I suppose if all you know about advertising is "TV & Hollywood", then sure.
The point is, advertising is not a true reflection of a culture or its people. I can't see the relevance of this to the discussion anyway.
You speak about condescension; I'm not merely a passive observer of America. I have in fact been there, several times as well as knowing many Americans.
Well, doesn't that make
you the expert, haha. You are talking to actual Americans born & raised here, surrounded by other Americans. Don't tell me you know more about our culture than we do. You really don't see the hypocrisy in that, considering the topic at hand & your stand on it?
Again, you're conflating two things. Recognising one's ancestry is one thing but explicitly aligning oneself with it is entirely another.
No, hon, you're conflating two things. You seem to think that when an American states they are "Irish" in response to a question that concerns their ethnic heritage, they are denying their American nationality and/or trying to "steal" the identity of a nation they do not belong to. I think its been explained that by far, the average American will identify their nationality as American in a foreign country, when asked where they are from they'll name the city/state/USA, but in response to questions which clearly are seeking their ethnic heritage, they may say "I'm Irish" or whatever. The two are not conflated, but neither are they mutually exclusive. You can be both an American and recognize your heritage connected to other countries.
As mentioned, in some cases, there IS a direct influence from a culture on a region in the US, so there has been a fusion of sorts, and to NOT recognize that seems to be a sort of denial. People from the east coast are markedly different from people in the southwest (amongst Americans), and I DO see a connection to the countries which colonized and dominated the areas. No doubt, they are still "American", but the nuances are significant enough to note at times & the origins of those differences seem rooted in the heritages of the people. What is so hard about that to grasp?
I don't see how you can't the positives in this. The less clear the divisions between people based on nationality & ethnicity, the better, IMO. People start to relate to larger chunks of the world instead of having an "us vs. them" attitude.
Only because you've inferred something different to what I had originally said.
You're inferring something different to what Americans actually do, on the whole. Knowing a few individuals who are obnoxious about their heritage & viewing "Jersey Shore" as some kind of standard is not any accurate picture of the average American & how they view their heritage. What I've described is much more accurate for the common American: a curiosity into one's personal past & enthusiasm for differences in cultures, not a usurping of another countries cultural identity in a denial of one's own.
I'd be intrigued by an explication of your analysis.
No,
you explain to me why you're so eager to criticize cultural quirks of Americans. I am just as puzzled, and insecurity seems the obvious answer. Or do you approach all different cultures the same way? Such an attitude is considered rather bigoted here, to be that negative towards something & closed to understanding it just because it is "different" from your own culture. Although, that attitude seems to come from feeling threatened in some way, hence the idea of an "insecurity".
Okay, if I were to take a stab at it, maybe it gives you a sense of superiority to view Americans as culture-less baboons who are so absorbed in being American they know & care little about the rest of the world. So when a different picture emerges, one of an American who is so fascinated by their cultural heritage that they venture to look into it & mention it from time to time, and it disturbs your previous idea, you quickly need to turn it into something disdainful to reconcile the two & feel superior again. You latch onto the few extreme examples who make your case & once again feel at ease in your ivory tower.
You tell me why you need to feel superior though.