• ParabolicMotion@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    I live in the United States.

    My spouse abused me and there are police reports that show the abuse, plus a restraining order against him.

    I already changed my name once, out of tradition, because I wanted to have my husband’s last name after marriage. It was an absolute nightmare to change my last name. Many background reports don’t even show my marriage record. One of them listed me as “German” under the box that said “race”. I’m not even German. I’m mostly Scottish and Irish. You know who is German? My mother-in-law. She was actually born in Germany and changed her last name after marriage, too. Also, my sister-in-law had the same last name after my husband’s dad adopted her. She has criminal records. I now have to worry about my mother-in-law and sister-in-law having their records be mixed up with mine. Thankfully none of the criminal records have ended up on my report by mistake. The major issue is the federal government not linking my married name to my maiden name to fully ahow all of my vital records. It’s annoying. The state, or the feds, are either really slow, or they just slack on record keeping/reporting.

    • areyouevenreal@lemm.ee
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      5 months ago

      I’m mostly Scottish and Irish.

      Were you born in USA? If so I think actual Scottish and Irish people would be annoyed about you calling yourself Scottish and Irish. Also just because some of your distant ancestors were Irish or Scottish doesn’t mean you don’t have German heritage, they could well have descended from German ancestors themselves. In fact it’s pretty pointless trying to resolve race down to countries, especially without DNA evidence, and it’s mostly a social construct anyway.

      • ParabolicMotion@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        I have taken several dna tests. Most of my ancestors were Scottish and Irish. I am not German at all. By dna I am mostly Scottish and Irish. I also have an Irish residency card, and have spent time in both Ireland and Scotland.

          • ParabolicMotion@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            Mutt? Is that what you called me? I am willing to bet I am more Irish by dna than you. I’m actually offended by the amount of European people that live in Ireland and have treated me like I’m not Irish in terms of heritage. Careful who you call a mutt.

            • Todd Bonzalez@lemm.ee
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              5 months ago

              Look, calling a name like that that was absolutely out of line, but in all fairness you are from California! If you’re pulling up your 23andMe results trying to convince people who were born and currently live in Ireland that you are somehow “more Irish” than them, you need a fucking reality check. That’s shameless, and reeks of blood purity. You’re essentially insulting Irish people the way this guy is insulting you, by comparing blood and deciding who is most “pure”.

              Don’t be that kind of person.

              • areyouevenreal@lemm.ee
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                5 months ago

                You’re essentially insulting Irish people the way this guy is insulting you, by comparing blood and deciding who is most “pure”.

                That’s now what I am trying to do at all. I am trying to make the point that shared cultural experience is more important than distant ancestors and that you don’t get the right to call yourself something because some of your grandparents were immigrants. It’s something Americans seem to get caught up on that repeatedly.

            • areyouevenreal@lemm.ee
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              5 months ago

              I never claimed to be Irish, so it wouldn’t surprise me if someone from another country had more Irish DNA than me. I’ve spent time in Spain but I would never, ever claim to Spanish because of that. Likewise if I found I had Spanish ancestors 2 or 3 generations ago, I might make a note of it but still wouldn’t make me Spanish. You’re nationality is always where you are born, or have citizenship from. Being a resident is not always the same as being a citizen either. A true citizen has a passport from the nation they are a citizen of. Even then we have a term for immigrants with citizenship - it’s called being a naturalized citizen.

              To be clear there is nothing wrong with being either a naturalized citizen or having ancestors from another land. What is a problem is people claiming to be something they aren’t based on their grandparents or great grandparents. If you didn’t grow up in Ireland, and haven’t been there for most of your life, you don’t have the same experience of actual Irish people. It’s not even about your DNA, which so many people can’t seem to understand. It’s about shared cultural experience.

              • ParabolicMotion@lemmy.world
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                5 months ago

                You made it about dna when you called me “Amerimutt” to imply I was a mutt. I don’t think you’re in a position to call anyone a mutt.

                • areyouevenreal@lemm.ee
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                  5 months ago

                  That’s the term people use to describe Americans claiming to be something else (especially two or more different things like Irish and Scottish), precisely because it’s descriptive of America’s demographics while also being irritating to American’s like yourself who want to claim to be something else. It’s no one’s fault where they are born, raised, or where their family comes from. So why try and lie about it, or twist it? It just doesn’t make sense to me.

                  Also fyi mutts are the healthiest kind of dog there is, because they have the least inbred genetic traits. Having genetics from multiple origins isn’t a bad thing biologically speaking, it can actually sometimes be beneficial.

    • uis@lemm.ee
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      5 months ago

      You describe it in such way, that when compared to changing name in Russia, in latter changing name looks like calling a taxi.