Does Nationality matter more than Race?

[kaya'08]

I myself am a British national and the child of two British nationals, but of Turkish decent. I grew up in a British household and i was born and raised in Britain. I love the country and in my eyes there is nothing that seperates me from any other Ethnic class of people, English or otherwise, because in the end race has no significance; we are all British. If we did pay attention to race then the majority of those who consider themselves "German", or "English" or whatever actually have no links to German or English ancestral decent but are actually decended from the French or Swedish etc. I remember Infinte Chaos once posting that there is only a select few left in Britain from pure English stock.
This issue is especially prevelant in America. I mean, are Americans English or are they Americans? Are African Americans Ugandan, Nigerian, or are they American? Am i really Turkish, or Albanian, Macedonian, or Italian?

What are your thoughts on Nationality and Race?

 

[PeteEU]

Hard question to answer tbh.

Nationality has legal ramifications, and hence per say is "more important" than race. What nationality you are can make or break where you can go in the world and what rights you have. Race does not do that for the most part.

But saying that, race is often used via legal terms by xenophobic racist parts of populations to marginalize minorities and use them as an excuse for every bad thing that is going on. So race does matter for some very vocal morons and those morons have successfully managed to incorporate "race" into laws, thereby elevating race to the same importance as nationality and in some cases to a higher grade of importance as those of the "wrong race" often were denied the legal nationality of others. Italy under Berlusconi comes to mind of recent issues, Hitler's Germany, segregated USA, apartheid South Africa and many parts of the gulf today although here it is more of a hybrid nationality race issue.

 

[Burning Giraffe]

I myself am a British national and the child of two British nationals, but of Turkish decent. I grew up in a British household and i was born and raised in Britain. I love the country and in my eyes there is nothing that seperates me from any other Ethnic class of people, English or otherwise, because in the end race has no significance; we are all British. If we did pay attention to race then the majority of those who consider themselves "German", or "English" or whatever actually have no links to German or English ancestral decent but are actually decended from the French or Swedish etc. I remember Infinte Chaos once posting that there is only a select few left in Britain from pure English stock.
This issue is especially prevelant in America. I mean, are Americans English or are they Americans? Are African Americans Ugandan, Nigerian, or are they American? Am i really Turkish, or Albanian, Macedonian, or Italian?

What are your thoughts on Nationality and Race?

I believe that nationality should matter more than race, and that race shouldn't matter at all. I believe, that at our healthiest social position, we identify ourselves first as individuals, then as families, then as communities, as States, as Nations, and then according to our ideology (Christian, Muslim, Communist, Libertarian, Conservative, etc).

Gender, Race, Sexual Preference, Socio-Economic Status... these aren't considerations.

 

[Mira]

Ooooooh, tough one Kaya. I am an Armenian born and bred in Lebanon, French citizen with an American family and live between France and England.

So what am I ? French, Lebanese or Armenian ? I have no idea. I'm happy to belong to several cultures and insist on the word CULTURE because I'm convinced that my life has been enriched by being exposed to diversity.

I live in a neighborhood that has a large diversity of races and origins. I consider all of them to be French from different backgrounds. I appreciate people who benefit from the positive sides of each culture and are able to elevate people that they interract with by bringing something new and positive into their lives.

An Algerian, Polish or black African French is still French but has alot to learn from French culture and has also alot to teach the French.

Makes sense ?

 

[kaya'08]

Ooooooh, tough one Kaya. I am an Armenian born and bred in Lebanon, French citizen with an American family and live between France and England.

So what am I ? French, Lebanese or Armenian ? I have no idea. I'm happy to belong to several cultures and insist on the word CULTURE because I'm convinced that my life has been enriched by being exposed to diversity.

I live in a neighborhood that has a large diversity of races and origins. I consider all of them to be French from different backgrounds. I appreciate people who benefit from the positive sides of each culture and are able to elevate people that they interract with by bringing something new and positive into their lives.

An Algerian, Polish or black African French is still French but has alot to learn from French culture and has also alot to teach the French.

Makes sense ?

Makes perfect sense. The majority of the Armenian diaspora who come from Lebanon that i have met consider themselves Armenian, though there is a select few who consider themselves Lebanese more.
Im kinda confused in that sense too because i see myself as British and Turkish and have the need to protect both cultural identities and ideals, so in the end i just call myself a British Turk.
Thats an interesting cultural mix you have there though Mira, your lucky!

 

[Redress]

depends on how you mean the question I guess. As mentioned by others, nationality matters more in terms of laws, so that is probably the best, right answer.

To me personally, neither nationality nor race matters much in how I judge/treat people. I have gotten to see a large part of the world, meet and spend time with people of all national and ethnic makeups, and basically, people are people, the rest is just handy labels.

 

[Laila]

Nationality matters to me more than race.
I don't even register race when i call myself British

 

[Black Dog]

I don't really care about race all that much. So I would say yes nationality is more important to a limited extent.

 

[The silenced majority]

Nationality matters more than race. Don't tell that to the purveyors of identity-politics though.

To them, Everybody is a (race)-American rather than being an American of (racial) descent.

 

[celticlord]

Nationality is a matter of choice: we have the right and the power to choose our citizenship.

Race is a fiction, a badly formed lie told badly.

However, neither "matters" much. Neither changes who we are, or how we choose to live our lives.

The correct answer is that option, which was not given: Neither is significant.

 

[kaya'08]

Nationality is a matter of choice: we have the right and the power to choose our citizenship.

Race is a fiction, a badly formed lie told badly.

However, neither "matters" much. Neither changes who we are, or how we choose to live our lives.

The correct answer is that option, which was not given: Neither is significant.

They should let us edit the polls after we post it if we want to.

 

[WI Crippler]

Nationality is a matter of choice: we have the right and the power to choose our citizenship.

Race is a fiction, a badly formed lie told badly.

However, neither "matters" much. Neither changes who we are, or how we choose to live our lives.

The correct answer is that option, which was not given: Neither is significant.

Don't tell that to people in the northeast. :2razz:

 

[celticlord]

Don't tell that to people in the northeast. :2razz:

Can it be any more risky than saying it down here in Texas?:mrgreen:

 

[WI Crippler]

Can it be any more risky than saying it down here in Texas?:mrgreen:

Well in the Northeast, it actually matters what kind of white person you are.

 

[americanwoman]

Well in the Northeast, it actually matters what kind of white person you are.

Why is that?

 

[WI Crippler]

Why is that?

Why? I have no idea, but it seems to be very important up there that it is known if you are Italian, Irish, etc....

 

[kjyoung]

Neither should matter.

So much agnst and animosity prevails in life today. Everything seems to have a "side" or a label or a "right" or "wrong". Very seldom to I see people who talk/post with one another and simply discuss viewpoints. Often it seems some "side" is taken and that "side" is generally sandwiched between jibes of one type or another.

Labels such as a person's nationality and/or race do nothing, in my opinion, except perpetuate differences. In America, public schools teach American History. This is all well and good. But little is taught concerning World History, so little is learned by young people about other nations.

Other the other hand, public schools have classes taught in Black History. American's now see holidays such as Cino de Mayo showing up on their calendars. Learning and celebrating these things is wonderful...but it also tends to divide. When do public schools start teaching German history? Chinese history? Why aren't all of our signs spelled out in multiple languages instead of English and (in some areas) Spanish?

Neither should matter more or at all...maybe then some of the dischord will subside and fade away.

-k

 

[jamesrage]

What are your thoughts on Nationality and Race?

Race is not important, nor should we focus on it. Black American history should be integrated into regular American history instead of a one month deal after all black black history is just as much American history as "white" American history.

I also think we should drop the race labels and the multi-ethnic/race labels. If you were born here in the US then you are American and nothing else. So screw the African,Chinese,Korean, American labels,if you were born in the US or have US citizenship you are not African, Korean, Chinese or whatever other, you are an American. We should ignore the race parasites who feed off the color of their skin and profit from it like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, as well as the racist.

Theodore Roosevelt hit the nail on the head with this-

"In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

Theodore Roosevelt


We should also drop this nonsense of allowing dual citizenship,pick a country and stay there. A man can not serve two masters. How do we trust someone with dual citizenship during a time of war?