"Out of Place" by Hypenated American Standards

I've been knocking some ideas around in my head about this novel and what it truely means to be "out of place", either within a country, within social standards, and/or even within familial relations. I find the Edward/"Edward" dynamic interesting (and I will kill myself for mentioning this, but I feel that blogs are here for us to spill out thoughts with disregard to find our paths to intellectual enlightenment through developing connections between ourselves and the culture that rules us. Us, being Americans, are hopelessly infatuated with pop culture whether we find it vulgar or otherwise. Stating that, can I interject a monkeywrench and say that I can't help but think of the friggin' Twilight saga whenever I see Edward and "Edward" pop in my head? I'm not a Twilight fan AT ALL but I can't seem to get away from it and I know it probably may work with what I'm trying to work out in my mind in regarda to feeling and even embodying the notion of being "in" or "out" of a place). Wow, that's a long tangent, but I'll see what I can do.
I'll begin with the hypenated "-American" aspect that I came across while surfing the net on my mobile while awaiting test results at my doctor's office. I found an article that I found somewhat intellectually stimulating regarding the memoir and the correlation between the US's relationship with the Middle East in the wake of 9/11. Now, the article (the website I will post at the end of my train of thought, so as to not get lost on the way to hopefully finding some sort of understanding) names a few instances in which being an Arab-American in the wake of 9/11 is to be completely cut off from the overall culture (the music, the art, the language, the various religious customs, etc.) so as to conform to ultimate American-ness, and yet be completely cut off from the American side of that hypenation, either by choice or by outside force. The article has an interesting quote that is published at an interesting time: in April 2003, a quote shows up stating that "Now is the best time to be Arab-American". Not even 2 years after 9/11 and barely a few days after the fall of Baghdad, after hardships have arisen among those Arab natives as well as American-born descendents of Arabs, and its the best time to be Arab-American? I'm not so sure, but then again I'm not at all political, so who knows, maybe certain backlash and hardships makes the heart... well, heartier. I find this puzzling, as Said's memoir seems so melancholic in juxtaposition to that statement. Being "Out of Place" in so many cultures is the integral theme of the book, yet this statement seems to sort of call attention to both aspects of the hypenation despite the fact that now these people were targets, especially in the wake of 9/11. As "Americans" the hypenated bunch are to reject their native culturebut the ghost of "Arab" still looms above them and they are isolated from American culture. No matter what, they are out of place among the familiar and the distantly familiar, a reconciliation that seems out of reach. Does this seem like a good time to be anything that is torn from the roots of existing as a cultural driving force, and yet divided and obliterated within the realm of social commentary? I suppose it can be debated amongst those that debate what is P.C. or not (ie. America is for everyone, but not those who threaten the idea of an established America, and we will racially profile anyone who remotely looks like our idea of a terrorist through our mysterious "findings"). And I find it funny how now such things are ingrained in our pop culture, Bin Laden parodied on South Park and Family Guy as well as other satires, so as to perpetuate the idea of separating yet combining fundamental ideas through stereotypes, a common ground for everybody. The only thing is, how can we get rid of the hyphen and the adjective of a distinguishing nationality and become one nationality under a single umbrella moniker? Or, does this concept only apply to winning gold medals at the Olympic Games? Oh, is that my inner voice?
Here is the article website just in case you wanted to look over it: http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-16192242/edward-said-out-place.html