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I'm always surprised when Europeans act surprised by how different the US culture is from their own country's culture, as if the US as a whole were merely an extension of Europe. In fact, they are so taken aback that they feel it necessary to make derogatory comments about America TO Americans; their need to smugly acknowledge their superiority over the supposedly "greatest country in the world" to too much for them to resist.
I can't imagine an American being so rude, ignorant, and classless as to visit a country and then proclaim to its inhabitants what's wrong with it. I guess we are taught better manners than that.
I don't think this description fits the majority of European visitors to the U.S. Of course, some people are very critical of anything that's different from home...so you'll always have a few that stand out. But most visitors I've met from Europe have been very nice and complimentary.
One of the most critical people I've encountered was a woman I worked with who was here from Melbourne. Nothing was good enough for her, and her favorite comment (in her most superior Australian accent) seemed to be, "Well in Melbourne we have ________." So those types can be from anywhere in the world.
I'm always surprised when Europeans act surprised by how different the US culture is from their own country's culture, as if the US as a whole were merely an extension of Europe. In fact, they are so taken aback that they feel it necessary to make derogatory comments about America TO Americans; their need to smugly acknowledge their superiority over the supposedly "greatest country in the world" to too much for them to resist.
I can't imagine an American being so rude, ignorant, and classless as to visit a country and then proclaim to its inhabitants what's wrong with it. I guess we are taught better manners than that.
There are rude American tourists too. I don't think it's that unusual for Americans in Europe to complain about how all the rooms are too small, that Europeans don't use air conditioning or heating as much as Americans do, that Europeans don't smile enough, etc. My Aunt described the Belgian relatives of her now ex-husband as cold horrible people and was amazingly rude to a Basque foreign-exchange student my parents took in. When I met the sister of her now ex-husband she was a perfectly pleasant woman, much moreso than her brother. She likely had changed a bit, but I think my Aunt maybe went to Europe with some biases in mind.
Sometimes people who travel are just people who are dissatisfied wherever they are. I have met one or two Europeans who come here and acted jerky in the way you mean, but I think it's quite possible they were jerky at home too. Also I live in a rural area and sometimes it's a rural/urban divide for us. A person from Chicago or Kansas City coming down here might also complain about how everything is better back home or that we're all losers or whatever. So the people from London who come here with an attitude would likely also have an attitude if they went to some rural area in Yorkshire or Devon or something.
Still I think there were a few Europeans that were so angry we elected Bush they got a bit jerkish about it. Europeans have conservatives, they even have a far-right, but I think their far-right tends to be isolationist. If we'd be ran by someone like Pat Buchanan they wouldn't have liked it, but I think they might've been a bit more comfortable as a Buchananite wouldn't want to do anything in the Eastern Hemisphere. (Europeans are generally not as intense about us saying overthrowing Noriega or something as that's "our turf" I suppose)
I can't imagine an American being so rude, ignorant, and classless as to visit a country and then proclaim to its inhabitants what's wrong with it. I guess we are taught better manners than that.
There are rude American tourists too. I don't think it's that unusual for Americans in Europe to complain about how all the rooms are too small, that Europeans don't use air conditioning or heating as much as Americans do, that Europeans don't smile enough, etc. My Aunt described the Belgian relatives of her now ex-husband as cold horrible people and was amazingly rude to a Basque foreign-exchange student my parents took in. When I met the sister of her now ex-husband she was a perfectly pleasant woman, much moreso than her brother. She likely had changed a bit, but I think my Aunt maybe went to Europe with some biases in mind.
Sometimes people who travel are just people who are dissatisfied wherever they are. I have met one or two Europeans who come here and acted jerky in the way you mean, but I think it's quite possible they were jerky at home too. Also I live in a rural area and sometimes it's a rural/urban divide for us. A person from Chicago or Kansas City coming down here might also complain about how everything is better back home or that we're all losers or whatever. So the people from London who come here with an attitude would likely also have an attitude if they went to some rural area in Yorkshire or Devon or something.
Still I think there were a few Europeans that were so angry we elected Bush they got a bit jerkish about it. Europeans have conservatives, they even have a far-right, but I think their far-right tends to be isolationist. If we'd be ran by someone like Pat Buchanan they wouldn't have liked it, but I think they might've been a bit more comfortable as a Buchananite wouldn't want to do anything in the Eastern Hemisphere. (Europeans are generally not as intense about us saying overthrowing Noriega or something as that's "our turf" I suppose)
I think your aunt was just angry because it's her EX-family You can find rude people on both sides of the ocean...
For me, shocking is that Americans drive to anywere.... they don't like to walk. So cities can be completely dead and their is no "real" personal contact...
On the other side, Europeans are conservative when it comes to driving. 200 miles from here? How far!
Another fact is the difference in humor. Some European people mention that American people have a childish humor....
I think the driving. Americans take for granted how friendly the majority of people drive in almost any U.S. city compared to the rest of the world. When someone honks at you here in the U.S.... it's considered rude and unacceptable... in many parts of the world, blaring your horn and running people off the road is considered the norm
Here in Belgium, some people honk to greet a pedestrian they know.
And yes, I honk too...
What shocked me about the states is how poor everyone is compared to Australians, the low quality of life yet people are brainwashed into thinking they live in the best place on earth
I think your aunt was just angry because it's her EX-family You can find rude people on both sides of the ocean..
Possibly. Although the divorce is recent, not even finalized. She had ran off to Europe with him, but seemed to have a negative view of Europe at the same time she did so.
Maybe next time you can explain to them that the media only showed the bad parts.
Maybe next time you can explain that people ignored repeated warnings to leave.
Maybe next time you can explain that people showed up in masses to help.
Maybe next time you can explain that local government failed it's own people and by the time the federal government had a chance to get there everybody was blaming them
Maybe next time you can explain that there were just so many helicoptors and rescue vehicles and many many more people.
Maybe next time you can explain that this desperation didn't go unheeded like the media portrayed.
Maybe next time you can explain that some of the recuers came under fire from the residents there when they tried to help.
Maybe next time you can help them figure out a different plan.
Maybe next time you won't believe just the media.
1. Leaving takes money. If you have $100 to your name, where are you going to go? What if you don't have a car? Also, those people had been told for 40 years that "the big one" was coming. The media had spent so many years telling them that every storm coming was the big one that some didn't actually believe it.
2. The storm itself didn't destroy the city. The GOVERNMENT built levies destroyed the cities. The storm itself PASSED New Orleans and should have been another example of the media over-exaggerating the weather, but the day after the levies broke, because they were poorly built by the Army Corp of Engineers.
3. Some of people showed up to help, but many were not able to make it into New Orleans, because the city was cut off from the world.
4. The government is the government. Are you such a Bush apologist that you think any criticism of the handling of Katrina is inherently Bush criticism? Yeah Ray Nagin, Kathleen Blanco screwed up too. What's your point? EVERYBODY has blood on their hands. In other countries they saw that, as should you.
5. It was a WEEK later when the government showed up. CNN was there 4 hours after the storm had passed. Are you telling me Soledad O'Brien is more powerful than FEMA? Sean Penn manged to get on a boat before the federal government did.
6. The citizens came under fire first and it was the New Orleans Police and Blackwater ( more famous for their rapings of Iraqi women and also friends of Bush), who were there illegally "policing" people, then when the people were firing back, it was considered "hostile".
Also, you forgot to talk about the racist vigilantes who shot anybody who was Black and trying to escape New Orleans after the flood
And yes, there is an alternate plan, it's called the plan that Lyndon B. Johnson plan. See, LBJ managed to make it to Louisiana within the first 24 hours after Hurricane Betsy in 1965 and demanded that the the thirsty be brought sodas from the local bottling plants and that something be done in order to stop the human suffering.
New Orleans CityBusiness -- The Business Newspaper of Metropolitan New Orleans (http://www.neworleanscitybusiness.com/viewStory.cfm?recID=16327# - broken link)
Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasTheKid
I never suggested obesity isn't a bigger (so to speak) problem in the states than it is in Europe, but really, when it's 1 in 4 versus 1 in 6, the ratios really aren't that much different. Developed nations, with the exceptions of a few Nordic and Asian countries, are full of fatties exposed to processed, salty and excessively sweet "fake" tasting foods. It's the fruit of progress. And for the record, I rejected the claim that there were "no obese people in Europe," not that America wasn't the tubby capitol of the world. In a lot of countries, fat is the yardstick used to measure a person's success, so of course we've got the most. We're the wealthiest country in the world, it just stands to reason we're going to have the most lard bottoms.
Well, that's true and it's not. While obesity can mean an overabundance of food, it usually here means that the food that poor people get is the most unhealthy. The poor in the west are the fattest people, because it costs more to eat healthily. That's why even places like Africa are starting to see obesity epidemics.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ultrarunner
I would agree if you substituted socialism for corporatism...
If the US was a corporate society... corporations would rule and there would be no Environmental Impact studies lasting decades for a refinery to be built or a new power plant...
CA Central Valley Farmers would not be put our of business because a single Judge has deemed a fish more important than 150 years of agriculture.
The President of the United States would not be able to engineer the ouster of the President of General Motors...
Exxon wouldn't be paying out almost 1 billion dollars for one oil-spill...
Socialism is when the government owns the means of production. I wouldn't call giving rich guys billions of dollars to reward them for destroying America's financial system socialism.
Socialism would be if we took all those guys companies and spread their earnings out among everybody. Rich people getting richer is the inherent opposite of socialism.
Easy. The public schools. Last summer I worked with foreign exhange kids mostly from Europe, and nearly every one of them (no matter which country they came from) found the schoolwork incredibly easy.
Easy. The public schools. Last summer I worked with foreign exhange kids mostly from Europe, and nearly every one of them (no matter which country they came from) found the schoolwork incredibly easy.
and yet many children here struggle with this same schoolwork. This is very sad.
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