Mrs. Alito says she's "from Germany." She was born there while her dad was serving on an Air Force base. They moved back when she was a toddler.
Her parents were from Oklahoma & Kentucky. So for her to say "I'm from Germany" suggests a real deep reason to identify with something about that country
The University of Kentucky, from which she graduated, has said she was born at Ft Knox. The NYT, in a 2006 profile, says she was born at Ft Knox. No correction is appended.
(Incidentally, I was born in Weisbaden to parents passing through Germany and I have never once considered myself German.)
if she really was born here (I'll trust those papers; it's maybe likely she was born while he was over there, or they came back briefly, whatever) then it's REALLY wild for her to say "I'm from Germany"
I think it’s clear she means she is of German heritage, still a weird remark in this context, but many people who have German grand or great grandparents would describe themselves this way.
Yeah, and extra super weird for someone of German-American heritage to say. My grandpa Carl, who fought the Nazis, would reincorporate his cremated self to come kick my ass if I ever expressed a sentiment like that
I am reluctant to say this, but: her parents’ last names were Bomgartner and Auwaerter? Both sound very German to me. NOT that it’s especially relevant to her creepy behavior.
I used to be quick to joke about the German=Nazi thing, but after 80 years of Germans doing a LOT, legislatively and culturally, to repudiate Nazi-ism, to the point of curbing civil liberties to do so, the 'joke' doesn't make sense anymore.
Alito's stereotype is dumb. Another sign she's disturbed.
i wasn't about to look into her heritage because i don't care, but i got to that "i'm german, germans will fuck you up, you know what i mean!" was a little on-the-nose.
Her family name seems pretty germanic so maybe she was 2nd-3rd gen immigrant and it is a Thing of Americans to claim national traits and heritage that mean very little
Still tho
Weiiiird
I grew up in Chicago, where white ethnic lines still very much mean something, and you don't really hear people saying they're "from" somewhere unless they actually are. You get "my family is from" and "I'm [national identity]" but this...well, you really only see it from a certain kind of German.
Yeah, my grandma would say she's Irish, but it's her parents who were "from Ireland". She was from Boston. Same with my Scotch-Irish ancestors who managed to retain that identity for like twelve generations after arrival - they're all "from Kentucky" or "from Maine" or whatever.
Not to defend an unhinged asshole, but her parents’ names seem Germanic, & if she also was born there, it’s not that weird/fash for her to identify as being of German descent. (She’s certainly fascist in other ways, though.)
When I was younger I toyed with the idea of getting some tattoos to honor my heritage. Even in high school I knew a black eagle was off the table because of how guys with that kind of ink say "schwarzer." Theres a way of expressing German heritage thats the same as anyone else, and then there this.
My point is just that if she identifies this much with her German heritage she's had to think about it's connotations to Nazism, not the least of which because she has almost certainly encountered it in her own family. To do that and come back with a distinctly interwar German trait is a choice.
My family name is Germanic. My great grandfather spoke German. While I have often called our family Pennsylvania Dutch, I’ve never considered myself German.
Consdier the distinction between "i am irish", versus "I am from Ireland". the first implies ethnicity. The second implies nationality.
I am german, I have German ancestory. I am not from Germany. Its not my national identity.
Ms. Alito is claiming Germany as her National identity, not the US.
Hot take: her parents have oobviously German names. She was born in Germany. She identifies with it in some weird American way. Lots of people do. This is fine. It's not always about Nazis.
I'm also from middle Appalachia and a large part of my family on both sides have anglicized German surnames. I have nearly the same amount of time in Germany from my time and my parents time in the US military and have never, not once, referred to myself as German
She's full of shit.
I think people don't like Mrs. Alito for perfectly legitimate reasons, such as her being an insurrectionist and a bigot, and are now themselves engaging in anti-German bigotry to find additional reasons to dislike her.
Unnecessary.
As someone who grew up in almost every corner of the former Confederacy and dealt with racist assholes tying themselves in knots with plausible deniability bullshit. I do not blame folks for hearing dog whistles where there may not always be one.
Also the flag bullshit isn't new around here.
Anti-German bigotry? Maybe its the Bohunk half of me overpowering the German half, but that hasn't been a real thing in this country since the British Invasion.
The woman hangs with Nazis and brings up her heritage in a weird way, I don't need to see her copy of Mein Kampf to catch the smell.
