“Own up to the fact that, to the best of your knowledge, no significant part of you is Norwegian.”
That was the ultimate advice of Kwame Anthony Appiah, the Times’ ethics advice columnist, to an inquirer who discovered from taking one of those genealogy tests that a Norwegian family he had visited abroad on the assumption that they were relatives weren’t really related to him at all. There was some chicanery around his father’s real progenitor, or something. Prof. Appiah’s questioner wanted to know if he was obligated to tell those nice Norwegians who he enjoyed so much and who were so kind and loving to him that he was mistaken: he had no Viking blood in him at all.
Of course you do, quoth The Ethicist. That was an easy call. How could one reach any other conclusion? Meanwhile, I see no reason to ever take a 23andMe, Ancestry or one of the other tests. I’m perfectly happy with what I know, or think I know, about my genetic history, and it’s not important to me in any event. I’m the same whether I’m related to Agamemnon, Red Cloud, or Jack the Ripper. These tests are a bi-product of the sick and divisive tribal obsession inflicted on the culture by the political Left.
Still, I guess I have to own up to the fact that, to the best of my knowledge, no part of me is Norwegian either.
It sure feels good to finally get that off my chest.
Ethics Alarms 
I cannot say the same. My grandmother had ancestors from Norway — she went there to visit them, I want to say maybe 1960 or so? Somewhere my sister has some newspaper clips on it.
I think our ancestry is somewhat over 50% Irish, English, some Norwegian, and I think some Scots. I.e. we’re mutts, like most Americans.
I’m not going to completely buy in on the divisiveness theory, although I see where it would come from…
The Lovely Lady Carolyn and I both did an ancestry.com search because we wanted to see if results were the same as we had received from familysearch.org (which is the genealogy site actually run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). Indeed it was, and come to find out that Ancestry (based in Provo) does some collaborations with the church, which places high value on genealogy (and I’m not here to argue the reasons why… just to note that they do…). There was a rumor that it was owned by the Church, but that is not true.
We found out that we are indeed NOT Norwegian (but we never thought we were), but The Lovely Lady Carolyn learned a lot about her colonial era ancestors who settled in central Connecticut… My family on my dad’s side had a well-tracked tree (I’m a Steeves from Petitcodiac Valley New Brunswick, tracing to there since 1766), but both Ancestry and Familysearch filled in a lot of empty spaces on my mothers side….
Jack wrote, “I see no reason to ever take a 23andMe, Ancestry or one of the other tests. I’m perfectly happy with what I know, or think I know, about my genetic history, and it’s not important to me in any event. I’m the same whether I’m related to Agamemnon, Red Cloud, or Jack the Ripper. “
I completely agree.
My known segments of ancestry are mostly Scottish and little English through paternal grandfather, lots of English through paternal grandmother and maternal grandfather, and English and Cherokee through maternal grandmother. I’m a real American mutt too and damned proud to be one. My wife’s ancestry is almost 100% Norwegian.
What’s most important to me is that I am a born citizen of the United States of America, an American and can be linked through my paternal grandfather all the way back to the signing of the declaration of Independence and beyond that to the Scottish Royal family of Robert the Bruce.
We have been leaders and fighters throughout history that have been willing to put our lives at risk for what we believe. I support the United States of America, the Constitution, our Freedom and Liberty and I will defend it with all I am until I’m incapable of doing so.
Was the Rev. John Witherspoon among your ancestors?
Jack Marshall wrote, “Was the Rev. John Witherspoon among your ancestors?”
Yup, he’s in the family tree too.
Cool!
I have German and Norwegian blood in me, based on knowledge of how my ancestors got here and what my grandparents told me. As I recall, my great-grandmother on my dad’s side spoke with a German accent.
Your statement about the test being part of “the sick and divisive tribal obsession inflicted on the culture by the political Left” was something I had never considered, but the logic fits. I have never taken one of those tests and don’t intend to.
My own interest in DNA testing a few years ago came out of efforts to untangle some ancestral mysteries related to several similarly-named members of families from about five generations ago. It was mere curiosity more than anything else.
There are a lot of interesting stories in the histories of most families; how they came here, survived, endured and prospered. Of course most of my knowledge of family history came from old-fashioned genealogical research my mother began in the early 1980s, way before DNA was even available as a tool. I already knew the big picture aspects of my ancestry, and nothing about the DNA results was a big surprise.
I have known a few people who were crushed to discover through DNA testing that great grandma was not a Cherokee princess, or that great-great grandpa was of illegitimate birth, or that no ancestor came over on the Mayflower. I take no responsibility for, nor hubris or guilt from, the actions of my ancestors, other than the satisfaction of knowing they were wise/tough/lucky enough to get to America, to survive and perpetuate the family lines that made my existence possible.
There was certainly no “tribal obsession” involved; indeed I would have a hard time choosing a genetic tribe given my English, Irish, Scots, German, French and Swedish roots.
I established my identity to my own satisfaction many years ago, and no DNA test -or other genealogical revelation- would cause me to reconsider that.
With regard to visiting again, I guess I’d ask the question does everybody involved know the family history involved? No reason not to enjoy visiting “relatives” unless there’s a severe or mutual dislike, or those relatives are so far off the map that they’re literally strangers (he said he’s talked to them before – I don’t subscribe, but I took screen shots while it displayed a clear screen!).
And even if they are strangers, maybe some new friends were made under a weird circumstance. Who knows.
While our culture certainly has a sick and divisive tribal obsession of late, I think the ancestry thing is a useful tool to see where some of your ancestry might lie, and where the bones are buried, so to speak. I wonder how many people can trace past the great grandparents. I’d like to know more, but I’ve not undertaken the research. One of these days….
My kids know that their grandfather was by marriage (at the age they were able to reason on such things) and that the other “grandfather” was a bit of a hoodlum and scofflaw (that information was provided to them at a later age).
Families (and people generally) like to bury the unpleasant parts of life, or maybe not acknowledge the painful parts, but they are there, and I think ignoring them completely causes the issue at hand here.
I’m of a mind that nearly all of us are a wreck of some stature, and nobody gets off easy. At a minimum, we’re all a work in progress.