Yeah, that’s your culture. I mean, time to own it.
For one thing, the rest of us out here don’t make that much of a distinction between different US subcultures. Trump is American culture, Oprah is American culture. They’re all pretty much the same thing.
For another, have some accountability. You guys did this, and yet you all insist it was not you you and you all feel so much more connected to wherever else. No. Stop it. Own it or change it.
Also, as a side point, man, do Americans love to exoticize how old everywhere else is. Yeah, sure, there are a bunch of medieval castles around and a few cultural remnants in traditions, but by and large most European folklore is rooted in some 18th/19th century crap, just like in the US. Europeans aren’t out there having Saturnalia parties.
Ahh yes I completely forgot that the monarchies of European nations only existed for the last 300 years and are in no way historically backed by a religion that’s existed for almost 2000 years which was has a holy book very significanly based on another religion dating back 5000 years. And I totally forgot that Christmas was a totally unique winter holiday that definitely didn’t borrow any traditions from Yule and the Norse or Saturnalia and the Romans which as we all know is not where Vatican City is located nor did the Roman Empire make Catholicism the official state religion in the 300s AD. And wow I totally forgot the english language was completely perfectly formed as it is today less than 300 years ago and isn’t the result of milennia of linguistic adaption of half a dozen different languages.
And I completely forgot to worship my culturally mandated Trump and Oprah statue this year and instead celebrated the Feast of the Seven Fishes and served a big pasta dinner on Christmas Eve and Day that has historically nothing to do Italy or the Italian migration to the United States. Ahh how could I be so careless and thoughtless and wow my memory is so bad.
No, wait, yeah, all those things are true of European nations.
And by the wonders of colonialism, also of American nations.
To everybody’s chagrin yeah, the stupid bible is a fact of life people have to deal with and has been so for a couple millenia, but that’s not some ancient European thing that makes Europeans so much more connected to their cultural heritage or whatever. Americans are very much on that boat. At the helm of that boat, actually, in some form of malformed Dutchglish protestant thing.
The argument you were making is that white Americans have no cultural heritage to speak of when compared to “traditions and cultures in Europe”. US Christmas borrowed as much Yule and Saturnalia as French Christmas, if not more so. Cultural heritage unlocked, European exoticization still unnecessary.
My point is that beyond capitalist oligarch pushing the illusion of culture on everyone globally, independent of national origin, most of the cultures within the US have some sort of trace back to European traditions. I’m not exoticising Europe as some “haaaah European traditions are so great and incredible and ancient and mystical” I’m saying that Eurpoean traditions, which have very long histories compared traditions born in the US, heavily influence many of the cultural touchpoints of citizens of the US, especially white citizens. There is no uniquely, independently cultivated non-eurpoean culture held by white people in the US. Ok there’s one uniquely white american culture and we literally fought a civil war over it.
Being “culturally white” in America is pretty synonymous with people trying to make the Confederacy again. Meanwhile the rest of us are over here celebrating the traditions our grandparents or great grandparents brought with them to the US from Europe.
Yeah, that’s your culture. I mean, time to own it.
For one thing, the rest of us out here don’t make that much of a distinction between different US subcultures. Trump is American culture, Oprah is American culture. They’re all pretty much the same thing.
For another, have some accountability. You guys did this, and yet you all insist it was not you you and you all feel so much more connected to wherever else. No. Stop it. Own it or change it.
Also, as a side point, man, do Americans love to exoticize how old everywhere else is. Yeah, sure, there are a bunch of medieval castles around and a few cultural remnants in traditions, but by and large most European folklore is rooted in some 18th/19th century crap, just like in the US. Europeans aren’t out there having Saturnalia parties.
Ahh yes I completely forgot that the monarchies of European nations only existed for the last 300 years and are in no way historically backed by a religion that’s existed for almost 2000 years which was has a holy book very significanly based on another religion dating back 5000 years. And I totally forgot that Christmas was a totally unique winter holiday that definitely didn’t borrow any traditions from Yule and the Norse or Saturnalia and the Romans which as we all know is not where Vatican City is located nor did the Roman Empire make Catholicism the official state religion in the 300s AD. And wow I totally forgot the english language was completely perfectly formed as it is today less than 300 years ago and isn’t the result of milennia of linguistic adaption of half a dozen different languages.
And I completely forgot to worship my culturally mandated Trump and Oprah statue this year and instead celebrated the Feast of the Seven Fishes and served a big pasta dinner on Christmas Eve and Day that has historically nothing to do Italy or the Italian migration to the United States. Ahh how could I be so careless and thoughtless and wow my memory is so bad.
No, wait, yeah, all those things are true of European nations.
And by the wonders of colonialism, also of American nations.
To everybody’s chagrin yeah, the stupid bible is a fact of life people have to deal with and has been so for a couple millenia, but that’s not some ancient European thing that makes Europeans so much more connected to their cultural heritage or whatever. Americans are very much on that boat. At the helm of that boat, actually, in some form of malformed Dutchglish protestant thing.
The argument you were making is that white Americans have no cultural heritage to speak of when compared to “traditions and cultures in Europe”. US Christmas borrowed as much Yule and Saturnalia as French Christmas, if not more so. Cultural heritage unlocked, European exoticization still unnecessary.
My point is that beyond capitalist oligarch pushing the illusion of culture on everyone globally, independent of national origin, most of the cultures within the US have some sort of trace back to European traditions. I’m not exoticising Europe as some “haaaah European traditions are so great and incredible and ancient and mystical” I’m saying that Eurpoean traditions, which have very long histories compared traditions born in the US, heavily influence many of the cultural touchpoints of citizens of the US, especially white citizens. There is no uniquely, independently cultivated non-eurpoean culture held by white people in the US. Ok there’s one uniquely white american culture and we literally fought a civil war over it.
Being “culturally white” in America is pretty synonymous with people trying to make the Confederacy again. Meanwhile the rest of us are over here celebrating the traditions our grandparents or great grandparents brought with them to the US from Europe.