Why I Despise (and Refuse to Use) Hyphenated Titles

Anybody who knows me or who has been following my blog knows that one of the things I hate most in this politically-correct, "don't hurt anyone else's feelings!" world in which we live is the use of hyphenated titles.

I despise them. Period. And I will not use them. Period.

So just what do I have against hyphenated titles and why do I hate them so much, you ask? Well, it's very simple, and I can sum it all up in one word:

LOYALTY.

I'm an American, first and foremost. I put absolutely nothing else in my personal and family history above that. I was born in America, and there is nothing more dear to me, more important to me, and more meangingful to me than being an American above all else. I owe no higher loyalty to anywhere or anyplace else other than America, because this is the land of my birth and the land which has made it possible for me to live the free life that I have.

Sure, I could use a hyphenated term to describe myself like some parts of our society are hell-bent and determined on using. I was born in the South, so I could call myself a Southern-American...but I won't. Both of my parent's families originated in Scotland, so I could call myself a Scottish-American...but I won't. My father's mother's maiden name was Martin, so I could call myself an Irish-American...but I won't.

I won't use any of these self-professed, hyphenated titles for one simple reason: a hyphenated title places a higher importance and therefore a higher loyalty to the first word in the title, and to me there is NOTHING more important than my status as an American, and I have no higher loyalty to anything than that.

To me, somone who uses the title of "African-American" is telling me that they're more loyal to Africa than they are to America. Unless you were born in Africa, you hae no business using that title. (We can already see that you're black, genius. You don't need a title to tell us that.) Same thing with "Hispanic-Americans," "Asian-Americans," "Italian-Americans," "Irish-Americans," "Arab-Americans," or any other damned thing you can think of. If you're so damned proud of being something other than just a plain, old American and hold a higher loyalty to a land which you probably have never even visited much less been born in, then I suggest you jump your ass on an airplane and fly the hell out of America and go live in Africa, or Japan, or Mexico, or Ireland, or Scotland, or Italy, or wherever else you think is more important than America.

As for me, I'm an American, plain and simple.

And that's good enough for me.

IHC