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Timber Loftis · 10-29-2002, 03:14 PM

I think the point, that no one was trying to make originally, that many Europeans and, indeed, folks of all sorts of other countries have a problem with Americans has just been established on this thread. No matter what any of you say you were trying to say, it's obvious. Now, your problem may be, and likely is (from what I've seen), the arrogance of Americans, but that's still a problem, no?

When I have spent a few months working in Europe before, I have noticed that I made great friends who loved a good discussion, a good beer, and a good rugby game. But, I always ended up spending a lot of my time justifying the acts of my government, or the attitudes of Americans, or whatever else had narked someone about America recently. A good friend even referred to himself as one of "your poorer British cousins" on more than one occassion - and his obvious (and admitted) problems was the arrogance/self-absorbtion he saw in Americans.

I think it boils down to demographics. The USA, assuming everything else like economy, technology, and culture are equal between USA and EU (a fair assumption), is simply BIGGER. Even though the economy of Spain might be just as healthy, it takes all of the EU to rival the US in terms of sheer bulk of people, money, and political influence. That size means that the US is in most news stories, even if it's just an analysis of how it will react, whereas France may not be in so many. But, if you aggregate the EU countries together, you'd find just as many stories.

Just some thoughts.

[edit] Regarding recent (see above) accusations of Nationalism by Neb, I think he might be right. Americans say "we" when we talk about what the USA government does. I've almost never heard a European say that. There's an identification with our nation and our government combined with fierce loyalty to our collective independence that makes Americans pretty damn patriotic vis-a-vis other first-world nations. "But, don't blame us - we're just the best," he said, once again using the royal plural. [img]graemlins/evilhaha.gif[/img]

[ 10-29-2002, 03:17 PM: Message edited by: Timber Loftis ]

10-29-2002, 03:14 PM	#78
Timber Loftis 40th Level Warrior Join Date: July 11, 2002 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 11,916	I think the point, that no one was trying to make originally, that many Europeans and, indeed, folks of all sorts of other countries have a problem with Americans has just been established on this thread. No matter what any of you say you were trying to say, it's obvious. Now, your problem may be, and likely is (from what I've seen), the arrogance of Americans, but that's still a problem, no? When I have spent a few months working in Europe before, I have noticed that I made great friends who loved a good discussion, a good beer, and a good rugby game. But, I always ended up spending a lot of my time justifying the acts of my government, or the attitudes of Americans, or whatever else had narked someone about America recently. A good friend even referred to himself as one of "your poorer British cousins" on more than one occassion - and his obvious (and admitted) problems was the arrogance/self-absorbtion he saw in Americans. I think it boils down to demographics. The USA, assuming everything else like economy, technology, and culture are equal between USA and EU (a fair assumption), is simply BIGGER. Even though the economy of Spain might be just as healthy, it takes all of the EU to rival the US in terms of sheer bulk of people, money, and political influence. That size means that the US is in most news stories, even if it's just an analysis of how it will react, whereas France may not be in so many. But, if you aggregate the EU countries together, you'd find just as many stories. Just some thoughts. [edit] Regarding recent (see above) accusations of Nationalism by Neb, I think he might be right. Americans say "we" when we talk about what the USA government does. I've almost never heard a European say that. There's an identification with our nation and our government combined with fierce loyalty to our collective independence that makes Americans pretty damn patriotic vis-a-vis other first-world nations. "But, don't blame us - we're just the best," he said, once again using the royal plural. [img]graemlins/evilhaha.gif[/img] [ 10-29-2002, 03:17 PM: Message edited by: Timber Loftis ] __________________