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I came to USA a year ago and lived with 2 american families in NJ and Califrnia but i must say what i noticed that most Americans i interracted with are dead ignorant about the world. MOst of them live their own fairlytale life. They dont clean their house.
Sorry to say but this is contrary to what i expected.
They have huge debts, selfish and fake.
The way I see it the poor are getting poorer, no jobs ,this country is turning into a third world country.
No jobs? Between 2002 and 2007, there were 52 consecutive months of job growth!
The help wanted ads in my two local newspapers are at least 3 pages long.
To Fleet : there is maybe job growth, but there is also a considerable population growth, US population was 200 million 30 years ago, now it's over 300 million, a momentous 50% increase...I'm sorry to say it, but this is like in Third World countries.
To Fleet : there is maybe job growth, but there is also a considerable population growth, US population was 200 million 30 years ago, now it's over 300 million, a momentous 50% increase...I'm sorry to say it, but this is like in Third World countries.
That's right... more people but the average unemployment rate has been lower during Bush's two terms than the average for the '70s, '80s and '90s.
George Walker and Laura are here in Zagreb today and tomorrow. If I get a chance to have a cup of tea with them we will most definitely discuss this most interesting Europe-USA issue...
I'd like to mention something unique about American ignorance (let's just call it that) that is often not considered. First off, many of us are not far from Europe. My grandparents spoke poor English, excellent Polish. They were Europeans moved to America. Ok, that considered...
Europeans may understand our general ignorance a little better if they realized that those grandparents did not come here to remember where they just came from. They came to start new in some way. So except for some cool dances and music, I learned LITTLE about where I'd have been living if I'd been a generation or two older. Good or bad, we were taught to pay attention to the "immediate," the "us." And you would, too.
Also, my friends in Denmark and Norway would often comment on how we don't travel. Yeah, we don't. And back then, I wondered at HOW ON EARTH THEY COULD AFFORD TO TRAVEL!! Now I know, and I won't even get into that. But I'll show you a thousand people I know who'd like to travel and learn about the world, though, if they had the money and time.
Also, beyond travel, those friends say we simply aren't concerned with basic foreign affairs. We would be if we had the peace of mind to not only be concerned with paying basic bills and saving for medical expenses we know will be due someday.
I know that there are many demographics in this country, but consider the one I came from: the relatively poor who just don't know how to get by any better than they currently are in a capitalist country that isn't much concerned with "failures" (that is, those who don't or can't make their own way--sad, but that is what America thinks of those who struggle. Failures.). My parents lived on dirt floors with too many siblings. I put my myself through college and grad school because those intelligent parents taught me to do better for myself. Now I have a doctoral degree and enough eduational debt (that's right, you pay for all that school...all 130k of it) that i will STILL be focussed on paying debt and getting by rather than getting involved in the larger world. Is that excuse? Perhaps not, but you can see the temptation is there to care about your own ducks being in a row rather than the affairs beyond your front door.
I've learned that many Europeans do not realize that many of us really do struggle, even
if the struggle to eat and have shelter ended with our parents and grandparents. I've never said it, but I will suggest it now: perhaps the ignorance is not entirely our own.
...I loved being in Europe. They were kind and, well, nicer than we Americans. They had easier lives that made me feel relaxed while I was there. Now I'm afraid I'm not wanted there. I don't know--as I said, I'm a bit too concerned with other things at the moment. But I'd hate to go back and learn I'm no longer wanted.
America is the most diverse and open country in the world. Your image of America can be confirmed or broken by just walking down the street of any city and talking to people about their lives. New Yorkers have the same image of the American Midwest that Europeans have of America as a whole. But look around an airport in the Midwest and you might discover clues that your impression of America is wrong. All these different faces and accents. Where are these people going? They're taking their life travels from dozens upon dozens of nationalities and disappearing into America's heatland. In a twenty mile of radius of where I live, there are Germans, Russians, Serbs, Dutch, Greeks and Macedonians, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Mexicans, South Americans, African Christians and Muslims, Arab Christians and Arab Muslims, more from Pakistan, India, Vietnam, Austria, and even (gasp) Canadians and Brits have a presence.
We know more about the world than you might think. You are our neighbors.
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