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Human beings are not limited to two-dimensional thinking. Are they?
Both ... and ..., then.
US/Canada are more like Britain/western Europe in some aspects and more like Latin America in others, all at the same time.
And, yes, it is possible for a human being to contemplate all of those aspects at the same time, and profit from their advantages over time (and suffer their disadvantages too).
I don't know about Canada, but the US is just like the US.
No resemblance whatsoever with the two continents mentioned above.
Latins in the US live according to the American Way and there are almost no Europeans.
Human beings are not limited to two-dimensional thinking. Are they?
Both ... and ..., then.
US/Canada are more like Britain/western Europe in some aspects and more like Latin America in others, all at the same time.
And, yes, it is possible for a human being to contemplate all of those aspects at the same time, and profit from their advantages over time (and suffer their disadvantages too).
I agree 100% with this. Also, you would need to know all different sectors of all societies to even be able to compare.
Middle class Mexicans are very similiar to middle class Americans. Same goes for many middle class South Americans.
I've been thinking about this and it's a bit of an oddly-formulated question.
USA-Canada and Latin American countries are all European-derived societies. The main difference is that in Canada and most of the USA the influences are predominantly northern European, whereas in Latin America the influences tend to be southern European.
Latin America as it exists today didn't spring up out of the ground it sits on without a European influx/influence/domination any more than we did.
What does California have in common with Latin America?
Besides being intrinsically connected through its history, culture, geography and indigenous peoples for hundreds of years? Besides the fact that California and the rest of the Americas have for the past couple centuries served as an immigration hub for the World, and that their current chapters are defined by those migrants and their chidlren? To be more specific, how about how California, along with other states and countries that are share a Pacific coastline, have a mix (all unique to that particular region of course) of European, Indigenous (Native American), Asian and African peoples that call those places HOME (not just international tourists)? The only place in Europe that could possibly match that diversity is London. How about local cuisines? Yams, corn, squash...even turkey...what Americans eat every Thanksgiving, are common place ingredients in much of the Americas.
The Southern U.S. and the Caribbean, for example, share both a history of slavery, cotton and sugar plantations, creole languages, mulattoes, poverty (with Atlanta and Trinidad and Tobago both being excellent exceptions) and fabulous fabulous jazz. None of which you will find in Europe. Much of you will find in places like Colombia or Brazil.
The reality is that North America is uniquely North American, even in architectural form and the way we built our cities. Our culture is a hybrid of European (with Anglo dominance), Indigenous and African (add Asian if you are in the West/Pacific). Yes, there are some ways in which we are like Europe, but there are also ways in which many parts of Latin America are much more European (like social policies and even down to a history of military based fascism and dictators) than the U.S. Even then, the Americas share a lot more with each other than they do with Europe. 'Latin' is just a label...don't get mislead by it.
Besides being intrinsically connected through its history, culture, geography and indigenous peoples for hundreds of years? Besides the fact that California and the rest of the Americas have for the past couple centuries served as an immigration hub for the World, and that their current chapters are defined by those migrants and their chidlren? To be more specific, how about how California, along with other states and countries that are share a Pacific coastline, have a mix (all unique to that particular region of course) of European, Indigenous (Native American), Asian and African peoples that call those places HOME (not just international tourists)? The only place in Europe that could possibly match that diversity is London. How about local cuisines? Yams, corn, squash...even turkey...what Americans eat every Thanksgiving, are common place ingredients in much of the Americas.
The Southern U.S. and the Caribbean, for example, share both a history of slavery, cotton and sugar plantations, creole languages, mulattoes, poverty (with Atlanta and Trinidad and Tobago both being excellent exceptions) and fabulous fabulous jazz. None of which you will find in Europe. Much of you will find in places like Colombia or Brazil.
The reality is that North America is uniquely North American, even in architectural form and the way we built our cities. Our culture is a hybrid of European (with Anglo dominance), Indigenous and African (add Asian if you are in the West/Pacific). Yes, there are some ways in which we are like Europe, but there are also ways in which many parts of Latin America are much more European (like social policies and even down to a history of military based fascism and dictators) than the U.S. Even then, the Americas share a lot more with each other than they do with Europe. 'Latin' is just a label...don't get mislead by it.
Excellent comment and analysis. Socio historically, USA share much more in common with Latin America than with Europe. However, USA has developed an own and very unique culture.
I don't see why the USA might have more in common with Poland or Portugal than with Mexico or Argentina, really
Latin American countries, no matter how disfunctional, are modelled according to Europe (Spain and also France, since Latin America has always been very frenchified historically).
The US is a reaction "against" certain Europe that does not exist anymore. The Europe of Reform and Countereform, the Europe of Enlightment that later regressed in many ways.
So there has not been any real "cleavage" between Latin America and Spain/Portugal. The two countries just collapsed during Napoleonic invasion and civil wars, and American countries became Spanish "cacicatos" or "taifas" ruled by powerful criollo families, not different to many regions in Spain and Portugal at that tiome and in the past.
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