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Other Topics => Completely Off-Topic => Topic started by: PIBby on March 20, 2004, 03:35:02 pm
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BRISTOL, R.I. (March 20) - On the sleepy coastal campus of Roger Williams University, a small liberal arts school unaccustomed to student activism, the College Republicans are reveling in the debate they've kicked up by offering a scholarship for whites only.
The $250 award - which required an essay on "why you are proud of your white heritage" and a recent picture to "confirm whiteness" - has invited the wrath of everyone from minority groups and school officials to the chairman of the Republican National Committee himself.
Jason Mattera, a junior who started the conservative campus group in his freshman year, said kindling debate over free speech and affirmative action was just what he wanted - and he promises more.
"We did our job," said Mattera, 20, of Brooklyn, N.Y. "This is what college is all about, challenging the status quo."
They did such a good job that school President Roy Nirschel, who has clashed with the group before, cut short a trip to Vietnam last month to begin what he called "a healing process" - including forming a commission on civil discourse.
The 35-member group first went toe-to-toe with university administration last year over a series of monthly newsletter articles accusing homosexuals of squelching free speech by pushing for hate-crimes legislation. The articles alleged that a well-known gay-rights group indoctrinates students into homosexual sex.
The administration froze the College Republicans' money for two days. Nirschel said in turn, he received threatening letters claiming he was suppressing the group.
Then another article critical of Kwanzaa, which celebrates the history and heritage of Africa, sparked a complaint by a multicultural student group.
Before the Student Senate had a chance to deal with that issue, the College Republicans came up with the whites-only scholarship.
The application for the $250 award required an essay on "why you are proud of your white heritage" and a recent picture to "confirm whiteness."
"Evidence of bleaching will disqualify applicants," read the application.
Mattera, who is of Puerto Rican descent, said the scholarship was a parody of minority scholarships. Mattera himself was awarded a $5,000 scholarship from the Hispanic College Fund, he said.
"Those who come from white (descent) are left to find scholarships on their own," Mattera said.
The whites-only scholarship generated national publicity, which angered university officials and many students who worried their school was being labeled as racist. Minorities make up less than 10 percent of the 3,400 full-time undergraduates.
Some minorities on campus, like Maria Ahmed, a 20-year-old junior from Providence, felt targeted.
For this, we've been waiting.
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wow...i don't know what to think. i'm sort of on the fence about affirmative action....i can see where they're coming from when they say that there are scholorships for people of minorities that white people can't participate in....but at the same time....there are plenty of other scholarships in the country for white people to participate in without blocking out minorites, you know? :? egh....
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You don't think it's racist to have scholarships for every race BUT caucasians (sp?)?
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You don't think it's racist to have scholarships for every race BUT caucasians (sp?)?
I don't know....i don't know what to think about it. in i way i think it is, but at the same time i can't see how it isn't.
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Good. I'm glad that they finally have a white only one....
Racism in America......lets see
If you call a black person a nigger....and you are white....racism.
If a black person calls a black person a nigger it's ok
If a black person calls a white person a cracker or a stupid white boy/girl it's ok
If a white person calls a black person a stupid black boy/girl it's racism.
please explain this to me.
Don't get me wrong...I love all people of diffrent races I just don't understand how black people always are saying they are being victims of racism when they are not all...are racists more than white people.
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i don't know what to think of this either...
and shelly makes an exellent point though i wouldn't be able to explain it.
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i don't know what to think of this either...
and shelly makes an exellent point though i wouldn't be able to explain it.
ok, on my senior trip i was surrounded by four other schools from queens and brooklyn, and they were all 95% black and 5% hispanic. They didn't like people in my school on the plain fact that we were white. They even called us crackers. But to be honest, i didn't take as much offense as i thought i would. I mean, it bugs me that they were like that, but when they called me a cracker i wasn't as angry as i would be if i were a black person being called a nigger by a white person. probably becauase there's just not as much social history behind the word cracker as there is nigger.
i dunno, it's too confusing a topic for me to really take a solid opinion on this.
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i don't know what to think of this either...
and shelly makes an exellent point though i wouldn't be able to explain it.
ok, on my senior trip i was surrounded by four other schools from queens and brooklyn, and they were all 95% black and 5% hispanic. They didn't like people in my school on the plain fact that we were white. They even called us crackers. But to be honest, i didn't take as much offense as i thought i would. I mean, it bugs me that they were like that, but when they called me a cracker i wasn't as angry as i would be if i were a black person being called a nigger by a white person. probably becauase there's just not as much social history behind the word cracker as there is nigger.
i dunno, it's too confusing a topic for me to really take a solid opinion on this.
Ok so it doesn't bother you at all that in music lyrics and television/movies how they always make fun of white people claiming they are weak babies? Does that not bother you being white? Does it not bother you that some black people hate white people so much that we are always made fun of by them and they would rather be killed than ever be white? It bothers me.
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I don't really agree the essay topic is nessesary, but I do feel it is possible to have a non-racist scholarship for people who just happen to be white. I think that even though there might be areas which need to be worked on, there has been progress, and the afro american community and other minority groups could step back and put things in perspective and figure out what is fair and draw a new line. Which is not easy when there are groups like the KKK.
tylor
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I'm a fairly staunch conservative, and don't support affirmative action one bit. It seems to me that there isn't any racist motivation at all behind the scholarship (even if it were, however, the students would have the right to award scholarships to those they wish); rather, it is students (with a political slant that I identify with :D ) speaking out and making their point in a visible, constructive manner.
Regardless of what your political slant is, the first amendment (freedom of speech) is perhaps the amendment which keeps all others in the U.S. Constitution safe. It is this student group's right to hand out scholarships as they wish, as long as it does not infringe on the free speech rights of others.
You don't think it's racist to have scholarships for every race BUT caucasians (sp?)?
Just a side note: It really bugs me when white people are identified as "Caucasian." If you look at a map, the Caucasus mountains are slightly to the North of Turkey. I'm identified as Caucasian, and none of my ancestors come from Northern Turkey. I should be called "European."
Just thought I'd share that with ya... :roll:
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Thank you for that little piece of information, Xenophanes. I'll start saying tht, rather than caucasian. ;)
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Regardless of what your political slant is, the first amendment (freedom of speech) is perhaps the amendment which keeps all others in the U.S. Constitution safe.
I believe that the second amendment is what keeps all the others preserved. :razz:
On another note, the NAACP and all those liberal hypocrites need to learn to shut up and get into the 21st century. The institutionalized discrimination they fought is long gone. Now, rather ironically, they seek to create more discrimination under the banner of "affirmative action" *barf*.
Let's see, I'll offend every other liberal sensibility here while I'm feeling in a trollish mood....
Abortion is murder, the NAACP is racist, "hate crime" laws punish thought (thoughtcrime), racism ("affirmative action" my ass) sucks, Kwanzaa is a pitiful harvest festival that comes from east African traditions most Americans from Africa have no roots in, Ron Karenga ("creator" of Kwanzaa) was convicted of torturing his followers, Jessie Jackson is an asshat who complains about how blacks are so stupid they were "disenfranchised" because they couldn't understand ballots (way to represent your race!), W.E.B. DuBois is overrated and racist ("No Anglo-Saxon blood in me, thank God!"), The 9th and 10th amendments are still in the constitution, this is a constitutional republic with a limited mandate (not a democracy or a nanny state), I do have a right to own a gun, I'm not stupid for not being liberal, I'm not a racist for being politically incorrect and not sugar coating everything, Chomsky is not God, Kerry was a member of Skull and Bones too so you're still screwed if you hate that fraternity, Bush really did win the election (none of this "stole the election" nonsense), Al Franken is not funny...
*goes back to sleep under his bridge*
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As the board's resident negro *studio audience laughs* I have to ask, why does anyone care?
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How many times have you used the color of yur skin as an advantage to get something? Whether it be a scholarship, a job, etc.
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You don't think it's racist to have scholarships for every race BUT caucasians (sp?)?
Just a side note: It really bugs me when white people are identified as "Caucasian." If you look at a map, the Caucasus mountains are slightly to the North of Turkey. I'm identified as Caucasian, and none of my ancestors come from Northern Turkey. I should be called "European."
Just thought I'd share that with ya... :roll:
Argh! Will you all stop claiming your heritage please!? It annoys me so much why Americans can't accept the fact that they are Americans, like somehow it isn't enough and you need to desperately claim that about 100 years ago your great great great grandpa was Italian/Irish/African.
Cece, white people may not explicity make an effort to get a job because of their colour but due to prejudice that may inexplicitly be the case. Do you get that? I don't think many people have ever gone "give me the job! I'm white!" but that may've been the outcome many times.
Oh and if anyone bunches the whole of 'Europe' together again they are sailing for a naling!
P.S keith, do you actually care about anything!? :razz:
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Well Rosie, it's a normal part of our heritage. Ever since I was little people always ask what are you? So it's like we had to no choice but to be that way. We all know we are American but we all know we came from something else.
Yup. America.............
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Well Rosie, it's a normal part of our heritage. Ever since I was little people always ask what are you? So it's like we had to no choice but to be that way. We all know we are American but we all know we came from something else.
Yup. America.............
It just seems so weird to me! I mean so many countries in this world are countries of immigrants- its the way the world works. England is a country of immigrants- but we are proud to be full blown english here! Its just such a weird concept to me.
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P.S keith, do you actually care about anything!? :razz:
Not so much anymore, I used to get all pissed off about racial and gay issues but now I've seen that no matter how much arguing goes on, I can't change anything, people will be people. People will always have their predjudices. All this thread will turn into is a big argument about race.
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Well Rosie, it's a normal part of our heritage. Ever since I was little people always ask what are you? So it's like we had to no choice but to be that way. We all know we are American but we all know we came from something else.
Yup. America.............
It just seems so weird to me! I mean so many countries in this world are countries of immigrants- its the way the world works. England is a country of immigrants- but we are proud to be full blown english here! Its just such a weird concept to me.
really? over here it's big. I mean, we all know that we're American and are damn proud of it, but I'm also Italian and am damn proud of my heritage too! In fact, in the town where my mom grew up, there's an Italian/American festival every year. sooooo much fun!
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Well Rosie, it's a normal part of our heritage. Ever since I was little people always ask what are you? So it's like we had to no choice but to be that way. We all know we are American but we all know we came from something else.
Yup. America.............
It just seems so weird to me! I mean so many countries in this world are countries of immigrants- its the way the world works. England is a country of immigrants- but we are proud to be full blown english here! Its just such a weird concept to me.
really? over here it's big. I mean, we all know that we're American and are damn proud of it, but I'm also Italian and am damn proud of my heritage too! In fact, in the town where my mom grew up, there's an Italian/American festival every year. sooooo much fun!
Well we only say things like that when we're little and at primary school, you know crap like "i'm 1/4 scottish, 1/2 ducth, 1/2 english, 1/4 irish" and no, of course we hadn't learnt how to do fractions by that point. :razz:
But after that no-one cares! I know someone who is spanish, french, blah blah blah but they never go on about it- no one really cares anymore.
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see, that seems weird to me! lol. here, a lot of families are big on the traditions of their heritage. For a while my family did seven different fish during Christmas, which is an Italian tradition. And i know a lot of people who are of Irish descent that do the cabbage and ham/some other kind of meat dinner for St.Patty's day.
and a cool fact for you all - my great-great-great-ga;ldkfjasdl;kfjasd;l grandfather came over from England on the boat with William Penn :wink: in fact, he settled in the same town that Kulp's from!
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Well Rosie, I am mostly Welsh. You can proceed to make fun of me. :razz:
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on the whole "claiming your heritage thing" I think thats something we do because America is a relatively new country as compared to the rest of the world. So we still look back to our roots. I know part my family first came here before the American revlolution and all 4 of my grandparents were born here. But the majority of my great grandparents were born in Europe. And I have a lot of relatives still in Europe, so when I connect myself to them as family, i connect myself to my heritage. Why is that so weird? I'm proud of being an American who has a Norweigen, English, German, Polish and Czechoslovakian heritage. :D
ok... back on topic here!
I think afirmative action is going against the equality that the US wants to be. I don't like anything that judges on the color of your skin rather than what you have done to get a scholarship. But... it does go on, and if one race can do it, why can't another?
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on the whole "claiming your heritage thing" I think thats something we do because America is a relatively new country as compared to the rest of the world. So we still look back to our roots. I know part my family first came here before the American revlolution and all 4 of my grandparents were born here. But the majority of my great grandparents were born in Europe. And I have a lot of relatives still in Europe, so when I connect myself to them as family, i connect myself to my heritage. Why is that so weird? I'm proud of being an American who has a Norweigen, English, German, Polish and Czechoslovakian heritage. :D
Its weird because people here are just as much from a mixed background as you are- but no one actually cares. And actually it could be argued that America is far from a 'new' country as it has one of the oldest political constitutions in the world.
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I hate Americans. ;)
Damn Indian killers. I've never understood that . . . What gave them the right?
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I believe that the second amendment is what keeps all the others preserved. :razz:
On another note, the NAACP and all those liberal hypocrites need to learn to shut up and get into the 21st century. The institutionalized discrimination they fought is long gone. Now, rather ironically, they seek to create more discrimination under the banner of "affirmative action" *barf*.
Let's see, I'll offend every other liberal sensibility here while I'm feeling in a trollish mood....
(insert crazy right wing rant)
Here come the Republicans. "The first amendment is being construed to vague. We must narrow free speech. We must limit privacy (abortion). The Bill of Rights is becoming the death of everything in this country. But don't you DARE touch that second one..."
I'm sorry, but back when the 2nd amendment was created, there was no police. There was no 3rd Infantry Division. There was no 100th Airborn. There was Bob and Billy Bob on his backporch with a shotgun. "A well regulated militia" was all they had. Back then, it was necessary.
Today it's not. I'm sorry, but when the Framers built the second amendment, I don't think they were thinking of three guys with a .22 in a Dodge Durango.
If you add the populations of Great Britain, France, Spain, Sweden, Australia, and Japan you get a population roughly the size of the United States. They had more than TEN TIMES the number of gun deaths that we did last year. Do you think that's because Americans are more homicidal by nature, or because those guys have stronger gun control laws?
The NRA and by that I mean the GOP voted down a ban on a GRENADE LAUNCHER last year. A FREAKIN GRENADE LAUNCER. In a country such as this I'm more than willing to accept more than one view, but can we all for dear God agree that there's no place on the streets for a GRENADE LAUNCHER?! Another gun was banned during the Clinton administration was brought back under a different name--all the company did was change the grip. That's it. With the Bush Administration, it got through.
Back to topic. I like it. I get sick of hearing the NAACP bitch and moan whenever whites do anything together and then at the same time support racist discrimination via affirmative action.
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I'm not a Republican. I'm a Libertarian. An attack on the first amendment pisses me off as much as an attack on the second.
Stop with that right wing=1st amendment hater stuff. It's rarely accurate.
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I hate it when people are all "blah i'm 1/4 english (scottish, insert random country).
YOU ARE AMERICAN.
The end. LOL
Anytime anyone asks, I tell them "I am American". I was born here. My parents were born here. My grandparents were born here. My greatgrandparents were born here.
If you want to get technical, we're all African/Middle Eastern because isn't that where all people were said to have originated anyway? *shrug*
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If you want to get technical, we're all African/Middle Eastern because isn't that where all people were said to have originated anyway? *shrug*
We're all Iraqis!!! Seriously, archaelogists believe the Garden of Eden (or Babylon depending on your POV) was in the southern part of Iraq.
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*is wearing a "everyone loves a german girl" shirt*
i dont care what ya'll say... i still love my heritage! :)
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If you want to get technical, we're all African/Middle Eastern because isn't that where all people were said to have originated anyway? *shrug*
We're all Iraqis!!! Seriously, archaelogists believe the Garden of Eden (or Babylon depending on your POV) was in the southern part of Iraq.
Does that mean Bush wants to bomb us next?
*skuuurrd*
:razz:
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*is wearing a "everyone loves a german girl" shirt*
i dont care what ya'll say... i still love my heritage! :)
Me too! I used to wear this huge ass shirt that had the American flag and Italian flag on it that said "My Country, My Heritage" I consider myself an American, but I also like to know where my family came from. my greatgrandparents immigrated from Italy, so it's cool when people from my family go back to Italy to visit distant relatives.
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Its weird because people here are just as much from a mixed background as you are- but no one actually cares. And actually it could be argued that America is far from a 'new' country as it has one of the oldest political constitutions in the world.
Rosie, dear. British people are not from as mixed a background as Americans. You and I had this conversation once.
You start showing me % of your country that is black and hispanic and if it comes anywhere NEAR the % in the US, I'll conceed the point.
The British Isles are ALL Anglo Saxon background. Irish, Welsh, English. All just white people with different accents.
In my MBA class right now there are 2 african-americans, 3 people from India, 1 person from China and 1 person from Vietnam. Then there is the usual mix of Irish/Enlgish/Italian/German caucasians. They are all American citizens.
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If you want to get technical, we're all African/Middle Eastern because isn't that where all people were said to have originated anyway? *shrug*
Half-true. That is where we find the earliest signs of humans.
But humans developed on seperate continents after they all split. So, if I remember my facts correctly, Australian Aboriginal Tribes likely have no connection to the Tigiris/Euphrates cradle of life theory.
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Its weird because people here are just as much from a mixed background as you are- but no one actually cares. And actually it could be argued that America is far from a 'new' country as it has one of the oldest political constitutions in the world.
Rosie, dear. British people are not from as mixed a background as Americans. You and I had this conversation once.
You start showing me % of your country that is black and hispanic and if it comes anywhere NEAR the % in the US, I'll conceed the point.
The British Isles are ALL Anglo Saxon background. Irish, Welsh, English. All just white people with different accents.
In my MBA class right now there are 2 african-americans, 3 people from India, 1 person from China and 1 person from Vietnam. Then there is the usual mix of Irish/Enlgish/Italian/German caucasians. They are all American citizens.
I think you failed to see the point. My point was that many people in this country are from an ethnically mixed background also visible in America (due to the Commonwealth etc which you failed to consider in your point about British people's ethnic background), i never once implied that everyone was of that manner here- nor did i suggest that a larger or equal percentage are of such a mixed background as in America.
Does the number of people bear any relevance on this? Or was that just an excuse to reel off your wonderfully ethnicly diverse class? :razz:
P.S I <3 Tricia
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I'm like Tricia. I just say, "I'm American Mutt," because when your family has been here since pre-revolutionary times and the records for family get hazy from way back, you just figure the combination of sexual parters with the number of people who have come here since then --and before then, it's possible you could have a little of just about anything in you. Hell, one of my ancestors signed the Declaration of Indepence, or at least there is a VERY high likely hood of it.
tylor
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*is wearing a "everyone loves a german girl" shirt*
i dont care what ya'll say... i still love my heritage! :)
LMAO I was watching TRl yestertday and there was a guy wearing a tshirt that says "Everyone loves an Italian boy"!!! It was the greatest thing i've seen all day :razz:
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Its weird because people here are just as much from a mixed background as you are- but no one actually cares. And actually it could be argued that America is far from a 'new' country as it has one of the oldest political constitutions in the world.
Rosie, dear. British people are not from as mixed a background as Americans. You and I had this conversation once.
You start showing me % of your country that is black and hispanic and if it comes anywhere NEAR the % in the US, I'll conceed the point.
The British Isles are ALL Anglo Saxon background. Irish, Welsh, English. All just white people with different accents.
In my MBA class right now there are 2 african-americans, 3 people from India, 1 person from China and 1 person from Vietnam. Then there is the usual mix of Irish/Enlgish/Italian/German caucasians. They are all American citizens.
I think you failed to see the point. My point was that many people in this country are from an ethnically mixed background also visible in America (due to the Commonwealth etc which you failed to consider in your point about British people's ethnic background), i never once implied that everyone was of that manner here- nor did i suggest that a larger or equal percentage are of such a mixed background as in America.
Does the number of people bear any relevance on this? Or was that just an excuse to reel off your wonderfully ethnicly diverse class? :razz:
P.S I <3 Tricia
Dearie. Your exact words are up there for you to read. I don't care what your "point" was. Your statement was "people here are just as much from a mixed background as you are".
I was not disputing any "point" you may or may not have been making OTHER than this one. The British are NOT from as mixed a background as Americans are. Period.
And the point of those #'s was to demonstrate the difference between American diversity and British diversity. I got a dollar that says you don't have a class that diverse. Which, again, illustrates my central point from above. British society is not as ethnically diverse as American society.
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Its weird because people here are just as much from a mixed background as you are- but no one actually cares. And actually it could be argued that America is far from a 'new' country as it has one of the oldest political constitutions in the world.
Rosie, dear. British people are not from as mixed a background as Americans. You and I had this conversation once.
You start showing me % of your country that is black and hispanic and if it comes anywhere NEAR the % in the US, I'll conceed the point.
The British Isles are ALL Anglo Saxon background. Irish, Welsh, English. All just white people with different accents.
In my MBA class right now there are 2 african-americans, 3 people from India, 1 person from China and 1 person from Vietnam. Then there is the usual mix of Irish/Enlgish/Italian/German caucasians. They are all American citizens.
I think you failed to see the point. My point was that many people in this country are from an ethnically mixed background also visible in America (due to the Commonwealth etc which you failed to consider in your point about British people's ethnic background), i never once implied that everyone was of that manner here- nor did i suggest that a larger or equal percentage are of such a mixed background as in America.
Does the number of people bear any relevance on this? Or was that just an excuse to reel off your wonderfully ethnicly diverse class? :razz:
P.S I <3 Tricia
Dearie. Your exact words are up there for you to read. I don't care what your "point" was. Your statement was "people here are just as much from a mixed background as you are".
I was not disputing any "point" you may or may not have been making OTHER than this one. The British are NOT from as mixed a background as Americans are. Period.
And the point of those #'s was to demonstrate the difference between American diversity and British diversity. I got a dollar that says you don't have a class that diverse. Which, again, illustrates my central point from above. British society is not as ethnically diverse as American society.
Well i obviously worded it wrong- i meant some specific people here are from a just as ethnically diverse background as Holly is. And that was my intention from the start- so sorry if i worded it wrong 'dearie'. I got a dollar that says i live in an almost completely white town, but you ask Tia if she has a class that ethnically diverse, or any of my friends in London and you'll find that it is just as comparable- if not more, with an increased number from Eastern Europe. I was never attempting to argue that Britain has a more ethinically diverse culture- it is evidently clear that is not the case- what i was arguing was that people here who are from an extremely mixed ethnic background don't feel the need to go on and on about it whenever the opportunity arises.
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Well i obviously worded it wrong- i meant some specific people here are from a just as ethnically diverse background as Holly is. And that was my intention from the start- so sorry if i worded it wrong 'dearie'. I got a dollar that says i live in an almost completely white town, but you ask Tia if she has a class that ethnically diverse, or any of my friends in London and you'll find that it is just as comparable- if not more, with an increased number from Eastern Europe. I was never attempting to argue that Britain has a more ethinically diverse culture- it is evidently clear that is not the case- what i was arguing was that people here who are from an extremely mixed ethnic background don't feel the need to go on and on about it whenever the opportunity arises.
*shrug*
I wasn't arguing that point with you. To illustrate, I am sure there ARE blacks in England, and i am sure they don't insist on calling themselves African-Europeans :)
I think the reason the US is like this is because we foster the idea of being proud of your heritage. It's like, when you go to uni, Rosie, likely your classes will have people from ALL over England. But when you talk to those people, you may talk about where you are from. Your home town, city, whatever. But your all at the same school now, no? So should you forget about your home town?
American's pride themselves on their background and history, because it is one of the foundations of our country.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!"
cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the goden door!"
We are the huddled masses, the refuse, the homeless. My greatgrandparents on my moms side came over on a boat from Italy with nothing but the bags on their backs and they managed to live the "American dream".
Hell, eveyone in this country has a story like that. Of escaping poverty, opression, fear, persecution or just unhappiness to pursue a better life here. To work their asses off to make a better life.
I don't understand why ANYONE WOULDN'T be proud of heritage like that.
Edit: I downloaded that Mike Skinner song. Funny. But he didn't say "fittay" :wink:
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Black-British actually! *goes to hit Andrew for lumping europe together...again*
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dumb boys :roll:
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Like the Black-Irish! Only British O_o And African (sometimes, other times from those one islands like Jamaica and such) rather than Spanish.
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I think the reason the US is like this is because we foster the idea of being proud of your heritage. It's like, when you go to uni, Rosie, likely your classes will have people from ALL over England. But when you talk to those people, you may talk about where you are from. Your home town, city, whatever. But your all at the same school now, no? So should you forget about your home town?
American's pride themselves on their background and history, because it is one of the foundations of our country.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!"
cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the goden door!"
We are the huddled masses, the refuse, the homeless. My greatgrandparents on my moms side came over on a boat from Italy with nothing but the bags on their backs and they managed to live the "American dream".
Hell, eveyone in this country has a story like that. Of escaping poverty, opression, fear, persecution or just unhappiness to pursue a better life here. To work their asses off to make a better life.
exactly. i've grown up with italian traditions, and i'm proud of them. i don't work it in to every conversation i have with people, but it's not something i deny either. all i know is, it explains a lot about me, like why i feel the need to eat everything pasta and garlic related, and why i can never stop talking with my hands :razz: thank God i didn't get the italian nose though....*shudders*
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the norweigen in me is why i'm so damn pale... grrr...
but despite that i still love my norweigen heritage!
and i look forward to going to england, poland (yeah, i'm polish, haha), and germany this summer to learn more about that part of my heritage.
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@ Jessica - I got the Italian nose :( It's the only part of me that looks Italian.
better you than me :-P i have almost black hair, and that's about it. i'm deathly pale, it comes from my dad's side who has swedish in him. see, my heritage plays a part in why i look like a ghost! :razz: LMAO my Bapa had this huge ass nose.....but yeah, i can't wait till august for the festival. all the fried bread an italian could dream of....*stares off in to space longingly*
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well with my dark hair i don't look swedish at all. and besides, i'm a very small percentage swedish, so it's not something i identify with, you know?
i've heard of those mystic tans, but they're wicked expensive here.