sytaylor
07-19-04, 03:16 PM
I admit I stole this from a thread at b3d but I thought it was interesting. Here is what I posted...
The states:
True capitalism: Making a success is possible if you fight hard enough for long enough and don't give up under any circumstances
Fight Problems: If Americans needed a huge bridge to connect two communities they'd build it ASAP.. Europeans would spend 10 years on it, deliver it late, over budget and with a wobble.
Polite: With NYC the obvious exception most Americans (and indeed canadians for that matter) are super polite to strangers. In Europe its almost an oddity to speak to someone you don't know on public transport
Sense of Purpose: Americans tend to feel like although theyre not perfect they are a force for "good" in the world and make a difference... which to some extent is true. imo.
JFDI: The only country that actually could compete in the space race, where in Europe the opposition at the time because of the costs would have been huge. The states tends to put its head down and just freakin do it.
Travel: Getting on a plane to see relatives is considered almost normal and travelling a few hours in a car is considered a short distance not a crime against your day
Europe/UK:
Debates: As Fred touched on in Europe and certainly the UK we tend to have very informed debates on contraversial subjects that have more than one side. The BBC actually help tremendously with shows like NewsNight and Question Time where the public and media get direct access to the politicians. The states have that, but there is very rarley the openess, its either one agenda or the other, make your choice.
Political Balance: The Democrats in the States are only just left of centre, and while I myself would be considered almost a slightly liberal thatcherite in the States im full on centrist with opinions that dont really fit with either party. Ie religous right vs socially democratic doesn't cover as many of the options.
History: While some older cities in the states aren't that bad most Americans live in suburbia which has little or no charachter and could be pretty much anywhere in the states if the name were changed. Pretty much everywhere in britain except the 60s/70s housing estates has some charachter I find.
Shopping: Although our lack of Malls annoys me at times (we have about 20 proper sized ones in the country), we DO have mini malls in city/town centres as well as random sporradic(sp?) shopping and culture centres in pretty much every town.
Travel: Despite a horrible road and rail network, everywhere is pretty close within the UK and getting to france etc doesnt take all that long. A plane to Amsterdam takes 50 mins etc.
Edit:
There is a free paper given away on all public transport here in the UK (The metro), its pretty cool but regardless today it had a review a book covering opinions from both sides of the atlantic about the UK and US's "special relationship" as it were. The quote that stuck in my head was..
"Yeah, your like articulate? But like, bad teeth?"
Americans don't really care about britain that much and the brits hate the fact we're not as important as we appear to be. It also highlights what appears to be the overall view (not that of those who engage in politics and can therefore form alternate opinions) of the average American...
The states:
True capitalism: Making a success is possible if you fight hard enough for long enough and don't give up under any circumstances
Fight Problems: If Americans needed a huge bridge to connect two communities they'd build it ASAP.. Europeans would spend 10 years on it, deliver it late, over budget and with a wobble.
Polite: With NYC the obvious exception most Americans (and indeed canadians for that matter) are super polite to strangers. In Europe its almost an oddity to speak to someone you don't know on public transport
Sense of Purpose: Americans tend to feel like although theyre not perfect they are a force for "good" in the world and make a difference... which to some extent is true. imo.
JFDI: The only country that actually could compete in the space race, where in Europe the opposition at the time because of the costs would have been huge. The states tends to put its head down and just freakin do it.
Travel: Getting on a plane to see relatives is considered almost normal and travelling a few hours in a car is considered a short distance not a crime against your day
Europe/UK:
Debates: As Fred touched on in Europe and certainly the UK we tend to have very informed debates on contraversial subjects that have more than one side. The BBC actually help tremendously with shows like NewsNight and Question Time where the public and media get direct access to the politicians. The states have that, but there is very rarley the openess, its either one agenda or the other, make your choice.
Political Balance: The Democrats in the States are only just left of centre, and while I myself would be considered almost a slightly liberal thatcherite in the States im full on centrist with opinions that dont really fit with either party. Ie religous right vs socially democratic doesn't cover as many of the options.
History: While some older cities in the states aren't that bad most Americans live in suburbia which has little or no charachter and could be pretty much anywhere in the states if the name were changed. Pretty much everywhere in britain except the 60s/70s housing estates has some charachter I find.
Shopping: Although our lack of Malls annoys me at times (we have about 20 proper sized ones in the country), we DO have mini malls in city/town centres as well as random sporradic(sp?) shopping and culture centres in pretty much every town.
Travel: Despite a horrible road and rail network, everywhere is pretty close within the UK and getting to france etc doesnt take all that long. A plane to Amsterdam takes 50 mins etc.
Edit:
There is a free paper given away on all public transport here in the UK (The metro), its pretty cool but regardless today it had a review a book covering opinions from both sides of the atlantic about the UK and US's "special relationship" as it were. The quote that stuck in my head was..
"Yeah, your like articulate? But like, bad teeth?"
Americans don't really care about britain that much and the brits hate the fact we're not as important as we appear to be. It also highlights what appears to be the overall view (not that of those who engage in politics and can therefore form alternate opinions) of the average American...