My wife and I recently did a genetics test through 21 & Me. My results were, for the most part, unsurprising; 99.7% Northwestern European descent, mostly Scotch-Irish, some French and German, a small percentage of Scandinavian, and .3% North African/Arab. The last part was the lone surprising part. I had no idea I had any African or Arab genetics. Interesting. That is truly fascinating and so cool. We are all truly interlinked in so many ways.
I have always known that I was mostly Scotch-Irish. I was raised in an Irish Catholic house and I take a great deal of pride in my heritage. I hold a great deal of affinity for the Catholic Church while also acknowledging their excesses and innumerable failings throughout history up to and including today. I am very proud to be a Scotch-Irish American. In my classroom I proudly display the Irish and Scottish flags as well as the American flag. Every summer one of my favorite events is the Scotch-Irish Festival. One of my all time favorite books was "How The Irish Saved Civilization", and my profile picture on Facebook is one of me in a kilt. I take a great deal of pride in who I am and my heritage. Everyone should have pride in who they are, their ancestors, as well as their culture. However, there is a very thin, but very distinct, line between pride and prejudice.
All too often throughout history people have either blurred, blended, or confused Pride and Prejudice. Within the past few years there has been a proliferation of groups who claim to be promoting pride of their culture or otherwise defending their heritage from perceived threats. They claim to not be prejudiced in any way, just expressing pride in their heritage. Proud Boys and Identity Evorpa, and the American Identity Movement immediately come to mind. These are organizations that claim to only be defending Western European culture and promoting its successes. They claim that they are not bigoted or racist but with the next breath also claim that all other cultures outside of Western Europe or Anglo-Saxon ancestry are not as accomplished as those of Western European descent. These organizations and others similar to them are quick to point out that there are any number of organizations in existence that promote pride in African, Hispanic, Latino, and Asian cultures, so why can there not be organizations that promotes pride in white or Western European accomplishments? The answer for me is quite simple. For the most part the organizations promoting pride and culture outside of the WASP-ish (White Anglo Saxon Protestant) world are not advocating that those who are not like them, look like them, or think like them are lesser than them. Nor are these groups arguing for the exclusion of the WASP heritage in deference to theirs. Instead they are simply asking for the inclusion of their cultures along side Western European cultures. Inclusion does not mean less for Western European culture, it just recognizes that there are others who are equally important. Groups like the Proud Boys, the American Identity Movement, and Identity Evropa see inclusion of these other identities as a threat to or exclusion of Western society. Very often these groups will claim that all races, ethnicity's, all life-styles are allowed to join their various organizations however it is with the explicit understanding that Western European cultures are superior to all others. And there is that thin, but very distinct, line between pride and prejudice. Prejudice sees those who are not like them as inherently inferior, pride does not.
Very often the genesis of these misguided, dangerous ideals comes down to an attempt of using historical evidence to support their perceived preeminence. However, these attempts are always very narrow in scope and ignorant, often willingly, of the greater historical record. In the case of the aforementioned groups, they trumpet that Western European and American civilizations are superior to all others because of their contributions in politics, economics, religious, scientific, and social arenas. If you are to only focus on the past 350+ years, it is difficult to dismiss this notion. Since the 1600's the history of humankind has been, for the most part, dominated by western civilization (we can debate the merits of this at another time). However, this is such a narrow construct of reality. It is ignorant of the previous 5,000 years of civilization. The earliest civilization was born along the Tigris and Euphrates River in present day Iraq. Some of the most sophisticated and advanced civilizations for their time were Asian. Indeed the largest, contiguous empire in history was Asian (Mongol Empire). During the Middle Ages, when Europe was woefully underdeveloped, and generally backwards in all manners of life, the most dominate and advanced societies on Earth was that of Arabic Muslims. From these Arab cultures tremendous advances took place in medicine, mathematics, science, astronomy. If we are to measure success in terms of material wealth, the richest person ever was a 14th century African ruler by the name of Mansa Musa of Mali. His wealth was so great that is generally described by historians and scholars of Musa as being "inconceivable". Musa was so wealthy that during a trip to Egypt he gave so much money to the poor there that he single handily caused massive inflation in the Egyptian economy. Not even Jeff Bezos would be capable of doing any such thing. In addition, during the middle ages there were cities that were larger and far more advanced in the Americas than anywhere in Europe. So, to claim some sort of supremacy based on a very narrow tunnel view of the past 350+ years while turning a blind eye towards the previous 5,000 years is enormously misleading and insincere at best.
I believe it is fine to take pride in the accomplishments of your culture and past. You should. I certainly do. I take great pride in being of Scotch-Irish descent. I would never want to be anything else. I love being an American. I would never want to be from somewhere else nor would I ever want to live anywhere else. I am happy to be a Catholic. I've never had any interest in converting to any other religion. While I take a great deal of pride in my heritage, I also acknowledge that I am not always proud of everything that my people have done. Scottish people have done some terrible things, as have the Irish. American history certainly not one that is always good or honorable. The Catholic Church has a long history of various abuses and immoral acts. But I also know that there is not a civilization, religion, ethnicity, or race that does not have similar skeletons in their respective closets. Despite the transgressions of the people with whom I identify, I have always taken pride in who I am. I am proud to say I am an American Catholic of Scotch-Irish decent. However, I do not believe that any of these things are better or superior to any other culture or heritage. Every culture, every heritage, every religion has something to be proud of as well as something to be ashamed for. Take pride in who you are and your heritage, but never believe- even for a moment- that who you are and what you believe makes you better or superior to those who do not share similar views or lineage. That is the thin, but very distinct, line between acceptance and hate. Between Pride and Prejudice.
