From my mother's side I am Scots. From my father's side I am Bohemian German and also Irish.
The history of my peoples includes the massacre at Culloden. It includes the genocide of Magdeburg, and the betrayal of the Sudeten Germans to the tender mercies of the Third Reich. It includes massacre at Drog…
From my mother's side I am Scots. From my father's side I am Bohemian German and also Irish.
The history of my peoples includes the massacre at Culloden. It includes the genocide of Magdeburg, and the betrayal of the Sudeten Germans to the tender mercies of the Third Reich. It includes massacre at Drogheda and the Great Famine in Ireland.
The history of my peoples also includes John Napier, the first mathematician to devise and use logarithms. It includes James Clerk Maxwell, whose equations unified the scientific understanding of electricity, magentism, and radiation.
Yet I wasn't at Culloden. I wasn't at Drogheda. I wasn't at Magdeburg. While I know how to use logarithms, I can hardly claim to be inventive or even original in their use.
This is the case with identity. We each have a rich tapestry of ancestors, all of whom contributed to the unique singularity that is each individual being. Yet that tapestry is still not who we are, is not even the majority of who we are. We are also the product of experience, and environment, and even a little dumb luck.
We should be proud of our lineages, and we should remember our lineages. We should not conflate our lineages with who we as individual are.
It's even more crazy to believe that such identity politicking works on people. The fact that black women are stating that they will vote for Harris BECAUSE she is a black woman is something that would have been considered racist years ago, and yet it's not only acceptable but expected in these circumstances.
My family history is unfortunately rather limited due to the circumstances of my family, so in some sense I am upset but also envious of people who can trace their history back to a great degree. But it also gives me a better perspective on the idea of cultural appropriation and why, in some sense, I find it to be related to one's lack of understanding their own culture while being envious of those who are not ethnically like "us" but are nonetheless more knowledgeable and wise to said culture.
It's something I've thought about writing given my circumstances but like many things I haven't had time and I find it more difficult to put so much effort towards Substack these days...
It's the lunacy of identity politics.
From my mother's side I am Scots. From my father's side I am Bohemian German and also Irish.
The history of my peoples includes the massacre at Culloden. It includes the genocide of Magdeburg, and the betrayal of the Sudeten Germans to the tender mercies of the Third Reich. It includes massacre at Drogheda and the Great Famine in Ireland.
The history of my peoples also includes John Napier, the first mathematician to devise and use logarithms. It includes James Clerk Maxwell, whose equations unified the scientific understanding of electricity, magentism, and radiation.
Yet I wasn't at Culloden. I wasn't at Drogheda. I wasn't at Magdeburg. While I know how to use logarithms, I can hardly claim to be inventive or even original in their use.
This is the case with identity. We each have a rich tapestry of ancestors, all of whom contributed to the unique singularity that is each individual being. Yet that tapestry is still not who we are, is not even the majority of who we are. We are also the product of experience, and environment, and even a little dumb luck.
We should be proud of our lineages, and we should remember our lineages. We should not conflate our lineages with who we as individual are.
The identitarians don't seem to understand that.
It's even more crazy to believe that such identity politicking works on people. The fact that black women are stating that they will vote for Harris BECAUSE she is a black woman is something that would have been considered racist years ago, and yet it's not only acceptable but expected in these circumstances.
My family history is unfortunately rather limited due to the circumstances of my family, so in some sense I am upset but also envious of people who can trace their history back to a great degree. But it also gives me a better perspective on the idea of cultural appropriation and why, in some sense, I find it to be related to one's lack of understanding their own culture while being envious of those who are not ethnically like "us" but are nonetheless more knowledgeable and wise to said culture.
It's something I've thought about writing given my circumstances but like many things I haven't had time and I find it more difficult to put so much effort towards Substack these days...