Reply to Is “WASP” culture still a thing?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I grew up in New England and this was a really big thing for my grandparents (and presumably their parents).  They were not wasps.  And boy did they feel it.  One of the reasons I wanted to leave New England was to get away from this narrowness.  Wasp culture is one variation of white privilege. Among many of us who arrived after the mayflower, other forms of this privilege exist.  For example, while my grandfather felt discriminated against and remembered the "Irish need not apply" signs in Boston, it is crazy for me to feel any kind of ethnic discrimination at this point.  I went to their schools and I work in a field they dominated for decades, if not centuries.

I'm glad this has changed.  There are some things about "wasp culture" that are useful - like being frugal, not talking about money.   Good manners. (But, remember -- They used a yardstick of who your family was and when they got here instead.  So still pressure to measure up, show status.)  Preppy style is cute and fun and adopted around the world from Japan to Italy.   I have yet, though, to really see the utility of the mindset overall - it is fundamentally exclusive and limiting.

I do have one question - do they all still vote republican?  Two summers ago, we were on nantucket and four young men wearing navy trump t-shirts paraded around.  It was distressing to see how many old boys on the street (and in the restaurant where they ate) chatted them up and welcomed them with open arms.

All to say, I don't feel that my ancestors, who cleaned houses, cared for grounds, sorted the mail, and worked in mills had any less to do with building this country (and are any less distinguished) than the mythical WASP forebearers and "founding fathers" (another crazy term).  There is great dignity in doing one's work, caring for one's family and making opportunity for others.  And furthermore, the cotton that powered the mills in New England that the WASPs owned was picked by slaves in the South.

It is total insanity to glorify this culture.  
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Well, you know, the Boston Irish weren't exactly nice to the African Americans either. While the liberal WASPs were behind much of the New Deal and supporting the 1960s Civil Rights movement and integrating their private schools, the Boston Irish were rioting at busing AA students into their neighborhood schools.....

Just pointing this out to show the division of cultural groups into all good and all bad is pointless.

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