What is it to be Un-American?
Asked by
rojo (
24179
)
November 21st, 2016
For that matter, what is it to be American and don’t we need to be able to quantify that before we can label someone as not being such?
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13 Answers
Well, I hate baseball & apple pie and am not, in the least, patriotic. Guess that’s pretty un-american. haha
In Trump’s America, it’s easier to say what an American is: a white, heterosexual, Christian male. A female attached to that man can qualify if they were married in a Christian church.
As to Hawaii Jake’s response, I’ve never heard any non-white racism in the Trump campaign, You have to go back to 1973 to find racial discrimination (with real estate) in Trump’s business endeavors. and, in spite of what I hear said, Trump has actually supported Gay/Lesbian?Transgender rights. Trump’s business endeavors, like his politics, has been successful because he appoints whoever can get the job done
To be Un-American—well, to be against individual freedoms such as those spelled out in the Bill of Rights. In some countries, your taxes go to support a faith you don’t belong to, or your faith (or lack thereof) is forbidden. Traditionally, Free Enterprise, multiculturalism (our national motto in fact is “From Many, One) and some sense of individualism are American values. We are not a monoculture.
Our roots, however, are English at the very seed or core. But we are a long way from the Anglo-Saxon roots
@Yellowdog Trump’s VP is a man who publicly supports putting electrodes on my head and passing electrity through them to stop me from being gay. Trump and Pence are grotesquely anti-LGBT. Your answer is a lie.
I have seen where this is headed, so I will be unfollowing this question now.
Peace.
To me, un-American is a label that’s usually used to try to argue against something, and usually seems to be used in ways that I myself would consider un-American.
I think of the positive side of Americanism as being about resisting oppressive power structures, for the sake of life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, freedom, independence, being allowed to live, think and speak as we please as long as it isn’t doing harm, freedom of religion (or non-religion), the equal and unalienable rights of people, and general good will.
I think of the negative side of Americanism as what I would call un-American, but I don’t usually use that term because it seems like a crude and divisive way to argue that is usually used by people I wish would all collect someplace I don’t live, and/or stop being that way. That is, people who want to assert/inflict some dumb-ass version of Christianity on everyone. Or “capitalism” fanatics. Or racists. Or warmonger “patriots”. Or anti-Islamic fools. Or homophobes. Or anti-intellectuals. Or anti-introverts. Etc.
It is un-American to imagine that your candidate is entitled to win simply because…they are your candidate.
It depends who’s saying it. Is it an anti-Trump or pro Trump?
I would have thought insulting America’s war dead was as un American as you could get but Trump seems to have got away with it so I dont know.
One thing that Trump, as a typical demagogue, does not get is that protesting is very much American. Maybe he would prefer a system like that in China
According to Trumpers mocking/immitating a handicapped person is not un-American, it’s an American thing to do. Incorrect.
So, @josie It’s not irrelevant at all whether it’s anti-Trump or pro-Trump people who are saying something is un-American.
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