The most central characteristic of whiteness is a belief in racism. It feels disingenuous because there is no white race other than what we’ve constructed socially for political purposes. English culture exists, Latvian culture exists, Russian culture exists, many American cultures exist, and white culture doesn’t exist and never has.

I’m gonna talk out my ass for a minute, I haven’t actually done any focused reading on most of the tidbits I’m about to discuss. Just putting together a lot of disconnected thoughts and anecdotes I’ve collected over the years

I’m remembering that the phrase “white pride” only exists in imitation of the phrase “black pride” and the accompanying explanation for why one is absolutely not at all problematic while the other is unabashedly supremacist. That explanation being that “black” references the culture common to that group of people which, in the case of American black people, can’t really be narrowed down to any one country. While it can be narrowed down (mostly) to one continent, that still represents a fifth of the Earth’s land-area and therefore includes a lot of cultures that don’t have anything in common.

So, “black culture” then is a sort of (the word I’m about to use may be problematic, I don’t know, it makes sense in my head but I’m white and have no idea how it might feel to have someone else describe me this way) “prosthetic” culture. I’m thinking, because they did lose a real part of themselves but, because there are so many others with the same culture-esque background in America, the phrase “black culture” refers to a real thing that exists.

Now, the other direction. “White culture” is problematic because, what culture is it that “white” people share? People who are “white” have a cultural history already, they don’t need a prosthetic. I know I come from something vaguely Scots-Irish. If I could be bothered to look into that more, I could surely find clubs, celebrations, or whatever kind of pageantry I wanted to validate that identity. But what cultural history do I have in common with this other random “white” person who it turns out is actually Romanian?

And that brings me to the best bit! Take all the people who are considered “white” today, put them in a room and have them discuss with each other, looking for the single attribute that their culture shares with the most other cultures in that room. I would guess (totally out my ass here, I have no idea) that the one thing most cultures have in common today even the ones currently considered “white” is that they used to be persecuted for their non-whiteness.

I don’t have any numbers for that. I’m just thinking about how, for example, Italians didn’t used to be “white”, Irish people didn’t used to be “white”, or Romanian people are still kind of struggling to be considered “white”. Or we could take it another way, Jews aren’t “white” regardless of their skin color (though of course the state of Israel is likely to sterilize anyone whose skin is too dark…) and I remember a stereotype about Catholics that sure seemed to fit in the category of non-“white”.

So, now I don’t remember what the subject of the post I’m writing this in was…

Pete Seger, Bob Dylan, canoeing, mountain biking, maple syrup, bonfire keg partys, red, saggy barns.

Adipose exceptionalism, tired and broken down.

White… culture? What? White isn’t even a thing. We have Western culture. There is no reason for culture to respect boarders of nations in the digital age. We are melding more and more. We can see the Gaza genocide for what it is from first person accounts. We can’t be propagandandized to nearly as easily anymore.

Ehhh, I don’t think there is a unifying “white” culture.

Plenty of regional cultures that are predominantly white, and definitely city level ones, but that’s different from a “white culture”.

Hell, it’s hard to even say there’s am American culture because it’s just so damn big. Even regional cultures, like the general southern culture I came up in, I can’t say is a single one. There’s to much different between adjoining counties sometimes, and states can be even further apart.

If I point to the Appalachian culture I’m also a part of, you can’t really rely on that as much as you’d think, because five hundred miles in the mountains is a huge barrier to culture connections, even though much of the population shares common ancestry that informs the local cultures.

So, nah, I can’t buy the idea of “white” culture any more than I can any singular racial culture. They just don’t work when in reality, though they’re temping on paper.

Shit, even “ethnic” cultures vary too much between specific cities to rely on them translating fully, so why would arbitrary skin color groupings? The Irish folk here in the hills have kept and/or adapted the culture of their ancestors different than those in Boston, or New Orleans, or New York. Just looking at my maternal and paternal families, there’s enough differences that I wouldn’t give credence to an Irish, Scots-Irish or German culture being fully passed down in the same way.

The UK is way smaller than the US, and every city has its own distinct culture. Some are big enough cities that there’s multiple versions in each one.

If I had to lay claim to a national culture of the US, it would have to be adaptability. The overall culture of the US is to take what comes here and mix it around until it sticks. And that’s not a very distinct thing at all.

To me, white American culture is capitalism.

The culture in my family that survived americanization is slovak and Hungarian in nature. My mother failed to pass most of the culture her grandmother tried to pass to her, so I’m doing my best to return to my roots.

I commune with the old gods, Mokosh, Veles and Dazhbog. I try to listen to the world and take cues in action from nature. I practice herbalism, rejecting western medicine for most purposes.

As a white American myself I define it as a lot of things. It’s mostly European in origin. Things country music, burgers and fries, flannel shirts, line dancing and the Beach Boys are just some things that scream white Americana.

Apparently it has something to do with confusing there/they’re/their.

My culture has nothing to do with my skin color

As a white American male, not once have I considered my own “white American” culture. Kind of hard to wrap my head around the idea. Maybe because I don’t at all relate to what I would consider “white America” - like country music, corn fields, guns, fear of others, etc. So, yeah, there’s a diversity of white American culture across the country.

I also don’t have any emotional connection to the places my ancestors were born. So, at the same time, I reject stereotypical white American culture and my own heritage.

My culture is my family, my friends, my community and the things we do to pass the time and to strive to be better neighbors. It’s not based on color, or nationality, or heritage. It’s more about zip code than anything else.

But I recognize I’m in the minority. A lot of my friends are really into football and tailgating, etc. That’s not something I’ve been able to go all-in on. It seems cultish to me and I like to keep my head above ground.

Personally, I’ve never had a strong desire to fit in or belong to a group. I enjoy the freedom of flexibility and decision making based on my own lived experiences rather than the experiences of others.

To your point about ethnic events, the greatest thing about the US is the diverse culture. I would hate to be part of a monoculture like you find in the vast majority of other countries. It feels a bit like indoctrination to me.

My culture’s cuisine

I remember fondly the image of my father, just come in from a cold new england winter, snow on his beard and cheese log on his shoulder

Works boots, denim, beer, God and NASCAR in reverse order

I grew up in the south.

Sunday dress was a thing. Modern day, it may not have been as special because you didn’t wear the same two outfits all year. But it’s still different from funeral and wedding attire.

Sunday meals were special too. Maybe we didn’t always go out for food after church, but guarantee there was BBQ involved. If not BBQ, then fried, and/or with a salad filled with carbs and mayo.

Uh, speaking of Sunday, you could say being a Christian is a big cultural thing. My family rebelled a bit, we were Catholic.

Don’t bother Daddy while he’s watching his sports. Don’t put more work on mommy (no dirty clothes, keep your shoes clean). Mowing the lawn takes all day because we live in the boonies (or you don’t have a lawn because you live in a triplex).

All holidays are Christian. And you spend them with extended family.