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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This thread is interesting because I think if OP had written that she was a fourth generation immigrant from Japan or Argentina, people would be more supportive.

It's really normal to want a sense of belonging, and it can be hard to find in a country as multi-ethnic and multi-cultural as the US, especially if your own family has done little to give you a sense of place and belonging. I totally get wanting to feel a connection to your surroundings if you have a history like OPs -- an immigrant family with no real immigrant story, and then several generations of people just kind of wandering around the United States settling here and there, and then the next generations goes and finds another part of the country to settle in. I think that would feel very disconnected and lonely, and I can understand thinking that maybe you would get something out of moving to the last place where some part of your family was more permanent and settled.

I think people are bothered by the fact that OP is white and is looking for roots in her whiteness. But if someone in the same situation but Japanese told me "I'm thinking of trying to emigrate to Japan because I think I might feel a greater sense of belonging there than here," I'd totally get it. Sub in Germany for Japan. It's no different. I get it.[/quote]

I think, maybe because the US is so big and people don't travel internationally that much, that many Americans don't realize exactly what it means to be American.  As another poster put it, spend some real time in another country to learn what it means to be American and what it means to be from a different country and culture.

No, I don't think  people are bothered by the fact that OP is looking for roots in her Whiteness.  They are bothered by the fact that she has roots but doesn't like them and thinks she can manufacture them somewhere else.  That's not how it works.  She can certainly emigrate and be an ex-pat - but that won't mean that she has deeper roots there.  It means that she could put down roots there, if she wants; but she can also put down roots here, she just doesn't want to.  
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