hyphenated me

[rm]

We share the same biology
Regardless of ideology
What might save us, me, and you
Is if the Russians love their children too.

It's a testament both to my age and what a weird news week this has been (Russian spies???!) that I'm starting this entry with a quote from a Sting song I used to sing a lot when I was a teen, mainly because it's a nice fit

Comments

[supremegoddess1]

This, times a million.

Might I post it to readers_list?

[rm]

Yeah, feel free, although you may want to wait a couple of hours, because I'm still in that tweaking stage.

[supremegoddess1]

ok, i'll post it tomorrow morning.

[supremegoddess1]

http://community.livejournal.com/readers_list/132159.html

[ebonypearl]

"So don't tell me only Americans are exceptional. And don't tell me the only way to be American is to forget."

I didn't say that, but I'm glad you posted this on your blog and not mine. I appreciate the consideration.

[sihaya09]

I am not going to get in a debate with you, because the point is, you said a lot of contradictory things in your post, but I am going to point out what you said in your own words:

Why is it so hard for people to say they are American, without having to immediately qualify it by staking a claim on some other nationality right away, as if it were shameful to be just plain American?

That right there? That is erasure. It is the expectation you are placing on a perfect stranger to excise important parts of their personal identity because you think that in hyphenating their ethnicity, they are somehow indicating shame of some sort. This is a BLATANT falsehood.

You should think about why so many people are taking exception with what you are saying. People are not getting upset over nothing. They are getting upset because of the implications of things that you are saying.

[rm]

You're correct, you didn't use those exact words. If you had, I would have put them in quotation marks. But this is one of the central thrusts of your post which was deeply offensive to me in ways I have already enumerated to you.

I posted this essay here because it's my writing for my audience. My choice had nothing to do with consideration for you. Quite frankly, I'd have banned you from here by now, but if you're willing to comment here I'll let you stick around since so many people are do deeply frustrated by your unwillingness to engage in a discussion of the views hold strongly and share freely.

To be entirely honest however, I am disgusted that you read my journal apparently to be entertained while thinking that me and people like me are anti-American whiners because we want equal rights and an American culture about something more than erasure.

You've behaved in a cowardly manner in this.

[nimbrethil]

You've gone on quite a lot about how it's just your opinion and people who don't like it are free not to read you.

Sounds like a variation to me on "I've got the right to state my opinion, damnit" nonsense people spout when their opinion is challenged for the steaming pile it is--like yours is. What they're really saying is that they think freedom to express their opinion means being free to express it without having it challenged or criticized or ridiculed.

It's not true. You have the right to express any opinion you damn well please. But if you post it in an open forum with enabled comments, you can't expect people who disagree to stay silent. For that matter, you have a nasty habit of presenting your opinion as if it is historical fact, and then you wonder why people think you don't have a clue?

[eris]

hear hear!

Re: notation 1, yeah it's a pet peeve of mine, yet I've been doing it today too(in regards to this) out of laziness.

[stardragonca]

Canadians do it all the time, even though we all know that it isn't true.
It often means that we are trying not to say "Yank"-which is about the politest term we use. And we like you.
But generally it's just because that's what people in the United States call themselves, and there's no fixing it.

[98]

It troubles me as well but I have never heard a euphonious alternative. USAian? Ick. USer? That has problems other than sound.

[rm]

Thank you! As another thread about this notes here, there's also this sense of we're used to writing with the rhythm of "American" and finding alternatives that work in the same manner is frustrating.

[eac]

I entirely agree with you, but I'm such a rabid David Bowie fan that you've derailed all my response with footnote number 2. I'd love to know all about that, if there's anything to tell.

[rm]

Thanks! I put the story up today. It's brief, because it's sort of a non thing.

[ftemery]

I just stopped by out of boredom and got an education - thank you! You must know a lot of annoying people. I don't know that I've ever spoken up for myself that well. Maybe I should.

[rm]

Thank you! And this comment made me laugh so hard. The Internet, in addition to being for porn, is often for being made cranky!