The Victimology of Hyphenated-Americanism

Is there any humor left in America? No, not today. We are so thin-skinned one has to wonder how we ever won any wars. To hear someone define themselves as a hyphen: Swedish-American, Hispanic-American, Muslim-American, African-American is limiting. Is there a tie-in between the expansion of the hyphen as a tool for segregating and separating Americans by skin color and by ethnicity, and the cult of victimology? By its very nature, the hyphen now attaches a sort of grievance, complaint persona to the hyphenated-person. And this wimpy victim persona and all of its associated traits as well as a litany of attached grievances place the hyphenated citizen behind before he even begins. Why is hyphenated-Americanism limiting and denigrating? When you address yourself as a hyphenated-American, you are attaching yourself knowingly or unknowingly to the stereotype that groups “in search of a victim” have imposed upon society-at-large. Whether the self-described hyphenated person knows it or not, that hyphen profiles him and saddles him with negative traits that foster the sense of victimhood. What hogwash? Victims who use the hyphen as the platform for their group identity and grievances automatically raise the "stereotypical" groupthink litany because, through the hyphen, special rights and privileges are attached. The hands-off, "special status", handle-with-kid-gloves sign goes up. The conversation and open communications stop. How can we as individual Americans, not hyphens, ever be able to discuss our problems and solve them as Americans? Hyphens don't solve problems and certainly do not move forward together; American citizens do. Pay attention to what is happening around you; listen and see how many groups do not use hyphens and, if the hyphen has been foisted on them, notice that the grievances do not attach. Generally, the non-hyphenated Americans do not seek "protected, special" status. They do not get their life's blood from being victims. They see themselves as Americans of different ancestry. They are part of the grand American experiment. What a terrible burden of un-American whining weakness has been placed on the backs of those identified with “victim, oppressed” groups through no desire of their own? In the “victim” groups, the good of the hyphenated group out weighs the importance of the individual? That is simply unconstitutional and un-American. Are you an American or a hyphen?