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Why I regret using 23andMe: I gave up my DNA just to find out I’m British | Technology | The Guardian
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2024
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Americans seem get really weird with the whole ancestry thing. There appears to be a desire to look into your family history and find something "exotic", which basically seems to mean non-English - I imagine because that's perceived as the 'default' ancestry, so-to-speak.
Honestly, who the fuck cares? What difference does it make? Nationalities aren't Skyrim races. You don't get special abilities. It makes no difference whether your ancestors were British/Irish/Spanish/French/whatever.
E: This is obviously not intended as a hateful statement, people. You have to understand that the rest of the world doesn't care about this, so we're confused when we look to the US and see them take it so seriously. We're especially puzzled when Americans say "I'm Irish" because their great great great uncle bought a pint of Guiness in the 1870s. It's an alien concept to the rest of the planet.
One guy writes an article. literally just one dude.
the comments: "AMERICANS ARE WEIRD AF. ALL AMERICANS DO THIS AND FEEL THIS WAY."
It's not just him. The "I'm Irish/Italian" crowd is a widely known-about American thing.
I didn't mean to offend you. Relax. I never said all Americans do it, you don't need to come up with some reactionary strawman just because you took my comment to heart.
America is a lot of people from different places settling in one continent. lots of people care about what their family history is. I'm not sure what's weird about that.
there's a lot of people with bloodlines from different parts of the world in every country. it means something to some people. not everyone, but quite a few.
that particular phenomenon is everywhere.
No, it really isn't much of a thing for the rest of the world. You'd never see someone from, I dunno, Poland saying they're Irish because 23andMe says they're 2% Irish.