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Lack of Identity

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  • Lack of Identity

    My apologies if this doesn't come out right, I'm kinda sick today... I don't drink so this'll have to qualify as my "drunken post"

    I just wanted to give a big thanks to you guys for your spirited discussions about religion, culture, and ethnicity on here. I'm not sure I "get it" by some standards still, and I don't always agree with what everyone says, but it has really given this haole a lot to think about.

    Among other things, along with my wife's influence, it's spurred me to be interested in my own ethnicity and ancestry, the culture, and so on... I was speaking with a co-worker today about this subject. I've been reading a book called God is Red about American Indian exploitation in the US. I was telling him that I've noticed a lot of groups of people now have been trying to reclaim their cultural heritage from the steamroller that's modern Western society. He told me, as if he had never even thought about it before, that he felt like he felt disconnected from whatever heritage he might have as well.

    I don't think this lack of identity is healthy. Somewhere along the way we gave it all up and later started trying to fill the void with other people's cultures, but more like tasty and easy to consume versions of them that just causes more misunderstanding than it helps. That and good old secular humanism... when nothing else is left, progress, progress, progress!

    I don't think it's healthy to live in the past either, but it does give one more of a sense of place in the world to study it. Scratch the genealogy of your average white person and somewhere down there you'll find Asatruar, Druids, Celts, whatever. We used to mean more to each other than strip malls, suburban mansions, and dollar signs. (And yeah, there's more to modern American culture than those things.. lots of real goodness.. but unfortunately the ugly tends to be very visible.)

    Anyway, I'm fading fast here, and only a couple of days before I'm supposed to fly out to you guys' neck of the woods.. doh! So I'm gonna go rest. Mainly I just wanted to say thanks for the discussions though
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