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Daneen G. Peterson This column is a response to an article written by Ricardo Chavira titled: More Americans should try 'living on the hyphen.'(1) Mr. Chavira, who endorses and encourages Americans to hyphenate their national identity because it "neatly encapsulates the joys and challenges of being something other than a plain American." Suffice it to say that the expectation of 'joy' emanates from Mr. Chavira because he is a proud "Mexican-American." He goes on to express his surprise that when he raised the suggestion of 'joyous' hyphenation with American citizens he found that he was angrily and indignantly rebuffed. Supposedly, he resorted to writing his article in order to 'spread the word' about his 'joyous' hyphenation idea. Perhaps because he considers himself a 'Mexican-American' he does not understand why most Americans, by choice and patriotism are NOT hyphenated, which is why this column was written.
For most of us Americans, the essence of being an American does not include the use of a hyphen because we do not need the added 'security' of belonging, or having allegiance to, more than one place, country or ancestry. America is enough for us and we simply have no need for anything 'more.' We are proud to be Americans and are duly insulted when we are asked to incorporate a hyphenated attachment by dredging up our past ancestry, in order to append a nationality that would ultimately 'dilute' our esteemed title of 'American.'
We believe it is divisive, corrupt and unnecessary for those who are TRUE Americans to hyphenate. Divisive because the use of the hyphenation 'marks' a person as someone who is not proudly content to BE an American. Americans have no need for such 'excess baggage' of expanding on their national origins and wouldn't consider it even if it was supposed to express their 'ancestral designation' as Mr. Chavira claims. Most Americans consider it superfluous and unnecessary to adopt a description that expands on something we are proud to be identified as, and admired for being. Americans think that people who identify themselves by hyphenation as something LESS than American. That is why we would not even consider such a ridiculous concept.
We are proud to be just 'plain' Americans because we realize that people from many nations took this naked, virgin land and made something out of it! Collectively we raised and paid huge sums of money for it, we fought for it, we shed our blood for it, we waged and won wars for it (including the Mexican-American War). We tamed it, farmed it, industrialized it and built it into the prosperous nation that exists today. Together we have built a nation of solidarity and strength that exists BECAUSE of our unity in identifying our 'mixed bag' of ancestries as a single and very unique American nation. We are a collection of nationalities, proud patriots who value the title of 'American.' We would never consider polluting our national identity and character by becoming a hyphenated-American.
We believe that a hyphenated-American is someone with a divided allegiance. A person who declares himself a Mexican-American,etc., is incapable of having a dual allegiance and must therefore choose to be either one or the other, because they can never be BOTH.
In addition, we feel that it is anti-American to embrace a concept of duality because it is the antithesis of our American culture and society. An identity that has been forged by more that 200 years of history to become the rock solid, 'gold standard' for citizenship. We believe that the true American is one who embraces the concept of subsuming their individual original ancestries of country, culture, society and language in order to provide the unity and solidarity that allows the 'many' to become ONE . . . the very essence of being an American.
Mr. Chavira is sadly mistaken if he thinks we AMERICANS (you'll notice I didn't hyphenate, English, Irish, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Scottish, etc.) would embrace a suggestion that would defile our hard earned AMERICAN culture, unique and admired throughout the world, created through assimilation and acculturation by peoples from many nations who joined together in common resolve to become the most powerful nation on earth!
For these reasons, we believe that those who adopt the hyphen are to be scorned as anti-American. Most Americans would laugh at Mr. Chavira's 'surprise' when we refuse to join his hyphenated 'band wagon,' because it appears that he 'hasn't a clue' that those who choose to hyphenate their national identity are considered to be less than American. By hyphenation they indicate to all that they are only 'half' American and half some other nationality. Conversely, it explains why non-hyphenated Americans are incensed and outraged by the request or suggestion that we need to hyphenate in order to gain some sort of 'joy.' Our 'joy' comes from being an American, nothing more and proudly so!
There are some Americans who may 'fall' for Mr. Chavira's hyphenation idea, because they have been 'brainwashed' for more than a decade by the multi-cultural and diversity propaganda. Many are intimidated into the acceptance of diversity and multiculturalism by the invocation of political correctness (pc), or as it might be more aptly named . . . 'political castration.' It is most unfortunate that seemingly unaware of the danger, domesticated and pacified Americans, many indoctrinated by the 'cult of diversity,' have blindly embraced the multi-cultural concept, which by definition engenders a society that is divergent, different, and disparate. Hyphenation of our national identity is simply an extension of that propaganda. It is frowned upon by those of us who are smart enough to understand that the concepts of diversity and multiculturalism are the exact opposite of our national motto -- E pluribus unum. Out of many, ONE!
It is most unfortunate that we Americans have been insidiously 'indoctrinated' and socially engineered by multi-cultural 'group think' techniques and pc (political castration) to accept the 'diversity dogma!' An insane devious 'educational' deception, enforced through 'sensitivity training' which demands that we embrace the tenets of diversity, a priori (up front)! For years, we have been coerced into adopting and applying the multi-cultural 'orthodoxy of diversity' everywhere and everyplace. Hyphenation is simply another manifestation of diversity that will rent asunder our unique American culture that has become a model for assimilation and acculturation by disparate peoples, admired and applauded around the world.
The question is, why have we Americans so stupefyingly accepted and followed such suggestions like hyphenation and the other propaganda of multiculturalism, when one considers that diversity is a dogma that requires us to promote and celebrate an American culture of non-assimilation and non-acculturation? One that encourages people who are dissimilar, unalike, and different from one another, to remain that way. A Machiavellian veneration that is the complete opposite of our world famous 'American melting pot,' a dynamic process that represents the coming together of diverse peoples who willingly assimilate and integrate into our unique, blended American culture!
Interestingly, many uneducated people, including politicians, frequently state that: "After all we are a nation of immigrants, aren't we?" The answer to that question is a sound and reverberating NO, we are NOT! We are a nation of legal immigrants and mostly native Americans . . . who are not to be confused with American Indians. Hyphenated-Americans are for those immigrants who are in their first generation of tenure here in America and haven't yet become true Americans. If and when they become true Americans they will find that they have no need to continue to tie themselves, via hyphenation, to their past national origins and ancestry. Only then will they realize why we would never consider using hyphenation and relish being just 'plain' Americans.(2)
Lastly, hyphenation raises the specter of nationalistic allegiance to a country OTHER THAN America. To most Americans that possibility is repugnant and traitorous. As for those of us who prefer to remain just 'plain' Americans, we do so because we know that we already possess the most valued status symbol in the world, that of being an American citizen, desired by many and consider to be the pinnacle of national identity! Actually we are quite 'smug' and proud about that fact. Why would we ever want to change and become something less?
Copyright by Daneen G. Peterson
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