Well, my observation is that it’s not the same as in other places through North and South America. Canada yeah, South America, definitely not so much. I could see it in Argentina, where the migrant waves match a bit closer and you sometimes hear the Italian and Jewish diaspora bring it up a little more over time, but even then definitely not to the same degree, definitely not as universally identity-defining. And that’s Argentina. None of the other people from Central and South America I know ever hit me with their ancestry unprompted, but I know which of my US friends “are” Polish or Italian or Irish or whatever, almost without exception. It’s so bizarre.

And the argument isn’t “America bad”, by the way. I actually like Americans. I think the country itself is weird, but it’s not necessarily weird in ways its inhabitants are on board with, like I said. America is a weird country full of very normal, often quite charming people.

What I’m saying is this specific aspect of it doesn’t match that pattern. This is more transversally weird and people get more defensive about it.