This has been an ongoing thought of mine for a while now. I was going to take the time over a few days to write it out and word it properly but i've been getting a bit impatient for other's thoughts. I obviously have too much time on my hands but so be it.
My thoughts on being 'white'.
It seems that being 'white' isn't very cool. I used to find myself jealous of people with varied cultural backgrounds, who celebrated interesting festivals and ate different foods. The girls of Indian decent I went to high school with always seemed exotic to me with their whole other world going on once they got home. They could
speak another language and smelled of spices and visited family in different countries in the school holidays.
Minorities around me always seemed so passionate about their culture and families and I often found myself so intrigued by their way of life. Maybe this was what first led me to leave Australia and date guys of other nationalities? I always wanted my kids to be able to speak another language. I always thought that i'd love to be different and have my Mum come from some exotic country (she's British and I always wished she was from a non-English speaking country, so I could have had the opportunity to be bilingual).
I find people from non-white backgrounds (this is probably not very politically correct) being proud of what their culture is and has done. African Americans have their great musical talents, Aboriginal Australians have their intimate knowledge of nature and fantastic arts and crafts, Japanese have their long long history and
traditions. And I find myself thinking, what can I as a white Australian be proud of?
Well, my ancestors built ships and found new lands- but then proceeded to kill the natives and stuff up the environment.
It just seems that being 'white' (and I guess i'm mainly talking about being white in Australia) is not something to be proud of. In some way I feel relieved that my kids can at least get some 'culture' and 'history' from their Japanese side.
OK, I think it's all out now. I know this is all over the place but that is the state of my mind at present.
Your thoughts?
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6 comments:
Just so you all know I am all for free speech, I didn't delete a post disagreeing with me or anything, it was spam! Grrr...
Hey Laura!
Just wading through the pool of your concious thought right now. I'm enjoying it immensely!
A comment for you: I think other cultures have their skeletons-in-the-closet too, especially the Japanese. They just seem more intent on hiding their past indiscretions, whereas a greater number of 'white' culture people are content to reflect on our past and decide what was right and wrong. How can you improve if you don't admit to past mistakes?
I don't usually post things on this site because some blogs are retarded but your post on this one is interesting.
I am a Latino whose ancestors come from the Middle East. I can say that I have history in my background and perhaps makes me feel "unique." You feel that perhaps you don't have this or lack something unique yourself. The thing about you is that you cannot find your "unique heritage" and I think this is because you trying to find something that perhaps isn't there.
Maybe you have what you are looking for but you cannot see it. Perhaps you have some sort of big expectation? Perhaps you are expecting something huge like...Aristocrats.
I think that white people have history but sometimes white people fail to see that because they are surrounded by other cultures that have history and they get hypnotized by it that they forget their own. They romanticize about it and they fail to see their own.
You have your own "white history" but perhaps you are not looking clearly.
Thanks, I appreciate your comment.
Shortly after I wrote this post my Grandmother died. Thinking about her life and what she has given me, gave me a lot of food for thought. Especially about the things I hold dear and her role in the history of my family. I think I have started to grasp an appreciation for my 'white history' even if it's as simple as the lamintons my Gran taught me how to make...
Thanks for prompting this thought, I'll try to develop it and post again.
>They just seem more intent on hiding their past indiscretions, whereas a greater number of 'white' culture people are content to reflect on our past and decide what was right and wrong.
Your statement shows that some white people still think that they are superior to other race.
Each country has its own view on history but white people including both Europeans and Ameicans have more intents to hide what they had done in the past, especially, colonizing and exploiting African and Sounth Asian countries. Chinese have also continued fabricating a lot of groundless stories that are related to Japan, while hiding the fact that their government killed tends of thousands of its own people, and invased other countries such as Tibet, Vietnam, etc.
"Your statement shows that some white people still think that they are superior to other race."
Really? Howso? That certainly wasn't the intention of what I wrote.
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