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This was one area I took issue with his post. I can tell you that things definitely feel more dangerous here. To me it's not even close, and I live in the "safest" major city in Brasil. SP actually has a lower murder rate than Chicago now, but he was referring to Recife, which is one of the most violent major cities in the country. Using this data (sorry, it's in Portuguese) you'll see Recife had 1,321 murders in 2001, for a homicide rate of 85 per 100k. Comparatively, Detroit had a rate of 33.8, Baltimore 36.9 and New Orleans 63.8 (which was the most violent year in NO since 1999 at least). For comparison's sake, Chicago's rate was 18.0 and that was the most violent year of the past decade. Brasil offers tons of awesome, awesome things and I think it's a great country overall...however its safety/feeling of safety is not one of them.
Fair enough, tmac9, I take no issue with that.
By the way... does SP and Recife have as many percentage wise fine looking women as Rio?
This guy's H1-B visa application must have been rejected or something.
America is the greatest country in the world. For every European weenie that doesn't want to live here, there are 10 that do, particularly the racial minorities that don't have 1/10th the opportunity there that they would have here.
The article is right. and nothing short of the dissolution of the united states will fix many of these.
Yes, we really should dissolve the US over fast service in restaurants (which, for every one I've been in I've probably been in at least one other with lousy service), and too much smiling.
I find that most of the people agreeing with that article and acting like Europe is perfect are pretty much spoiled brats with first world problems. So you get your food quickly and people smile at you, big deal.
I'm not a jingoistic "love it or leave it" type by a long shot (I'm actually a very big admirer of British culture), but the fact is that every country is different. Isn't that the point of the world? To have different cultures instead of everybody being a carbon copy of Europe. I would argue that the writer of that article and the people agreeing with them are actually Eurocentric to an extent. The U.S. isn't perfect, but I assure you that Europe isn't even close to perfect either.
Yes Europe is better in a lot of regards. But individual European countries come nowhere near close to the U.S. in terms of diversity. How many of those European countries do you think could have given birth to Ragtime, Jazz, Soul, Rock, Country, Bluegrass, Gospel, Folk, R&B, Hip-Hop, Neo Soul, and Techno? The diversity and cultures in the U.S. destroys anything you'll find in any single European country.
Last edited by UTHORNS96; 05-29-2013 at 08:24 AM..
My point is that the European Union has a larger economy then the US. Many other countries exceed the US in all kinds of things. Yet you still see typical Americans, jumping up and down, waving an American flag in everybody else's face, yelling "We're the greatest, we're the greatest". We don't know why we're greatest, but we're the greatest. And of course staying clueless as to why this type of behavior is a turn off to the rest of the world.
Yawn.
As intelligent as you Europeans claim to be (assuming you're actually even European) you sure are relying a lot on silly old stereotypes to make your argument.
I agree with the article for the most part. I haven't really spent much time in Ireland, so I can't say whether I'd like it better than the USA. It seems cold, damp, and with fewer economic opportunities. It also seems a little bit monocultural and I'd be worried about racism. On the plus side, I hear Ireland has great surf, though the water is cold.
As for the rest of Europe; people do seem to have less but be happier than typical Americans. In my experience, the French think they're the center of the world as much as the Americans and Chinese do, but all three countries have major faults and none of them are my favorite.
The Dutch and Germans seem to have a really good work-life balance, where they are gainfully employed and have solid economies, but also have time to enjoy life and a society that allows most people to get along quite well.
Greeks, Italians, and Spaniards all seem to have too much "life" in the work-life balance. Their societies don't seem quite as functional, and you can kind of see this in the current economic situation.
Then there's a whole bunch of '"middlin" countries like Austria, Switzerland, Slovakia, Hungary, etc. I've got likes and dislikes about all of them, suffice to say non are my favorite.
Overall, I think I might be a little happier in a place like the north coast of Spain, or in a society like that of Belgium or the Netherlands, but I don't really care for European geography. There are countries in Asia which I prefer to both Europe and the USA.
I'm surprised the author didn't feel unsafe in America, and add that to his list. That was my biggest surprise about going abroad--how safe everything feels compared to the USA. Maybe it's just because I don't read the local news in other countries as much, but it seems like crime rates are lower and crimes are less serious in most other countries. Coming back to the USA after a long time abroad, I'm always suddenly hit by the thought that now--instead of pickpockets, theives, or scams--I have to worry about getting shot to death, instead.
Yes Europe is better in a lot of regards. But individual European countries come nowhere near close to the U.S. in terms of diversity. How many of those European countries do you think could have given birth to Ragtime, Jazz, Soul, Rock, Country, Bluegrass, Gospel, Folk, R&B, Hip-Hop, Neo Soul, and Techno? The diversity and cultures in the U.S. destroys anything you'll find in any single European country.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but the US is in the middle as far as diversity goes. No where close to number 1, and yes some European countries are more diverse then the US. Nice try though.
As intelligent as you Europeans claim to be (assuming you're actually even European) you sure are relying a lot on silly old stereotypes to make your argument.
Um, I never said I was European.
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And of course staying clueless as to why this type of behavior is a turn off to the rest of the world.
Um, I never said I was European.