politics and ethnicity

docsavage
Indiana
I did some lap dances today with a girl who told me she was born in Russia but was adopted and brought here when she was three. I asked her if she had any opinion on the Russia-Ukraine war and she said she had none at all. She wasn't at all pro-Putin. She just didn't care. She told me she knew the name of the Russian city she was born in but has never even bothered to look on a map to see where it is.

Does your ethnic background influence your politics? My Indiana congressional representative is Victoria Spartz, a Ukrainian American who is gung-ho on entering the war on the side of the Ukraine. My background is German but I can't imagine that I would have wanted the U.S. to enter the war on the side of Germany in World War II. I admire people like Washington or Jefferson or Lincoln, not people like Hitler or Goebbels or Goering.

51 comments

Latest

Call.Me.Ishmael
3 years ago
I don't have the bandwidth for a long post on this right now. But I'll quickly point out that you're talking about two different factors: ethnicity versus nationality. "Russian" and "German" are not ethnicities. They are certainly nationalities, and somewhat defined cultures.* You'll find large populations of people of Chinese heritage in Russia as well as America. I'm willing to bet that's a very different experience (politically and culturally) for each population, though they share the same ethnicity.

So, are we talking about the political effect of ethnicity or nationality here?

===
*Somewhat because the culture of Western Russia is not the same as the culture of far Eastern Russia. Even East and West Germany have a culture gap, particularly because of the former political divide.
ilbbaicnl
3 years ago
I think it's oversimplified to say it's about whether or not somebody's Ukrainian. Americans have this myth of WW2 that makes them too quick to be pro-war. In particular, the US invaded France, drove out the Nazis, made it a perfect democracy. Reality: France turned around and killed or fucked over millions of people in Indochina and Africa, and almost had a military coup in the 1960s. That for sure would be one thing the US could do to get the average Russian on side, say that we won't turn a blind eye if ethnic Russians in Ukraine or the Baltics get fucked over. When the Zelenskyy government came to power, it took away some of the rights of Russian language speakers in Ukraine, but you don't hear the MSM talking about it. Putin is most def a total shitstain. But, if Ukraine wants to cut the legs out from under him, it has to convince average Russians in the RF that Russian living in Ukraine and not going to be treated like second class citizens.
Icee Loco (asshole)
3 years ago
I think it depends on how long they've been in the US. How far removed their ancestry is from the place. And whether or not their ethnicity has been oppressed and politicized in the US
Icee Loco (asshole)
3 years ago
Zelensky completely disenfranchised Russians culturally and linguistically and bombed the shitnout of Eastern Ukraine then let neonazis terrorise the region.
docsavage
3 years ago
Call.Me.Ishamael, anyone is welcome to address either the effect of their ethnicity or their nationality on their politics. If I understand what you are saying, nationality and ethnicity overlap but are not identical and I would agree with that. A country might have a dominant ethnic group and also other ethnic groups. For example, Spain has Spaniards but also Catalonians and Basques, many of whom dislike Spaniards. If they moved to the U.S., they might identify more with their old ethnic group rather than with the country of Spain itself.

Some people might not identify at all with either their ethnic group or their nationality. I identify with a certain set of political principles. I think throughout history most governments have been the enemy of the productive individual who just wants to be left alone to pursue a career, have a family and enjoy life (including heading for the strip club). Rather than identify with a certain ethnic group or nationality, I see myself as being on the side of this group. The U.S. government has come closest of any government in history to being on their side. Even in the case of the U.S., they have not always been on the right side. For example, in the early era large plantation owners were allowed to own slaves. We had to fight a war to end that and I admire Lincoln for that. I also admire Martin Luther King later on for demanding equal treatment under the law for blacks.
shailynn
3 years ago
I think it comes down to is WW3 going to happen and how is it going to change your life?
CJKent_band
3 years ago
"Naturally, the common people don't want war ... but after all it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship.

Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders.

That is easy.

All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.

It works the same in every country."

~ Hermann Wilhelm Göring
~ Commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe
~ Born 12 January 1893 Rosenheim, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire
~ Died 15 October 1946 Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany
twentyfive
3 years ago
^
>All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.<

Hey moron, sometimes they really are being attacked and the pacifists are really exposing them to danger, but you're too hung up on gazing at your own navel, and admiring your own cleverness, to actually understand this
skibum609
3 years ago
Icey sucking Putin's cock like the true piece of shit he is. Very progressive cum stain.
Icee Loco (asshole)
3 years ago
The people jn Yemen being bombed by the US need help. Someone needs to invade us to stop the bloodshed. Right 20fag?
gammanu95
3 years ago
1) The USA was founded as a nation to enable to the efforts of productive individuals. The USA was founded on principles of free will and free enterprise to allow her citizens to achieve whatever station in life they had the desire and ability to achieve. That is how the USA was founded. Through the tireless efforts of avaricious assholes - commonly referred to as liberals, democrats, and leftists - the last, best, hope for individual excellence has become a government which suppresses and punishes independent initiative and productivity.

2) Never confuse the difference between ethnicities and nationalities. This is not to say there were not Germans and Japanese peoples living in the USA during the first and second world wars who provided aid and intelligence to the hostile governments who looked like they do, but the Japanese internment camps of the second world war were a cumstain on the Statue of Liberty's robes which took decades to wash off (Reagan finally made the redress). To thoroughly understand how nationality can better ethnicity, study the Nisei units of the WWII. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese-A…

Of course, and again we can blame the avaricious assholes of the left for this, now ethnicity is more important than nationality. Being a patriot to the USA is shameful, and you should side only with your tribe - those who look like you. Unless you are white, European, or otherwise Caucasian, then they want you to just roll over and die.
jackslash
3 years ago
Regarding the Russian-born dancer who didn't care, I have found that strippers, by and large, don't care about politics at all. They are poorly educated and don't understand history or current politics. They don't see how it affects their lives. They all have a big screen TV, but they watch movies and reality shows, not the news.
Icee Loco (asshole)
3 years ago
Strippers care about politics. But they're working they're not gonna sit there debating politics with a customer who has different views
skibum609
3 years ago
The UN recognizes the government backed by Saudi and not the pedo Shiites backed by Iranian dogs, pigs and monkeys.
Hank Moody
3 years ago
The OP is asking how someone feels about their identity and its relation to political beliefs. It may or may not be connected to ethnicity or nationality or both. It may depend on how someone’s parents or community raised them, or it may not. Whatever your connection is with another country is subjective. Cons have turned “identity” into a four letter word but how someone considers their own identity is likely the driver here.

That said, FFS don’t talk politics in strip clubs. Best case is she agrees with you. Second best is she disagrees but you have a productive discussion. 👀 Talking politics with a dancer is not boner inspiring for me. Leave it at home.
Tetradon
3 years ago
Nothing that informs the Ukraine-Russia situation.

One parent is a Latin immigrant, one is third-gen American but from a tight-knit ethnic community. Both see themselves as Americans first and foremost, part of the great melting pot, the ideal of a land where you keep old world flavor but willingly accept American ideals.

My views on Ukraine-Russia are informed by a few other lessons they taught me. Like that caving to a bully sets you up to be victimized even more later. You have to punch them in the mouth.
drewcareypnw
3 years ago
When I worked for a UK company, they did a diversity survey. Employees were asked to to state their race, with the following options provided:

English
Irish
Scottish
Welsh
African
West Indian
South Asian
East Asian
Other White

…and it wasn’t just this company, similar categories appeared on forms in many contexts when I lived there. Hispanic, the box I had been checking for my whole life back in the USA, didn’t even exist to these people. Now I was “other white”! It reminded me of those pork commercials from the 80’s, “pork: the other white meat”.

I think this is a good example of how the concepts of race and ethnicity are to some extent arbitrary in terms of both the label and who does the labeling. So sure she can be Ukrainian ethnically or racially or not, depending on how she, Ukrainians, Russians, Americans, and whoever else is in the room see it.

This is not to say that racism etc. doesn’t exist, it’s entirely possible to persecute someone on the basis of a characteristic that doesn’t exist, let alone a fluid one like race and ethnicity.
CJKent_band
3 years ago
THE UNDENIABLE TRUTH AND REALITY IS:

Most American Europeans aka White Privileged Americans practice and support racist concepts and beliefs that are firmly embedded in American culture, politics, religion, the entire socioeconomic system, though they themselves may be ignorant of how such practices, myths, opinions, and beliefs are connected to racist and white supremacy concepts.
skibum609
3 years ago
White supremacy lol. It's called working hard loser. Wah, racism = the cry of the loserrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
misterorange
3 years ago
Two observations about the OP post.

First, the Russian girl you mentioned came here when she was three, so she has little to no recollection of what life was like over there. She's essentially no different than any other young American that has no interest in politics or world events. And apparently she doesn't feel a cultural connection to Russians or anyplace other than the USA. Your congresswoman has a very heavy accent which leads me to believe Ukraine was her home well into adulthood.

Second, WWII was a long time ago and has been studied extensively. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone of German ancestry or otherwise that, with the benefit of hindsight, would say the US should have sided with the Nazis. But back during the build-up to the war and through its duration, there were plenty of Germans who sided with Hitler whether they were coerced, duped by false propaganda, willful blindness, or otherwise.

The way it looks, Russia is currently divided between those who buy into the lies being told to them, and those who are being beaten into submission by draconian fear tactics. Either way, 80 years from now you won't find a soul to stand up and say Putin was right.
Call.Me.Ishmael
3 years ago
Regarding ethnicity...

I think that it's impossible for ethnicity to not affect a person's politics (and more) in some significant way or another. How it affects the individual can vary wildly (because of the many, many variables), but there will be particular attitudes and beliefs where the root cause is the individual's ethnicity. And I believe that this affects spans *all* ethnicities.

Regarding nationality...

I think that depends on how much of that person's upbringing revolved around their cultural heritage/identity. I know Irish Americans where their heritage barely plays a role in their life (aside from being a ginger named "O'Brien"). Then again, I know other Irish Americans who were raised in homes that focused a lot on the "The Troubles," and believing that the IRA were heroes and freedom fighters. Some of those individuals still believe that, and others have since rejected that part of their upbringing (but even that rejection is a function of how much it originally factored into their upbringing).
ilbbaicnl
3 years ago
Makes me laugh to see not voting equated to being "poorly educated". You only have to follow a single Presidential election cycle to see that most voters are major dumbasses. Anyone who actually likes who they are voting for is either delusional, stupid or dishonorable. Practically everyone on the ballot is dishonorable. Best you can do is try to guess which option is the least bad, so I sympathize with people who don't think it's worth the bother.
bkkruined
3 years ago
She can be born in Russia... And identify as "Russian"... But if she left at three, adopted, I'm guessing she don't speak no Russian, and everyone in Russia would disagree with her on that...

How can you really understand and relate to local politics of these countries when you can't even read the language of their local news?

Grandma was Irish. Always told me about the IRA. She left Ireland pre independence, before the IRA become became just a thing in the north. Worked with a guy years back who claimed he was Irish, grandparents, great grandparent, whatever immigrated, and his mom dressed him up in Orange for school on St. Patty's day. He didn't didn't get it...

All through WW1 England was still conscripting people in Ireland, and even during their was of independence probably has Irish conscripts, maybe even fighting in Ireland.

And now, 100 years later, the North is still fighting among themselves and the rest of the world seem to not really care too much, with the rest of the UK and Ireland getting along pretty much as well as anyone else in the EU and UK do as far as I'm aware...

Focusing on where you were born, or what language you're grandparents spoke (and you don't), and their political leadership's actions in some war a generation ago, pretty fucking ridiculous way to decide right vs. wrong...

And, "poorly educated"? Many people focus on one or two particular issues that are important to THEM. However we might disagree with the importance of that issue, or why they have take the side of that issue they have, whatever... The issues aren't just black or white, none of them, and there's a shit ton of assholes on both sides of all of them with a constant stream of lies (some just to gather attention to their website, which sells advertising...).

My biggest gripe is the dumbasses who know they're dumbasses, but can't see the reason for someone smarter than them to make important decisions. Those idiots that don't trust anyone that ain't dumber than them... Let's let that guy rule everything, cause he's too stupid to fool dumb old me attitude....
Icee Loco (asshole)
3 years ago
Ethnicity matters when your group is being oppressed in the US. As do American imperialist policies against ancestral homelands
Papi_Chulo
3 years ago
Comparing yourself to your Ukranian congresswoman is comparing apples to oranges – your congresswoman was likely born and raised in Ukraine and probably may still have family and friends in Ukraine – Ukrainian is likely her native and dominant tongue as well as many of her customs – this is very different from someone of “German background” that I assume was born-and-raised in the U.S. and I assume does not speak any German and likely 2 or more generations removed from living in Germany and mostly living-life according to American-customs vs German-customs – at the end of the day almost every American has a background from someplace else it’s just a matter of how many generations they are removed.
drewcareypnw
3 years ago
@bkk: "She can be born in Russia... And identify as "Russian"... But if she left at three, adopted, I'm guessing she don't speak no Russian, and everyone in Russia would disagree with her on that..."

I agree. This is exactly the experience of Americans who have whatever racial/ethnic/national background and return to their ancestors' homeland. Never do I feel more gringo than when I visit LATAM or Spain, and the locals love to underscore the point!
Call.Me.Ishmael
3 years ago
Aside from a select few, it's amazing how many of you completely steered clear of the OP's actual question.
CJKent_band
3 years ago
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What discrimination by “White Privileged Americans” on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin looks like…
Icee Loco (asshole)
3 years ago
Tetraplop thinks genocide and colonialism are benevolent. He promotes zelensky bombing his own country. Believes in American exceptionalism. The bitch is a.basket case
Tetradon
3 years ago
And back in this reality, Russia bombed a theater which was clearly marked with CHILDREN in Russian.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/17/europe/uk…

Slava Ukraini
God Bless America
Fuck Putin
Icee Loco (asshole)
3 years ago
Right coz people were in a theater during air raids 🤡
Icee Loco (asshole)
3 years ago
Damn I wish cnn reported like this when the US commits war crimes
Tetradon
3 years ago
The theater was being used as a bomb shelter.

Does it ever hurt to be so stupid?
Icee Loco (asshole)
3 years ago
Most of the crap in the media gets debunked. I'll check tomorrow lulz

If it was Americans carpet bombing we'd call it collateral damage or call them human shield s
Tetradon
3 years ago
^ So you concede that it was holding civilians. Good. You acknowledged an inconvenient fact. We're getting somewhere.
Icee Loco (asshole)
3 years ago
Work on your language comprehension skills
Tetradon
3 years ago
^ "It'll get debunked tomorrow" is a wild guess that flies in the face of evidence.

You acknowledged that's it's a fact in evidence today. Maybe we can string two of them together tomorrow.
Icee Loco (asshole)
3 years ago
Nah you just think repeating yourself and trying to imply a false consensus makes you right. When it does the opposite. When you fail you troll like crazy to try to get people disinterested in the thread and to drown out others posts
Icee Loco (asshole)
3 years ago
How come you never posted American atrocities or what zelenaky did in.easterm ukraine? Oh yeah its different when you support it
Tetradon
3 years ago
Actually, Americans of both sides overwhelmingly support Ukraine. No false consensus.

You are back to ignoring the plan fact that it hasn't been debunked. Checkmate.
blahblahblah23
3 years ago
Eh my parents had me here, but I'm the only one in the whole family born in this country. I did't know any English until I started going to school and interacting with the American kids. So while I consider myself American, I guess I don't consider myself totally American. hard to explain. I consider myself more Russian honestly tho 1 parent is from Russia, other from Ukraine. I don't know Ukrainian although it is super similar to Russian. My Ukraine side of the family is from Odessa where the parents and the older sibling lived a while b4 crossing continents. Anyway all the Odessiti I've met in the US speak Russian more than Ukrainian. Russians and Ukrainians are extremely interrelated and borderline the same so essentially what is happening now is very similar to to prior dictators mass murdering their own Russian people.
blahblahblah23
3 years ago
*more Russian than Ukrainian I meant, to be clear
MackTruck
3 years ago
I dumpa load on all da racist
motorhead
3 years ago
“They all have a big screen TV, but they watch movies and reality shows, not the news.”

Universally, they all seem to love that stupid show about the Kardashians. But two different dancers recommended Sons of Anarchy and Dexter. Good picks. Shameless has also been recommended but haven’t watched it yet
mark94
3 years ago
Peoples character and life views are formed by their individual experiences, not their ethnicity.
gammanu95
3 years ago
It's naive to believe that ethnicity has no influence on politics. Many, many black people voted for Obama just because he, too, was black. Gender as well: so many women voted for Hilary just because they both have similar anatomy. How many cycles did Jesse Jackson successfully use racebaiting to court the black vote in democrat party primaries? Who would like to argue that Marco Rubio won his offices without the Cuban vote in Florida?

Too few voters base their choices on a thorough, comprehensive understanding of the candidates, issues, and larger consequences for the nation and world. The democrat base is entirely comprised of such ignorant, avaricious voters. There really needs to be a short test administered on a regular basis to ensure that registered voters understand the isssues and races well enough to make responsible decisions. That test should only be administered in English.
skibum609
3 years ago
There was a reason people used to be required to pass a literacy test before voting.
shadowcat
3 years ago
If people are not smart enough to know how to get a voter I.D., should they be allowed to vote?
Icee Loco (asshole)
3 years ago
Regulating who gets to vote beats the point of universal suffrage
Icee Loco (asshole)
3 years ago
And sure race and ethnicity affect politics. It's how Trump was elected. How bigoted politicians win. Republikkkans.

The white vote is damaging at times
skibum609
3 years ago
^My belief is that your parents should have aborted you. You are the stupidest piece of shit on earth Icee. Republicans are Americans and foreign scum needs to go.
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