Real Americans

[Coloradomtnman]

the us is no longer a melting pot as it once was....a melting pot would imply that you came her and became american.....now people use labels to diferentiate themselves......italian american....german american....african american....japanese american....not to mention cultural issues.....

a melting pot would melt everyone together into a thing called america populated by americans....not little factions representing their countries of origin .....

Reply to above bolded: this is the way its always been. Chinatown, Little Italy, etc. etc. They become Americans and still retain their ethnicity and identity. What would be a American culture without that? What part of American culture isn't adopted from another culture?

It is still a melting pot, no matter how much you don't want it to be. I live out west where there are lots and lots of Spanish names: towns, streets, apartment complexes, malls, mountain ranges, etc. Maybe in a century or two everyone will be speaking Spanglish.

Two different cultures mix, a new one forms, and the frist two disappear. Its how it has always worked. Even the Romans converted to Christianity. Central and South America is primarily Catholic, but the natives worship in a mixture of native religion and Catholocism. Spain still retains cultural aspects from the Muslim expansion a 1000 years ago. Get used to it. The US is a hodge podge of many different cultures, that's how it has always been.

I bet you're one of those people who feels insecure when you hear people speaking in a different language, right? Then they laugh and you assume they are talking about you. Mericans talk English! you think to yourself before getting into you're gas guzzling, Merican-made Ford F350 dually and angrily drive home thinking about how lawless illegal immigrants are and how the US Border Patrol to should shoot them before they even cross the border.

I've seen the remains of their bodies and the evidence of their passage in the California deserts. That speaks volumes to me about the desperation they must face in their native countries and the hopes and dreams they chase and yearn for so much that they risk their lives to cross many many miles of desert ("The ocean is a desert with its life underground..." and you're ancestors crossed it for the very same reasons - an opportunity for a better life).

You descendents will speak a hybrid of English and Spanish. Get used to the idea.

 

[Xenophon]

I'm a fake American myself.

 

[WillowTree]

The opposite of real is fake or artificial. So you would have fake Americans and real Americans. You can act un-American but you can't actually be an un-American. My point is that the "real American" bullshit being tossed around makes no sense. It's just another political talking point. I don't understand why people always fall for such things to divide us.

seems your post did just what you hoped it would....divde people rather than unite them....

I'm not a troll. Do a search for real Americans. I only wanted to understand others and give my point of view. Americans are divided in their minds. We are more alike that most people want to think.

How are we alike?? Seems to me we've never been more different, never more divided,, and schism is getting wider by the minute.. so in your view how are we alike?

 

[Gunny]

Does it matter if some people were born in other countries and became US citizens?

I would say once they become citizens they are real Americans.

Unamerican would obviously be anything that you would do to intentionally damage this country.

Dissent and/or questioning the government's actions does not necessarily mean you are not a real American.

To me that does not mean one should abuse the privileges liberty and freedom of being able to disent to the point that it would damage the country in a manner that would or could be defined as treason.

So Rod, once you commit some form of treason, you're not a real American anymore? What if you're just suspected of it?

I think that is where we get most of the Real American" or traitor talk from. People having their own individual ideals of what real is.

real (rē′əl, rēl)

adjective

1. existing or happening as or in fact; actual, true, etc.; not merely seeming, pretended, imagined, fictitious, nominal, or ostensible
2.
1. authentic; genuine
2. not pretended; sincere
3. designating wages or income as measured by purchasing power
4. Law of or relating to permanent, immovable things real property
5. Math. designating or of the part of a complex number that is not imaginary: all irrational and rational numbers are real numbers
6. Optics of or relating to an image made by the actual meeting of light rays at a point
7. Philos. existing objectively; actual (not merely possible or ideal), or essential, absolute, ultimate (not relative, derivative, etc.)

The term used to define the behavior you are attempting to describe is "unAmerican," and it is a behavior or act or both, not a state of being. Tecnically adn literally, anyone born on the continents of North or South America is "American," and real as long as they are life.

So where are you trying to go with this little exercise in semantics?

 

[Gunny]

You could spend hours discussing "what makes a real American." I think an easier question to answer would be, "what makes a person UNamerican," and I'd answer that simply, any person that does not assimilate, or uses a hyphenated name, such as african American.

You are entitled to your opinion. I am black and was born and raised in America. But my opinion is that someone can act un-American but nothing you say or do can make you un-American unless you choose to be.

Disagree. Acting contrary to the principles and ideals that are considered "American" is most definitely unamerican behavior.

 

[del]

I'm a fake American myself.

i prefer "ersatz"

must be the german in me.

 

[jgbkab]

seems your post did just what you hoped it would....divde people rather than unite them....

I'm not a troll. Do a search for real Americans. I only wanted to understand others and give my point of view. Americans are divided in their minds. We are more alike that most people want to think.

How are we alike?? Seems to me we've never been more different, never more divided,, and schism is getting wider by the minute.. so in your view how are we alike?

In where we want this country to be. We have different opinions of how to get there.

 

[Gunny]

The opposite of real is fake or artificial. So you would have fake Americans and real Americans. You can act un-American but you can't actually be an un-American. My point is that the "real American" bullshit being tossed around makes no sense. It's just another political talking point. I don't understand why people always fall for such things to divide us.

Who is "tossing it around" besides you? You're building a strawman, and attempting to literalize a term that that is used as a synonym with unamerican. It's used to describe people's ideals and/or behavior.

I have yet to see it used to describe someone's state of being.

 

[jgbkab]

I would say once they become citizens they are real Americans.

Unamerican would obviously be anything that you would do to intentionally damage this country.

Dissent and/or questioning the government's actions does not necessarily mean you are not a real American.

To me that does not mean one should abuse the privileges liberty and freedom of being able to disent to the point that it would damage the country in a manner that would or could be defined as treason.

So Rod, once you commit some form of treason, you're not a real American anymore? What if you're just suspected of it?

I think that is where we get most of the Real American" or traitor talk from. People having their own individual ideals of what real is.

real (rē′əl, rēl)

adjective

1. existing or happening as or in fact; actual, true, etc.; not merely seeming, pretended, imagined, fictitious, nominal, or ostensible
2.
1. authentic; genuine
2. not pretended; sincere
3. designating wages or income as measured by purchasing power
4. Law of or relating to permanent, immovable things real property
5. Math. designating or of the part of a complex number that is not imaginary: all irrational and rational numbers are real numbers
6. Optics of or relating to an image made by the actual meeting of light rays at a point
7. Philos. existing objectively; actual (not merely possible or ideal), or essential, absolute, ultimate (not relative, derivative, etc.)

The term used to define the behavior you are attempting to describe is "unAmerican," and it is a behavior or act or both, not a state of being. Tecnically adn literally, anyone born on the continents of North or South America is "American," and real as long as they are life.

So where are you trying to go with this little exercise in semantics?

I guess I should have left unAmerican out. People use the term real American like someone else is less of an American than they are. I didn't even get to the point of "The Americas." Real Americans are not the Hollywood type or leftists or liberals. That type of thing.

 

[Gunny]

You could spend hours discussing "what makes a real American." I think an easier question to answer would be, "what makes a person UNamerican," and I'd answer that simply, any person that does not assimilate, or uses a hyphenated name, such as african American.

I would say anyone who denies the heritage of this nation is UnAmerican. The US is a nation of immigrants; if you're white or black, you're the descendant of an immigrant (voluntary or forced). That's America. Go look at the Statue of Liberty. It welcomed people from all over the world: Africans, Europeans, etc. The US was a melting pot, and still is. Assimilation is a eupemism used by racists to denigrate people who differ from them either racially or culturally. Yet, somehow, the conservatives claim that they are truly the the diverse ones... Ha!

All you have to do is decide what you believe our "heritage" is. I most certainly don't believe it's what you are saying it is.

 

[jgbkab]

The opposite of real is fake or artificial. So you would have fake Americans and real Americans. You can act un-American but you can't actually be an un-American. My point is that the "real American" bullshit being tossed around makes no sense. It's just another political talking point. I don't understand why people always fall for such things to divide us.

Who is "tossing it around" besides you? You're building a strawman, and attempting to literalize a term that that is used as a synonym with unamerican. It's used to describe people's ideals and/or behavior.

I have yet to see it used to describe someone's state of being.

Ok, I was reading a post about the tea party on 7/4 and I saw the term used there. That's where I got the idea for the thread. Not really trying to describe it as a state of being but trying to understand why does one consider their being American more real than another person.

 

[xotoxi]

...the principles and ideals that are considered "American"...

Who determines these principles and ideals?

White conservative men from Georgia?
Black men from Detroit?
Cuban immigrants from Miami?
Asian women from Southern California?

Since there are many different principles and ideals that are held by Americans as to what Americans should be, there is a bit of a conundrum here.

 

[Gunny]

the us is no longer a melting pot as it once was....a melting pot would imply that you came her and became american.....now people use labels to diferentiate themselves......italian american....german american....african american....japanese american....not to mention cultural issues.....

a melting pot would melt everyone together into a thing called america populated by americans....not little factions representing their countries of origin .....

Reply to above bolded: this is the way its always been. Chinatown, Little Italy, etc. etc. They become Americans and still retain their ethnicity and identity. What would be a American culture without that? What part of American culture isn't adopted from another culture?

It is still a melting pot, no matter how much you don't want it to be. I live out west where there are lots and lots of Spanish names: towns, streets, apartment complexes, malls, mountain ranges, etc. Maybe in a century or two everyone will be speaking Spanglish.

Two different cultures mix, a new one forms, and the frist two disappear. Its how it has always worked. Even the Romans converted to Christianity. Central and South America is primarily Catholic, but the natives worship in a mixture of native religion and Catholocism. Spain still retains cultural aspects from the Muslim expansion a 1000 years ago. Get used to it. The US is a hodge podge of many different cultures, that's how it has always been.

I bet you're one of those people who feels insecure when you hear people speaking in a different language, right? Then they laugh and you assume they are talking about you. Mericans talk English! you think to yourself before getting into you're gas guzzling, Merican-made Ford F350 dually and angrily drive home thinking about how lawless illegal immigrants are and how the US Border Patrol to should shoot them before they even cross the border.

I've seen the remains of their bodies and the evidence of their passage in the California deserts. That speaks volumes to me about the desperation they must face in their native countries and the hopes and dreams they chase and yearn for so much that they risk their lives to cross many many miles of desert ("The ocean is a desert with its life underground..." and you're ancestors crossed it for the very same reasons - an opportunity for a better life).

You descendents will speak a hybrid of English and Spanish. Get used to the idea.

In other words, the entire world and history of mankind has been what you are mislabeling a "melting pot."

How you DO go on while saying nothing.

 

[Gunny]

So Rod, once you commit some form of treason, you're not a real American anymore? What if you're just suspected of it?

I think that is where we get most of the Real American" or traitor talk from. People having their own individual ideals of what real is.

real (rē′əl, rēl)

adjective

1. existing or happening as or in fact; actual, true, etc.; not merely seeming, pretended, imagined, fictitious, nominal, or ostensible
2.
1. authentic; genuine
2. not pretended; sincere
3. designating wages or income as measured by purchasing power
4. Law of or relating to permanent, immovable things real property
5. Math. designating or of the part of a complex number that is not imaginary: all irrational and rational numbers are real numbers
6. Optics of or relating to an image made by the actual meeting of light rays at a point
7. Philos. existing objectively; actual (not merely possible or ideal), or essential, absolute, ultimate (not relative, derivative, etc.)

The term used to define the behavior you are attempting to describe is "unAmerican," and it is a behavior or act or both, not a state of being. Tecnically adn literally, anyone born on the continents of North or South America is "American," and real as long as they are life.

So where are you trying to go with this little exercise in semantics?

I guess I should have left unAmerican out. People use the term real American like someone else is less of an American than they are. I didn't even get to the point of "The Americas." Real Americans are not the Hollywood type or leftists or liberals. That type of thing.

It's a label. By definitions, the words are misused. That does not take away the meaning and context in which they are used. I used the term "unAmerican" in sequence, responding to you, before you did.

The fact is, if your idea of what is best for this nation goes against the principles that this nation was founded upon, you are going to be labelled "not a real American" or "unamerican, misused syntax or not.

 

[Gunny]

The opposite of real is fake or artificial. So you would have fake Americans and real Americans. You can act un-American but you can't actually be an un-American. My point is that the "real American" bullshit being tossed around makes no sense. It's just another political talking point. I don't understand why people always fall for such things to divide us.

Who is "tossing it around" besides you? You're building a strawman, and attempting to literalize a term that that is used as a synonym with unamerican. It's used to describe people's ideals and/or behavior.

I have yet to see it used to describe someone's state of being.

Ok, I was reading a post about the tea party on 7/4 and I saw the term used there. That's where I got the idea for the thread. Not really trying to describe it as a state of being but trying to understand why does one consider their being American more real than another person.

I really couldn't even guess without knowing what was said and in what context.

A guess would be the teaparty people were protesting unfair taxation by the government of this nation. Can't really say that's in keeping with the Founding Fathers who founded this nation in protest of the same.

 

[Toro]

Real Americans are all those Americans who exist or actually existed, as opposed to imaginary Americans who don't or didn't, such as Archie Andrews or Indiana Jones or Perez Hilton.

 

[Toro]

Actually, the only real Americans are PubliusInfinitum and Jesus.

 

[jgbkab]

Actually, the only real Americans are PubliusInfinitum and Jesus.

Jesus was a Madicone?

 

[xotoxi]

Actually, the only real Americans are PubliusInfinitum and Jesus.

Toro, don't forget that you are a real American as well (disguised as a Canadian).

 

[Gunny]

...the principles and ideals that are considered "American"...

Who determines these principles and ideals?

White conservative men from Georgia?
Black men from Detroit?
Cuban immigrants from Miami?
Asian women from Southern California?

Since there are many different principles and ideals that are held by Americans as to what Americans should be, there is a bit of a conundrum here.

They were obviously determined by the framers of the US Constitution and are contained within.