• assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    He’s completely wrong too. Celebrating American, European, or general Western heritage is very commonplace, to the point that the US even has a holiday for itself. If that isn’t enough for someone, then odds are they’re just a fucking racist.

    Most of the time, there’s a country or region you can celebrate the heritage of. The only exceptions are Jewish people and black people, but that’s because they had forced diasporas, persecution, and/or slavery. Their ethnic identity to a region was stripped from them.

    • nixcamic@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I mean I’m mostly German but don’t really celebrate it. A: I don’t feel at all German. B: there’s a bit of history surrounding Germans even though none of my ancestors were in the country for any of that. C: I’m already the dominant culture/race where I was born. What would I be celebrating? That I’m the same as everyone else? We could have a big cookout where we celebrate our culture by eating the same food we eat every day, wearing the same clothes we wear every day, etc. Oh wait this is already every get together…

      • rekabis@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        I am proud of my German heritage, but mainly because,

        • Both my parents immigrated from Germany, and met each other over here.
        • I love German food (grew up with it)
        • I love most of the German culture (grew up with it blended with Canadian culture)
        • Aside from the hassle of memorizing grammatical gender, I love how German sounds. I can also speak it with only a trace of an accent.
        • I have been to Germany, and I love the feel of the country (although I have an aversion to large populations, so it would be very difficult for me to live there).

        But would I ever celebrate being of German heritage? Nope. Why should I? The only reason why I love my German heritage boils down to an accident of conception. Heck, I don’t even celebrate being Canadian.

        If I was to celebrate anything, it would be for being a member of humanity, and to a wider degree, being alive in a universe that is almost completely hostile to life (we are living on the only known life-compatible planet).