Peter Lairo wrote:
> All this anti american bashing is sooo typical. I'm sure there is "some"
> justicfication for it. But I have lived in _Germany as an american *all*
> my life and I know that Europe is not that much better. All the wealth
> here is concentrated with the former blue bloods ( the Von's, and Zu's)
> -the rest are licky to have an 80 m� apartment (most rent, they don't
> own!).I largely agree. Let's also admit that renting rather than owning has a
lot to do with population density versus land availability. This is
also increasingly the case in large -- and even not-so-large -- American
(and Canadian) urban areas.
(I'm also a first-generation Canadian whose parents emigrated from
Germany and Austria in the mid-'50s, so I'm not entirely unaware of the
conditions you describe.)
> Also, the US didn't create the third world. That's just ridiculous. I
> know people that work in the government and the IMF and they try VERY
> hard to balance helping poorer countries with the US's own needs. The
> reality is that there are other reasons for poverty in this world.
> They'd be poor no matter what. Why do people so often think that america
> can/is influence(ing) EVERYTHING? Are you all paranoid? It's just not
> the case! I even see people in Germany who are desinterested in progress
> ("in the old days everything was better"). You don't create wealth and
> food without a basic desire to grow.
I also largely agree with Jonas J�rgensen's comments here. [Sorry,
don't know if the ASCII character will work, tho' it should.]
I don't think Bamm's original comment was that the U. S. /created/ the
Third World (BTW, how does one clearly indicate italics in plain text?
I always thought it was by using a tilde, but that seems not to work)
but rather that U. S. foreign policy in many cases has worked to /keep/
Third-World countries in the Third World. Again, see Jonas' comments.
BTW, it's not paranoia if they really /are/ after you. . . .
> The biggest fault the US has is that they are so sure of themselves and
> become arrogant and pushy (it's that darwinian thing). Fortunately, they
> are usually fair and right about what they do.
It's precisely that arrogance that sticks in the craw of most people.
There's something else, too: my experience (of Americans in Canada) is
that it is only when some ideological issue arises that this arrogance
surfaces. It's quite startling to see otherwise sane, intelligent
people begin to utter Troglodyte truisms (too often reducible to some
form of 'America will fight and America will be right'). An analysis of
Geo. W. Bush's comments subsequent to 11.IX.01, for instance, would be
quite pertinent here.
I'm not even gonna go /near/ the statement that America is 'usually fair
and right about what they do'; there are far too many exceptions, some
real, some, perhaps, merely perceived.
> I think most people feel threatened by the US's power (understandable),
> but also the US's progres in many areas of human development. I have
> seen MANY people in Europ who are afraid and unwilling to expand their
> emotional horizon. Behaviour patterns here are quite well defined, and
> they involve a LOT of rationality and conformity (not just Germany - ALL
> of Europe).
Hmm . . . I'm not quite sure what your point here is.
> I get really tired of the European holier-than-thow attitude. All the
> cliche's: americans are fat, americans are dumb and uninformed, etc ad
> nauseum. Well, just one example: In Germany, crappy old McDonalds has
> become a booming business, while the *much better* Wendies and Burger
> King have gone broke. So much for american's bad taste compared to the
> "gourmet" Europeans. Yeah right. OK, I'm done now.
Clich�s will always be gross over-simplifications, and yet many clich�s
/do/ contain a kernel of truth. The exceptions that defy such clich�s
about Americans always seem more refreshing than shocking, as in the
case of the (American) wife of a friend of mine, who knows more about
both the American and Canadian political systems than anyone I have ever
encountered, and who is quite pointed in her criticisms of both, but
especially of the former.
> I enjoy a nice rant in the morning. ;
'Tis mid-afternoon as I write this, however. . . .
-- Brian
--
?We have seen the enemy and he is us? ? Walt Kelly?s Pogo
