Should I bear a grudge toward Italians?

Absolutely. Just like I’m bound by family tradition to hate the bloody English and all they’ve done to oppress my people for eight hundred long years….

Yeah, nah. I’m over it. ^_^

At least it wasn’t slavery. But I think this is your lame attempt to say “I don’t have slaves.”

No, you shouldn’t hold a grudge against Italians.

Seeking justice or holding a grudge against a type of people because they did something to an ancestor (especially ones that lived thousands of years ago) of yours is stupid. For me I’m part Scots-Irish, and English, does that mean I should be ripping my guts out or killing my grandma because the Scots-Irish part of me was wronged by the English and seeks retribution? I would hope not.

My ancestors were wasted and conquered by Julius Caesar as well, and they only way Gaul became France was by submitting to his rule.

I guess just about everyone could hate the English too, if Braveheart was right about anything. But I think we need to find something other than hatred, racism and grudges to go on, since in centuries of human history nothing came of it but war and strife and that despite technological advancement, it owes it all to the will to destroy our fellow man, and no matter how vibrant most cultures are, a lot of them are defined by things that lead us nowhere.
But it’s your prerogative. I’m sure Italy isn’t Rome anymore, and whoever lives there isn’t responsible for whatever happened a whole shitload of years ago.

Damn you Vercingetorix why couldn’t you win damnit. XD

People who whole grudges against something that happen hundreds of years ago are simply weak people looking for an excuse for their failings instead of looking in the mirror. I know you are trying to make a point, but it really isn’t going to change anything. These are the same type of people who will blame their failings on things like,
I wasn’t breast fed as a baby,
my daddy didn’t hold me or say he loves me
I’m drink because I hate my job.
Whatever! I ignore because stupid people give me a headache. We all have our cross to bear. LOL

Uh oh, that means I should hate the German’s for everything they did to my ancesters (mostly eastern European). This also means all blacks should hate all whites because of slavery. All Native American Indians should hate all whites as well. Uhm where do the grudges stop?

This question is very troll-ish.

I’m half-Italian. I ought to feed you to the lions in the name of the Emperor, you barbarian!~

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard Apparently, they preferred panthers because those starved faster. XD

No, you shouldn’t hold a grudge. It’s a long time ago. Henry Ford was a huge antisemite, I don’t dwell on that when buying a car. Germany killed many of my people, I own German cars, think Germany is a beautiful country, and have German friends. Latvians and Russians treated my people horribly, literally my family lived through incredible antisemitism in those countries before immigrating here, I don’t really hold a grudge about it. All of these examples make me sad, sometimes it is hard to think about the attrocities committed, especially what my own family went through, but I don’t hold on to it in the form of a grudge or hatred, especially not for those who live in those countries today. America is built on the idea that each person is an individual, and we don’t hold men responsible for the sins of the father.

Plus, the Italians are fantastic. Not to mention the food!

@JLeslie Fuck yeah. Italians make awesome food, they’re always horny, and they inspire the greatest video games ever.

I’m not sure what’s not to like, here. :)

@Symbeline They’re good in bed too.

Look, we get it – you don’t think you’re racist and you want nothing to do with discussing race in terms of slavery or why white people are more privileged. Can we stop now? Please.

Italians are not the ancient Romans; The Roman Empire included what is now spain, france, England, Romania, Germany, North Africa, and more. The offspring of Roman soldiers would as likely live in any of these places as in Italy. And besides, it was the Roman practice to assimilate conquerred peoples, not to merely kill them. Around the beginning of the first millenium, the Gauls were assimilated into Roman society, so your ancestors became Roman soldiers. All the more reason not to get mad at their descendants.
But while we’re at it, your ancestors did some pretty nasty things, including invading Greece and killing many of the Macedonians, they captured and decapitated the young king Ptolemy Keraunos. Would you like to pay restitution now?

Mhmm. No, you should not bear a grudge against Italians. Even if it were advisable to bear such grudges, the modern Italians that exist today are also largely descended from the people who overthrew the Roman empire… etc…

It is difficult to take naive thinking as a serious question.

@Symbeline I guess just about everyone could hate the English too, if Braveheart was right about anything

Let’s see if we can spot the flaw in this argument? ;)

Dammit! @Symbeline stole my answer! :P My husband is Italian!

If I had to hate the English, I guess I’d have to hate myself. My mom’s family is mainly from Ireland, and my dad’s family is mainly from England. I’m so filled with self loathing!

if you have to ask and find reasons to be upset about something, THEN NO.

~Yup. I’d get back at them by eating lots of pizza. Take that deni.:)

@Adirondackwannabe Pizza was invented by Italian American immigrants so while that particular strategy might apply if your beef was with 19th century immigrants stealin’ your job and stinkin’ the place up it doesn’t have anything to do with Romans.

You mean bearing a grudge toward all of the 60,231,921 Italians?

@fundevogel, while one might claim that Italian American immigrants perfected the pizza (New York style), they certainly didn’t invent it. The earliest references to the word pizza are from the year 997 in Medieval Latin, and the standard modern tomato-cheese-basil “Margherita” pizza was invented by chef Raffaele Esposito of Naples Italy in 1889 as a gift for Margherita of Savoy, the Queen consort of Italy.

@marymaryquitecontrary That’s what I get for believing oft repeated trivia. I should know better.

Pizza means pie. In NY you will frequently hear people say things like, “should we get a whole pie,” as apposed to a slice.

It makes no sense to hate the Italians, we shouldn’t bear grudges and they are a nice easy going people. But the English! well that’s another matter.

Not in the U.S. Not unless you’re Native American, maybe.