Is it wrong to not want to learn about my "roots"?

I’m neither black nor African, but I’m interested in the topic. I’m not Jewish, and I’m interested in the Holocaust, too. I’m interested in all aspects of history and civilization and culture and what we’ve done to each other over time and how we’ve gotten past that.

I don’t think you need to personalize it if you don’t want to, but I would recommend that you not build any walls against learning these things, either.

And welcome to Fluther. Stick around for awhile and you’ll learn all kinds of things. Some of them may be true, too. (Not much on economics or politics, I’m afraid. C’est la vie.)

I do not care much for placing special significance on culture or geneaology, either.

Slavery is different, because that is history, and if one is going to focus on history, there is more to it than just learning about slavery because one is black. I’m not the biggest fan of history, either.

If you’re referring to people that must learn of their descendants because they feel they’re going to gain some special knowledge from it, I understand.

Wrong? No… I think the relevence that people place on these things is often for the wrong reasons.

I think that this is your perrogative and you are brave for saying that you “aren’t interested.” because many people might jump your shit for it because of a strict adherence to the fact that what people collectively believe you SHOULD feel about it, isn’t always going to be the case.

You are entitled to your feelings about anything and everything concerning you.
Kudos for being honest when and where many people will most deffinately say things like

“How DARE you not be proud of your heritage.”

Dare you… It’s your life what color your skin is, is only a small part of what makes you who you are.

Saying what you have said here however, as a black person, is EXACTLY the opinion that branded me *as a half white half american indian, the label of a “racist and a bigot.”

Funny how that works huh?

Of course it isn’t wrong. You don’t have to be interested in anything. On the other hand, if this is about education, you may have to learn about a lot of things that don’t particularly interest you. In the the long run, it’s better to be educated in as many things as you can cram into your brain.

You are entitled to your opinion.

I happen to agree with you about being American. I don’t think of myself as Irish-American, why should you think of yourself as African-American?

Don’t feel guilty about your preferences. You and your life are what you make of them.

It isn’t wrong and I can understand why you don’t want to know. Maybe some day your curiosity will get the better of you.

Why do people apply right and wrong to an issue of preference? There is no law, as far as I know, that says you must know anything about anything. Yes, there is social pressure to learn about your roots, but it isn’t wrong to be ignorant of your ancestors.

The reason why most people want to know about their ancestors is that it will help them understand who they are, or so they believe. Others believe that understanding your ancestors will help you have pride in who you are. A history unlearned is a history denied. If you do not learn history, you are doomed to repeat it.

Well, there’s only so much we can know, so we must be repeating a lot of mistakes others have already made.

In any case, your identity and pride and self-esteem can come from other places besides your own family history. There is no guarantee that you can get those things by knowing your own history.

Each of us makes a choice, I think. The choice is unique and while people judge it, you don’t have to allow yourself to be judged. You need not learn your history to feel good about yourself. You need not learn it in order to be proud of yourself. You may have other interests and that is perfectly legitimate. Anyone who tell you you are wrong for not being interested has their own problems.

It’s not wrong. Some people are interested in that kind of thing, some aren’t.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with wanting to or not wanting to learn about your roots. I personally think it’s kind of silly when people are really ‘proud’ of their origins as if they formed the continent their ancestors came from themselves. Nothing wrong with it – and I’m pretty interested in my own family history myself – but it’s just curiosity directed at one specific thing.