What qualifies a person as an "American"?

[L.C.]

So this discussion was brought up amongst myself and some other people and we were debating what qualifies a person as an "American." Seeing as how there is no such thing as "American" blood, since "Americans" are really just a composition of a variety of different people from all over the world, what is it that qualifies a person to be able to claim themselves as an "American"?

 

Case 1: A Mexican legally crosses the US border and successfully attains citizenship. Is he American? Can he legitimately go out into a large crowd and claim to everyone that he is American?

 

Case 2: Boy is born in the United States. Both his parents are mostly German in blood and were both born in Germany; parents also have citizenship in the United States. Is the boy American? German? Both? What about his parents? Are they just Germans or are they also Americans too?

 

Case 3: A woman is 33% Polish, 33% British, and 33% Chinese. She migrates to the United States and successfully attains citizenship. What is she?

 

Discuss.

 

 

 

(notes to self: factors to consider - politically, legally, inherently, genetically ... blood composition, natural born citizen, not-natural-born but citizen, nationality, native tongue.)

Edited March 8, 2010 by L.C.

[SeVeR]

American = fat, stupid, owns a Bible and a gun, has no geographical or historical knowledge outside of America, probably a product of incest somewhere along the line, likes baseball and doesn't know what the word football means. Usually seen outside a McDonalds trying to carry twelve cheeseburgers, two family tubs of rocky-road ice-cream and a bucket of chicken nuggets to their over-sized gas-guzzling SUV whilst sweating profusely from between the rolls of fat rippling across their bursting gut.

[BDwinsAlt]

American = fat, stupid, owns a Bible and a gun, has no geographical or historical knowledge outside of America, probably a product of incest somewhere along the line, likes baseball and doesn't know what the word football means. Usually seen outside a McDonalds trying to carry twelve cheeseburgers, two family tubs of rocky-road ice-cream and a bucket of chicken nuggets to their over-sized gas-guzzling SUV whilst sweating profusely from between the rolls of fat rippling across their bursting gut.

That is what we call stereotypes. Like all British people have bad teeth, or all black people steal, or Jewish people have big noses.

 

Anyway, if you legally obtain citizenship, then you are an American. They have the paperwork to prove it. The United States has tested them (after they pay money to take the test), and they have passed all that is required of them. Now, hoping the border, abusing the governmental system, and taking jobs that pay under the table that normally would have gone to an American that paid taxes, that is not an American. That is parasite to society.

 

Acting "American" is a whole other story. I believe in two types of Americans: Americans that go around ranting, shopping, and are completely ignorant, snobby people. Then, there are the Americans that are honest workers, know the value of a dollar (or euro even), and help others in need. I saw this a lot in school. A lot of the rich kids got brand new cars before they could even drive. They knew they were getting a Mustang, or a Mercedes before they even turned 16. It was expected of their parents to get them a new car upon age 16. I grew up in a different world. In my world, turning a certain age didn't entitle you to receive anything special. It was a privilege to have something nice. My family had money for a while, but my dad got laid off and the money got tighter, yet nothing seemed to change much because I wasn't given things just because everyone else was. I had to earn it, or work and buy it myself.

 

Now I live with a friend and his family for reasons I won't discuss. They don't have near as much money as my family had, but they appreciate a lot more things. The little things matter to them, and they make due with any situation. They don't act too good for anyone and help in any way they can.

 

The poor tend to be more generous. Money ends up ruining people, at least those who are born in it.

All this just to say, not all Americans are the same. Even in the Army, not everyone just wants to kill people and shoot big guns. Some people hate the never-ending war on "terror." They don't want to fight that battle, they just want to serve their country when they actually are needed or just want to earn money and an education.

 

So... found this interesting.

Here are Interpol 2001 crime statistics (rate per 100,000):
4161 – US
7736 – Germany
6941 – France
9927 – England and Wales
Thus the US has a substantially lower crime rate than the major European countries!

 

EDIT: Another stereotype, black people shoot/cut people and are criminals.

Homicide Offender Rate/100,000 by Race in US (2000):
3.4 – White
25.8 – Black
3.2 – Other

Edited March 8, 2010 by BDwinsAlt

[whalz]

this topic = fail.

 

americas are all about freedom

 

where as american higherups are all about money

 

 

higherups say we are free to be american , but it costs us $. we pay... we are free

[NBVegita]

politically, legally, inherently, genetically ... blood composition, natural born citizen, not-natural-born but citizen, nationality, native tongue.

 

Politically - I'm not actually sure how you can be "politically" American, short of voting on American politics. In that case all you need is legal citizenship in the U.S. and to be over the age of 18. I really don't think politics in American culture are that different from other cultures (as a whole).

 

Inherently - Well this is a very relative concept as you could argue that you are inherently American if you are raised in the culture even if you are not a citizen (on a visa or illegal immigrant). Or you could argue that if your parents are "American" but you were not born in the U.S. you're inherently American as you will learn American culture from your parents.

 

Genetically - You can't be genetically American. American, as I believe you're referring to, is a culture. There is no way to be genetically aligned with a culture.

 

Natural born citizen - Well this simply makes you a citizen of the U.S. not a necessarily part of the American culture. In fact if you watched any of the Olympics, there was an American figure skater who was given citizenship in Georgia so she could skate for them in the Olympics. Officially she is a Georgian citizen, but she is not a Georgian by culture. She is still an American in reference to her culture.

 

Non-natural born citizen - All this necessarily means is that you were not actually birthed in the U.S. If you are British but have a work Visa here and have a child, the child is an American citizen.

 

Nationality - You are American by nationality simply if you are a U.S. citizen. If you are not a U.S. citizen, you cannot have an "American" nationality.

 

Native tongue - Well being there is no language called American I think this is yet again a very relative concept. You can speak "Americanized" English or any of a dozen languages but I don't think that defines you as part of the "American" culture.

 

Ultimately trying to define, or more so stereotype any groups of behaviors as being "American" is nearly impossible. America has one of the most vastly diversified cultures of any country in the world. In fact I would dare say that we have the most diverse culture. There really are no values that are necessary to be present or absent to be American. I feel just as the United States of America is made up of many states working together and yet separately, that the "American" culture is made up of many cultures all together and yet at the same time distinctly separate from each other.

 

I would guarantee that 95% of the American stereotypes would not have any statistical backing.

 

probably a product of incest somewhere along the line

 

lol Now if I'm not mistaken, isn't it proven that throughout the royalty in Europe there was a very close tie with incest to keep the royal bloodlines strong and for political gain? Just sayin...at least in America our incest is limited to West Virginia

[accident93]

blood is all very similar, who cares

[»Xog]

So this discussion was brought up amongst myself and some other people and we were debating what qualifies a person as an "American." Seeing as how there is no such thing as "American" blood, since "Americans" are really just a composition of a variety of different people from all over the world, what is it that qualifies a person to be able to claim themselves as an "American"?

 

Case 1: A Mexican legally crosses the US border and successfully attains citizenship. Is he American? Can he legitimately go out into a large crowd and claim to everyone that he is American?

Yes he is American because he was born in America. However hee is not a United Statsian. LOL But for srs I'd be fine calling him a Mexican-American. We can't go to Britain and attain citizenship and be called British. We'd still be called American - not even American-Brit. Just.. American. So in actuality we should still be calling him Mexican (but like I said I'd consider it fine to call him Mexican-American)

 

Case 2: Boy is born in the United States. Both his parents are mostly German in blood and were both born in Germany; parents also have citizenship in the United States. Is the boy American? German? Both? What about his parents? Are they just Germans or are they also Americans too?

a) If parents live in USA, child is American and parents are German-American. Sure, the child has German blood, but I think a lot of white people have German blood and call themselves American.

if parents were just visiting USA, child is still American. He was born here. If they move back to Germany, I think he'd still be considered American.

 

Case 3: A woman is 33% Polish, 33% British, and 33% Chinese. She migrates to the United States and successfully attains citizenship. What is she?

She's just multicultural. Whatever country she was born in - that's her 'legal/official' background. Just because someone moves to the USA doesn't mean they're American. Like I mentioned earlier, I can't move to Britain and be called British.

 

I'd still be an American no matter where I moved.

Edited March 10, 2010 by Xog

[»Lynx]

So... found this interesting.

Here are Interpol 2001 crime statistics (rate per 100,000):

4161 – US

7736 – Germany

6941 – France

9927 – England and Wales

Thus the US has a substantially lower crime rate than the major European countries!

 

I don't really want to get into this thread, but I'd just like to highlight that these statistics are all waaay off.

 

American Population: 307,006,550

Rate of Crime: 11,877,218

Crime Rate Point: 25.84

 

UK Population: 61,399,118

Rate of Crime: 6,523,706

Crime Rate Point: 9.41

 

Germany Population: 82,140,043

Rate of Crime: 6,507,394

Crime Rate Point: 12.62

 

French Population: 62,048,473

Rate of Crime: 3,771,850

Crime Rate Point: 16.45

 

The USA nearly doubles those leading countries, apart from the French, who fail. Also, rating England and Wales together is also misleading, as they're two different countries. You should rate either as the United Kingdom, or England/N.Ireland/Scotland/Wales separately.

 

Also, here are the murders per capita (what matters) for each country. The United States ranks much higher than the other countries.

 

Reply to the Topic:

I figured that 'being American' meant that you are a citizen. Seeing as America is only two-hundred-and-something years old (since founded), you only need to skip back a few generations to realize how pointless this whole argument is. For example, I was born in Ireland, have Irish parents yet have both a British and an Irish passport (dual nationality). Therefore, I am Irish, yet a British citizen.

Edited March 9, 2010 by Lynx

[»Xog]

What if a pregnant chinese woman was kidnapped and brought to America, and while fleeing to Canada, gave birth right there on the border?

[»Lynx]

I'm pretty sure that if somebody is kidnapped and brought into a country, there are immigration rules that cover citizenship.

[darkhosis]

to be an american, one must watch foxnews religiously

 

esp bill o'reilly, sean hannity, and glenn beck

[MikeTheNose]

American = A legal citizen of the USA. No steriotypes, zip, nodda else.

[CreatiX]

American = A legal citizen of the USA. No steriotypes, zip, nodda else.

word!

[espo]

I actually consider an American to be someone who was born in the Americas. We have North Central and South American continents.

 

Native Americans were brown. Various tribes of Indians, the Mayans etc.

Current citizens of the United States are a mix of natives, European invaders, people from other geographical origins, and a mix breed of all things inbetween.

 

I am an American because I was born and have lived my life in North America. Consequently I am also a United States citizen. I think the difference between ones nationality and ones geographical origin is lost at times because for some reason everyone calls United States citizens "Americans" but calls people from other parts of the Americas by whatever country they are from, i.e. Canadians, Mexicans.

 

I resent the stereotypes as well. You can find undesireable traits in people all over the world. In those same places all over the world you can find educated, enviromentally responsible, selfless, life loving people.