'I'm proud to be Irish!' 'Where in Ireland were you born?' 'Well, I wasn't but my grandfather was.'
How can people be proud of
A) something they are not
B) Something they did nothing for to accomplish?
Perhaps it's because Americans (with the exception of native Americans) don't really have a history of their own that they take pride in their European, Asian or African heritage but your grandpa being Irish doesn't make you Irish, just like your grandfather having been a slave, doesn't make you one.
Interesting fact: 'The Irish' were once considered a race in America. And often discriminated against because of it. That must have been hundreds of years ago, right? Nope. Not until late in the seventies the idea of Irish people being a race was abandoned. Making an end to seeing this kind of signs at doors and in newspapers:
'Yes, it happened. But those signs are rare', a professor stated. 'The Irish made it up in order to gain sympathy'. 'No, they weren't', a 14 years old (...) historian proved him wrong (click).
Arnold Schwarzeneggers father was an actual nazi, fighting for Hitler to rid Europe of Jews, homosexuals, gyspies, freemasons and other people from the invented category of 'Untermensch'. Does that make the former Governor of California a nazi? Of course not. Just listen to this powerful speech of his:
Do you really want to honour your heritage? Please stop boasting you are part Irish/Jew/Italian/Kenyan/slave/slave owner and do something with your knowledge: get to know the Irish culture, go to Ireland. Or teach children about the Holocaust, look up your great aunt in Italy. Do your enslaved ancestor proud by helping to make sure current day slaves get liberated.
In other words: take pride in your deeds and accomplishments, not in what happened to somebody else decades ago.
