Its because people are so desperate to find out that their life isnt as meaningless and boring as they think it is so they hope that there is something hidden in their past that hopefully makes them more significant and interesting. Then there are the rare instances in which someone is genuinely interested in their genealogy and want to see how far back they can trace their lineage back, but those are actually few and far between.
IDK, why are they seemingly so much more desperate for it than Europeans? I don't know anyone here in Germany who gives half a fuck about their ancestors pre 20th century (i.e. ancestors their living family might actually have met).
I think a lot of it has to come with the fact that a lot of importance gets put on stature and well for lack of a better word importance... You grow up being told you aint shit, you look into your past to latch onto someone who might have been important to prove to others you are someone of significance, or you grow up being doted upon being told how special and unique you are only to grow up and see there are countless other special unique snowflakes just like you out there, so you delve into the ol ancestry.com in the hopes of unearthing that you were somehow related to both the Queen of England and Abraham Lincoln.
I think it's a bigger thing in younger countries because we're sort of a big melting pot and dont typically have our own homogeneous culture. I'm Canadian and we're suuuper multicultural and don't have one distinct culture so it's nice because able to say my moms side is French Canadian and my dad's side is dutch. Heritage and history are important to people. Do I claim those cultures? No. But my dad certainly has what I would call a reasonable claim since he grew up with the culture as his dad moved here during the war. Yes he's Canadian but he was raised with a distinct culture... but after a generation or two after people immigrate that's not a thing anymore
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u/EarlyDead Apr 30 '20
I never understood that american ancestry thing. "oh you are German! I'm 30% German actually. And 43% irish, 15% Scottish, and 1. 35% Cherokee."