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well, im not from USA or nowhere near it, but i ve lived there more than 10 years ago, visited many times, and, mostly, have been avidly consuming their cultural products for the last 30 years of my life (meaning, my whole life ), so i guess im in a good position to give my opinion.
(a curious thing about non americans is that, thanks to the complete cultural imperialism that USA haves over all the other countries in the world, almost every person of ANY country would know more about USA than any american would know about any country .)
i LOVE their cultural products: tv shows (they are the best in the world in that, hands down), movies, literature, music. AMAZING, probably the country with better cultural production in the world.
LARRY DAVID: he is like the funniest, most adorable in a excentric kind of way person in the world. Love him and seinfeld and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM (also love many other shows, but this guy is just genius)
beautiful country with many attractions, beautiful landscapes, and very interesting cities.
the only downside is that the common population is probably much more ignorant than in any other country. Also, people in USA have NO IDEA about anything in other countries. They are the epithome of ethnocentricsm. They dont know (and they dont care to know) about anything other than USA. Wich is the definition of ignorant by the way. They also are uber patriotic to the point of demency. And politicalcorrectness is like a deasese there (see curb your enthusiasm for that).
Still, i love the country, have many friends there, and think USA is fantastic, dont know what would do without USA, seriously, my life without the literature, movie industry, and tv shows of USA would be radically different! wich is much more than you can say about any other country in the world too
(a curious thing about non americans is that, thanks to the complete cultural imperialism that USA haves over all the other countries in the world, almost every person of ANY country would know more about USA than any american would know about any country .)
I don't know how true that is. A person in Moldova knows what and where the US, probably knows who Lady Gaga is and knows of cities like LA and NYC, and that's not reciprocated from he US to Moldova. But, I've found that most people only have a cursory knowledge of US culture that is generally fairly inaccurate, whether it's overly rosy or overly harsh - life here is grand and we are all friendly, agreeable, successful people, or it's a big, violent dump full of fat morons, neither one is entirely accurate. Can't really fault them if they've never been here, but that's just it... by the same token, I don't think it's fair to fault Americans for not having intimate knowledge of other nations.
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i LOVE their cultural products: tv shows (they are the best in the world in that, hands down), movies, literature, music. AMAZING, probably the country with better cultural production in the world.
It's funny, because there are actually lots and lots of Americans who think that way about the UK
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beautiful country with many attractions, beautiful landscapes, and very interesting cities.
Thanks
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the only downside is that the common population is probably much more ignorant than in any other country.
I don't think that this is accurate. In my travels, I've found that the average person is fairly ignorant of international issues, and the US is, actually, one of the more progressive when it comes to attitudes of race, sexual orientation, etc. There have been many times that I've been talking to someone from another country who is reasonably intelligent and international-minded, and then they mention that they don't like or trust black people, or gays, or Muslims, or Jews, or _________. A huge element of education in most of the US is centered around accepting diversity, and the result is that the average American is pretty comfortable with diversity.
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Also, people in USA have NO IDEA about anything in other countries. They are the epithome of ethnocentricsm.
Americans aren't really an ethnicity (yet), so "ethnocentric" isn't really the right word, and again, I don't find that this is something unique to Americans. It can be found anywhere in the world, in any nation, any culture, any race or group.
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They dont know (and they dont care to know) about anything other than USA. Wich is the definition of ignorant by the way.
That is simply untrue, unless you are setting the barometer at the lowest common denominator of Americans, which is something you could do for any place in the world. You have people in the UK and AU who have the "we grew here, you flew here" mentality and don't give a second thought to anything going on in the rest of the world.
Especially among Gen-X and younger, tons of Americans are interested in European, Latin, African, and Asian cultures; we're a young country formed of immigrants, and tend to be interested in cultures that go back to ancient times. In public school, I learned about the Native Americans, Egyptians, Romans, Mayans and Aztecs, African migration, the Chinese and Japanese, etc etc etc. A fair number of Americans get negatively stereotyped as Anglophiles, Sinophiles, Japanophiles, Latinophiles, Afrophiles, etc if they show a great interest in any specific culture and then are accused of cultural appropriation or insensitivity.
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They also are uber patriotic to the point of demency.
Most Americans I know don't own a flag and never really affirm any pride they have for being American. This is a stereotype that I wish would die; the levels of patriotism you see in Americans that is deemed "demented" or "arrogant" is thought of as being a healthy and understandable national pride when applied to other countries around the world.
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And politicalcorrectness is like a deasese there (see curb your enthusiasm for that).
I will certainly agree with that. I can't stand the SJW movement that's bleeding over from the internet to real life, and the witch hunt to neuter grammar and thought that has been going on for the last couple decades is reprehensible. It's turned a large subsection of Americans into obsessively oversensitive types who read far too much into any and every statement and ultimately end up being more divisive and polarizing than the people they think they stand in opposition to. But, this is as much a problem in the UK, Canada, and Australia as it is here.
Still, i love the country, have many friends there, and think USA is fantastic, dont know what would do without USA, seriously, my life without the literature, movie industry, and tv shows of USA would be radically different! wich is much more than you can say about any other country in the world too [/quote]
Oh, I don't know and it's really no concern of mine to be honest. For a variety of reasons, I wouldn't want to live in Finland personally, though I'm sure it's got some wonderful attributes. I love where I live and I am happy to hear that others love where they live.
I really like the low cost of living here as well as the wide variety of options, places to live and work, lifestyles, climates, etc that the US offers my family and me. I'm very happy here and grateful for the opportunities I've experienced. Hopefully everyone else feels the same way about their own country.
Okay, I understand about not "forcing" employees to work overtime. But what about the bolded? Are all the offices (not sure what jobs you are referring to exactly) required to close on the weekend? If I am a small business owner of, say, a bakery or a car repair shop, I have to close on Saturday and Sunday whether I want to or not?
Of course if you have your own business you are allowed to work 24/7 if you want.
I was referring to white collar jobs like banks, engineering offices, governement offices etc. Of course bakeries are open on weekends. Car repair shops are closed but I think it's not because of the law, they just don't want to be open
I actually saw the Ford Excursion, then the largest SUV on the US general market, tremendously large even by American standards, even bigger than the Hummer, once parked in a street in Madrid, Spain. I believe it was the V10 gas version, too. Oh yeah, and a Hummer dealership, too.
Large SUVs have fallen out of fashion here, because of gas prices. Not so much pick-up trucks. The "manly" thing is part of it, but many Americans, especially those that live in rural areas, find the beds of them convenient for hauling stuff around. You can get toppers that make the bed into an unheated storage compartment, or truck trailers, which you can camp in. Plus, Americans have a lot more "toys" to tow than most European nationalities...things like boats, RVs, jet skis, ATVs (quads), snowmobiles, etc. I even see some motorboats in the crappiest of trailer parks.
There's Excursions in Finland too but those are privately imported by some hobbyists. They never sold those brand new here.
I tow snow mobiles and boats all the time with my "normally" sized car No reason to get a bigger one. Also even if I would do that, no American SUV would be an appealing choise.
Many don't mind working overtime here either, but the employer can't force you to do overtime without having a good reason for it, or if it isn't an integral part of the job. For example nurses can (will) be forced to work 14 hours shifts as it's essential to the job, but an office clerk can't be forced. But even for nurses and similar, there's an upper limit in 2 or 4 week periods of worked hours, and when that is fulfilled the employer can't force you to come to work.
Maybe 84 hours is a bit over the top, but your husband's schedule is not per se illegal here. For example firemen have this kind of working schedule.
In the case of your son in law, similar career paths exist here as well, but they are all voluntary. Many work long hours to further their careers, and they are financially compensated, but as I said, the employer can't force a person to work a double shift just because the boss feels like it.
As your husband is self-employed, nobody would stop him here either.
No. With certain conditions you can keep your car shop or bakery open on Sundays. Very few choose to do that, though. If you rent a space in a mall complex for your private business you are required (with a few exceptions) to have your shop open on Saturdays and Sundays.
Actually most union contracts have bounding limits on this. After those limits you can't work overtime even if you wanted.
You do know the difference between the average and the median, right? To be fair tvdxer didn't seem to either.
Besides, median household income in the US is 4th in the world. It is behind Luxembourg, Norway and Switzerland. Germany is 12th.
The US has huge income and wealth inequality problems, along with violent crime in inner cities, de facto segregation, yadda yadda yadda... per capita (average) income is not one of its problems.
But in the US you NEED more money. In other countries many things that are covered by the tax money you need to finance by yourself in America.
Believe it or not, those look like the highs we had last week and even over this weekend here in east Texas.
But of course, we were all freaking out and running to the store to stock up on "essentials" and digging out our long johns and thermal underwear and wearing two pairs of socks and huddling around our gas logs in the fireplace wondering why the room wasn't really heating up!
Right now, though, it's 60F and sunny - more normal for this time of year.
But in Texas you have sunlight! In Finland one can barely see the sun this time of the year.
And Helsinki is located in the south. Most of the country has even less.
Last edited by Majurius; 11-20-2014 at 07:38 AM..
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), so i guess im in a good position to give my opinion.
