I’ve been trying to pin point exactly why I find Americans asserting “I’m Irish” etc to be so weird and I think the issue for me is that America treats genetics as identity.

Like, it treats genetics as culture. It reduces ethnicity to a question of genes.

To be fair, if your grandmother spoke Italian at home and you have a family recipe for pasta sauce then yeah sure you can celebrate that and that does form part of your identity.

But the “my great great great great grandfather came from Ireland therefore I support the IRA for reasons of tribal loyalty” that’s the part I find weird. It reminds me of supporting a football team.