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yeah, its weird. hurricane sandy, for example, attracted 100x the attention in swedish media. heck, they even had a field day and live-cam from that event. we gotta be the US-wannabe country #1 - all the way down to the extreme advocation of multiculturalism and rampant political correctness. its embarassing. you wouldn't hear many swedes admit to it, though.
Swedish TV is big on publicizing US tragedies. Often subtly implying that the tragedies are due to a lack of zoning laws, construction being allowed in flood-prone areas, and other failures of the US system, and the dominance of anything-for-a-buck capitalism over common sense and public safety. There's an agenda there...
I think there´s some kind of unconcious prejudice against Eastern European countries, or anything connected with Russian in general in western europe. About Latvia they have a problem, which is their "branding" is very bad or non existent. I lived there for 4 months, and it´s something they are trying to recover, check this study and FB page
. Also, Latvia is joining euro next year and Riga becoming european capital of culture so they are changing. They are a small country with few population, about 2 milion (although they are the biggest of Baltic states, and the trully baltic state, in identity ( Lithuania is more catholic/south europe and Estonia more finnish). Latvia is also the more "russified" state of them all due to it´s geostrategic location to the former URSS (which mean about 30/40% pop is russian origin).
But anyway, i do agree. if this happen in bigger and richer country, it would have more much exposition in media. But anyway in Portugal it had a good impact in media.
I think that channels in Europe must show more about Eastern Europe. It is discriminative not do it. They are in Europe for 2 decades, so if you let them become your part, you should care for them.
And there must be more actors from these countries in Europen and Hollywood films. We had famous Lithuanian actors in the USSR, so why French do not invite them also.
Muscovite, you need to understand that there is an "old Europe" and then there is a "new Europe."
The "European Union" is not going to change that - I don't think so.
HockeyAndRugby
Because Europe is a UNION. And if people live in the same union, they should know more about each other.
The EU is not the former Soviet Union. People can decide for themselves what they should. They do not need you or any government agency to decide that for them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Muscovite
Maybe my propose about actors was very provoking, but my propose about TV-programs is realistic.
Maybe in the former Soviet Union, not in a free society.
What I am especially appalled at is that even here in Scandinavia, which is as close to the Baltic States as you can get in Western Europe, those 3 countries are largely ignored and people dont even care what the differences is between them. To confuse Estonia with Latvia or Lithuania or to think that they are Slavic is absurd, especially considering how close we are to them.
When I went to Lithuania in the summer, some thought I was going to Latvia, and some thought I was going to Estonia, it's incredible how stupid and ignorant people can be about countries that are so close to us.
If I was going to France though I am very sure that pretty much no one would confuse it with going to neighboring Germany or the Netherlands, cause people in Sweden like the rest of "western Europe" knows about those places and what the differences are, but they dont know about our nearest neighbors in the east (except Poland).
Lithuania was a great country to visit by the way, too bad that only I and someone else was probably the only Swedes on the ferry (the rest was mostly Lithuanians, many of them guest workers going home).
Last edited by Helsingborgaren; 11-30-2013 at 03:00 PM..
The EU is not the former Soviet Union. People can decide for themselves what they should. They do not need you or any government agency to decide that for them.
Maybe in the former Soviet Union, not in a free society.
I don't think he is even familiar with the life in the Soviet Union - he is too young for that.
This is not his "Soviet mentality" speaking here, but the goodness of his Russian nature, void of hypocrisy.
What he is basically saying, is that since the West was so concerned about the "liberation of Baltic countries from Russian oppression," why is it not treating these people as their equal, once they are liberated?
So he is coming with suggestions how to patch things up, probably not believing/realizing the deeply-seated contempt and resentment that "Old Europe" has for "New Europe."
And that's what we are trying to warn Ukrainians about, ( yeah, resident Ukrainian nationalist here ) including))))
If I was going to France though I am very sure that pretty much no one would confuse it with going to neighboring Germany or the Netherlands, cause people in Sweden like the rest of "western Europe" knows about those places and what the differences are, but they dont know about our nearest neighbors in the east (except Poland).
What you ignore, intentionally ignore I am inclined to think, is that both Germany and France are large economies with a huge impact on Europe. How many Swedes can tell the difference between Austria and Switserland? What can they tell you about Liechtenstein?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by erasure
What he is basically saying, is that since the West was so concerned about the "liberation of Baltic countries from Russian oppression," why is it not treating these people as their equal, once they are liberated?
How exactly should we treat them to show that they are equals? In Holland we do not spend much media coverage on them. but hey, neither do we on Sweden, Norway, Switserland, Portugal, Finland and so many many other countries.
What a lot of people seem to ignore over and over is that the media concentrates on countries with a large impact (politically and economically) and also on direct neighbouring countries.
What I am especially appalled at is that even here in Scandinavia, which is as close to the Baltic States as you can get in Western Europe, those 3 countries are largely ignored and people dont even care what the differences is between them. To confuse Estonia with Latvia or Lithuania or to think that they are Slavic is absurd, especially considering how close we are to them.
When I went to Lithuania in the summer, some thought I was going to Latvia, and some thought I was going to Estonia, it's incredible how stupid and ignorant people can be about countries that are so close to us.
If I was going to France though I am very sure that pretty much no one would confuse it with going to neighboring Germany or the Netherlands, cause people in Sweden like the rest of "western Europe" knows about those places and what the differences are, but they dont know about our nearest neighbors in the east (except Poland).
Lithuania was a great country to visit by the way, too bad that only I and someone else was probably the only Swedes on the ferry (the rest was mostly Lithuanians, many of them guest workers going home).
hm.... It seems that those countries were locked away behind a curtain for so long, that people kind of forgot about them (or considered them part of Russia). Then when the curtain suddenly dropped, people's geography knowledge didn't catch up with the new reality. I wonder what the schools are teaching about that region.
To each her own, from what I have seen, West Europeans and first world countries in general dont care about poorer countries. The only exception are the African babies with flies buzzing on them & them walking bare foot. Other than that, there will not be much coverage.
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