Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
One big thing I think that distinguinshes our culture and mindset in America is the nostalgia we have for the past, especially the past couple decades. You hear friends and neighbors talking about wishing things could be the way they used to be, about how we want our country back, how America's not what it used to be. You turn on country radio and hear music and see videos about the good ol days, about a idyllic childhood in a small all-American town. You go to local diners that purposely evoke the feel of the 50s with pictures of old muscle cars and roadside cafes. We cruise down Route 66 and imagine the glory of the old road. We stand in front of gracious antebellum plantation and wonder what it was like to live like that, in the land of cotton, chivalrous gentlemen and Southern belles in hoop dresses. We look like Norman Rockwell paintings and reminicne of when life was better, things were simpler, and the world was more innocent.
The past century has been especially good to the U.S. and other countries often don't have the luxury of nostalgia. Its more than just about America being a superpower without the foreign challenges today. It really was a better time. Life was truly better. The 50s in America was about old Chevys, church on Sunday mornings, white picket fences, close families and communities, Main Street lined with American flags, a good job fresh out of high school without having to go through college, marrying your high school sweetheart, cheering on the home team on Friday night.
There was not the same nostalgia from my Czech friends. The 50s and 60s there meant the old Czechoslovakia, people lining up for food, Soviet soldiers patrolling the streets. In China it meant people were starving without the basic necessities. For Western Europe it meant digging out of the rubble after WW2. For the rest of the world, there is more optimism for the future, while we have a nostalgia for the past. We look back on teh good ol days because life was slower and easier back then. For people in other places there is not much to look back on, though many Europeans and Asians are proud of OLDER history like when all their castles, cathedrals and temples were built.
One big thing I think that distinguinshes our culture and mindset in America is the nostalgia we have for the past, especially the past couple decades. You hear friends and neighbors talking about wishing things could be the way they used to be, about how we want our country back, how America's not what it used to be. You turn on country radio and hear music and see videos about the good ol days, about a idyllic childhood in a small all-American town. You go to local diners that purposely evoke the feel of the 50s with pictures of old muscle cars and roadside cafes. We cruise down Route 66 and imagine the glory of the old road. We stand in front of gracious antebellum plantation and wonder what it was like to live like that, in the land of cotton, chivalrous gentlemen and Southern belles in hoop dresses. We look like Norman Rockwell paintings and reminicne of when life was better, things were simpler, and the world was more innocent.
The past century has been especially good to the U.S. and other countries often don't have the luxury of nostalgia. Its more than just about America being a superpower without the foreign challenges today. It really was a better time. Life was truly better. The 50s in America was about old Chevys, church on Sunday mornings, white picket fences, close families and communities, Main Street lined with American flags, a good job fresh out of high school without having to go through college, marrying your high school sweetheart, cheering on the home team on Friday night.
There was not the same nostalgia from my Czech friends. The 50s and 60s there meant the old Czechoslovakia, people lining up for food, Soviet soldiers patrolling the streets. In China it meant people were starving without the basic necessities. For Western Europe it meant digging out of the rubble after WW2. For the rest of the world, there is more optimism for the future, while we have a nostalgia for the past. We look back on teh good ol days because life was slower and easier back then. For people in other places there is not much to look back on, though many Europeans and Asians are proud of OLDER history like when all their castles, cathedrals and temples were built.
Those good old days was only great if you were White. Ask a Black, Native or Asian person about how great those days were.
There is also a definite difference in regional architecture within the US, especially in terms of residential housing, for example if you compare New England with the stucco-colored ranch houses in California, Nevada, Arizona, and Florida. I would assume the Quebec buildings are more French? Is English Canada's architecture similar to the northern and midwestern US?
As for the other parts of the country architectural styles do tend to roughly mirror those of states in the same vicinity, with some differences. Nova Scotia is quite similar to New England I find. New Brunswick is a mix of New England, Ontario and even Quebec in some regions. Ontario has a lot of stone buildings which reflects both Scottish heritage and available materials. Although in many areas of Ontario the architecture can also be reminescent of upstate New York and the U.S. Midwest. Older parts of the Canadian Prairies look quite similar to the Great Plains although curiously enough the suburbs of booming cities like Calgary and Edmonton remind me more of suburban Phoenix!
There are also a lot of architectural similarities between BC and the U.S. Pacific NW.
Those good old days was only great if you were White. Ask a Black, Native or Asian person about how great those days were.
Wasn't always that great even if you were white, going back further than the 1950's. I was just reading an article the other day about children working in the mills and the factories in the earlier years of this country. Kids starting at 8 years old, working 12 - 14 hours a day. They were discouraged from getting an education and even learning English, because it was feared they might organize when they grew up.
Not trying to detract from your well-made point that for SOME people, life might have been idyllic in the "good ol' days", but certainly not for everyone, especially the groups you mention.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
