LogFAQs > #903909828

Zikten posted...

whatever. those people sound like elitists.

the only reason I am american instead of scottish is that my ancestor's dad wanted him to be a priest, and he ran away from home to america so he wouldn't have to. but I still have scottish blood. and I can even trace my line to a clan.

and I did visit scotland, in 2003

Do you really think that the 5% or 10% (heck, make it 90% if you wish) of Scottish DNA you have makes you Scottish?

Somebody who grew up in Scotland was in touch with the culture, the music, the food, the slang, the accent, the traditions, etc etc. They were raised into the Scottish experience. You don't have any of that.

I'm not attacking you, I am just pointing out that one can't say that Jim Bob in the trailer park in Bubba Street in some rust belt or bible belt neighborhood has any remote idea of German culture, traditions or way of thinking simply because he shares a watered down version of German DNA.

DNA doesn't make for a culture. If you grab a German baby and raise it in Beijing, he won't inherit some sort of mystical link to his culture and start craving wheat beer, sausages, pretzels and start engineering BMWs.

When somebody said here "the Americans can learn X from the Germans", it is factually true (just like the Germans can learn Y from the Americans), the Americans "aren't German" (therefore, not needing to learn X or already knowing about X) because of genetics.