The American Coup

[Peter Korsten]

James R. Coplin schreef:

>> Another thing is who you would go to for advise on important decisions 
>> in your life. In Europe, people would discuss this with their family. In 
>> the US, they're more likely to talk to their religious leader. Eh? 
>> Wouldn't your family be more affected than him?
> 
> Highly overstated.  Some folks will of course consult with the religious
> figurehead of their choice, I don't know anyone who wouldn't start with
> family.  We are human beings after all, even in the US.

This is from a survey, which was reported upon on the BBC web site, so 
I'm not making it up. Obviously, one should take both surveys and the 
BBC with a grain of salt.

When I was in a village in Ontario (Hanover), it had about the same 
number of inhabitants as my parent's village. But whereas the latter has 
two Catholic churches, Hanover has *14* churches, all different. This 
includes the Salvation Army and the Mennonites, those people in their 
funny clothes and carriages.

>> Compared to the two countries in North-America (to which I'm not 
>> counting Mexico, which culturally is closer to South-America), two 
>> currencies and two official languages (for those knuckle-heads in 
>> Quebec), that's quite a big difference.
> 
> Don't forget Portuguese, 6th largest spoken language in the world.

Not an official language in North-America, is it? Heck, even the US 
don't have an official language, but then Canada has two. :) But 
basically, in North America they speak English, Spanish, and a bit of 
French.

>> But do you have that in the US, that when you cross a state border, that 
>> you notice a subtle difference in practically everything? That the 
>> houses look different
> 
> Definitely.  I was born and raised in the South and I can tell you the
> North, West, and East are extremely different.  Food, architecture, values,
> etc. are all radically different.  This was my frustration from the get go.
> Europeans list the infinite variety of the European experience and then in
> the same breath paint all Americans into a homogenous mass even though there
> are more of us and we have more turf.  Why is this so hard for you to admit?

Ah, I think you misunderstood me. Of course, Micke lives in a very 
different house from mine: he lives in a wooden (?) house in 
Scandinavia, which has to deal with loads of snow in winter, whereas I 
live in a sandstone house with thick walls in the Mediterranean, which 
has to do with high temperatures in summer.

What I actually meant is that, when you drive from the Netherlands into 
Belgium or Germany, you *immediately* see the differences. Vegetation 
and climate would (obviously) be exactly the same, but houses, traffic 
signs, lamp posts, bus stops, high-tension wires, they all look different.

But what in heaven's name make you think that there are 'more of you'? 
There are about 300 million US Americans and 730 million Europeans. Even 
if you lump in the Canadians and the Mexicans, you're still a couple of 
hundred of millions short.

> Probably because your lens of examination for the US are things like movies,
> media, corporate culture etc.  These things *ARE NOT* synonymous with
> America.  Any more than wooden shoes and fingers in dikes are indicative of
> the Dutch.  These are constructs of the other and lack depth, nuance, and
> are often false.  

Well, when in Hanover we went to the children's school for the Christmas 
presentation, it was *exactly* like I knew from the media. What you 
don't see in the media, is that Hanover struck me as a rather sad place. 
You saw it in the clothes that the parents wore. I looked overdressed, 
and those who know me personally know what I'm talking about (although I 
dressed a bit more formally at that time).

It didn't look much different from what I'd expected, and as Martin 
pointed out, there is a certain sameness throughout the continent, but 
what really struck me is how different from Europe it is.

It's difficult to describe what is so different, but even Europe has a 
certain air, not a sameness but more a general feeling, something that 
had a decidedly different feel in Canada, or at least southern Ontario 
(which, by the way, doesn't rank very high on my list of attractive 
landscapes).

What's great in America is the space that you have, and the Christmas 
decorations that people make. In Europe, you may find a few flashing 
lights behind the window and that's already extravagant, but in Canada 
they hang their whole house full of bulbs. It probably kills 20 pandas 
for every single house from the amount of electricity consumed, but it 
looks really great.

>> All in all, Europe is for me a continent with a fantastic variety of 
>> culture and art that is unrivalled anywhere in the world (Italy on its 
>> own has more treasures than some continents), with centuries old 
>> cathedrals sitting close to hyper-modern office buildings, and a history 
>> (much of it painful, to this very day) that shaped the world as it is
> today.
> 
> Hmmm, and Americans are provincial?  Go to China and get back to me.  

Name a few world-famous works of art that comes from China. The Great 
Wall and the Forbidden City don't count. Along the lines of the Mona 
Lisa or the Sistine Chapel, that sort of thing.

>> And even though Europe may have lost its leading position, when it comes 
>> to the best cities to live in, the greatest amount of press freedom, the 
>> least amount of corruption (and, um, the largest amount of alcohol 
>> consumption per capita), it's always Europe that fills the top spots.
> 
> So say Europeans in polls about where Europeans think is the best place in
> Europe to live. It is the same view and problem that Europeans often
> complain about Americans.  The Eurocentric view and definition of all things
> on its own terms is equally if not more troubling. 

Well, no, these are world-wide surveys, based on objectively measurable 
criteria. And it's certain countries that hit the top spots when it 
comes to low corruption and press freedom: Scandinavia, the Netherlands, 
and also New-Zealand. Italy and Greece, though in Europe, don't score 
very well there.

Of the 10 best cities to live in the world, eight of those are in Europe 
- mostly Switzerland, Austria and Germany. Vancouver is there as well, 
plus another one I forgot (I think it was Auckland).

My point here is that Europe is no longer the dominant political and 
military power, but it's still leading in other areas - areas that I 
find rather important, because they directly relate to quality of life.

>> Which, in my view, makes Europe the most desirable continent, and as 
>> such that allows us a certain amount of arrogance. :)
> 
> I love the "European" continent.  A completely artificial construct which is
> wholly culturally constructed.  It is the same reasoning behind defining
> Mexico as part of South America.  It is an artificial distinction merely

Not South America, but Latin America for sure. Think of Spanish and 
Portuguese, Catholicism, soccer.

And it's widely accepted that Europe's cultural borders extend beyond 
its geographical borders. Countries like Armenia and Georgia may 
officially lie in Asia, culturally they're European.

> based on cultural hegemony.  Why is Russia "Asia" and what is magic about
> the Rio Grande that makes Mexico "over there".   One should never confuse
> physical geography as anything other than cultural constructs.

Russia is a special case: one could argue that culturally, Europe 
stretches right up to Vladivostok. Russians across the nation have 
pretty much the same accent, with the exception of the ones in the 
south. And on the Russian side of the border with China, you see blonde 
people.

But as said, Russia is a special case, that can't simply be lumped into 
a continent that is smaller than the country itself.

- Peter