American-ness [was RE: even my dumb nontechnical anime group gets it -- why don't we?]

[Ian Andrew Bell]

On 3/27/02 8:36 AM, "Luis Villa" <louie@ximian.com> wrote:

> On Wed, 2002-03-27 at 10:53, Joseph S. Barrera III wrote:
>>>> I'm American, not Canadian.
>>>=20
>>> Ah, you mean you're a Yank, a resident (or possibly a citizen)
>>> of the United States.  Last time I looked, Canadians were Americans
>>> by virtue of living on the same bleedin' continent as the Yanks and
>>> the Mexicans.  Personally, I find perpetuation of the idea that
>>> 'American' solely means 'U.S.' narrow-minded and boorish.
>>=20
>> And personally, I find perpetuation of the idea that
>> 'American' solely means 'North American' narrow-minded and boorish.
>=20
> FWIW, most Latin Americans I know [granted, a skewed sub-section since
> they are /mostly/ but not all Miamians] tend to use the US ~=3D American
> convention, and prefer to have/use the specific 'Latino-americano'
> (Latin American.)


The language of identity is rocky water.  Where you sing a song called
"America the Beautiful", though, I think it's pretty obvious what you're
talking about, and it ain't Canada or Mexico.

I think it's interesting that, since our culture and most of our populous
are from Europe, the European definitions of our identity still drive our
own sense of self.  This despite the fact that most of us are
third-generation by now.  Europeans draw distinctions between Canada, the
USofA, and even subsets of Latin America and Central and South America.

Canadians don't like to be called Americans (for the record) not because
we're boorish, but because we're struggling with our own sense of identity
like a confused teenager.  We also have much to be proud of as a society
distinct from the United States of America.  And we get treated better
abroad when people know who we are (or, rather more specifically, who we
aren't).

One drawback to being an Imperialist is the fact that those whom you
subjugate tend not to like you.  Think the Greeks loved the Roman Emperor?
Was Ghandi a big fan of Winston Churchill?

Americans are, well, Americans.

According to _The American Heritage=AE Dictionary of the English Language_, a=
n
"American" (noun) is:

    1.    A native or inhabitant of America.
    2.    A citizen of the United States.
    3.    American English.

I guess they're boorish and narrow-minded.  Strange behaviour for Americans=
.

-Ian.