Hyphen

DocBrain may have blogged on this before, but in the wake of our President declaring himself an African-American, a restatement is in order.

DocBrain is offended by anyone who uses the format *-American to describe himself. A person can have only one supreme master philosophy or value system. That value system ideally should be tied to the country in which you are a citizen. Any other attributes should be of secondary importance. This is particularly true in America (see my prior post).

So, how should a person define himself? First of all, as an American. Then, if you wish, some superficial designation of lesser significance.

• American-African not African-American
• American-Jew not Jewish-American
• American-Christian not Christian-American
• American-Muslim not Islamic-American
  
• American-White not White-American
• American-Gay not Gay-American
• American-Steeler Fan not Steeler Fan-American
  

Your primary overriding loyalty should be to your country, especially one that allows you the freedom to be the second part of your designation.