this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2024
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Man, I say this a lot and I know it comes across standoffish, but... US ethnic categorizations seem bonkers to me.
What does "half Jewish half Irish" even mean? Isn't that a Jewish person from Ireland? That would count as fully both things. What are the other two halves?
This is why I have to think about the immigration form for ten minutes each time I get through customs in the US, it's all "was any of your grandparents a smurf?" and "are you latino and/or lactose intolerant?" and stuff like that. It makes no sense.
Is it just the Jewish part that you don't get? The US has so many different active cultures going on in the same spaces that knowing someone's ethnic background can tell you a lot about them and their family. I'm sure some people want to know because they're racist, but for most people it's just a cultural shorthand. Knowing someone is Cuban rather than Puerto Rican, or half Spanish and half Irish tells you what kinds of experiences they might have had, what comfort foods they're likely to eat, how they're likely to celebrate their holidays. Stuff like that. Especially if one of their cultural identities is one that you share, or frequently share the same spaces with, you've probably just found a whole lot of commonalities with that person. Older people might ask. In my experience younger people generally won't. So either it's obvious to you or they tell you or you might not know at all.
From a governmental standpoint, they keep track of different statistics based on ethnicity, supposedly so they can make sure they're not failing any groups of people with representation, healthcare outcomes, policing, etc. It obviously doesn't always work, but that's supposed to be why the government is interested.
Aw, you guys are gonna make me answer this seriously, aren't you?
No, it's not the Jewish part that I don't get. I have been around enough to understand that Wilson is implying that she has some (presumably) Ashkenazi and some Irish ancestry, and I am self-aware enough to understand that she would sound insane if she put it that way.
The fact that she's calling it out as a shorthand for common cultural ground is the part that is strange, let alone the persistent hangup with ancestry and the weird assumption that culture is somehow genetic. I was just trying to break it down gently by being facetious about it.
It's weird, it's highly specific to American culture, and yes, I do get the very deep roots in colonialism that lead to this outcome. It's just weird to me that's where it landed and how often Americans seem to think it's universal when it's actually pretty unusual.
I was not kidding about the census categorizations that get repurposed on immigration forms, though. They are full of apples and oranges in all sorts of arrangements and I have never once felt I fit on any of the categories or that the categories themselves make any sense.
Part of the reason she’s bothering to be that specific is for the “dammit ratcliffe” joke, it would be unnoteworthy except in a a”genetically predisposed to” context otherwise, but by being unnecessarily specific the cumulative effect of the joke gives a bigger payoff.
Essentially the “two nickels” joke but she’s allergic to nickel