watched a clip on instagram of a german comic claiming the us has no culture. I translated it for my parents and said I thought it was rude. my mom said "no, she's right." I said "of course the us has a culture." she said "just racism and misogyny."
it's not correct and it isn't edgy or funny either. I'm annoyed at people from other countries saying this shit, but at least they have the excuse of ignorance. I can't stand these boomerlibs and blue-haired fake pronoun college kids acting like they're too cool and enlightened to acknowledge their own culture. it makes them sound like entitled snot nosed morons who think whatever facebook or tiktok tells them to think.
my parents live in the south, I live on the west coast, I'm visiting them. we spent the day visiting a city in a nearby state because I haven't been here before. we looked at the historic buildings and squares and commented on the unique styles of local architecture compared to the west coast. we ate at a fusion restaurant. we read plaques about the history of the riverboats and about the famous people who have lived here going back 300 years. we passed bars playing blues music. we talked about the last time we had bananas foster and pointed out how many sweets shops advertised pralines. how are you going to say the us has no culture? literally what the fuck are you talking about?
it's also racist as fuck. A., when you say "the us has no culture," you're actively erasing the cultures of regional and ethnic groups. you're telling me cajun culture in louisiana, the culture of italian americans in new york, native american culture in montana, surfer culture in southern california, lutheran church culture in the midwest etc just don't exist and everyone here is exactly the same? B., what you really mean is "white americans have no culture," which is not only untrue, it is fundamentally both racist against white people and simultaneously white supremacist, because you're saying that your own culture is so much the default it doesn't even count as culture and every "real" culture is only a culture because it's an aberration from that which you know. use your goddamn brain for thirty fucking seconds. no other group is stupid and self-absorbed enough to say that about themselves because they can see it perfectly clearly. you think you sound progressive but you actually sound like your entire head is so far up your own ass you can't see three feet in front of you.
there is nothing cool about hating your country. it doesn't make you sound more intelligent or more enlightened. you're just as bad as the people who think that the us is infallible. if you hate the country then leave. you have no right to sit there are say that your opinion should have any weight whatsoever if you hate your country. I love my country. I can acknowledge its flaws and the areas in which it could improve, because I want my country to be the best that it can be, that is a part of loving something. but if you go to another country you will quickly learn that the us DOES have a culture by the very fact that you'll have to get used to a different one.
my mom said if she ever goes to another country she'd deny that she's american. they say this like this makes them better than other americans, and like people in other countries wouldn't be able to immediately tell. the reality is they would go to another country and find that people move at a faster or slower pace, have different customs about ordering in restaurants, different mannerisms when it comes to interacting with strangers, different things that are considered rude or polite. my dad likes to cross streets when the lights are red, that isn't that unusual here, but go do that in germany and see what the locals say. my mom smiles and says hello to strangers when they pass on the street, that is also normal here (at least outside of big cities, where it is less common) and you will be seen as rude if you don't reciprocate, try doing that in france and seeing how people react. going to a restaurant and immediately being served ice water. leaving a tip. going on road trips and travelling everywhere by car, expecting everyone to have a car, and the cars that you have being large. seeing national flags everywhere and displays of patriotism being seen as commonplace and generally positive. speaking only english and with an american accent. you think that saying your country has no culture makes you sound worldly, but it's actually completely the opposite.
I also can't stand when europeans say this shit because they will turn around and with the same breath say that white americans have no claim to feel connected to their european ancestry (the relative obsession with ancestry being itself a part of american culture, by the way). there is literally no winning for white americans. if you're curious about other cultures or say you understand a little about them, you're told you're an ignorant american who doesn't know anything. if you don't show interest in other cultures or say that you don't know about them, you're told you're an ignorant american who's a product of american cultural imperialism. if you're proud to be american you're a dangerous redneck (derogatory) nationalist. if you're proud of your ancestry you're a fool who doesn't understand that you're just an american and not a european (which is so patronizing and incorrect because actually most of the people saying shit like "proud irish american" do in fact understand perfectly well that they are not irish-irish and so on, but eurotards on their high horses will literally tell you to your face what they assume you think and not believe you when you say you know that). and then these same people who so condescendingly give you no way to not lose will turn around and make the wildest unnuanced assumptions about the us and you're not even allowed to correct them or stand up for your own culture. you're just supposed to take it.
stop this bullshit. stop taking it. stop tolerating it. right wing, left wing, whatever, just stop allowing this to go unchallenged and stop saying it about yourself. the people you are trying to impress will always hate you. you will never be "one of the good ones." you are not helping anyone. stop throwing yourself and your own people under the bus. you're allowed to criticize and dislike the government or facets of your culture but you are an idiot if you hate your country and deny your people and your culture. just fucking stop it. it makes me sick.
