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Both posters meant the USA pledge. The topic is what has western civilization given up, not what has the USA given up.
Unless...as I asked...is there a pledge of allegiance to western civilization?
Or...unless one views the USA as the embodiment of all western civilization.
Those are good questions, because - what exactly is "Western civilization?"
Is Greece a part of it? France? Italy? If yes, then could it be that what US ( as part of "Western civilization") has given up might not be all that relevant to France or say Italy.
Quote:
"The idea that something -- anything -- is more important than money."
When did Western Civilization give that up? Did it ever have that idea in the past?
Those are good questions, because - what exactly is "Western civilization?"
Is Greece a part of it? France? Italy? If yes, then could it be that what US ( as part of "Western civilization") has given up might not be all that relevant to France or say Italy.
And those are good questions too.
I should have been more clear about my response being USA-specific.
France, Italy, Spain, Greece, etc. should not have been so quick to adapt American ways and throw out their own culture. The whole Spanish obsession with looking badly upon their own culture and being obsessed with being "modern" like what they percieve the US to be like, even more than the Italians or French for example, has been a great loss.
The willingness of not only Spaniards but all Mediterranean Europeans to relinquish the world's grandest and greatest culinary traditions, which have a pedigree tracing back at least to Roman times, in favor of fast food, is shameful. Or, after considerable resistance, finally giving into Starbucks and losing interest in traditional coffee houses is also shameful. So is the development of sprawl in Europe.
Well wait a minute here, it is a two way street. Yes, the US has helped reshape European culture, but our culture is still primarily rooted in European history. We still teach Shakespeare in our schools, people still say "eureka!" upon finding something, how many of our historical movies are set in Europe compared to any other continent? Schools still stage "A Christmas Carol" more frequently than any other play on the planet, we have Dutch doors, French toast, Spanish omlettes, Belgian waffles and Hungarian goulash. We will say "Rome wasn't built in a day" or "That's like bringing coals to Newcastle", we will say one of our cities is "The Paris of the West" or "the Athens of the West", we still run marathons, drink vodka, bourbon or scotch on St. Patrick's day.. which might help lead to some French kissing, a weakness we might describe as an "Achilles heel." Overcome it and the problem is "kapoot." We have New York City, New Hamshire an entire state, New England an entire region..we have New Orleans, we have Sante Fe, San Diego, Los Angeles and Val Verde.
Well wait a minute here, it is a two way street. Yes, the US has helped reshape European culture, but our culture is still primarily rooted in European history. We still teach Shakespeare in our schools, people still say "eureka!" upon finding something, how many of our historical movies are set in Europe compared to any other continent? Schools still stage "A Christmas Carol" more frequently than any other play on the planet, we have Dutch doors, French toast, Spanish omlettes, Belgian waffles and Hungarian goulash. We will say "Rome wasn't built in a day" or "That's like bringing coals to Newcastle", we will say one of our cities is "The Paris of the West" or "the Athens of the West", we still run marathons, drink vodka, bourbon or scotch on St. Patrick's day.. which might help lead to some French kissing, a weakness we might describe as an "Achilles heel." Overcome it and the problem is "kapoot." We have New York City, New Hamshire an entire state, New England an entire region..we have New Orleans, we have Sante Fe, San Diego, Los Angeles and Val Verde.
We're up to our asses in European culture here.
Between the US and Britain, it's a two-way street. Which has enriched both the US and UK and continues to do so.
The US hasn't taken much from the continent lately. Except for negative things like post-structuralism, impending national bankruptcy, Islamophobia, sports violence, and techno music.
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