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ameliarose · Joined: 17 Feb 2011 Posts: 24

So as I was reading this I realized that I sometimes feel the same way about being American. The few times I have been out of the country I have told people I was canadian. Americans have exactly the reputation that the Danish students said "fast food eating, lazy, fat people." I wrote about this in my what it means to be American essay. I am ashamed to be American often because of the reputation. In this story Jose felt above other Latinos but then when he was lumped together with other Latinos he got extremely offended. He did not expect this reaction because of his implemented superiority but in the end his identity was being attacked. I think that often people don't always realize how they identify until that identity is threatened. something that really struck me was that the teacher had the audacity to say something like that to a student. I mean I know that people are racist but it shocks me that in a school environment a teacher, particularly a sub, would say such a thing. It is people like that teacher who make me want to not identify as American. Those people who feel hatred for others of a different race give the US a very bad reputation.

sarahsmith · Joined: 20 Oct 2011 Posts: 3

As you said Amelia, I agree that I often feel ashamed to be American because of the reputation we have. However you identified two different things that make you ashamed to identify as America (correct me if I am wrong): the "fast food, lazy, fat people" stereotype, but also the people who are unwilling to accept other cultures. For me these are two entirely different things. The first is a way that people generalize/stereotype Americans, and the second is the actions of select people. The first is a reputation, the second, in my opinion is not. Are Americans stereotyped as being unwilling to accept other cultures? I think my answer would be no...we have been talking about this whole idea of a 'melting pot', and even if it does not exist it is out there. I think that a lot of other countries view America as being a place of acceptance for many cultures. What stuck out for me in "The Hatred Within" was the way that Jose connected his negative opinion of Latinos to the home he was raised in: his abusive father, the parents who spoke little English, the brothers who didn't make it to college. He associated his Latino identity with these things, and that was why he denied it. I think there is something to be said for this... that the people you associate with a certain culture have a lot of affect on your opinions of that culture. For instance, with your example Amelia, I think your embarrassment might be influenced by the negative reputation of America but also by the actions of those that represent things you may dislike about American culture. So my question to the group is: what (people, stereotypes, etc) has influenced your opinion of parts of your identity? I think it could make for some really interesting discussion.

yamsham · Joined: 31 Mar 2011 Posts: 26

to answer your question Sarah i would have to say the whole stereotypical gay male (such as Jack McFarland from Will and Grace) has been a factor in my identity. I'm not condemning the character, it's just that you know, kind of like Jose in the reading, when you're growing up as a minority in America and ashamed of it you're not a huge fan of the stereotypes. because the stereotype is a cause of laughter and (for some cases devaluing the minority) In fact you try to hide the ones that you possess and condemn others for having them, like that part in Gentleman's Agreement when the Jewish woman is talking about the "embarrassing traits of the Jewish people." sadly i have been like this in the past with my community but have been developing a more healthy view of the LG community. i mean eventually you realize that it's not the stereotype that's the problem, it's what society thinks of the stereotype that becomes the problem. and after meeting a lot of actual gay males you see that yeah the stereotypes are there (i mean they came from somewhere) but like that doesn't mean it makes them less of a person, which is what stereotyping can do. which reminds me of Jose's handling of the stereotypes he sees in his family. (there's also the whole loud drunken big nosed Irish had kind of had an impact, but not in quite a negative way because the Irish have been so assimilated into America, especially in Boston so really there's no issue.) reading this story made me think a lot about these factors in my life, which is always fun... self reflection.
I really liked his response to what his half-white half-Latino "friend" said, i mean i have thought about what the "friend" said, white people suffering for the actions of past white people, but it was disappointing to hear him say the thing where he thought minorities should just get over it. that's not at all what should be happening, in fact I'm pretty sure that's not a thing. I liked Jose's metaphor with the racers and how the white ones got this centuries long head start and everyone needs some help catching up. hence affirmative action, and i also liked his additional comment that affirmative action isn't a good long term solutions, but a really good short term, which i 100% agree with. it's a way to bring everyone up to the same page. the white guys have been reading ahead and now we need to bring everyone up to speed. When he said that he was very confused in the Unidad meeting he went to i was got very confused. I mean i thought it was obvious that he was just teh type that wanted to fit in. Then i thought that HE WAS THE TYPE TO WANT TO FIT IN. so the reason all of this horrible self image thing got out of hand was because he wanted to fit into the culture he was surrounded by, rich white people. Being a teenager of course he'd want to fit in so he got this whoe slef image problem havign to do with his heritage, then once he was in college he began to realize that fitting in just sucked. But it's odd that such a simple thing as coming from a different backgound can cause of of this in a teenager. I'm also interested in hearing what things have impacted people;s self identity.

squashie · Joined: 07 Sep 2011 Posts: 22

I see being an American as a good and bad thing in that sometimes the advantages outweigh the disadvantages with certain people. I don't particularly like being called an American due to the threat that it comes with. People often see you as either being better than them or that you have no respect for anyone or anything. Similarly to Amelia, I often refer to myself as being from "New York" nor necessarily "America". In terms of stereotypes, I think that there are people out there who are ashamed of the actions of the race of people they identify with but may agree with some of the stereotypes that are given to that specific race of people.

Kayla Dalton · Joined: 23 Oct 2011 Posts: 4

I agree with whatever people have said so far, reading this I thought about how I feel when I'm abroad, and that I never say that I am "American," but I will say I am from American or from Boston. I don't know if it really is something that just gets down to semantics, but I feel weird and unpleasant saying that I am American, but I can say that I am from American, specify where exactly and feel much better about it.

efitzpatrick · Joined: 02 Nov 2011 Posts: 7 Location: United States

While i agree with everything that people have said in this thread, i tend to look at the stereotype of "American" as a benchmark which whenever i interact with those who think of all americans as fat, i try to show them that the stereotype is wrong. While the Danish students walked in expecting to see fat lazy americans, we seemed to be able to show them that we are very different than the stereotype portrays. Personally, i'm proud to be an american, and try to pay attention to my advantages and make sure the disadvantages are as small as possible.

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