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I just envy living in a cleaner city where I can breathe and don't have to own a car to get around. I hate cars and it's too hot where I live. Oh, and I could do without the tornadoes and hurricanes. But I can simply move somewhere else in the US if that's what I want.:3
Americans do not envy anybody. Mainly, because Americans have no idea how anybody else in the world lives. Most Americans actually believe that the USA is the only country in the world where people have rights and liberties,, or exercise basic freedoms.
Could there be a more blatant admission of American cultural inferiority?
I dont see why...Sweden has lower test scores, higher crime rates per capita besides Homicide, higher taxes, less fame and seems just plain boring and not very interesting, there work hours are fantastic however.
I really don't understand this thread. For starters the US is a country, and you are trying to compare it to an entire continent. ??
Also I really don't understand what you mean by 'european lifestyle'. I've been to many countries in Europe, and lived in one for three years.
There is such a difference in not only the different countries I went to, but also within the countries themselves. I have been in packed cities, and rural towns/villages. I have seen coastal and mountains. The people are not all the same even within cities, much less the entire continent.
So which european lifestyle are you talking about? You need to really break it down a lot further than that.
I saw a thread like this about the American lifestyle. Same goes for that. There is no American lifestyle because everywhere is so different. The people are so different.
Both have hundreds of millions of people, different languages, different weather, different geography, different customs, etc....
I just don't see how that question could ever be answered.
I think some Americans envy the European lifestyle. I think some Americans detest the European lifestyle. I also think many Americans like some aspects of both lifestyles.
Like anything, it's impossible to try to pigeonhole American thought into a specific viewpoint. You can't give a black and white answer to the OP's title question. It's a shades of gray answer.
Sigh. Of course some Americans envy the European lifestyle. Some Americans envy what they THINK is the European lifestyle. And many Americans - myself included - appreciate some aspects of the European lifestyle but love their American lifestyle and therefore are not one iota envious.
I enjoy visiting Europe, and I enjoyed living there. But most of all, I enjoy living in the US.
I love and am absolutely envious of some aspects of the European lifestyle: the architecture, the density, the walk ability, dynamic and distinct cities, the typically more worldly culture of its residents (Americans are uniquely provincial in their world outlook-if they have one at all- actually thinking that elsewhere in the world others are always looking to us as the beacon to measure all else by), the "cafe culture" of good food, wine and a lively intelligent conversation as a daily elixir. But of course much of my perspective is colored by knowing Europe only minutely and just through visiting it very selectively as a tourist, even though those visits add up to months and in over a dozen countries through the years.
America has better modern architecture and better cities. Period.
Europe has overall better cities, but it lacks city like LA or Las Vegas.
Last edited by Oldhag1; 07-01-2014 at 10:37 AM..
Reason: Generally in Great Debates 1-2 sentence posts are not allowed but since this thread was moved to here it will remain.
I have no reason to envy anyone let alone a "lifestyle" I know nothing about and have never experienced.
So I am not part of that "Us" in the title of your article. It's all a bunch of hooey.
I wish we had the trains and subways they have in Europe. The older architecture they have is also more appealing. Pretty much everything else, I prefer the USA.
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