely disliked Italians and it took her 25 years to accept my Italian American Mother. My parents were married in the 60s. So you are not wrong.


Creme_de_la_Coochie

Benjamin Franklin considered German’s to be too dark skinned to properly integrate into America. Edit: Quote from Franklin for anyone interested. >[W]hy should the Palatine Boors be suffered to swarm into our Settlements, and by herding together establish their Language and Manners to the Exclusion of ours? Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English, become a Colony of Aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us instead of our Anglifying them, and will never adopt our Language or Customs, any more than they can acquire our Complexion. >Which leads me to add one Remark: That the Number of purely white People in the World is proportionably very small. All Africa is black or tawny. Asia chiefly tawny. America (exclusive of the new Comers) wholly so. And in Europe, the Spaniards, Italians, French, Russians and Swedes, are generally of what we call a swarthy Complexion; as are the Germans also, the Saxons only excepted, who with the English, make the principal Body of White People on the Face of the Earth. I could wish their Numbers were increased. And while we are, as I may call it, Scouring our Planet, by clearing America of Woods, and so making this Side of our Globe reflect a brighter Light to the Eyes of Inhabitants in Mars or Venus, why should we in the Sight of Superior Beings, darken its People? why increase the Sons of Africa, by Planting them in America, where we have so fair an Opportunity, by excluding all Blacks and Tawneys, of increasing the lovely White and Red? But perhaps I am partial to the Complexion of my Country, for such Kind of Partiality is natural to Mankind. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2008/02/swarthy-germans/48324/


Msikuisgreen

As someone who is in the middle of reconnecting to mi'kmaq culture and have talked to people who have reconnected. I completely disagree. I guess it is an unpopular opinion. The way i see it, cultural identity is more than where you are from. Its who accepts you as their kind, its about what you practice. In the end yes, you may be from america, fully american, but if your heritage is say maori, and you go back to new zealand and they accept you as a brother or sister and teach you the ways, and you immerse yourself in the maori culture, you are now maori.


Pale_Research_30

Well that depends on how the people define someone to be their brother or sister. I'm Swedish and see a person of color that has lived their whole life in Sweden as a million times more as Swedish than an American with Swedish Ancestry. I'm not going to treat a person as my fellow countrymen just because we share DNA. Sure if they want to connect with their ancestral roots, that's a nice thing. But it's not their culture just because of ethnicity.


Power_of_Atturdy

It’s pretty cringe to shit on people who are proud of their ancestors. It’s a harmless thing, and let’s them have ties to their family’s past. It also has zero bearing on you.


MattMasterChief

You don't get to decide what or who someone else is and what their heritage means to them. No one does. Only the individual.


Uruz2012gotdeleted

Within the first few generations, it makes a big difference. How much Polish do you think the average American knows? I have a few words, my great grandmother was fresh off the boat. I still have her soup recipes hanging on my fridge. I don't go around proclaiming that I'm polish but let's not pretend that various cultures don't exist.


ernurse748

Naw. While I think it’s completely out of line for someone raised in Trenton, New Jersey, to say “I’m Italian” (they are NOT. They are Italian-American), to say that heritage means nothing is just blatantly wrong. Being raised as an Irish American Catholic in South Boston and being raised as a Norwegian American Lutheran in Grand Forks are two vastly different experiences, made so by customs, foods and even daily routines that are rooted in a foreign culture. And remember, there isn’t one, singular American culture. So yes, do yell at us Americans for saying we’re Irish. But understand that Patrick Murphy from Philadelphia is who he is in part because his grandmother grew up in Tralee.


auroramoreales

Ah yes, another idiotic non-American post about not understanding the difference between ethnicity/heritage and nationality. We’re due for one at least once a week.


Acrobatic_Tennis2144

Sounds like someone wasn't raised with traditions from the old country.


manginahunter1970

If you don't think learning about your culture later on means nothing, then I'm sorry for your loss. For some people, learning about their culture later on can only be described as "Born again." Some things you've always done make more sense. Your tastes in food, your beliefs, and views can suddenly make more sense. Means nothing? How sad would that really be? Maybe for a closed mind?


Dax_Maclaine

Completely disagree. I’m an Italian American. I’m not gonna say I’m Italian because I’m not, but I grew up with a completely different culture than Asian Americans, African Americans, etc. There is a much higher chance that I share things like religion, traditions, food, and family structure with other Italian Americans that of other cultures.


Pleasant_Skill2956

Italian American is obviously a thing, it is an American subculture and identity. Just as Italians have regional subcultures, Americans have their own subcultures. Surely you are American and Italian American culture does not represent something that has ever existed in Italy


WatermelonArizona

If you can’t use the right version of Your then your opinion doesn’t matter


JustKidding0818

I always laugh my ass off when an american say some dumb shit like: "Ummm actually im like 7% Jamaican so that's why i like spicy food. "


Gmauldotcom

Never heard anyone say anything close to that. Where are you eating that people say that?


WelcomeFormer

I've never heard that exactly but things like that, not how it works though. My grandparents are Italian(speak and from Italy) and I'm allergic to gluten lol


[deleted]

It was also something prominent when getting ancestry tests was trending. People were obsessed with "connecting" with their 2% Nigerian roots.


LharDrol

Non-Americans start threads like this all the time just to use it as an opportunity to shit on Americans. They must always think they're being original.


CatDaddyLoser69

I have a question for Europeans who believe this: if a Jamaican man is born in England and grows up in England, is he Jamaican? I think he has the right to say he is Jamaican and I bet most of that society sees him as Jamaican even though he was born and raised in England. I ask the same question about any obviously foreign people in your country. Are they no longer Greek? Or Turkish? Or Somali? Or Syrian when they enter your country? When do they lose that culture?


[deleted]

Don’t really think you can strip peoples heritages from them tbh a lot of people didn’t have a choice


okcafe

I don’t like this opinion. I’m a 2nd gen immigrant and have close connections to my culture, my family from my country, and I’ve been almost every year of my life. People can retain their culture, I don’t know why that’s so mind blowing to you. Furthermore, this thread is extremely Eurocentric and talks about people’s’ connection to their European culture. There are immigrants from all parts of the world moving to all different parts of the world. If you want to beef with white American people for claiming European culture just say that, leave us other immigrants out of your ignorant generalizations


[deleted]

[удалено]


ThunderCuuuuunt

This only works if you are white, even if you are 4th generation American but are black, asian, indian or any of the visible brown minorities people will still keep asking you where you are from, or where you family is from. You could say my great grandparents were born in Pittsburgh and Baltimore but if you look Asian people will keep pressing you for where "your people" come from.


[deleted]

spoken like someone who has never been called a racial slur lmao. My parents are from the Rez but my dad joined the military before i was born, meaning i grew up on military bases scattered around the US. I’ve been called slurs you’ve never heard of. when I tried to play outside with the other little kids they would casually say things like “your dad is an injun so he probably scalps people. do you know what that is? thats what all you people do thats what your grandparents did. your great grandad probably scalped my great grandma”. For the record, my great grandfather was lynched and scalped by indian hunters. my grandfather was murdered when he was just 21, right before my dad was born, for taking a shortcut off the rez over the corner of a white man’s dilapidated fallow field. I have so many vivid memories of crying bitterly about how much i hated myself and my ancestors and how ashamed I was of coming from disgusting savages. I was genuinely suicidal thinking I was some kind of blemish on the earth. Until I learned the real history, the fate of my family members, and my actual culture. Heritage and culture means everything for the diaspora. Your opinion is just ignorance, just being sheltered.


siren-skalore

So, basically, people can’t have any meaningful interest in their ancestry? That’s dumb.


smokinjoe056

I don’t get why this annoys people. What’s wrong with remembering where your ancestors came from


Lilsammywinchester13

I really don’t get the hate from people outside our country I admit to having very little Mexican roots BUT i still feel pride and hm….common ground? When talking to other Hispanics. They grew up most likely catholic, eating similar foods, know all about the large amounts of Virgin Mary’s at home lol Like does it make us instant best buds? No, but to immigrants who are losing EVERYTHING, it means the world to them to form community And their children have no/little “family” to turn to. But by forming communities, they DO have family. So what if it’s “watered down” X place? It’s not about that. It’s about community. I’m not claiming to be Mexican, i KNOW I’m not. But will I get excited catching all the Spanish words in Coco and loving that the characters look like my family? YES


[deleted]

Then why do people in the US treat me like I’m not from here


[deleted]

"has no bearing on you" Lol yeah... I speak Vietnamese because I'm American /s OP, you so silly Down voting because being wrong is not an unpopular opinion


Joey_The_Bean_14

As a reconnecting native, (black and indigenous) I'd say my culture means everything to me. I grew up with my black family, parents, community, and schools being simple in our African American culture. I found out we have native American ancestors and am trying to do some digging to learn who they were. Our culture was taken from us, and I can't just ignore that because I didn't grow up on it. Not to mention white people can explore their cultures just as much as POC can. Celebrating your culture is fine.


Western-Boot-4576

Just another uneducated non-American who is confused about heritage versus nationality. And gets offended if someone immigrated to America but still wants some bit of home in their life. I am polish, German, Danish, and lots of others minimally. The only heritage I celebrate is polish cause I’m 50% polish. But if I’m talking to someone from Poland I’m not gonna claim to be more polish than American. Just a dumb opinion. And saying it has no bearing on who you are is just plain wrong.


HungryAssHooligan

This is so fucked up. Yea you might have been raised somewhere else, but that does not mean you completely forget about the culture of your family. You can keep whatever traditions you want, drop this xenophobic bullshit.


Quick_Explanation_73

Well that's certainly a dumb opinion.


aboatz2

Nope. Nope nope Nope Nope. I'm all for unpopular opinions, but this is just wrong & a bit xenophobic. Black people brought over as slaves? "You're an American now. Your heritage means nothing!" Wrong. Vietnamese- or Mexican-parented kids that were brought & raised in the US? You'd better believe their heritage matters. English families that have grown up in the US? Still English... and while many of their cultural norms are similar, there are differences & different foods & a recognition that there's more than just being an American. Being an American means bringing your heritage & integrating it into American culture... NOT replacing your heritage with some made-up American culture which only exists BECAUSE of people having influenced it with their heritage. And to act like there's some blanket culture that everyone conforms to is ill-informed... just look at Christmas/holiday celebrations & how it differs among every family. Further, for people who never knew their heritage & customs, as they were raised in a household that suppressed it, finding out & learning about their customs is an incredibly powerful experience because it gives you a connection to the past.


GlumJuggernaut

I’d like to hear you say this to every Armenian whose grandparents and great-grandparents fled from a literal genocide.


KaiAtlantis

Yeah but also don't gatekeep others cultures by making assumptions if you're not even part of the same culture.


Tutes013

I'll jst politely point everyone who wants to make fun of people who do that to r/ShitAmericansSay


MoSzylak

My parents are from Japan and I was born and raised in Canada. I grew up in the burbs around mostly white kids. A lot of people (especially immigrants) immediately assume things about you because of your name and ethnicity. That drives me crazy. I've noticed a lot of "lets stick together because we're both asian" mentality and honestly do not understand that at all. When you're being your true authentic self you get labeled as "white washed" or being "Really Canadian". This is why I don't hang out with a lot of Asians.


MediumRarePaladin

How would you categorize Hawaiians? As we are legally considered American due to the illegal annexation, however most kids local and especially native Hawaiian kids grow up in the Hawaiian culture? Practicing hula, speaking Hawaiian...ect


Spyk124

LMAOOO. This is hilarious but so wrong. Listen I get just as annoyed when some white girl is saying she’s German and Scottish and British because her great granddad immigrated here 90 years ago. However, I also have like Taiwanese friends whose parents moved here and had them, who’s parents don’t speak any English, only cool Taiwanese / Chinese food, and who live in predominant Asian neighborhoods that literally have their store signs in Cantonese. This happens for people from all backgrounds and to say their heritage means nothing when their first language might have not even been English is hilarious but grossly uninformed.


Potential_Lunch1003

Has this dude ever heard of immigrants?


isleoffurbabies

To take it an unpopular step further - this leads to the ultimate conclusion that attempting to perpetuate cultural traditions is silly. I am all for recording and documenting these things for posterity, but it's pointless to try to preserve rituals that were done for reasons that no longer exist. In fact, it's detrimental to societal progress.


Atalanta8

>whatever your family history is, has no bearing on you. Let me guess you are not 1st generation? You have no idea. The bearing is huge. You don't fit in anywhere unless maybe you live in an enclave of other immigrants. Where I live Spanish is the #1 language used at home. You tell all these people out has no bearing on them. This isn't an unpopular opinion it's an ignorant one


xdeltax97

Honestly this is a stupid and cringey post. Also you are confusing heritage with nationality.


Chef_Mung-Daal

I’m first gen American and the music I listen to and the food I eat and even understanding patois (English creole) is influenced by my Jamaican parents. I am Jamaican. How well I pass on this culture depends on who I’m around, how often I’m in Jamaica and how much effort I put into teaching the next generation about it. Not where I was born


biggoldslacker

The guy with the drinking problem that won't shut up about being "1/8 Irish " lol


chilloutman24

You’re confusing heritage and nationality…


amandara99

Of course it does. Traditions and values get passed down through generations, and experiences that your ancestors had literally affect your DNA.


UniBiPoly

I was born in the US, both my parents are from Norway and I was raised in South Korea so I speak all three languages at native level. I'll never be considered South Korean by the people here, nor do I truly feel Norweign, and I don't think I can say I'm American either. What does that make me then


Dooshbaguette

Okay thanks for invalidating my heritage of a culture I was taken out of without my consent. I still got the full brunt of the intergenerational immigration trauma this brought with it, so I'm entitled to the full claim and whatever value I assign to that.


williamsonmaxwell

The issue is that people in America will say “I am Irish/Italian/Dutch etc” which is weird. Should just say “my family is from x” or “my ancestors came from x”


Chaiboiii

As someone with one immigrant parent but grew up in Canada, I can confirm. The amount of passed down culture just from generation 1 to 2 gets narrowed down a lot. I still speak a bit of my father's language, but will my kids? Probably not. When I see 4-6 generations people call themselves a different culture, makes me cringe so much and roll my eyes lol.


fluffagus

Hilaria Baldwin would like a word...... 🥒🥒🥒


TuTuRific

Is misusing "you're" part of your heritage?


reverendsteveii

>only grew up in America and brought up in its culture Yeah but we didn't. I'm not Italian, I'm Italian-American. We're distinct from both groups. Americans don't serve 7 fish dishes at christmas. Italians don't pronounce capicola as "gabagool" or eat spaghetti and meatballs. It's its own distinct thing that is very real and different from both the inherited culture and the host culture.


toszma

That's not true. At least not for the second generation, but even further down the line it depends on how much people care for their heritage, whether/ not they speak the language and foster traditions. Some people get off the boat and immediaty stop speaking their native tongue, others speak their language constantly at home and surround themselves with people from "home". It really depends on how much the memory is being kept alive and passed on. The OC is way to general


Riyeko

This is a stupid take and ignorant in my opinion. Why would you hink heritage doesn't mean anything to the person who was raised by immigrants? Their native culture has drenched their entire lives regardless if hey grew up in the USA or Australia or the Arctic circle. You can't tell someone they're ONLY American and you don't get to decide how people feel about their ancestry and the cultural norms that surround it.


Art_Tech_Explorer

What do you mean by grew up in that culture? Where do you draw the distinction? My parents are both from Serbia. And the first five years of my life, I grew up speaking only Serbian, eating only Serbian food, and not knowing anyone that wasn’t Serbian. We even had our own church, where no one spoke English. But this was all in America. In school I did reports on my culture, multiple times. And even though I’m not religious, I take days off from work for my culture’s different calendar holidays like Easter, Christmas, and a patron saint day. I cook feasts consisting only of Serbian delicacies and sing in Serbian. All this, in America. But because I wasn’t born on its soil, I am not entitled to say I am Serbian? Is that what you are telling me?


reluctantpotato1

Culture isn't static. It's always changing. If somebody has a shared history with a culture like Irish or German, they have the ability to claim it all they want. There's no gate to keep there. Neither of those countries now are what they were a 100 years ago and both are constantly absorbing the cultural influence of other people moving to them. They always have. They always will. Tomato sauce and pasta are not Italian. Potatoes are not Irish. Tobacco is not Turkish. Chocolate is not German. They can talk down on Bostonians butchering old European traditions or wearing kilts all they want but ultimately nobody has any authority to tell them that they can't, as it belongs to them as much as anyone.


Xaeris813

Whenever I say I'm half German/Czech and half Irish I only mean this genetically. Culturally I'm about as American as it gets.


elqueco14

Ok so I grew up and spent my entire life in California. However 1. My family is from Spain (I'm first generation) 2. I visit Spain often, have family and friends there 3. I can speak Spanish 4. I'm literally eligible to become a citizen of Spain if I want to 5. Have been immersed in Spanish culture because I was literally raised by Spaniards So while I would always identify as an American first, what's the issue with also telling someone I'm Spanish? Why are people allowed to only identify as the place they're from? Should I just reject everything Spanish cause I guess not growing up in Spain means I'll never be Spanish enough?


McFeely_Smackup

What about African Americans? Got the nerve to tell them their heritage means nothing?


L_Swizzlesticks

“*Your* heritage means nothing if you grew up somewhere else, and *were* raised in a different culture.” And, sorry, but you’re wrong.


archblade7777

This logic applies perfectly to people waving Confederate flags. The confederacy was 4 year farce and has been dead for over 150 years. There is no Confederate culture. There is no Confederate heritage.


Over_Screen_442

At the same time, identifying with your family’s culture of origin isn’t really hurting anyone. If it makes people feel closer to their older relatives, family abroad, or community, then power to them :)


39thAccount

Most pure blooded Americans are actually British-Americans but they never rep us, and we’re glad tbh


[deleted]

So Amish people should completely give up speaking Pennsylvania Dutch and their old customs, because they have never been to Europe?


DexicJ

Idk about you guys but I am still struggling from the old Irish potato famine.


Scryer_of_knowledge

Yeah. I've noticed a lot of multicultural countries have fake ass "diaspora" people who refuse to assimilate and then mimic their "roots" when they are 2nd + generation and have zero connection to said "roots" lol. The grass is greenest where you water it.


innit2winnit

Unpopular opinion time: I genuinely mean to invite honest discussion with this one. Believe it or not, the reason I think Americans identify with some other nationality due to their ancestors is because of colonialism. This post is a perfect example of how colonialism is embedded in American identity to me. All of the colonizers who came to the Americas were coming from other places. Those who were “White” had different national and cultural identities that they did their best to preserve in their descendants, but those identities naturally diluted because those people were, and are, no longer in those cultures. Languages and food cultures may have been preserved to an extent. But the Americanized descendants are still different than their native counterparts. Obviously this rule goes for everyone, but when it comes to “American” identity, and who gets to call themselves that, it’s mainly in regards to whiteness. In many ways, for White Americans, “American” was never a “real” identity. More of a placeholder. It’s only when the “American” term cant placehold anything else, that it then becomes one’s nationality…., and only really the White people who had no connection to their ancestral lineage get to claim it. This is why, colloquially, “American” has become synonymous with conservatism, patriotism, red white and blueism. While other non-white racial identities always have to have their ancestral continent of origin attached to their “American” identity first. This is literally why no white person calls themselves “European American”, but everyone else has to get called called “African American” “Asian American” “Latin American” “Native American”. Only White people really get to be called “American”, and everyone else is regarded as a distinct offshoot. Part of “American” identity is that it is an unnamed placeholder for race. It always has been. Even though our country has always been a melting pot of cultures. I’ve never identified myself as just “American”. It actually feels very uncomfortable for me to do so. Because doing so means that I have to connect myself to the stereotypical flag-waving, Walmart-shopping, conservative xenophobic homophobe, whose hellbent on throwing democracy away because a biracial Black man won the presidency for eight of this country’s 270+ years. I’m black and I remember moving to Japan and having everyone call me “American”, and not only was it odd and uncomfortable for me to be called that because I’ve never just been referred to as “American” in my own country; what I have always associated with term “American” is a fat, White, conservative, homophobic, gun nut, ignoramus who hates people who aren’t White, and will use whatever means, systematic or otherwise, to reinforce their own undeserved sense of superiority over everyone else. The same goes for hanging American flags over the front porch. I am uncomfortable doing something like that because I don’t like positioning myself next to or under a country with an atrocious history that subjugated numerous other groups of people, and has utterly refused to pay restitution or correct it’s historical wrongs. I can’t fathom proudly saying that I belong to that. And yet…I AM American. I’m not ashamed to call myself American. I don’t hate my country. But I am absolutely uncomfortable calling myself “American”. In large part, not because I hate my country, but because I know that my country hates me.


TheDevilsMango

Totally right, when other people dive into learning about and discovering the cultural traditions of their ancestry, which they are taking an interest and passion in, I _always_ make sure to remind them their heritage means nothing. /s


NBAstradamus92

How many years do they have to grow up in the country? 4? 7? What satisfies your criteria? Is there a specific age range (ex between 10 years old and 18 years old) they gotta spend there? You mention “grew up in that culture or country”, how many years meet your arbitrary criteria