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submitted 3 months ago by buh@hexbear.net to c/chapotraphouse@hexbear.net

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[-] nocturnedragonite@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 3 months ago

but I really do wonder how much "American culture" would be left if we got rid of everything that was stolen, puritan, patented or copyrighted

When you're a settler colony with no actual history to fall back on like China, your culture just involves stealing

There's nothing redeemable about Amerika lmao

[-] Erika3sis@hexbear.net 1 points 3 months ago

There's nothing redeemable about Amerika lmao

Well, except root beer. :P

I had written like three paragraphs of sincere response to this, too, but it's best to be brief so I'll summarize:

I feel like "American culture" has the potential to become undeserving of scare quotes once it exists outside of the context of occupation and imperialism. I've been writing future fiction about one way that this might happen, based on my own experiences and understanding of theory.
I feel like the USA actively makes my life as the child of a former settler kinda fucky, because settler-colonialism needs not only to attract new settlers, but also needs to prevent old settlers from fully escaping the paradigm. I'm "caught in the middle" so I get to experience this weird tension.
I frankly cannot find any theory about the position of children of former Usonian settlers, nor any language with which to talk about my position. I guess this is because people like me are not yet very numerous, and seemingly not yet considered an object worthy of study.