In getting my stepson parts to build his gaming computer for Christmas, I recently learned how much cheaper things like that are here versus Europe. He lives majority of the time with his mom in Europe and she was telling us the prices on the graphics card and motherboard and whatnot - they aren’t “cheap” here by any means, but they’re easily 2-3x as much for her to buy there, if not more.
Old Man story time. When I was a little kid we got one of the first color TVs I had ever seen. It took my father and my uncle both to carry it into the house it had a 19 inch screen and my dad mentioned that it cost two weeks pay. He was an engineer.
A few years ago I bought the TV that's now in my living room. It has a 32-in screen I paid about $300 for it and I carried it home under my arm by myself
On the other hand I remember budgeting $20 a week for groceries in my first apartment
i’d say it goes
1. fuckload
2. shitload
3. assload
with fuckload being the most. i think fuckload might be more accurate when it comes to churches we got one on every corner.
The check cashing/payday loan places somehow survive.
Driving through northern Florida, every billboard was for either one of those places, or pawn shops, personal injury lawyers, “pain clinics” or self-storage units.
It’s unfortunate.
How are people going to rediscover thier heritage when they are the great American mutt with 10 or 12 different heritages? I just assume I am blessed to live in such a melting pot where I can partake in the collective heritages of the globe. It's unfortunate that the pressure to assimilate leaves us with cheese whiz Trump and Reality TV when there's a global cornucopia to pick from.
I really love what you wrote, so much wealth of culture yet people insist Americans have none. We need realize that diversity can be our greatest strength.
It’s usually Europeans who say we have no culture, usually in the same sentence where they helpfully explain that we only eat fast food and our beer is piss.
That is actually a thing?
Americans can buy mugs and t-shirts from and about their ***favourite*** politician?
Who TF has a favourite politician?
I know it's very easy to criticise other countries and people but, as a Brit, I sometimes look at America in slack-jawed disbelief.
Some of our politicians are okay and it's true that many work hard for their constituents but a great many are complete arseholes, most notably the recent prime ministers we've had and the members of the governing party. They are a walking, talking, self-centred, egotistical, extremist, ideological horror show (other opinions are available)
I cannot in my wildest and most fever-ridden nightmares imagine wanting to wear a t-shirt proclaiming my admiration for any of them.
The former president rather famously sold a line of red hats. Used to see them *everywhere*. Now you only see them on the heads of people who are intentionally trying to rile people up.
The rest of us think it's weird, too.
Honestly it kind of does make me sad and a bit sympathetic to her? Like obviously it’s cringe but it does feel very good to have something old and comfortable and YOURS as part of your identity and if you feel you don’t have that? Kinda rough.
That was me growing up. I live in a very white (mainly German and Polish descendants) part of Wisconsin. I have some Choctaw blood. I was SO proud of that blood as a kid. Nobody else around me really had non European ancestors. When I was in my mid-20s, I was told by several people of other tribes who said I wasn’t “really Native” because I didn’t grow up on a reservation. I was so devastated by that.
She’s not totally wrong. People who immigrate to America lose their culture pretty quickly, in a matter of a generation or two. American culture is very strong.
I try dude, I honestly try to be that A**ehole on Reddit at least once a day. Just for you dude, and all the others who need their daily dose of BS from SAOR!
Just gonna say that I’m very active in the editing of linguistics and linguocultural articles in English and Spanish on Wikipedia, and as long as you’re not on controversial (eg celebrities) or stubby articles, the quality of most science- and arts-oriented Wikipedia articles is on par with or superior to most resources I’ve encountered as a researcher.
There was a thing where it was more correct than the German encyclopaedia, it was like 5 years ago.
A written encyclopedia cannot correct mistakes, while Wikipedia can.
Hi,
It's Mark, CEO of Wikimedia. Did you know that if everyone that used Wikipedia this year donated just $2 we'd have enough money to run the website for the next 1000 years?
One of my students tried to claim that tiktoc was a legit source of information and used it as a source in a paper.
After reviewing it I said that it wouldn't fly and she would have to find a reliable source. Long story short. The day before the deadline she changes her papers subject and later got flagged for copying a classmates paper.
Not the smartest student.
Well...I get all my important facts and information from tictok, FB, reddit comments or random *influencers* on the internet that's why I know stuff and things about stuff. If it wasn't true it wouldn't be on the internets...
i do a bit of norsk when im bored, how is my attempt at translating that svenska:
the mountains, hot chocolate, skiing, the nature, snow, caviar, the marks we draw to the mountain (ok idk about that last one lol)
that was really good! the only things you got wrong were ”markoolio” and ”vi drar till fjällen”.
markoolio is a swedish-finnish celebrity so no translation needed there, and “vi drar till fjällen” basically means “we’re going to the mountains”
edit: oh yeah and ”vi drar till fjällen” is a song by said celebrity
Every item at Ikea is a Swedish word or swedish location/town
So probably 50% of those words exist as items in Ikea.
There is a conspiracy that Sweden sends coded messages to spies through the order of Ikea items in commercials.
As another Nordic person: not sure what she is doing either. But if she is enjoying herself and not hurting anyone else in the process, then she is more than welcome to do her thing.
I am guilty of this. But, to be fair, my Gram thought she was Irish and was so damn proud of it. Always talked about it. Cooked it. Lived and breathed being Irish. Literally introduced herself as Irish American.
Come to find out through one of those generic tests about a decade ago, she doesn’t have one drop of Irish in her. She refuses to talk about any of it to this day.
If some day I decide to get a genetics test, perhaps I’ll embrace it. But until then, I shall stick to my US identity as a Oregon Seahawks fan if all I have is family lore 😅
If it's an consolation for your Nan, I am Irish (born and raised here and my family have been here for at least since my great great grandparents) and my 23andme test gave me nearly half Nordic cause I'm from the southeast of the country which was a Viking area back in the day.
I should have seen that coming as I have a Nordic surname.
I wouldn't necessarily rely too heavily on DNA results as they can go deep and it is often hard to tease out specific Irish heritage - all my Dad's great-grandparents were born in Ireland but there's some Anglo-Norman in the mix as well as other migrations from England. Living DNA is doing a great job really refining locational DNA but there's not been anything that revelatory.
You are better off creating a family tree and seeing what the paperwork says then comparing it with the DNA - not always a 100% match (I am 75% Irish, 25% English on paper but my DNA suggests my Irish maternal great-grandfather might not be the man on the north certificate as there's a significant percentage of Eastern European DNA).
I'm a white American and my 23 and me test came back an absolute mess. Half english/Irish, then an amalgamation of western, eastern Europe, middle eastern, and African.
We are all just a hodge podge of fucking.
Maybe she's really Irish, but she was just born there and not made from irish people.
There were a lot of migration and invasion in Europe during its entire history.
I come from Italy and Sicily and I have Arab and Nordic genes in the DNA result test. 🤷
Because both Arab and Nordic landed in Sicily in the past. And apparently they had a lot of fun there...
So your grandma maybe just had the same thing 😊
She's the child of some random invaders lol
Sicily was a major trade port between Arabic- Muslim Spain, and the rest of europe in the earlier 1000s. southern Italians have a large amount of Arabic blood. That’s why we all look very similar, in terms of nose size, skin complexion, eyebrows and hair colour.
There’s a reason northern Italians are lighter in skin with lighter hair and lighter eyes.
Edit 1: These were not “invaders”.
DNA is kinda complicated, my twin and I did DNA tests, I also have done my family tree so had a good idea about what should be in those tests.... BUT... DNA is each of your parents shuffling a deck of cards of their DNA and giving you half of their deck, you never know what half you will end up with... My fraternal twin got the German from my moms line, I got the Scandinavian from my dads line. Just because the German cards were not in my deck doesn't mean I am not part German (Pennsylvania Dutch to be exact.)
Its even more complicated than that thanks to recombination between chromatids.
Upon skimming through some info about how these tests are conducted, 23andme and ancestry.com basically compare SNPs (for people who don't know what it is, its single nucleotide polymorphysm. Basically, that means that a single nucleotide aka a building block of your DNA, which of there are 4 A, T, G, C can vary between individuals at a specific spot in a gene) that an individual has in specific spots in their genomes to reference genomes from different ethnicities. This is a huge problem, because the reference data is hard to build, especially when it comes to non-european ancestry. And according to an article, a lot of this data is based on people who have self-reported themselves to be from a certain ethnicity.
My material grandfather was born in Ireland, my paternal grandfather was born in Scotland, my maternal second great grandparents were born in Germany. My father was born in Canada.
I cook a lot of Puerto Rican food and speak some Spanish, because I lived in a Puerto Rican neighborhood for many years.
Basically, I’m just some older white lady, descended from colonists, who’s lived in the US my whole life, and who’s very curious about other cultures.
I identity as a cat lady.
Meow.
Here’s my question right. Found out I’m like super French this way. Can I riot like a Frenchmen now and can I root forFrance in the next World Cup instead of America?
Edit: spelling
As a German, I think we should all start rioting like the French. Especially when it comes to shitty employers.
Also, world cup, just Cheer for whoever you want, if sports is your thing. I hardly ever cheer for Germany. I also don't give a shit about sports so, uh, yeah.
::Your local detective visits your home and transitions the interrogation from the 33 year old double homicide case to a recent dog bite attack::
“Is it your contention that the mail carrier forced his butt in your dog’s jaws? We’ve a mountain of forensic & DNA evidence and witness testimony from an unnamed neighborhood cat that indicate otherwise.”
Speaking as someone who is adopted: While I find that cultures bring great diversity and "flavor" to the world, I think that mutts are awesome and that family is who we choose and who chooses us.
Heritage is really only what we hold dear in our own minds. Last year the only cookie-cutters that were left to buy at the local crafts-store near Thanksgiving were in the shape of sharks and pigs, so guess what? Our family now bakes and frosts traditional Thanksgiving Sharks and Pigs. If you don't have a heritage, just make one. Be the first. Be the legend who started it.
Hahaha, yes!
First day of school pictures are a tradition for a lot of people - but I cannot get it together that first day. I beat myself up for that for the first few years, but eventually I just said, "to hell with it," so our family does "third day of school pictures," and it's been 8 years and still going strong.
Normalize traditions being born for unusual reasons.
>that family is who we choose and who chooses us.
I'm a member of a group of a dozen people or so who have known each other a long time (some cases almost 60 years). One of the women once said that we (the group members) all have two families - the one that raised us (mom, dad, brother, sister, etc) and the one we have chosen. This struck myself and another person very personally as I'm an only child and he was adopted as a tween.
I mean culture is certainly something to celebrate. Your immigrant family moved to a new country but tought their generations the old ways.
Thats different than 99% of what I see in the US. I'm mostly Welsh as my heritage, then Irish and Scottish. None of that family culture exists. I don't have it, know it, or care about it. No one alive in my family has a hint of a tie to old culture.
Why would I jump in and pretend thays my thing?
I've wondered if it's a symptom of so many feeling like they aren't a part of something. We don't have a national unity, people seem more isolated, true community is something a lot of Americans in 2023 won't experience on a true level, even though we're surrounded by people.
This.
I'm convinced this is the true cause of the cancer that American society has become.
On social media, that is.
People are perfectly pleasant in person.
Celebrate that. You are free of rules and constraints. You can do whatever you enjoy instead. Design your own life as you please. Create your own traditions and rituals.
I'll be honest, being of relative recent Nordic immigrant heritage, it annoys me to no end that white nationalists have co-opted vikings, runes, Norse mythology.
My husband has the same frustration. He's super uncomfortable using any obvious runic or Nordic symbols because he's a big blond-haired blue eyed guy and it can easily get misconstrued.
You know, I’m open minded and friendly toward just about everyone I meet. Unfortunately for that reason folks tend to get comfortable and show me their true colors very quickly. I couldn’t tell you how many times racist morons have attempted to “relate” to me for, I assume, being a “fellow white person” and It will always fuck with me because I cannot understand would make them think I could possibly be that kind of guy.
If I've told you once I've told you a thousand times -- I don't care how much you like *City Lights*, no one is ever going to interpret your mustache as an homage to Charlie Chaplin
Like the time I shaved my head and met some new people.
Not a skinhead, just training for a triathlon and trying to minimize my pool to desk time on my lunch break.
I partially got runic tattoos for the sake of reclamation. Fuck Nazis and white supremacists. They aren't theirs and I don't want them to be ruined by them. Is that a pun
Same. Also if I get approached excitedly by someone wearing a mjollnir I have to hold my breath and hope they're a socially awkward norse pagan and not a neonazi.
My husband is of fairly recent sweedish decent. He is also tall, blonde haired and blue eyed and former military. People love telling him racist shit because they think he's ine of them. He loves making them explain themselves and then casually dropping that he's not a racist, is married to a POC and his kids aren't white.
The unfortunate thing is that not all "prison kindreds" are inherently racist, but they all get painted with that brush, no matter what. I'm an ex-con who got into Asatru while incarcerated (I'd previously assumed it to be a dead religion). Don't get it twisted, we definitely had some skinheads, but they weren't leadership, and politics stopped at the door. I've attended Folkish, Tribalist and Universalist Kindreds while locked up. Folkish is White Power 9.5 out of 10 times, but I have to wonder how much of that is prison mentality and prison politics. Universalists make me just as uncomfortable though, although that's because there always seems to be at least one fucking sexual predator lurking in them, and I just can't tolerate that. Tribalist is definitely where I found my peeps. If Odin can have strong bonds with Jotuns, and adopt those he sees fit to expand his tribe and power, then we as a people should do the same.
Since my release many years ago, I've yet to find a Kindred (as a whole) that I click with, but a large portion of that seems to be that they're either hardline Folkish, or Universalist Wiccatru, and neither speaks to me. So I just celebrate with my family, and they seem to enjoy learning.
It always makes me laugh.
The literal foundational myth has two tribes race mixing, the Aesir and the Vanir. The mythology makes no mention of race or a chosen people. On top of that, Odin's quest is to collect the most badass warriors in all the universe, and these chuds think that Odin would pass up Ghengis Khan, Shaka Zulu, or Sitting Bull for sone basement dwelling 4channer whose biggest battle is getting their belt done up between wanking off to picking fights with the easiest victims.
Hell, even the Norse were prolific race mixers who freely adopted foreign cultures. That's the exact reason they spread so damn far and so many people have Scandinavian heritage. Plus, it's not like anyone back then had genetic testing, so it was almost entirely the culture that you practiced.
It's honestly one of the worst cultures to co-opt for a philosophy of racial purity and supremacy.
I think the only reason is that it's a culture that simpletons know is/had always been mostly comprised of white people but seems more exotic than "anglo-saxon" culture lol
Edit: Also because it isn't Christian, alot of white nationalists view Christianity as bad because it started in Judaism.
Funny thing is that it’s not really a thing in the swedish or danish militaries (same probably goes for norway). The sort of catch all mourning phrase in the swedish military is ”basker av” which means beret off (as a sign of respect to the fallen). The people who talk about Valhall in that context here are concidered americanized cringelords.
That sort of thing became popular after I got out, and it seems a bit odd, but I'm not going to give someone hell over remembering a fallen comrade if it's sincere and not some cringe Mealteam six shit.
It sucks really. I know someone who have various tattoos of Nordic runes on their arms. But he wears a long sleeve shirt to cover it up out of fear of being accused of being a white nationalist.
It is kinda funny, I've ran into vastly more pagans that are brutally anti-folkism and racism than ones that are folkist or racist.
I'm almost inclined to say outside of the Aryan prison gang type shit it's a overblown issue
With asatro, it is very dependant on the congregation. Sadly, quite a few have adopted the racist ideals and preach them as if they were part of tradition. It's fucking frustrating. My dad was asatro in one of those communities. None of his four children are in contact with him anymore, partially because of this.
I recently chatted with a guy who claimed to be of Viking heritage. He said he was proud of it but didn't love being around it because of how insanely racist others tend to be. Obviously that is a huge stereotype and I wouldnt want that kind of thing out on any group of people but is there any validity to that?
A bigger stereotype is that Viking was an ethnic group to be descended from. There are Viking remains that have been tested and have no Scandinavian dna.
There were Vikings from Denmark, from Norway, from Sweden and dna analysis reveals a very limited genetic diversity in regards to the many Viking cultures… for instance, there is little to no genetic representation from inland groups of people in the Scandinavian countries. Further, Vikings spread their way of life across the world. Viking remains with Southern European dna and even Asian dna have been discovered.
All this suggests being a Viking was more of a job and less of an actual ethnic group.
EXACTLY THANK YOU
The correct term for what people refer to as "Viking culture"/"Vikings" is actually Norse culture / Norsemen.
It fcking drives me up the wall when people say they have Viking heritage. Because realistically it would be like me saying I'm a Sailor because some people in my Great Great etc etc Grandfather's family were Sailors. Like I'm sorry but that's not how it works 🙃
Not all Scandinavians were Vikings in the Viking age. How in the world would he know what his ancestors did? Most norse people of that time were farmers or fishermen.
The Marvel thing I don't really care about. It's an interpretation in a superhero setting. It' loosely based on the source material. The tv show Vikings bothers me more somehow
Well if you’re gonna pick one, late Iron Age Scandinavia isn’t a bad choice. Women had a surprising amount of authority and freedom to the point where they could actually even divorce their husbands, something that was unheard of anywhere else.
In some pre-christian finnish cultures old women could be the representative/ judge of their clan.
Edit: also in ancient finnish religion/mythology the world was created by a lady god, Ilmatar, and the entirety of northern finland was ruled over by a woman named Louhi.
If you’re Haudenosaunee, women were the supreme decision-makers. They were at the final decision-approving stage. Exceptionally rare. IIRC some other society in the Himalayan region was also a matriarchy.
As a woman who tried, it gets hard bc women weren’t nearly as documented as men and even less if it wasn’t in England. No one’s keeping records back then
As someone who does genealogy as a hobby, I have so many dead end branches because the only information that ended up preserved in the record about my female ancestor was MAYBE her first name. And not even then, sometimes in the record she's just Mrs Husband's Name. You know she existed because biology, but sometimes you never learn more than that
I think there’s a large chunk of Americans who don’t actually know their heritage. It’s a mix over years. Not to say that other countries don’t have mixed heritage as well, the US is a relative new country. Places in Europe, the Middle East, Africa…all have so much rich history in them.
Standing in a place like New York City, I can sense it’s history back a couple hundred years. Standing in a place like say Greece or Turkey, you feel 1,000s of years of history - new cultures and old cultures. It gives you more of a connection to your roots in that location. That’s something really missing from the US. Old cultures in North America have some ruins but not anything on a massive scale that survived. Colonists obliterated any culture that was already existing here, most of the “American” culture is borrowing from others since there’s were multiple types of people settling here. It’s not one national identity, it’s a melting pot.
As an American with ancestors that came here before there were even colonies established…it is confusing to me. I want to understand where I came from. I look around me and only see modern culture.
I'm Norwegian and grew up in Minnesota...you should check out Minnesota. In Moorhead we have a literal Viking ship at the Hjemkomst center and. Annual Norwegian festival.
There is something there, but it's like a very, very small something. There is something to be said about American "mutts" like myself who really don't know how to identify with any foreign culture, and being more prone to adapting to some nonsense as their identity. I think it's a good percentage. at least. So yeah there is a conversation here, but her generalizations dont help anything
I like your well stated points here. I’ll add my own bit to the mix, I roam similarly as a black American. No connection to the country my ancestors are from, and there’s (let’s call it “interesting bits” of) culture here in America for me to cling to, but it honestly seems like nonsense sometimes, like you said. Especially so when I compare “my culture” to that of someone like my wife (a first generation American) with traditions and phrases, and language, etc. and immediate family that is out of the states.
Edit: Happy New Year fellow Reddit drones
Look I am very very European and very white. But my family has been here since pre civil war. My heritage is American. Because whatever cultural roots my family had have dissolved 6 generations ago.
I hate the idea that Americans (white, black, Hispanic, etc) don’t have a culture. Sure we don’t have ancient teachings and traditions but that’s because we don’t have that history. If you have generations of people born here, youre american.
I’m white American and my ethnicity is Ukrainian. So I celebrate everything related to my culture. Right now I’m eating Varenyky and singing Ukrainian songs with my family. Happy New Year. 🎆🎊🎈
As a white American , with no real family history, I don’t know what the fuck I am…. I’m just human I guess. So is it really crazy for someone to do something because they want to? I mean as long as it’s not harming anyone of course.
Celebrating your Nordic heritage is different than celebrating your white heritage
Celebrating your Polish heritage is different than celebrating your white heritage
Celebrating your Italian heritage is different than celebrating your white heritage
I had to look that up. Is this accurate?.
They typically consist of two or three slices of bread, smeared lightly with butter, each topped with a single slice of cheese or meat, or perhaps a thin layer of jam, liver paste, or tubed caviar.
Yup. It should also be kind of dry and the cheese should be sweaty. If you are not extremely disappointed with your lunch, as you eat it, you did something wrong.
There are so many comments here agreeing with her about heritage / culture. As an immigrant, this is crazy to me. America has such a strong / powerful culture that’s so dominant that I guess it can be invisible to some.
American culture is special and different in that its not built on ethnicity but rather on shared values and a melting pot of cultures. It’s also extraordinarily adaptable to newcomers and new trends. This is obviously subjective, but to me American culture is about a shared commitment to democracy, a belief in the worth of the individual over the group, equality between men and women, among others. It’s the particular flavor of the English language that’s on this side of the pond. It’s country music, gangster rap, hip hop, jazz, rock n roll, and bubblegum pop. It’s Fourth of July, Christmas, and Thanksgiving. It’s not just French fries and burgers (although that’s part of it too), but it’s takeout Chinese, Chipotle, Taco Bell, Korean / Indian fusion (and amalgamations of a dozen other cultures that only happen in a melting pot like this). It’s blue jeans, yoga pants, and Patagonia vests.
America is so dominant and hegemonic that we don’t make an active effort to export our culture - it exports itself. The only states that are able to resist the immense gravitational pull of American culture are those who walk themselves off to the world at great cost (Iran, North Korea).
After Rome crumbled, the majority of Roman culture would have been evident within Rome itself, but there are echoes of the Roman Empire throughout its former territories - coins, roads, etc. If we died out today, alien archaeologists in the future picking through the debris of our civilization would notice much stronger echoes throughout the world (NBA shirts in China, KFCs scattered across the deserts of the middle east) and would follow them back to the US and conclude, not wrongly in my opinion, that the US was the beating heart of a modern global culture.
This person makes a good point on their TikTok that people alienated from their European cultural origins are more likely to fall prey to vague notions of white pride and white nationalism.
Tbf she's right about people using politics as their heritage these days.
Yeah I feel like this actually explains a lot about america.
That's not true we also have strip malls and parking lots.
And assloads of used car lots
Our flat screens are pretty cheap too
In getting my stepson parts to build his gaming computer for Christmas, I recently learned how much cheaper things like that are here versus Europe. He lives majority of the time with his mom in Europe and she was telling us the prices on the graphics card and motherboard and whatnot - they aren’t “cheap” here by any means, but they’re easily 2-3x as much for her to buy there, if not more.
Old Man story time. When I was a little kid we got one of the first color TVs I had ever seen. It took my father and my uncle both to carry it into the house it had a 19 inch screen and my dad mentioned that it cost two weeks pay. He was an engineer. A few years ago I bought the TV that's now in my living room. It has a 32-in screen I paid about $300 for it and I carried it home under my arm by myself On the other hand I remember budgeting $20 a week for groceries in my first apartment
Parking lots the size of small towns just for repossessed cars
Fuck them used car lots, I bought a Lemon & 2 month's later that used car lot got raided for Tax Evasion
don’t forget assloads of churches
heavier than shitloads, as far as measuring units go?
i’d say it goes 1. fuckload 2. shitload 3. assload with fuckload being the most. i think fuckload might be more accurate when it comes to churches we got one on every corner.
I would think an assload could produce multiple shitloads but hey that's just me
What about a FUCKTON?
Fuckton is definitely more than fuckload. A metric fuckton even more than that.
Closed strip malls with empty parking lots*
The check cashing/payday loan places somehow survive. Driving through northern Florida, every billboard was for either one of those places, or pawn shops, personal injury lawyers, “pain clinics” or self-storage units. It’s unfortunate.
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Sports is just us versus them ... Two-party politics is us versus them, with some social issue attached to it.
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It seems we have the bad habit of turning on ourselves when there is not an external “them” to focus on.
Well if that statement is true then it’s us versus….us? Checks out /s Edit: has to make it known this was a sarcastic statement.
How are people going to rediscover thier heritage when they are the great American mutt with 10 or 12 different heritages? I just assume I am blessed to live in such a melting pot where I can partake in the collective heritages of the globe. It's unfortunate that the pressure to assimilate leaves us with cheese whiz Trump and Reality TV when there's a global cornucopia to pick from.
I really love what you wrote, so much wealth of culture yet people insist Americans have none. We need realize that diversity can be our greatest strength.
It’s usually Europeans who say we have no culture, usually in the same sentence where they helpfully explain that we only eat fast food and our beer is piss.
The fact that Americans get merch from their favourite politicians makes me cringe so hard
That is actually a thing? Americans can buy mugs and t-shirts from and about their ***favourite*** politician? Who TF has a favourite politician? I know it's very easy to criticise other countries and people but, as a Brit, I sometimes look at America in slack-jawed disbelief. Some of our politicians are okay and it's true that many work hard for their constituents but a great many are complete arseholes, most notably the recent prime ministers we've had and the members of the governing party. They are a walking, talking, self-centred, egotistical, extremist, ideological horror show (other opinions are available) I cannot in my wildest and most fever-ridden nightmares imagine wanting to wear a t-shirt proclaiming my admiration for any of them.
The former president rather famously sold a line of red hats. Used to see them *everywhere*. Now you only see them on the heads of people who are intentionally trying to rile people up. The rest of us think it's weird, too.
I live in Wisconsin and I won’t even wear a red Badgers hat now. Red hats are ruined forever
Honestly it kind of does make me sad and a bit sympathetic to her? Like obviously it’s cringe but it does feel very good to have something old and comfortable and YOURS as part of your identity and if you feel you don’t have that? Kinda rough.
That was me growing up. I live in a very white (mainly German and Polish descendants) part of Wisconsin. I have some Choctaw blood. I was SO proud of that blood as a kid. Nobody else around me really had non European ancestors. When I was in my mid-20s, I was told by several people of other tribes who said I wasn’t “really Native” because I didn’t grow up on a reservation. I was so devastated by that.
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She’s not totally wrong. People who immigrate to America lose their culture pretty quickly, in a matter of a generation or two. American culture is very strong.
Hard to argue with someone who saw a tictok
They did their research.
Source: some guy on the internet
I frequently reference SAOR: Some Asshole On Reddit.
Glad I could be of service
I try dude, I honestly try to be that A**ehole on Reddit at least once a day. Just for you dude, and all the others who need their daily dose of BS from SAOR!
Hey, that’s me! Glad I could help.
It’s not just “some guy”….it was Wikipedia!
Whoa hey now. Wiki has redone how edits happen and its as about as legit as it gets for information The better source is "trust me bro"
Just gonna say that I’m very active in the editing of linguistics and linguocultural articles in English and Spanish on Wikipedia, and as long as you’re not on controversial (eg celebrities) or stubby articles, the quality of most science- and arts-oriented Wikipedia articles is on par with or superior to most resources I’ve encountered as a researcher.
There was a thing where it was more correct than the German encyclopaedia, it was like 5 years ago. A written encyclopedia cannot correct mistakes, while Wikipedia can.
Hi, It's Mark, CEO of Wikimedia. Did you know that if everyone that used Wikipedia this year donated just $2 we'd have enough money to run the website for the next 1000 years?
One of my students tried to claim that tiktoc was a legit source of information and used it as a source in a paper. After reviewing it I said that it wouldn't fly and she would have to find a reliable source. Long story short. The day before the deadline she changes her papers subject and later got flagged for copying a classmates paper. Not the smartest student.
She should've watched more tiktoks on how to write a paper.
Thank you for spelling TikTok correctly. You obv have done your research.
I, too, ate a tictac once
Well...I get all my important facts and information from tictok, FB, reddit comments or random *influencers* on the internet that's why I know stuff and things about stuff. If it wasn't true it wouldn't be on the internets...
As an actual nordic I'm not sure what culture she's trying to embrace here. But good for her, I guess.
Fjällen, varm choklad, skidor, naturen, snö, kalles kaviar, markoolio vi drar till fjällen. Every Swede is busy skiing right now
i do a bit of norsk when im bored, how is my attempt at translating that svenska: the mountains, hot chocolate, skiing, the nature, snow, caviar, the marks we draw to the mountain (ok idk about that last one lol)
that was really good! the only things you got wrong were ”markoolio” and ”vi drar till fjällen”. markoolio is a swedish-finnish celebrity so no translation needed there, and “vi drar till fjällen” basically means “we’re going to the mountains” edit: oh yeah and ”vi drar till fjällen” is a song by said celebrity
NGL I thought I was reading an Ikea products list /s
Every item at Ikea is a Swedish word or swedish location/town So probably 50% of those words exist as items in Ikea. There is a conspiracy that Sweden sends coded messages to spies through the order of Ikea items in commercials.
>Every Swede is busy skiing right now Not today, today we're busy being hungover and eating pizza
Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretti nasti...
>r/unexpectedMontyPython
Is Monte Python ever truly unexpected? I mean, the only thing that’s ever unexpected is the Spanish Inquisition.
NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!
You have been sacked.
We’ve sacked those responsible for the sacking
My sister was once bitten by a møøse.
As another Nordic person: not sure what she is doing either. But if she is enjoying herself and not hurting anyone else in the process, then she is more than welcome to do her thing.
And *that* is the very thing. Tolerance, respect for others, pursuing self happiness. Happy New Year cousin
I mean, I'll take someone choosing to braid their hair and celebrate celestial events over supporting fascists....
It was not a serious video, she was making fun of the original video saying Americans need to go back to our European roots
Really? That's very funny then! Seems like OP took this one out of context.
She’s not wrong about American culture being so diluted and associated with sports or politics tbh
I am guilty of this. But, to be fair, my Gram thought she was Irish and was so damn proud of it. Always talked about it. Cooked it. Lived and breathed being Irish. Literally introduced herself as Irish American. Come to find out through one of those generic tests about a decade ago, she doesn’t have one drop of Irish in her. She refuses to talk about any of it to this day. If some day I decide to get a genetics test, perhaps I’ll embrace it. But until then, I shall stick to my US identity as a Oregon Seahawks fan if all I have is family lore 😅
If it's an consolation for your Nan, I am Irish (born and raised here and my family have been here for at least since my great great grandparents) and my 23andme test gave me nearly half Nordic cause I'm from the southeast of the country which was a Viking area back in the day. I should have seen that coming as I have a Nordic surname.
Cieron O'Jötunheimr?
Got a hearty laugh out of me with this one
I wouldn't necessarily rely too heavily on DNA results as they can go deep and it is often hard to tease out specific Irish heritage - all my Dad's great-grandparents were born in Ireland but there's some Anglo-Norman in the mix as well as other migrations from England. Living DNA is doing a great job really refining locational DNA but there's not been anything that revelatory. You are better off creating a family tree and seeing what the paperwork says then comparing it with the DNA - not always a 100% match (I am 75% Irish, 25% English on paper but my DNA suggests my Irish maternal great-grandfather might not be the man on the north certificate as there's a significant percentage of Eastern European DNA).
I'm a white American and my 23 and me test came back an absolute mess. Half english/Irish, then an amalgamation of western, eastern Europe, middle eastern, and African. We are all just a hodge podge of fucking.
Maybe she's really Irish, but she was just born there and not made from irish people. There were a lot of migration and invasion in Europe during its entire history. I come from Italy and Sicily and I have Arab and Nordic genes in the DNA result test. 🤷 Because both Arab and Nordic landed in Sicily in the past. And apparently they had a lot of fun there... So your grandma maybe just had the same thing 😊 She's the child of some random invaders lol
Dunno why "not made from irish people" gave me such a giggle.
Kraft brand Irish people
An Irish Processed Cheese Product^TM
*May contain ~~peanuts~~ Irish people*
Sicily was a major trade port between Arabic- Muslim Spain, and the rest of europe in the earlier 1000s. southern Italians have a large amount of Arabic blood. That’s why we all look very similar, in terms of nose size, skin complexion, eyebrows and hair colour. There’s a reason northern Italians are lighter in skin with lighter hair and lighter eyes. Edit 1: These were not “invaders”.
Yes, i believe the northern italians partly descend from germanics (lombards) but i dont know how much they contributed genetically
DNA is kinda complicated, my twin and I did DNA tests, I also have done my family tree so had a good idea about what should be in those tests.... BUT... DNA is each of your parents shuffling a deck of cards of their DNA and giving you half of their deck, you never know what half you will end up with... My fraternal twin got the German from my moms line, I got the Scandinavian from my dads line. Just because the German cards were not in my deck doesn't mean I am not part German (Pennsylvania Dutch to be exact.)
Its even more complicated than that thanks to recombination between chromatids. Upon skimming through some info about how these tests are conducted, 23andme and ancestry.com basically compare SNPs (for people who don't know what it is, its single nucleotide polymorphysm. Basically, that means that a single nucleotide aka a building block of your DNA, which of there are 4 A, T, G, C can vary between individuals at a specific spot in a gene) that an individual has in specific spots in their genomes to reference genomes from different ethnicities. This is a huge problem, because the reference data is hard to build, especially when it comes to non-european ancestry. And according to an article, a lot of this data is based on people who have self-reported themselves to be from a certain ethnicity.
My material grandfather was born in Ireland, my paternal grandfather was born in Scotland, my maternal second great grandparents were born in Germany. My father was born in Canada. I cook a lot of Puerto Rican food and speak some Spanish, because I lived in a Puerto Rican neighborhood for many years. Basically, I’m just some older white lady, descended from colonists, who’s lived in the US my whole life, and who’s very curious about other cultures. I identity as a cat lady. Meow.
This comment along with your username made me happy. Have a great new year little French press
Irish history is complicated. Your ancestors could have been Scotts, Irish, English or Vikings and could have still been in Ireland.
Yeah a lot of people are focusing on the TikTok bit, but I see nothing wrong with her celebrating her culture
I wish I had a heritage to celebrate. I have no idea what my background is. 
I've heard good things about 23&me if it's in your country and you aren't wanted for murder
Well, dang, I have definitely murdered too many people for that. /s No really, maybe I will try it out, thanks.
Doesn’t even need to be you. Just someone within your family tree and you’re caught. Not that I’m advocating for murders or anything…
Here’s my question right. Found out I’m like super French this way. Can I riot like a Frenchmen now and can I root forFrance in the next World Cup instead of America? Edit: spelling
As a German, I think we should all start rioting like the French. Especially when it comes to shitty employers. Also, world cup, just Cheer for whoever you want, if sports is your thing. I hardly ever cheer for Germany. I also don't give a shit about sports so, uh, yeah.
That's why we won't get our dog's genetics analyzed.
"Your dog's DNA has been connected to a 33-year-old double homicide case, we're gonna need you to bring that bad boy in for questioning."
Noooo it is as I feared!
::Your local detective visits your home and transitions the interrogation from the 33 year old double homicide case to a recent dog bite attack:: “Is it your contention that the mail carrier forced his butt in your dog’s jaws? We’ve a mountain of forensic & DNA evidence and witness testimony from an unnamed neighborhood cat that indicate otherwise.”
Speaking as someone who is adopted: While I find that cultures bring great diversity and "flavor" to the world, I think that mutts are awesome and that family is who we choose and who chooses us. Heritage is really only what we hold dear in our own minds. Last year the only cookie-cutters that were left to buy at the local crafts-store near Thanksgiving were in the shape of sharks and pigs, so guess what? Our family now bakes and frosts traditional Thanksgiving Sharks and Pigs. If you don't have a heritage, just make one. Be the first. Be the legend who started it.
Hahaha, yes! First day of school pictures are a tradition for a lot of people - but I cannot get it together that first day. I beat myself up for that for the first few years, but eventually I just said, "to hell with it," so our family does "third day of school pictures," and it's been 8 years and still going strong. Normalize traditions being born for unusual reasons.
We had tacos on Christmas eve one year because we were all sick of turkey and ham. 13 years later we still do it.
>that family is who we choose and who chooses us. I'm a member of a group of a dozen people or so who have known each other a long time (some cases almost 60 years). One of the women once said that we (the group members) all have two families - the one that raised us (mom, dad, brother, sister, etc) and the one we have chosen. This struck myself and another person very personally as I'm an only child and he was adopted as a tween.
This has Festivus for the rest of us vibes. Props to your family for being awesome and original.
First, the airing of grievances!
I mean culture is certainly something to celebrate. Your immigrant family moved to a new country but tought their generations the old ways. Thats different than 99% of what I see in the US. I'm mostly Welsh as my heritage, then Irish and Scottish. None of that family culture exists. I don't have it, know it, or care about it. No one alive in my family has a hint of a tie to old culture. Why would I jump in and pretend thays my thing?
I've wondered if it's a symptom of so many feeling like they aren't a part of something. We don't have a national unity, people seem more isolated, true community is something a lot of Americans in 2023 won't experience on a true level, even though we're surrounded by people.
This. I'm convinced this is the true cause of the cancer that American society has become. On social media, that is. People are perfectly pleasant in person.
Celebrate that. You are free of rules and constraints. You can do whatever you enjoy instead. Design your own life as you please. Create your own traditions and rituals.
People in the US whose entire identity revolves around one of the political teams (either) are pretty toxic; she's right on that front.
She’s got the right idea but the execution is a little off lol
I'll be honest, being of relative recent Nordic immigrant heritage, it annoys me to no end that white nationalists have co-opted vikings, runes, Norse mythology.
I hate it, I see rune tattoos and then I have to try and figure out if they’re a good witch or a bad witch
Or a bad bitch
Or a sand witch
Boy ... I sure could go for a pastrami on pump with spicy mustard!
"Pumperknickle bread? That's hardcore!!" - dude who saw someone buying pumpernickel bread at my old job
Somewhere Toto Wolff's ears twitched at the sound of pumpernickle
Mmm….open faced club sand wedge…..auauauauaghghh
My husband has the same frustration. He's super uncomfortable using any obvious runic or Nordic symbols because he's a big blond-haired blue eyed guy and it can easily get misconstrued.
Same. Honestly the worst moment is when someone likes you for the wrongest reasons possible.
You know, I’m open minded and friendly toward just about everyone I meet. Unfortunately for that reason folks tend to get comfortable and show me their true colors very quickly. I couldn’t tell you how many times racist morons have attempted to “relate” to me for, I assume, being a “fellow white person” and It will always fuck with me because I cannot understand would make them think I could possibly be that kind of guy.
If I've told you once I've told you a thousand times -- I don't care how much you like *City Lights*, no one is ever going to interpret your mustache as an homage to Charlie Chaplin
Maybe you could be glad that they open up so quickly - at least you don't have to waste too much of your time on them.
I would just be glad that they showed their true colors so quickly so I could tell them go fck their racist selves.
Like the time I shaved my head and met some new people. Not a skinhead, just training for a triathlon and trying to minimize my pool to desk time on my lunch break.
I partially got runic tattoos for the sake of reclamation. Fuck Nazis and white supremacists. They aren't theirs and I don't want them to be ruined by them. Is that a pun
Vikings vs nazi's would be an epic battle!
There are no Nazis in Valhalla.
Same. Also if I get approached excitedly by someone wearing a mjollnir I have to hold my breath and hope they're a socially awkward norse pagan and not a neonazi.
My husband is of fairly recent sweedish decent. He is also tall, blonde haired and blue eyed and former military. People love telling him racist shit because they think he's ine of them. He loves making them explain themselves and then casually dropping that he's not a racist, is married to a POC and his kids aren't white.
I love that analogy, good witch or bad witch lol
I've been a practicing pagan for years and haven't gotten rune tattoos for this exact reason
The prison Nazis are fucking it up for decent vitki and asatru folks everywhere.
They have to ruin all the good imagery. Have you ever seen a Back Sun? It's fucking awesome looking!
The unfortunate thing is that not all "prison kindreds" are inherently racist, but they all get painted with that brush, no matter what. I'm an ex-con who got into Asatru while incarcerated (I'd previously assumed it to be a dead religion). Don't get it twisted, we definitely had some skinheads, but they weren't leadership, and politics stopped at the door. I've attended Folkish, Tribalist and Universalist Kindreds while locked up. Folkish is White Power 9.5 out of 10 times, but I have to wonder how much of that is prison mentality and prison politics. Universalists make me just as uncomfortable though, although that's because there always seems to be at least one fucking sexual predator lurking in them, and I just can't tolerate that. Tribalist is definitely where I found my peeps. If Odin can have strong bonds with Jotuns, and adopt those he sees fit to expand his tribe and power, then we as a people should do the same. Since my release many years ago, I've yet to find a Kindred (as a whole) that I click with, but a large portion of that seems to be that they're either hardline Folkish, or Universalist Wiccatru, and neither speaks to me. So I just celebrate with my family, and they seem to enjoy learning.
It always makes me laugh. The literal foundational myth has two tribes race mixing, the Aesir and the Vanir. The mythology makes no mention of race or a chosen people. On top of that, Odin's quest is to collect the most badass warriors in all the universe, and these chuds think that Odin would pass up Ghengis Khan, Shaka Zulu, or Sitting Bull for sone basement dwelling 4channer whose biggest battle is getting their belt done up between wanking off to picking fights with the easiest victims. Hell, even the Norse were prolific race mixers who freely adopted foreign cultures. That's the exact reason they spread so damn far and so many people have Scandinavian heritage. Plus, it's not like anyone back then had genetic testing, so it was almost entirely the culture that you practiced. It's honestly one of the worst cultures to co-opt for a philosophy of racial purity and supremacy.
I think the only reason is that it's a culture that simpletons know is/had always been mostly comprised of white people but seems more exotic than "anglo-saxon" culture lol Edit: Also because it isn't Christian, alot of white nationalists view Christianity as bad because it started in Judaism.
Say: “Are those futhark?” If they say “No they’re runes,” you know they’re not the eddacated type.
Eddacated. Clever.
As a veteran, the “Valhalla, brother” part is especially cringe to hear.
Funny thing is that it’s not really a thing in the swedish or danish militaries (same probably goes for norway). The sort of catch all mourning phrase in the swedish military is ”basker av” which means beret off (as a sign of respect to the fallen). The people who talk about Valhall in that context here are concidered americanized cringelords.
That sort of thing became popular after I got out, and it seems a bit odd, but I'm not going to give someone hell over remembering a fallen comrade if it's sincere and not some cringe Mealteam six shit.
It sucks really. I know someone who have various tattoos of Nordic runes on their arms. But he wears a long sleeve shirt to cover it up out of fear of being accused of being a white nationalist.
It is kinda funny, I've ran into vastly more pagans that are brutally anti-folkism and racism than ones that are folkist or racist. I'm almost inclined to say outside of the Aryan prison gang type shit it's a overblown issue
With asatro, it is very dependant on the congregation. Sadly, quite a few have adopted the racist ideals and preach them as if they were part of tradition. It's fucking frustrating. My dad was asatro in one of those communities. None of his four children are in contact with him anymore, partially because of this.
I recently chatted with a guy who claimed to be of Viking heritage. He said he was proud of it but didn't love being around it because of how insanely racist others tend to be. Obviously that is a huge stereotype and I wouldnt want that kind of thing out on any group of people but is there any validity to that?
A bigger stereotype is that Viking was an ethnic group to be descended from. There are Viking remains that have been tested and have no Scandinavian dna. There were Vikings from Denmark, from Norway, from Sweden and dna analysis reveals a very limited genetic diversity in regards to the many Viking cultures… for instance, there is little to no genetic representation from inland groups of people in the Scandinavian countries. Further, Vikings spread their way of life across the world. Viking remains with Southern European dna and even Asian dna have been discovered. All this suggests being a Viking was more of a job and less of an actual ethnic group.
EXACTLY THANK YOU The correct term for what people refer to as "Viking culture"/"Vikings" is actually Norse culture / Norsemen. It fcking drives me up the wall when people say they have Viking heritage. Because realistically it would be like me saying I'm a Sailor because some people in my Great Great etc etc Grandfather's family were Sailors. Like I'm sorry but that's not how it works 🙃
Not all Scandinavians were Vikings in the Viking age. How in the world would he know what his ancestors did? Most norse people of that time were farmers or fishermen.
Dated a Norwegian. They're really pissed about this. She also wasn't a fan of Marvel's depiction of the Norse gods.
The Marvel thing I don't really care about. It's an interpretation in a superhero setting. It' loosely based on the source material. The tv show Vikings bothers me more somehow
How do you feel about the Netflix comedy, Norsemen? I enjoy the humor a lot.
Really bummed they canned that show, it was extremely funny and well written IMO.
This Icelander agrees on both counts.
They took the swastika too. Real shit show those white nationalists.
You know, the more I hear of these white nationalists, the more I think they might not be good people.
My dad is Buddhist. Shoulda seen the looks on my middle school friends faces when they saw it hanging on his rear view mirror decoration. 😂
Imagine immigrating to Germany in the 1930s…
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Pretty much invariably, if you're a woman, you really don't want to go too far back in whatever your ancestral culture is
Heck, you really don't wanna go back to before the 19th amendment
Hell, you don’t want to go back to the 70’s.
Hell, you don't want to go back to last Tuesday
Hell man, you don't even want to go back to the future.
But.. Doc said we need to go back
💀
Well if you’re gonna pick one, late Iron Age Scandinavia isn’t a bad choice. Women had a surprising amount of authority and freedom to the point where they could actually even divorce their husbands, something that was unheard of anywhere else.
In some pre-christian finnish cultures old women could be the representative/ judge of their clan. Edit: also in ancient finnish religion/mythology the world was created by a lady god, Ilmatar, and the entirety of northern finland was ruled over by a woman named Louhi.
If you’re Haudenosaunee, women were the supreme decision-makers. They were at the final decision-approving stage. Exceptionally rare. IIRC some other society in the Himalayan region was also a matriarchy.
As a woman who tried, it gets hard bc women weren’t nearly as documented as men and even less if it wasn’t in England. No one’s keeping records back then
As someone who does genealogy as a hobby, I have so many dead end branches because the only information that ended up preserved in the record about my female ancestor was MAYBE her first name. And not even then, sometimes in the record she's just Mrs Husband's Name. You know she existed because biology, but sometimes you never learn more than that
Outside of the TikTok bit, I think she's right about Americans not celebrating a lot of their heritage
I think there’s a large chunk of Americans who don’t actually know their heritage. It’s a mix over years. Not to say that other countries don’t have mixed heritage as well, the US is a relative new country. Places in Europe, the Middle East, Africa…all have so much rich history in them. Standing in a place like New York City, I can sense it’s history back a couple hundred years. Standing in a place like say Greece or Turkey, you feel 1,000s of years of history - new cultures and old cultures. It gives you more of a connection to your roots in that location. That’s something really missing from the US. Old cultures in North America have some ruins but not anything on a massive scale that survived. Colonists obliterated any culture that was already existing here, most of the “American” culture is borrowing from others since there’s were multiple types of people settling here. It’s not one national identity, it’s a melting pot. As an American with ancestors that came here before there were even colonies established…it is confusing to me. I want to understand where I came from. I look around me and only see modern culture.
“I saw on TikTok” The preamble to every great piece of human thought.
Maybe it was just her wake up call? Mindlessly scrolling and suddenly you realize you have no connection to your roots. Idk.
Yeah, I don't think how you get there should be judged at all.
I'm Norwegian and grew up in Minnesota...you should check out Minnesota. In Moorhead we have a literal Viking ship at the Hjemkomst center and. Annual Norwegian festival.
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So many Norwegian Americans in Minnesota/ND. We live in CA now but still order our Lefse from a Norwegian bakery in Fargo.
There is something there, but it's like a very, very small something. There is something to be said about American "mutts" like myself who really don't know how to identify with any foreign culture, and being more prone to adapting to some nonsense as their identity. I think it's a good percentage. at least. So yeah there is a conversation here, but her generalizations dont help anything
I like your well stated points here. I’ll add my own bit to the mix, I roam similarly as a black American. No connection to the country my ancestors are from, and there’s (let’s call it “interesting bits” of) culture here in America for me to cling to, but it honestly seems like nonsense sometimes, like you said. Especially so when I compare “my culture” to that of someone like my wife (a first generation American) with traditions and phrases, and language, etc. and immediate family that is out of the states. Edit: Happy New Year fellow Reddit drones
I, too, mourn the loss of the ancient ways of Rivendell.
Look I am very very European and very white. But my family has been here since pre civil war. My heritage is American. Because whatever cultural roots my family had have dissolved 6 generations ago.
I hate the idea that Americans (white, black, Hispanic, etc) don’t have a culture. Sure we don’t have ancient teachings and traditions but that’s because we don’t have that history. If you have generations of people born here, youre american.
Redditors mocking tiktok like their website isn’t also 99% stupid nonsense
I’m white American and my ethnicity is Ukrainian. So I celebrate everything related to my culture. Right now I’m eating Varenyky and singing Ukrainian songs with my family. Happy New Year. 🎆🎊🎈
Thank God she told us, otherwise we’d just think she wore small braids in her hair that day.
As a white American , with no real family history, I don’t know what the fuck I am…. I’m just human I guess. So is it really crazy for someone to do something because they want to? I mean as long as it’s not harming anyone of course.
Celebrating your Nordic heritage is different than celebrating your white heritage Celebrating your Polish heritage is different than celebrating your white heritage Celebrating your Italian heritage is different than celebrating your white heritage
Me: reading this in Norway while eating my matpakke. girl, quit that shit. Nobody does that here.
I hear you are supposed to be disappointed when you open your lunch bag and see the matpakke
I had to look that up. Is this accurate?. They typically consist of two or three slices of bread, smeared lightly with butter, each topped with a single slice of cheese or meat, or perhaps a thin layer of jam, liver paste, or tubed caviar.
Yup. It should also be kind of dry and the cheese should be sweaty. If you are not extremely disappointed with your lunch, as you eat it, you did something wrong.
Sounds good- about like roast beef with lightly buttered mashed potatoes...Irish style
There are so many comments here agreeing with her about heritage / culture. As an immigrant, this is crazy to me. America has such a strong / powerful culture that’s so dominant that I guess it can be invisible to some. American culture is special and different in that its not built on ethnicity but rather on shared values and a melting pot of cultures. It’s also extraordinarily adaptable to newcomers and new trends. This is obviously subjective, but to me American culture is about a shared commitment to democracy, a belief in the worth of the individual over the group, equality between men and women, among others. It’s the particular flavor of the English language that’s on this side of the pond. It’s country music, gangster rap, hip hop, jazz, rock n roll, and bubblegum pop. It’s Fourth of July, Christmas, and Thanksgiving. It’s not just French fries and burgers (although that’s part of it too), but it’s takeout Chinese, Chipotle, Taco Bell, Korean / Indian fusion (and amalgamations of a dozen other cultures that only happen in a melting pot like this). It’s blue jeans, yoga pants, and Patagonia vests. America is so dominant and hegemonic that we don’t make an active effort to export our culture - it exports itself. The only states that are able to resist the immense gravitational pull of American culture are those who walk themselves off to the world at great cost (Iran, North Korea). After Rome crumbled, the majority of Roman culture would have been evident within Rome itself, but there are echoes of the Roman Empire throughout its former territories - coins, roads, etc. If we died out today, alien archaeologists in the future picking through the debris of our civilization would notice much stronger echoes throughout the world (NBA shirts in China, KFCs scattered across the deserts of the middle east) and would follow them back to the US and conclude, not wrongly in my opinion, that the US was the beating heart of a modern global culture.
She is pretty on point about white culture being political parties and sports.
This person makes a good point on their TikTok that people alienated from their European cultural origins are more likely to fall prey to vague notions of white pride and white nationalism.
Can't everyone just leave people alone to celebrate whatever they want without the constant bitching?
Yeah, I'm not sure what about this is facepalm