Quote:
Originally Posted by Hottentot
Yes! And Britannia for the Britons! Down with the Jutes! Drive them back to the sea! Who is with me?!
|
Let's see. I come from Saxon stock, so I shouldn't have invaded Angle-Land. I have a recorded ancestor who was actually a Norman, so I guess I invaded Anglo-Jute-Saxon-Briton Land a second time. My first recorded American ancestor was actually a Brit who somehow managed to get here right in the middle of The Revolution. My people killed the horrible Red Injuns, except for the two who were of that persuasion. I had ancestors on both sides of the Civil War, including one who owned slaves. I'm English, German and native, and who knows what else.
I guess you could say that I'm the lowly immigrant who shouldn't be there, and the evil oppressor of the masses, all at the same time. I'm as mongrel as they come. The fact that I look the way I do means nothing to me. I'm a musician, which means my heroes are people like Jimi Hendrix and Chuck Berry, Carlos Santana and Eric Clapton, Chet Atkins and Stanley Jordan. Love only my "own kind" and half those names disappear. I would love to play bass for B. B. King just once.
One of my closest friends had a grandfather who came straight from Sicily, joined the army and fought Moros in the Philippines, then turned around and became the big man in the Utah mafia (gasp!) in the 1920s. So he's an evil foreigner too, except he gets no slack from any side, because technically he's white. And even as a Sicilian he's an outsider. His family name indicates that his ancestors emigrated to Sicily from Russia.
Another good friend is black. But he's all American and hates Africans. At least he's intelligent and humble enough to admit his hatred is irrational. We became friends after we found out we're both interested in all different kinds of history. His favorite line: "You can tell me any kind of racist joke, as long as you make me laugh."
So my biggest intolerance is for people who are intolerant. Setting yourself up as different only isolates you from a lot of good people. People who just might be better than anybody you hang out with now.