The Inside Assyria Discussion Forum #5

=> just what is "ethnic" anyway.....?

just what is "ethnic" anyway.....?
Posted by pancho (Moderator) - Friday, November 30 2012, 14:00:22 (UTC)
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This term has always troubled me...it seems to mean everything and nothing at the same time. Long ago and far away when people stayed put and kept natural barriers between them, it made sense to speak of "ethnic" differences. Then everyone started moving around and conquering and mixing until the term seems almost meaningless. It's like colors: so long as they remain distinct and pure, you can see each one for what it is...but mix them all together and you get mud-brown. Which then becomes a new color, and among humans, a new ethnicity.

What is an ethnic American? Is it an ethnicity? People come to North America from all around the world...they learn a common language and soon a common culture. They may all have ethnic "backgrounds", but they become a new ethnicity...and by the time the entire world mixes together, we'll all be one, except maybe for religion.

We all eat all kinds of food, wear all kinds of clothes and share all sorts of cultural values...the distinct lines between us are fading.

Is there an ethnic assyrian identity? Maybe in Iraq, or Syria and Iran, but aside from religion and maybe music, the assyrians seem to share pretty much the same culture, even speak the common language and even dress alike. There are exceptions, but not so distinct as to make them separate altogether.

I guess what I'm getting at is that the term ethnic, as used by our boys, seems artificial, designed more to keep us separate from Muslims than anything else. Qurds and assyrians are, or were, practically indistinguishable, except for religion and religious customs. Can a religious group be an ethnicity as well? But Christianity is shared among many...so are ALL Christians of one ethnicity or are Catholics and Protestants two distinct ethnic groups as well as religious groups?



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