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I've dreamt all my life of visiting and living in the EU and even had a fat-head poster of Georges Pompidou in my room. But after seeing the case made here for Europe it's clear that the EU has fallen and can't get up.
True, though if it had British land use policies, the eastern 2/3rds would be much lighter developed, and be pockets of small towns and preserved green belt with farms.
Yes, which would have been great. Long Island before the 1950s when its population started skyrocketing would have been a pretty good middle ground.
That's right pin all your reasoning on thoughts of forum posters!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ghengis
I've dreamt all my life of visiting and living in the EU and even had a fat-head poster of Georges Pompidou in my room. But after seeing the case made here for Europe it's clear that the EU has fallen and can't get up.
I would prefer many of the countries in the EU to the USA. I like the better public transport, more universal healthcare and education, the user-friendliness, and the increase of culture of being out and about. I prefer small, functional flats because...that's all I need anyways.
I love the "small town" aspect of the USA in most states, from the east coast to the west, affluent to poor. As far as I can tell, they tend to be more closely knit and traditional than the small towns in Europe.
Despite attempts to secularise the USA, the country, in general, has a population that has retained its commitment to substantive morally realistic values. Whereas Western European countries have been subsumed by essentially ephemeral cultural trends that have little value aside from simply being in vogue, the USA has remained resilient. This is something I have a great deal of respect for as a UK citizen; one of the main reasons I view the foundational value system of the USA so positively.
Sadly, this too, appears to be in decline, as educational decline takes its toll upon the country, ontological illiteracy becomes de rigueur at the popular level, and long abandoned secular liberal philosophies are now naively disseminated as the height of wisdom.
An oppressive theocratic small-town filled with "traditional value" fanatics and fatwas would be my worst nightmare.
A liberal, casual and secular mid-size or big city with a live-and-let-live attitude, and where you don't know everybody but can become anybody is naturally the best option. No matter if it's in the EU or America.
An oppressive theocratic small-town filled with "traditional value" fanatics and fatwas would be my worst nightmare.
A liberal, casual and secular mid-size or big city with a live-and-let-live attitude, and where you don't know everybody but can become anybody is naturally the best option. No matter if it's in the EU or America.
I have to admit I also used to think this way in the past. It seems I'm as much a victim of a liberal education as you are.
Once one studies a specialty that allows us to (a) recognise and (b) address the basic assumptions that we internalise through social and cultural exposure from early childhood, it becomes easier to address these beliefs.
I don't know, I think I've become more liberal when getting "older", and can't see a wave of conservatism sweeping through me. I'm too preoccupied battling narrowmindness and uneducated opinions, that maybe I'm just so cynical and realize that it's easier for all of us if we just let each other be in peace. Of course as long as they behave well.
An oppressive theocratic small-town filled with "traditional value" fanatics and fatwas would be my worst nightmare.
A liberal, casual and secular mid-size or big city with a live-and-let-live attitude, and where you don't know everybody but can become anybody is naturally the best option. No matter if it's in the EU or America.
In many cases, our aversion to ideas contrary to ours derive from a system of basic beliefs we internalise through social exposure from early childhood. Many of these are existential assumptions we are unaware of, or simply presuppose as unquestionable truisms.
Where such beliefs are arbitrary, irrational, or otherwise indefensible (you'll find plenty of examples of this in the currently en vogue secular world view), I've found they are eminently challengeable, provided one has the insight or courage to address them.
Alternatively, they can remain in place until a life event forces the host to re-evaluate his/her beliefs. However, that can be ugly.
Last edited by MissionIMPOSSIBRU; 10-31-2013 at 12:16 PM..
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