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Sept. 27, 2004 I'm a little surprised at the amount of bile Europeans collect in your columns. Why on earth would anyone imagine that Europeans hate Americans, even as a generalisation? The first thing to realise about Europe is that it is very, very diverse. It is also crowded and not particularly large. Over 400 million people living in an area probably a bit less than the contiguous US. Speaking of national characteristics (if such things exist), you can't expect a Norwegian to have the same political attitudes as a Greek, or a Frenchman to like the same food as a Slovak. Europeans as so diverse it would be very strange indeed if they could all get their heads together to hate the Americans. In fact, they are very used to 'foreigners' - and folk from the US are just another variety of foreigners to be accommodated. Sure there are some haters in Europe - neo-Nazis, racists etc. - but they no more represent the common trend that the KKK or the Aryan Brotherhood represent the USA. So they are quietly accepting of American people. That does not mean they have the same spread of political opinions as you will find inside the USA - why should they? They live in a different environment and have their own concerns. Their attitude to social policy is generally different, born from different circumstances. (Ask them if they would like to trade US infant mortality or literacy rates for their own and you might get a surprise.) As a generalisation, they tend to be less accepting of religion in politics, so they find the current ascendancy of hard-line Christianity in the USA a little worrying. If they had a chance to vote for the leader of the Western world, they would probably be a lot more liberal than Americans. So to say 'Europeans hate Americans' is probably meaningless in general, and totally wrong in detail. I would allow to you to say they are terrified of what America might do next. And that they are generally saddened at what Americans have allowed to happen to their own country recently. Go and visit. There are plenty of potential friends over there; just don't expect them to have a Fox News view of the world. ------------ About the author: Eric lives in tropical Queensland and writes books - some naughty, some nice - that can be found through Renaissance eBooks (renebooks.com) He reads widely and when he is not thinking about lunch, worries about the state of the world. Email: ericge@westnet.com.au Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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