Published 2025-10-02
tag(s): #random-thoughts #politics
I was born and raised in Argentina, lived there until my 30s. We almost pride ourselves in
being a land of contradictions. I take this as giving me some "insider knowledge" to point out
contradictions in culture and social discourse for other places. 😎
Here follows a handy guide to "name" your cultural background, from a real immigrant.
I will also point out that overly categorizing things is a very American trait. The need to
put everything in a box, reducing a textured reality full of gradients to a single word or
group.
A few years ago, in school, when talking about this, someone said he is
"Argentinian-American". I thought, and still think, this is reductive in one case, and wrong
in another.
Literally, he was born in Argentina, From that point of view, he is Argentinian.
But he also spent most of his life in the US. I think calling him Argentinian-American,
putting the country he was born in over the one in which he grew up, where he is spending his
formative years, is...mmmm...I don't want to say wrong. Like I said earlier, reductive.
There's also the fact that not everyone who grows up in an immigrant household goes through
the same experience. I've seen siblings, under the same roof, and with little age difference,
really connected to their parent's culture in one case and completely ignore it in the
other.
Here comes into play what I said in the intro: can't reduce all immigrants to a pair of
demonyms, everyone has their own journey.
Let's say my son decides to have kids. And he still lives in the US.
I would love if in this scenario, my grandkids are connected to Argentinian culture. Speak
rioplatense Spanish, use the word "football" when referring to soccer, and drink
mate. And maybe they do, and maybe they don't care.
In either case...they would be American.
They would be born here in the US, to parents at least once removed from another country and culture. So, they would be American. There is nothing wrong about this, it is a fact of life.
I find it, honestly, dumb and maybe cringe, when someone claims to be Irish-American, or
Italian-American, or Japanese-American, but they are like five generations removed from their
immigrant ancestors.
You can be connected to a cultural heritage, but at that point, it is a real stretch to make
it part of your identity to put it in front of "American".
Of course, you are free to call yourself whatever you want. You are not bothering anyone by
it, knock yourself out!
I feel and behave the same about a lot of other things. You want to identify as gay, member of
X or Y religion, transgender, libertarian, communist or furry. I really don't mind. I would
like for your to be able to do so in the open, and to live your best life being...a furry. Or
French-American. Or whatever.
As long as everyone has the same freedom, we can all coexist[1] in the same place, and not impose things on others, I am all for it.
I can't stand double standards.
For example, you can't seriously fly (for example) an Irish flag next to an American flag in
your front porch and then use hateful rhetoric when talking about immigration. Even I know,
and I haven't studied that much American history, that Irish who emigrated here in the early
20th century faced a lot of discrimination. And same for most if not all ethnic groups.
If you are so connected to your immigrant ancestors, you would know how hard emigrating is.
Even if you do it out of choice, it is still a very difficult one, and that isn't taken
lightly.
So you should be able to see immigrants today through that lens, and identify their plight and
willingness to seek a better future for themselves and their families.
Yes, I generalized, so if you think I am being unfair to you, a 4th generation and proud
German-American, who loves all immigrants, I am genuinely sorry.
But at the same time, about half of the US voted for the anti-immigrant hate rhetoric, so my
comments here apply to a good chunk of people. And you know it, dear reader.
And in the case of those people, I find the idea that they identify as XYZ-American, and they are cheering for the way immigration matters are currently being handled...baffling. To put it mildly.
The way latinos are singled out is particularly hilarious to me, on two levels.
First, because a lot of the current economy is sustainable only thanks to their
presence and the fact that so many are undocumented and have no rights or
legal protections .
Second, because in a country with places named "Montana"[2], "Conejos",
and "Los Angeles", this seems like a battle lost a long, long, long time ago. The USA has been
heavily latino influenced for longer than many would like to admit.
But I prefer shorter posts. So maybe I will expand on these another day.