I have not heard that either. According to 23andMe, I'm in the 99th percentile for Neanderthal DNA variants and my ancestry report claims I'm a disappointingly un-diverse 99.9% European.
It's something odd. As if they are somewhat uncomfortable on their own skin. Shame is the wrong word, but i can't find the right descriptor. On the other hand, i think this points to social pressures that make people feel that way about themselves.
The most interesting result is the least expected result that doesn't include bad news. Outside relatively small circles, the vast majority of white people will lose none of their privilege or social position if they find out their ancestry includes something unexpected. It's clearly pretty widespread too, because all of the 23andMe advertising includes people ostensibly of European descent who find out they've got unexpected ancestry.
In US, varied ancestry is a norm if I'm not mistaken, so having a "pure" heritage makes you unique. In many countries it's the opposite - the default is "pure" heritage, and having varied background is what makes you stand out.
Also, from the health perspective, varied ancestry is better if I'm not mistaken. Kind of like pure breed animals being less healthy in general, compared to mixtures.
I'm 99.5% European (86% Eastern European), and 0.5% East Asian/Native American. I hoped for more varied ancestry when I received the results.
There's dignity in guilt, and it's essential for growth. You really don't seem to understand the human condition.
I... What does this even mean? Are you ashamed of your heritage?
I haven't done a DNA ancestry test yet, but I imagine I would be pretty happy to learn that there were several peoples/races?/cultures behind me, beyond my apparent South Asian heritage. This does not imply that I am ashamed of my origins - quite the contrary, in fact - but that I imagine it would be nice to ... be more, a citizen of the world, in a fashion.
I would expect this outlook of anyone with a cosmopolitan upbringing by default, as well as anyone who has exposed himself or herself to other cultures via media (books, movies, etc..).
Just take pride in who and what you are and where you came from.
I think one problem is that everyone has a different definition of the word 'pride'. Over here in Europe a lot of people think of pride as something you feels when you actively achieve something.
Ran a marathon? You can be proud of this!
You were born white/black/asian/... in France/Turkey/Spain? There is not much to be proud of, at the end of the day it's just pure luck who your parents are and in which culture you are born.
Schopenhauer said it best:
"The cheapest sort of pride is national pride; for if a man is proud of his own nation, it argues that he has no qualities of his own of which he can be proud; otherwise he would not have recourse to those which he shares with so many millions of his fellowmen.
The man who is endowed with important personal qualities will be only too ready to see clearly in what respects his own nation falls short, since their failings will be constantly before his eyes.
But every miserable fool who has nothing at all of which he can be proud adopts, as a last resource, pride in the nation to which he belongs; he is ready and glad to defend all its faults and follies tooth and nail, thus reimbursing himself for his own inferiority."
That said, I don't understand how I've can be "proud" of which country you were born in, makes no sense to me.
I guess it all depends where you draw the line, do you feel proud of your parents? Some people will say "No, I only feel proud about what I accomplished myself." And that's ok, that's his point of view, we could say this is a subjective matter, from my point of view, I feel proud of who I'm, I'm proud of my parents, and then I can extend that line and say I'm proud of my community, my city, my country, my civilization, I'm proud of being part of humanity, obviously that "proudness" will increase when that line is nearer to me, in other words the more relatable to myself the prouder I can be.
Only whites seem to have this internal conflict, and that makes far less sense than being proud of the society your people created.
It's Paddy's day on Saturday - how does that celebration square with your claim?
Also, to echo another commenter here, take the classic quote from Samuel Johnson: "patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel"
Also pride is considered to be the worst of the seven deadly sins for good reason. So tempting yet can be so poisonous.
Proud to be black or proud to be white.... Getting iffy depending on context. Of course, the opposite would be troublesome, ashamed to be black, or ashamed to be white.
I hope people feel their heritage is "cool" but I'd rather not have people feel their heritage or a different heritage is "better".
On the other hand, I feel that there are some societies that indeed contributed more to civilization than others. I don't think that's deniable. But I mean as a person one should not feel "better" or "worse" than any other person because of heritage.
As for feeling "better" I agree with you, only that pride is not necessarily a feeling of superiority. In most cases it is an acknowledgement of something related to the individual that he or she feels is inherently good. Not everyone associates good with better.
I did the same thing - my Ancestry test came back with a whole lot of "Western Europe" - even more than I expected, actually.
To find out (through a 23andMe report showing 99.9% Euro genes) it wasn't true was unsettling, like I'm not really who I thought I was and also have much less of a connection to the area. Also disappointed because it means someone in my family lied to all of us about where they came from.