Some of the affection we North Americans readily feel for Europe -- its 'quaint' villages; the corner grocer and baker; and age-old churches; the mossy street-edges; the perfect meadows; sweet-smelling hay and straw barns; the morning washing of the side-walks; the one-step-down restaurants with their old wood beams and zinc bars; the 'gruss gott' and 'bonjour, madame' among strangers; the manicured trails inter-lacing the alps; wild strawberries in the woods; the cheeses; the family-style back-street museums of the towns -- is made possible by a social system that lies hidden to tourists' eyes and that North Americans seem to shy away from when they run into its echoes here in America.
This social system is founded upon a close-knit social unit -- the village or, in towns, the neighborhood. To Americans, this social system or what they see and experience of it seems nosy, controlling, rigid, exclusive of strangers, tradition-bound, conformist, deeply conservative, arrogantly self-confidant, and suspicious. What we Americans don't quite see, either, is how alienated are some of the youth growing up in such rigid social environments, and how some dream from an early age of escaping, typically to the nearest large town, where they can find some degree of liberty through anonymity and experiment-friendly social sub-groups of peers and happenstance mentors. This dream of escape is fueled by knowledge of the rest of the world and of how others live, a dream accelerated to them in recent decades by television and the distribution of foreign movies down into the smallest villages, and by tourists who unthinkingly carry with them the societal 'virus' of the social mores of America, mores based on notions of the primacy of the individual; the dispensability of enduring social ties and respect for elders; and the intrinsic value of innovation and spontaneity. And, sometimes in turn, these mores spawn societal consequences that can horrify Europeans when they visit American lands where these mores developed and flourished: garbage strewn streets; noisy and disrespectful gangs of children in the malls; the all-consuming consumerism and materialism; the thin veneer of classical education; linguistic incompetence; a propensity for violence; the substitution of 'style' for art; the substitution of self-promotion for a good reputation earned over the years through solid accomplishment and reliability; and a willingness to screw others and, if caught, move on anonymously. Perhaps tourism reflects a desire to escape if only for a moment the known dark-side of our own societies, to bathe superficially in the delights of foreign societies, unscathed by the hidden realities of their dark-sides. Cheers, Lawry On May 12, 2012, at 2:13 AM, pete wrote: > > > On Fri, 11 May 2012, Ray Harrell wrote: > >> The old Cherokee Nation was the size of the modern state of Oklahoma >> and Oklahoma is the size of modern France. > > No, it's not. We did this before, just a little while ago: > > "No no, it is Texas that's the size of France, Oklahoma is a quarter > that size, and fits between Greece and Belarus, but with a population of > order of a small balkan state." > > And while Germany is indeed about twice the size of Wisconsin, it is > also about 6% smaller than Montana, its closest US match, and thus about > half the size of France, as Monana is half the size of Texas. > > -Pete (compulsive geography geek) > > PS By the way, did you get a view of the land while flying over? What > I've noticed is that the small villages and small farms make a beautiful > environment, by comparison with the vast and for me rather desolate > stretches of unpopulated farmland in north america, dominated by the > impersonal geometry of the "section" - square mile divisions of farm > properties. The little scattered villages and irreguilar farm boundaries > of Europe look far more friendly, I don't think I'd mind living anywhere > among them... > > >> Thanks Keith. I always enjoy your thinking although I often don't agree. >> The root of the disagreement could be about geography. This summer I took >> my first trip to Europe ever. I always had an image of Europe as a place >> consonant with its Art and the impact of its Art on the rest of the world. >> >> >> >> >> Just as the first Americans to go to China with Nixon and to find the sheer >> stunning numbers of people overwhelming or my experience of moving to NYCity >> and finding the weight of the buildings, their size and immense number to be >> beyond my experience, the trip to Europe was different. >> >> >> >> I was struck by the smallness and local feeling of all of Europe. The >> low buildings, small transportation systems and of course the great beauty. >> Yes the Art is there and it is unbelievable in its sheer amounts and scope. >> There are big airports but basically I was struck by important cities with >> airports not much bigger than Oklahoma City except Oklahoma City then >> spreads over 100 miles of prairie from the airport. The airport at >> Florence was like a mid size American city airport. The road systems run >> through beautiful countrysides but essentially everything is in miniature. >> The old Cherokee Nation was the size of the modern state of Oklahoma and >> Oklahoma is the size of modern France. Germany is the size of two >> Wisconsins and Britain is....... well..... an island after all is said and >> done. >> >> >> >> In the countries where miniature geography houses large mono racial >> populations and serious modern economies it makes sense that evolution would >> begin to downsize due to the sheer minimalism of the gene pool. >> Multi-culturalism is a threat to their personal gene pool and identity. >> Some of these groups struggle to maintain their identity through inner >> marriage in the culture but these same cultures maintaining their identity >> here, suffer from serious health issues as they do elsewhere in the world >> and the problem is old blood. I suspect that all of the new Muslim >> immigrants in Europe is a genetic cry for fresh blood just as the American >> Indian Nations here used to raid their neighbors for wives and children to >> keep the gene pool, within the clan systems, viable. I know that >> Europeans who immigrate here often speak of the liberty of anonymity because >> of the sheer space. I've heard the same from immigrants to Canada. >> They love the Art and the look of their home culture but when they buy a >> house there they suffer from a personal kind of claustrophobia and a loss of >> identity which the crystallize in the word "liberty." >> >> >> >> REH >> >> >> >> >> >> From: [email protected] >> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Keith Hudson >> Sent: Friday, May 11, 2012 3:09 AM >> To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, , EDUCATION >> Subject: [Futurework] The ONLY solution >> >> >> >> Never before -- in the 200,000 year history of mankind -- have populations >> decided to go extinct. But that is exactly what might happen in more than a >> score of advanced countries in Europe. By deciding to spend their incomes on >> the full standard kit of consumer goods, services and leisure experiences >> rather than two (increasingly expensive) children per woman, populations >> will go into steep decline once the present crop of excessively old people >> dies off. >> >> Whether European countries will completely re-stock their numbers in the >> years to come by continuing to encourage the poor of Asia, Africa and the >> Middle East to immigrate remains to be seen. For the last 30 or 40 years, >> this has been the surreptitious policy of senior politicians and civil >> servants in order to maintain a sufficiently large taxation base. But >> whether they'll continue to get away with it remains to be seen. Even while >> indigenous populations are declining, they may also decide to elect extreme >> right-wing governments or even old-fashioned dictatorships which will >> finally erect efficient barriers. If this happens, then, at some future >> stage, European adults might decide to have more children and thus stabilize >> their populations (albeit at much smaller numbers than today). >> >> Stabilization of populations would only occur, however, when the twin trends >> of ever-increasing automation and ever-increasing growth of specialized >> skills balance up. That is, when the size of the consumer market matches up >> with the necessary jobs which provide the market with desirable goods and >> services, and maintain the basic infrastructure. This is the natural >> equilibrium of what has occurred during, say, 190,000 years of our >> existence. During the most recent 10,000 years of our agricultural and >> industrial eras, this self-balancing act has only been interrupted for brief >> periods by mass warfare. >> >> Sooner or later, the poor of mankind -- such as they might exist -- will >> begin to reach a European standard of living and go through the same >> balancing process as we are now starting. Of course, the whole of mankind >> might be wiped out by an unforeseen asteroid or a killer virus that will >> have such a long gestation period that it will be undetectable even as it >> spreads around. But, unlike Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal, Master of Trinity >> College Cambridge and past President of the Royal Society, who doesn't give >> us more than a century's future existence, I remain optimistic. I believe we >> have at least a few centuries yet until we reach the only possible solution. >> >> Keith >> >> >> >> >> Keith Hudson, Saltford, England http://allisstatus.wordpress.com >> <http://allisstatus.wordpress.com/> >> >> >> > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
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