- This topic has 4 voices and 10 replies.
-
Posts
-
The United States is a great place. Americans love freedom so much, they have hot dog-eating contests on Independence Day to prove it.Despite that general awesomeness, though, the U.S. isn't the best at everything. That's not dinging the land of the free and the home of the brave for no reason, but rather, to say that Europe just does some things better in 16 ways (to start with)http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/07/16-ways-europeans-are-just-better-at-life_n_3950351.html
I agree with many of those things listed at which Europeans are better at (although some of the categories are a bit ridiculous). However, Europe has the advantage in some areas (e.g. healthcare) because there can be several dozen different systems to choose from, rather than one federal system. While the healthcare system in Sweden might be better overall, I'm not sure I'd want to have to go to the hospital in a place like Greece or Romania. I do admit that Europe trumps America in the areas of cheese, public transportation, vacation time, chocolate, castles. They could add other categories like museums and architecture and beer as well.Now - as for things America is better at than Europe: cars, Italian food, streets, residential homes, Mexican food, military, movies.Boy bands (tie).
Among the ridiculous ones, I wonder how to compare and evaluate : cheese, song contests, football (soccer), chocolate, sexy accents and castles ?? ?
A liberal list of what they find important. I say if they like it so much in Europe, come on over. I do live here and can't wait to get back to the land of concealed carry and large tracts of land.
Aetheling, I'm curious - have you been to America?
Almost 30 years ago for a short trip to visit a friend studying at Cornell, Ithaca, NY. I first went to Canada then crossed the border by car to Maine, New Hampshire, Boston, Ithaca.
A liberal list of what they find important. I say if they like it so much in Europe, come on over. I do live her and can't wait to get back to the land of concealed carry and large tracts of land.
What do you like and dislike in Europe?
The problem with that kind of “survey” is that they consider Europe as one country whereas Europe is still a collection of countries quite different from each other, so it's a bit easy to find better in one or another and to compare it with the US. Cool down guys 8)
#2 Europe has more varieties of cheese, and some very good but they don't have Vermont or Wisconsin cheddar which is the best!#3 - Yes, our public transportation is awful unless it's a big city...and the center of it. Not only do you have to wait hours for your transfer, you also have to walk pretty far for some routes.#6 Football/Soccer. OK, so UEFA gets more viewers. Considering how many teams and countries involved that's still a low number compared to the Superbowl which is just two teams, one country.
What do you like and dislike in Europe?
I have spent a total of 14 years in Europe now. Don't get me wrong, there is much to like about Europe, but universal health care, cheese, public transport, song contests, soccer, and the metric system are none of the things I like. I do like the vacation time my wife gets. Of course, I don't get that much vacation nor do I work the 60-70 hour weeks she does either. I like being close to many of the places I want to see. This is mostly places Europeans busily killed each other through most of their history.I hate the climate, it is never really hot enough to suit me. I hate that it is crowded, I do not understand the European preference for living in each other's laps. I hate that the only really wild places are in the Alps in very forbidding terrain. I dislike the punishing taxes people who work have to pay. The VAT, need I say more? I hate the two class system, either you work or you suck the lifeblood of those who do. TV taxes, they are 180 euro a years in Germany.Generally I think the parliamentary system is anti- or at best faux-democratic because it just makes people fell like they have a voice they do not really have.All that being said, Europe is not a bad place, it just aint America and I don;t think America should become like Europe. Europe has just as many problems as America, just in different areas.
It seems to me that the benefits of Europe/America are double-edged swords. Europe excels at offering what is best when it is old – history, castles, styles of cooking, etc., but its oldness makes it suffer where old meets new (e.g. modern-day road systems). America has the reverse problem – since much of it was built up over the past century or so, it has a great road system, easily-accessible megamalls, etc., but it's hard to get a real sense of history for the average person.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
