This discussion reminds me of a conversation a friend and I once had. His family is English, and his family line actually goes back quite a ways in one particular town in the UK. He went there to learn all he could about the life and culture, which kindled his pursuit for identity. He tells me he came to be shocked at the difference between the thoughts "I am American" and "I am English." Long story short, he believes many Americans are caught up in a sea change of mentality that renders them culturally rootless, not caring for home or history, compared to the degree of personal investment in ancestry that he discovered while in England. He claims that at least some of English identity isn't just a matter of "red, white, and blue, God I love this land." It is knowing where your family has lived for generations, how they survived certain wars, what businesses they ran and how/if the family prospered. Tied to a place with a history, and all the people tied to their respective places, making a tightly-knotted population that has collectively survived grueling difficulties in history. Sharing in that survival made a national identity, aware, and it isn't to be looked on lightly. People are more sensitive to in-groups and out-groups. I know my post here deals in stereotypes and that these differences aren't pervasive, but I do this to put the contrast in greater relief, else it go without notice.
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Date: 2006-02-03 01:17 am (UTC)He tells me he came to be shocked at the difference between the thoughts "I am American" and "I am English." Long story short, he believes many Americans are caught up in a sea change of mentality that renders them culturally rootless, not caring for home or history, compared to the degree of personal investment in ancestry that he discovered while in England.
He claims that at least some of English identity isn't just a matter of "red, white, and blue, God I love this land." It is knowing where your family has lived for generations, how they survived certain wars, what businesses they ran and how/if the family prospered. Tied to a place with a history, and all the people tied to their respective places, making a tightly-knotted population that has collectively survived grueling difficulties in history. Sharing in that survival made a national identity, aware, and it isn't to be looked on lightly. People are more sensitive to in-groups and out-groups.
I know my post here deals in stereotypes and that these differences aren't pervasive, but I do this to put the contrast in greater relief, else it go without notice.