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Americans are as reserved as Brits LOL, the USA is a theocracy ruled by a xtian taliban.
Now we outside the US do not care if you have laws stating that one has to be a xtian to be a real American.
What we do care about is those damn Mormon and other yank missionaries bugging us, if people are interested in yank cults they can go the USA to find out how much of their income cults want.
USA has freedom of religion. I agree the Christians tries to move more towards theocracy that they put their God on the money and federal buildings
Here's my perspective. I've been on all continents (except Antarctica) and to many countries. Not all inclusive. Just what came to mind.
Pro's about America:
- I find it amazing that in just one generation they went from backwards and racist to more open and colorblind. Yes there's holdouts but in general I think the urban areas of America are just as or more accepting about race, background, etc. than even in Europe or Canada. And that says a lot. Even 30 years ago it would have been inconceivable to have a black / white mix president. It says people are ready to focus on content than perception. (though this is not universal, see below)
- Work ethic. The people do work hard.
- Positiveness. There's something charming about how Americans, despite their silly demeanor, have a positive outlook in general. I hope this doesn't change, especially all the news about how many Americans don't think their future will be as good as their grandparents, etc.
- High quality homes, size, and the effort most people put into them.
- Friendly. Yes your mouth and face muscles hurt because they smile. Too much. But still, most of the time, they're genuinely friendly.
- Technology and Innovation. Despite all the issues with their education system, they still produce the Zuckerbergs, the Jobs, the Gates, and the breakthrough innovative geniuses that the rest of the world envies and tries to emulate.
- In general a high quality of life. Gas is cheap. Thus getting around is cheap. Everything is cheap unless you live in a special location, like Seattle or NYC. And cheap doesn't mean low quality all the time. I was amazed the sticker shock when I started traveling and I didn't want to stay in a ratty hostel sharing my room or a sleazy old motel somewhere or a shoebox (Japan especially).
- The one everyone looks to for protection. At the end of the day, despite what the rest of the world says, if there's a group of people or a state that says they're threatened, they come to the US.
- Charitable. They're one of the most charitable in the world, unmatched given their tax system (other areas donate more per capita but usually have no taxes or other special situations).
- Food. Tasty!
- Geographic diversity.
Con's about America:
- Car culture. Huge mistake by the Eisenhower administration to advance cars ahead of public transport.
- Health care. I don't know how anyone can excuse the health care system there. High quality, cheap or free, and all that does NOT have to be the exception, and does NOT lead to poor care. I don't see Europeans or Canadians or Japanese keeling over en masse because of poor health care.
- Corporate kow towing. How the corporations get away with low to zero taxes and enough power to take down the world economy is appalling.
- The Legislature. Oh my word. How can people be so forward thinking at the Executive level but be so polarized and stupid at the local level? I think one Republican lawmaker can't even read!
- Work ethic. Seriously America. You don't have to work 60 hours a week to be happy.
- Food. How you eat that crap and do it ALL THE TIME is beyond me. Stop eating so much!
- Foreign policy. Maybe if you stopped trying to be a de facto empire and asked people to join you you might get some volunteers.
Well, yes, my point to SwissGuy was that globally speaking, ethnic diversity is more about racial diversity. He was comparing Switzerland to the US, to someone's post about "diversity" in the US. It was a comment for a narrow context.
Right, Indonesians and Surinamese in Holland, it makes sense, thanks for mentioning that. And don't forget the Frisians, unless you count them as "Dutch". (I happen to be of Frisian descent via maternal grandmother.) And I mentioned England, France and Spain historically have been exceptions.
Oh well. I'm not even sure SwissGuy is around anymore. With the EU, and refugee programs in some countries, Europe is definitely becoming more mixed. Oh, let's not forget the Nepalese Tibetans in Switzerland, and Tibetan refugees elsewhere in Europe!
Linda, are you aware of the organization UNPO, based in the Hague? It's an advocacy group for ethnic minorities and Indigenous peoples. It seemed like you might be interested. Thanks for you posts.
Obviously Switzerland alone isn't as diverse as the US just due to the small size of my country. But I don't think that people are more different just because they have a different skin color. I might be wrong there as I have never lived in the US on my own.
But white and black americans have been living in the same country for decades or even centuries. They speak the same language, go to the same schools (at least until college), most of them are christians of some sort, they consume the same media, live in the same political system etc.
If you compare let's say Germans and Italians the diffrences are a lot bigger imo: Different languages, Germans are mostly protestants or Atheists while Italians are catholics and tend to be more religious. Their political and educational systems are different. They don't read the same newspaper or watch the same TV shows etc.
I know that I didn't compare white Americans to hispanics and that I'm overgeneralising. But I didn't compare Norwegains and Albanians as well.
In my opinion just the skin color doesn't make people different. It's more about culture, language, religion and values etc.
And btw: How can I make comments when I give somebody reputation? I looked it up in the thread about it. But when I click on the scales-sign I can't type anything. There's nothing but an already ticked box and the text "I approve". Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong here?
I am from Germany .... Most Europeans dislike immigrants, are very unfriendly and cold.
Germans do not consider themselves cold! This is a perception about Germans from outside, not inside Germany. Of course we are more reserved than Americans but to us it is not coldness.
Obviously Switzerland alone isn't as diverse as the US just due to the small size of my country.
That depends on the definition of diversity. To me Switzerland with 3 separate language regions and many immigrants is more diverse than the USA with only one language (plus Spanish in many regions). In my opinion language defines culture more than skin colour, at least in Europe and North America. In all my travels to the US I saw more diversity in landscape than in culture.
Quote:
Germans are mostly protestants
This is a common misconception:
29% protestants
30% catholics
2-5% muslims
xx % atheists
Mind you, these figures do not reveal whether people believe in a god or not, so I guess most are atheists.
That depends on the definition of diversity. To me Switzerland with 3 separate language regions and many immigrants is more diverse than the USA with only one language (plus Spanish in many regions). In my opinion language defines culture more than skin colour, at least in Europe and North America. In all my travels to the US I saw more diversity in landscape than in culture.
This is a common misconception:
29% protestants
30% catholics
2-5% muslims
xx % atheists
Mind you, these figures do not reveal whether people believe in a god or not, so I guess most are atheists.
They US also have a very big hispanic and asian population and there are many cultural differences between regions and states. So I assume that it's at least as diverse as Switzerland but not as diverse as Europe as a whole. But I agree with you on the rest.
Regarding the religion in Germany: That's why I mentioned the many atheists in your country
You have the same system as we have. In Switzerland about 70% belong to either the catholic or protestant church. But that doesn't mean they go to church or even believe in a god. Just like in Germany.
I just think that it must come as a surprise to many Americans, especially for those away from major metropolitan areas/ not so well travelled, that there are people in the world that would prefer to live somewhere else besides the US or don't see the US as the best country in the world.
This is normal for other countries but it's simply inconceivable to most Americans.
Europe is fairly homogeneous? In what way exactly? "White" people are not the same all over Europe, it's very easy to spot an Italian in Sweden or a Russian in England or a Turk in Belgium, etc. There is incredible religious diversity as well, some countries are Eastern Orthodox (Greece, Serbia, Russia), some are Catholic (Poland, Ireland, Italy), some are Protestant (UK, Denmark, Germany), some are Muslim (Bosnia, Albania, Turkey); in some countries over 80% of the population believe in God (Portugal, Greece, Romania) and in others less than 25% believe in God (Sweden, Czech Rep., Estonia). In terms of politics, some countries are a constitutional monarchy (UK, Spain, Sweden, Netherlands) while others are a republic (France, Germany, Italy); some countries offer direct democracy (Switzerland) others are considered undemocratic in many respects (Ukraine). As for the economy, many countries in CEE are still recovering from being under communism for many decades until 1989/1990. The GDP per capita ranges from $113,533 in Luxembourg to $1,969 in Moldova. Some economies are in good shape (Germany, Netherlands, Norway) while others are a mess atm (Greece, Spain, Italy). Linguistically, there are over 30 languages in Europe and many more distinct dialects. Many different linguistic branches are represented in Europe, such as Latin, Germanic, Celtic, Baltic, Slavic, Greek, Semitic and there are several languages which are not part of the Indo-European family (so they're as distinct as, say, Chinese) such as Basque, Georgian, Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian and Turkish. There are different alphabets within Europe (Latin, Greek, Cyrillic) and most languages have their own distinct letters. The climate varies from very cold in Scandinavia to moderate in Central Europe to warm in Southern and South-Eastern Europe. I could go on and on. Europe is more diverse than the US in almost every respect, whether it's culture, economy, politics, language, religion, etc. To say that Europe is "fairly homogeneous" is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, esp. if you're contrasting it to North-America. I haven't even mentioned the fact that there are tens of millions of non-Western immigrants living in Europe and many major cities have more than 50% immigrant population (such as Amsterdam and Rotterdam in the Netherlands).
and people wonder why the eurozone have difficultys maintaining unity
Americans are as reserved as Brits LOL, the USA is a theocracy ruled by a xtian taliban.
Now we outside the US do not care if you have laws stating that one has to be a xtian to be a real American.
What we do care about is those damn Mormon and other yank missionaries bugging us, if people are interested in yank cults they can go the USA to find out how much of their income cults want.
says the guy who laments the fact that a quater of the globe is still not under the control of the british empire
your about as interested in freedom as an indian viceroy circa 1890
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(I happen to be of Frisian descent via maternal grandmother.) And I mentioned England, France and Spain historically have been exceptions.
In what way exactly? "White" people are not the same all over Europe, it's very easy to spot an Italian in Sweden or a Russian in England or a Turk in Belgium, etc. There is incredible religious diversity as well, some countries are Eastern Orthodox (Greece, Serbia, Russia), some are Catholic (Poland, Ireland, Italy), some are Protestant (UK, Denmark, Germany), some are Muslim (Bosnia, Albania, Turkey); in some countries over 80% of the population believe in God (Portugal, Greece, Romania) and in others less than 25% believe in God (Sweden, Czech Rep., Estonia). In terms of politics, some countries are a constitutional monarchy (UK, Spain, Sweden, Netherlands) while others are a republic (France, Germany, Italy); some countries offer direct democracy (Switzerland) others are considered undemocratic in many respects (Ukraine). As for the economy, many countries in CEE are still recovering from being under communism for many decades until 1989/1990. The GDP per capita ranges from $113,533 in Luxembourg to $1,969 in Moldova. Some economies are in good shape (Germany, Netherlands, Norway) while others are a mess atm (Greece, Spain, Italy). Linguistically, there are over 30 languages in Europe and many more distinct dialects. Many different linguistic branches are represented in Europe, such as Latin, Germanic, Celtic, Baltic, Slavic, Greek, Semitic and there are several languages which are not part of the Indo-European family (so they're as distinct as, say, Chinese) such as Basque, Georgian, Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian and Turkish. There are different alphabets within Europe (Latin, Greek, Cyrillic) and most languages have their own distinct letters. The climate varies from very cold in Scandinavia to moderate in Central Europe to warm in Southern and South-Eastern Europe. I could go on and on. Europe is more diverse than the US in almost every respect, whether it's culture, economy, politics, language, religion, etc. To say that Europe is "fairly homogeneous" is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, esp. if you're contrasting it to North-America. I haven't even mentioned the fact that there are tens of millions of non-Western immigrants living in Europe and many major cities have more than 50% immigrant population (such as Amsterdam and Rotterdam in the Netherlands).
