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Linus Torvalds is not typical European.
A describes himself as a a-religious atheist, hence, his religion is "atheist" and he's militant in this religion.
Most Europeans are not atheists or a-religious, most people in Europe just don't care.
In Europe, religion is also politicized, you only have to look at Italy...at Christian Democrats..and the meddling of the church in conservative parties.
For example, I'm conservative but I hate the fact that the church meddles into the affairs of the conservative party (PP). I hate the fact that they are always pushing their stupid agenda against abortion, gay rights an euthanasia, the church should be kept out of politics.
The inventor of Linux, Linus Torvalds, summarized the difference nicely.
[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_Torvalds]. He later added that while in Europe religion is mostly a personal issue, in America it has become very politicized. [35]
I think those Danish cartoonists who drew Mohammed cartoons and received death threats requiring armed guards might see religion as more than just a personal issue.
Yes, having your head decapitated like Theo Van Gogh in the Netherlands certainly was personal for him, but there were some real political motivations that led to the crime and some Dutch politicians have needed armed guards as well for expressing their own political views about Islam.
And let us not forget the poor British soldier recently butchered on the streets of London by a Muslim maniac. Again, more than just a personal thing.
I could go on and on with examples of why Muslims attitude about their religion in Europe is very political and not very personal at all.
I think those Danish cartoonists who drew Mohammed cartoons and received death threats requiring armed guards might see religion as more than just a personal issue.
Yes, having your head decapitated like Theo Van Gogh in the Netherlands certainly was personal for him, but there were some real political motivations that led to the crime and some Dutch politicians have needed armed guards as well for expressing their own political views about Islam.
And let us not forget the poor British soldier recently butchered on the streets of London by a Muslim maniac. Again, more than just a personal thing.
I could go on and on with examples of why Muslims attitude about their religion in Europe is very political and not very personal at all.
The fault is at Islam, not Europe.
Europe is a liberal, progressive place but Muslim immigrants are not.
The creators of South Park received death threats from Muslim too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/200_(South_Park)
"Within a week of the episode's original broadcast date, the website for the radical Muslim organization Revolution Muslim posted an entry warning Parker and Stone they risked getting murdered for airing the episode, which several media outlets and observers interpreted as a threat. As a result, Comedy Central heavily censored portions of "201" by removing images and references to Muhammad."
It's more about terrorism. Let's forget Muslim from middle east for this moment, most Europeans and Americans are not Muslim.
In Europe, at least atheist kids won't be asked to pray with Christian kids in public schools. Europeans are friendly to atheists and nobody really wants to convince you the existence of God. EU politicians don't always say "God bless Europe!", because Europe isn't "a place under God", also, you won't find "In God, we trust" in Euro banknotes.
Americans are very religious and Europeans are not. This is a very critical difference.
I'm from Norway and have travelled quite much, have only been in the south and on the east coast of US though.
The first thing any western european going to USA will be shocked to notice is, ofcourse, that 3 out of 4 americans are overweight and 1 out of 3 americans are obese.
Another thing that also is striking is how many americans fit into the stereotypes one has imagined - being exposed to american culture from young age probably is the reason for this. The only other place I've been that people also were like caricatures of themselves is Russia.
There isnt much point in talking politics or religion with americans. Most of those I have met never was outside of US, were religious, voted for one of the two indentical political parties and didnt have a clue of what went on in the world - doesent stop them from having strong opinion though.
I know I'm generalizing, 1/4 of americans isnt fat, a few % has traveled outside their country, a few % isnt religious, ect - but come on, americans are easy to generalize since they generally share traits western europeans generally look down upon.
Americans I have met on my travels outside of US are something entierly different, I find those in many ways closer to western europeans than the americans back in US. Same goes for many americans on forums like this, the internet-americans also seems well above american-avrage enlightened, so I have high hopes for the next generations of americans hitting adulthood.
All of that being said, americans are almost always cool and easy to deal with on a personal level.
Last edited by Rozenn; 06-25-2013 at 01:43 PM..
Reason: Bashing
I'm from Norway and have travelled quite much, have only been in the south and on the east coast of US though.
The first thing any western european going to USA will be shocked to notice is, ofcourse, that 3 out of 4 americans are overweight and 1 out of 3 americans are obese.
Another thing that also is striking is how many americans fit into the stereotypes one has imagined - being exposed to american culture from young age probably is the reason for this. The only other place I've been that people also were like caricatures of themselves is Russia.
There isnt much point in talking politics or religion with americans. Most of those I have met never was outside of US, were religious, voted for one of the two indentical political parties and didnt have a clue of what went on in the world - doesent stop them from having strong opinion though.
I know I'm generalizing, 1/4 of americans isnt fat, a few % has traveled outside their country, a few % isnt religious, ect - but come on, americans are easy to generalize since they generally share traits western europeans generally look down upon.
Americans I have met on my travels outside of US are something entierly different, I find those in many ways closer to western europeans than the americans back in US. Same goes for many americans on forums like this, the internet-americans also seems well above american-avrage enlightened, so I have high hopes for the next generations of americans hitting adulthood.
All of that being said, americans are almost always cool and easy to deal with on a personal level.
So your saying most of us dont know whats going on on the outside world and few have traveled out of the country...yeah
Last edited by Rozenn; 06-25-2013 at 01:44 PM..
Reason: Orphaned - Reply to edited post
There are only a few differences but they are pretty significant. My visits to Europe were fun, and I enjoyed it alot, the people I met were awesome and unlike any Europeans I've encountered online. The biggest difference I've noticed is that Europeans online hate the US, they seem to just hold unbridled hostility and animosity for the US and Americans. Whereas Americans could quite happily just not give any thought to Europe or most other places, it's entirely possible for an American to go long periods of time without even thinking about any other country I know it's stereotypical but when you have a country that's the size of a continent and the third largest population there's a lot going on to keep us busy.
Now the similarities are incredible between Americans and Europeans, we eat similar diets, watch much of the same content music, movies, and TV (American most of the time,) wear the same type of clothes (this is what surprised me the most seeing young Europeans wearing so much A&F, Hollister, and other American brands all over the place,) so while online there are a lot of negative opinions directed at the US from Europeans, I think in reality we're actually pretty similar.
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