Comments on: Following the European Dream vs. the American one? http://almaer.com/blog/following-the-european-dream-vs-the-american-one blogging about life, the universe, and everything tech Sat, 08 Sep 2012 07:06:53 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: loki http://almaer.com/blog/following-the-european-dream-vs-the-american-one/comment-page-1#comment-22473 loki Thu, 14 Apr 2005 12:53:27 +0000 http://almaer.com/blog2/following-the-european-dream-vs-the-american-one#comment-22473 Well, we (europeans) have very different cultures, languages, historical details, positions about religion, etc... In the US it's very much WASP having imposed their culture to the natives, imported african slaves, as well as their language (ok, one could argue that now hispanos are pretty much doing that to the US ;)). The US is a huge mix of many nationalities, cultures, ideologies, but they don't interoperate much: every community has to stay where it's being put by the "real" americans (white, around 50, undecently rich). In Europe that's very different, at least amongst the different native european nationalities. Of course, it takes a lot more time, we have to argue and discuss a lot, get together on many many issues (with sometimes very different opinions and historical backgrounds). Generally speaking (= blatant generalization), Europeans and US citizens have a very different opinion on how society should work. We're not communists ((some) Europeans have been the only ones really suffering from communism, not the Americans), not at all, but to most of us, ultraliberalism is a very, very bad idea. We strive for things like social health systems, not maximizing few individuals' profits. I'm not going to say any opinion is better (though I do have a strong point on one of those, as you might imagine ;)) - I respect your own, but so much for explaining that there actually _is_ a big difference between the "American dream" and the "European dream" ;) PS: I know, this is full of generalizations, assumptions,... - obviously not all Americans are like that (at least, a little under 50% isn't ;)) - and obviously not all Europeans are like what I described either, unfortunately. And my view of the US is certainly as biased as yours on Europe. Noone's perfect, none of us is a better continent than the other, my point was just that building Europe is a very different thing than building the USA. finally { peace(); takeCare(); } Well, we (europeans) have very different cultures, languages, historical details, positions about religion, etc…
In the US it’s very much WASP having imposed their culture to the natives, imported african slaves, as well as their language (ok, one could argue that now hispanos are pretty much doing that to the US ;)).
The US is a huge mix of many nationalities, cultures, ideologies, but they don’t interoperate much: every community has to stay where it’s being put by the “real” americans (white, around 50, undecently rich).

In Europe that’s very different, at least amongst the different native european nationalities. Of course, it takes a lot more time, we have to argue and discuss a lot, get together on many many issues (with sometimes very different opinions and historical backgrounds).
Generally speaking (= blatant generalization), Europeans and US citizens have a very different opinion on how society should work. We’re not communists ((some) Europeans have been the only ones really suffering from communism, not the Americans), not at all, but to most of us, ultraliberalism is a very, very bad idea. We strive for things like social health systems, not maximizing few individuals’ profits.

I’m not going to say any opinion is better (though I do have a strong point on one of those, as you might imagine ;)) – I respect your own, but so much for explaining that there actually _is_ a big difference between the “American dream” and the “European dream” ;)

PS: I know, this is full of generalizations, assumptions,… – obviously not all Americans are like that (at least, a little under 50% isn’t ;)) – and obviously not all Europeans are like what I described either, unfortunately. And my view of the US is certainly as biased as yours on Europe.

Noone’s perfect, none of us is a better continent than the other, my point was just that building Europe is a very different thing than building the USA.

finally { peace(); takeCare(); }

]]> By: Eelco http://almaer.com/blog/following-the-european-dream-vs-the-american-one/comment-page-1#comment-22472 Eelco Wed, 13 Apr 2005 20:09:44 +0000 http://almaer.com/blog2/following-the-european-dream-vs-the-american-one#comment-22472 Argueing is good. Agueing is learning from each other. Programmers like to ague, *wherever they come from* :) Argueing is good. Agueing is learning from each other. Programmers like to ague, *wherever they come from* :)

]]>