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originally posted by: HyphenSt1
Yeah.. i sorta figured that's how it led to being called that for short.. but WHY..? We could just as easily say "we are from The United States" eh..? aside from it sounding silly to say "i'm united statian" there's no actual logical reason i can find..
Isn't "America" just *a bit* More Than "The United States"..
originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
originally posted by: HyphenSt1
Yeah.. i sorta figured that's how it led to being called that for short.. but WHY..? We could just as easily say "we are from The United States" eh..? aside from it sounding silly to say "i'm united statian" there's no actual logical reason i can find..
Why do people from Mexico say the are Mexicans when the full name of the country is Estados Unidos Mexicanos (United States of Mexico)?
originally posted by: HyphenSt1
a reply to: AugustusMasonicus
because they don't live on the continentof "north Mexico" do they..?
but my point is that it's arrogant to claim the name "America" for our country just on that basis..
and convenience is not really a good reason either..
originally posted by: HyphenSt1
a reply to: Krakatoa
and that's fine.. but that was then and this is now.. the fact is that TODAY the geography is as it is, what used to be Mexico (most of the western part of the U.S.) is now California, etc.. things change, and i'm going to humor the already ridiculous system of "nations" and etc, I'd like it to at least make a little bit of sense..
a little bit of clarity is nice to have in language and "the states" or "the U.S." always fit pretty well IMHO.
originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
originally posted by: HyphenSt1
Everywhere else in the world i have been (Canada, Mexico, Korea, Japan, Okinawa) usually refers to this country as "The States" or "The U.S." but then when you get back here it just seems bizarre and self-important to hear it constantly referred to as "America" (the one and only)
All the Europeans I have met have called me an 'American' and the place where I flew in from 'America'.
originally posted by: HyphenSt1
These days semantics and syntax seem as important as ever, and one thing i don't hear talked about enough is: When did "America" become synonymous with "The United States"..?
I already know from that simple question, people will think i'm splitting hairs, BUT i do think that words are the tools with which we think, and when we equate The United States with AMERICA, it seems to imply an innate priority and importance over Canada for instance.. Oh and damn, Mexico also kinda *sorta* counts, i suppose..
Oh yeah! South America is also a thing..
I am personally not very fond or attached to American History as it was selectively taught in public school, and then Howard Zinn painted a pretty bleak image of it for me in college.. and now i don't even know what to focus or believe in, but i do know that how we think, speak, and do, DOES very much count in this world.. I mean, will these people who feel "a calling" to preserve the history of the south during the Civil War, equally advocate for a TRUE teaching of the history of this literal country under our feet..? About how a bunch of Asian and generally brown people had an entire history unto themselves for THOUSANDS OF YEARS..
..and most of that is, was, and will probably always be: lost.
..Why is everyone so okay with this..??
Everywhere else in the world i have been (Canada, Mexico, Korea, Japan, Okinawa) usually refers to this country as "The States" or "The U.S." but then when you get back here it just seems bizarre and self-important to hear it constantly referred to as "America" (the one and only)
As far as i'm concerned, our country has been effed since the Europeans started conquesting in general, with plenty of atrocities through the middle there, but a real gem to explain our government's general attitude are gems like: Operation Paperclip invited a bunch of Nazis into the top levels of government ("oh no no, these were scientists and yanno.. the good nazis" doesn't really explain "more than 1600 Nazis" being allowed to essentially collaborate with our government..) and we have no right to assume that our country should have priority for the international community (and ourselves really..) over our neighbors in North and South America.. What if "America First" could mean collaborating with our neighbors and using the natural resources and human-power to collectively change for the better..? is that either a "socialist" or "libertarian" concept, or is that beyond the petty false dichotomies that we need to get past..?
Unity can mean many things..
and generally it is a feat of the mind before its implications can truly change the game.
..just food for thought..
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