Thursday, June 02, 2005

What are you proud of?

Here's my most recent crazy thought: The reason all those white folks in the middle of the country are crazy, rabid patriots is because they have very little else to be proud about. Now before y'all jump down my throat and call me classist, hear me out. We minorities have it easy, we get to be vocally proud about our ethnic heritage and no one bats an eye.

For example:

If I were to say:

"I'm a loud, obnoxious, opinonated Korean-American woman and damn it, I'm proud."

Not so offensive, right?


Now, what if a 6' 1" 19 yo Caucasian man from Indiana were to say:

"I'm a loud, obnoxious, opinonated white man and damn it, I'm proud."

Kinda Klu Klux Klan, don't you think?


As I see it, all people feel a need to be proud about something. Whether it be their ehtnicity, their talents, their possessions, or what not? Society tells us we can only be so proud about our talents and possessions. If you're too proud of your talents, you come off seeming egotistical and narcassistic. Too proud about your possessions and you seem shallow and greedy. But if you are proud of your heritage...well, you are an upstanding member of your community, someone who respects their roots...provided you're a minority.

So what is a poor white person to do? Turn white pride into USA pride...doesn't it make sense? And in their minds white = USA, so at the end of the day it's all the same thing.

But y'all are probably thinking, what about those white people who aren't all USA crazy? Well, not all minorities are crazy homeland heads, are they? You don't see me walking around speaking Foblish and hanging out with exclusively korean people, do you? I think its a matter of context and priorities. Those people who have other pursuits in life and other ways of feeling like valuable members of society don't have to necessarily resort to extreme pride in something as uncontrollable as talent or ethnicity or superficial as possessions.

These are my own opinions. Hopefully I won't be killed by a KKK member.

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