alternatehistory.com

I found this thread.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AsianParen...u10/asian_parents_especially_first_generation

And with a bit of research inspired from reading that I came across this.

http://www.janiechang.com/blog/there-is-no-filial-piety-in-america

As someone of half Hispanic origin (specifically my paternal father came from Nicaragua), I recognized everything the reddit poster and the blog states. I hear from much of my Latino extended family about how kids in America are so rude, how many American white kids would get smacked in the face for their behavior back at home, etc.

However like the reddit post, I also hear comments that assume Americans were always the rude rebel type such as "people here must be rude because the country was founded by spoiled brats who didn't respect their family's wishes and were too greedy to pay taxes" (in reference to the Revolution) and stuff of that nature. Some of my relatives even frequently make comments about how they cannot believe George Washington was such a obedient child who decided not to enlist in the Navy because he didn't want to hurt his mother's feelings and such in accurate movies and biopics documentaries.

Even than historical works of fiction often show Americans as individualist minded who have no qualms about rebelling against the family as seen in Westerns and business themed movies.

I am wondering why this image of "rude disrespectful" and "rebel bad boy" Americans have come to dominate to the point so many people assume Americans never knew the concept of the 5th Commandment: "Honor they mother and Father"?

I mean for Christ sake the first truly (non-Indian) American religion, Mormonism, is so big on family structure and filial piety that it ranks only second to faith in God and the LDS church and there was a time certain sects within Mormonism actually expected followers to kill their children for disrespect (a crime only reserved for apostasy, blasphemy, murder, and rape).

If the first natively created white man's religion was so big on filial piety, how did America come to be a nation that historically was always "rebels and badboys"?

In particular how come WASP is the biggest target of this assumption? I mean The Godfather portrays Italian Americans as being the embodiment of filial piety but many of the WASP are shown as independent minded (particularly Michael's love Kay). Even though this was still a period of relative conservatism where bad manners on the dining table warrant a slap from your Methodist Grandma. The American Tale also portrays Russian immigrants in the same manner too.


I have seen many accounts in the past did indeed match the first link not just from my neighbors but in historical diaries and writings by Southerners during the Antebellum and Civil War periods that matches the reddit links description of expected manners towards the parents and elderly.

Its not just the South, many cowboy and homesteaders had a "Confucianesque" sort of family structure and respect for your legal guardians as I started reading about Texas, Wyoming, and especially Utah and their social history.

Its not gone either. I live near the Appalachian and man I have never seen people so subservient to their elders (not just ma and pa but grandma, great uncle Chuck, etc). You'd think you were living in China with the way they treat elders with reverence.

Can any body explain how America got so entwined with rebellion, independence, and standing up against parents that people assume the country was always like this (and why many historical movies, novels,etc inaccurately show people like this even in time period and regions where family structure and the 5th commandments was strong)?
Top