At Stardate 20030630.1654, Jan Coffey wrote:
Why do so many europeans want to leave the discussion just when it get's down to the details? You know? You get over the usual yelling and screeming, down to the point where you are just starting to be able to form some kind of consistent model, and the europeans loose intrest.
It's not just the Europeans, you'll probably get a similar reaction from other non-Americans. You see, when discussing a topic like this, we often notice that Americans tend to dig in their heels and appear unwilling to even *consider* the possibility that America's ways are not always the best ways, let alone *admit* that The American Way isn't always the right way. Discussions become pretty useless at that point, so we give up and turn our attention elsewhere.
Could it be that they don't like what is -in- the details? Could it be that they know what you will dind there? Or are they so unmoveable from their opinions that they don't want to focus when it get's to the point that those opinons are chalanged?
None of these possible reasons sound plausible. In fact, such statements come across as rather aggressive and insulting. Now, I'm sure you didn't mean to come across as aggressive and insulting, and maybe it wouldn't be considered aggressive and insulting by other Americans, but when engaging in discussions with non-Americans you must keep in mind that non-Americans have different values and a different cultural background. What may be considered an entire harmless statement in the US may be considered a grave insult elsewhere.
I was able to form (what I believe to be) a consistent model of the "tolerance" in europe and the US, and to describe the interaction of components in that model. I also beleive that this model shows the superior effectiveness of tolerance in America.
As has been pointed out before, America's alleged "superior tolerance" is contradicted by its crime statistics.
But I have heard no agreement or disagreement. By your silence can I assume that you agree?
Do not *ever* assume that someone's silence means agreement! It is quite possible that the other person has lost interest in the discussion or has been busy with something else and hasn't had time yet to respond.
With such assumptions you can also falsely attribute opinions to someone; FREX, I've once been accused of supporting terrorism by a certain someone because in that person's mind, I hadn't vigorously enough condemned the September 11 attacks. It will be obvious that making such assumptions and statements doesn't exactly improve the atmosphere on a mailing list.
Besides, you know what happens when you assume, right?
Jeroen van Baardwijk
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