Manufacturers love labels. Sometimes they're required by law. But we are inundated with immense amounts of labels. Which is a curious thing. We are told, through the progressive attack hounds, that people are people and we should stop labeling them. They find the softer, kinder approach to grouping people into groups much more effective. For instance, it is offensive to call black people black. Which is kind of an insult because, unless you're color blind, the correlation of skin pigment to the absence of light (the definition of black), as a label is pretty dumb. If we merely labeled people of darker skin color "dark" this seems to me the correct label. Whenever I hear someone call someone else black it just doesn't make sense to me. Also, the use of the term "white" to label someone who is closer to almond color or light tan just seems to be even less intelligent. If we ever did see a person with white skin we would probably be pretty freaked out. Now, as far as genetics are concerned, and nationalities as well, skin color and the labels that come with them are based upon an ethnic makeup - usually. Myself, I'm a cross between a white male and a mother with a mixture of Mexican and Indian ancestry. As far as colors go I'm dark in the summer months and paler in the winter months. I guess I'm chameleon in nature. If I work outside for a good portion of the day, in July or August, in a typical Illinois heatwave, I get really dark. So how do I label myself? Am I black? No. That's just silly. Am I Mexican? I've been there a few times but I'm not really "Mexican". Am I Indian? I've never been to India but I have done some work for people from India. Which is no where near Indiana. I guess people from India that move to Indiana would be called Indiana Indians? I'm not really Irish except for the drops of blood that circulate through me from my grandfather's side. That would include German as well. I'm sure if I dug deep enough I would find even more origins within me. But I'm really a Mongrel. Now a mongrel, in dog terms, is pretty much a mutt. A dog which can't really be specifically labeled a "breed" due to the mixture of different breeds within them. Now, as far as labels go, I prefer the label Mongrel. Mutt gives one a label of insufficient breeding or just really common. "Look at that dog. Oh, you mean that mutt digging through the trash? Yeah, that mutt." But if you use the label Mongrel, in the dog world, it gives one the taste of almost breeding. "Geeves, is that a husky or a rottweiler digging through our trash? No sir, I do believe that mongrel is a mixture of the two. Thank you, Geeves. You may leave for your afternoon tea. Thank you sir. You are so kind." For really, mongrels are dogs that occur due to cross-breeding through a natural selective process.
In an imperfect world, a mongrel comes from dogs that were a particular breed but fell in love without a human intervention to prevent it. Mongrels are made strictly by the love that can't be stopped. Mutts are created because of dogs acting like dogs. ("Yo") So, my grandparents were probably mongrels themselves and my parents were definitely mongrels. I am merely the product of several generations of mongrels doing what mongrels do best. Am I German-American? No. Am I Indian-American? Technically, probably. But it's a stupid label. If my ancestors were already here then "technically" I've always been an "american" without any pretense to it. So, when I hear the label African-American I kinda think "stupid". Let's just face facts. I'm a chameleon-mongrel. And if that's what I am then it's what I am. If you're dark then you're dark. If you have parents directly from Africa but now live in the United States then you are an immigrant. Or son or daughter of an immigrant. If your grandparents lived here in the United States than you're pretty much a dark-american. What if you're parents parents weren't from the same African country? Then you're pretty much dark. We are what we are and I say let's just be honest about it. I guess the term "pinko" that was pretty popular several decades ago could be resurrected to label the newest babies that come from pure-breed Americans. But a pure breed American is really a contradiction in terms. My name is Rueuhy (the mongrel) and I approve this blog.
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