Do you have any more numbers on this? I keep seeing things like “The US spends $87.6 kajillionzillion on the uninsured”, but I’ve never read a headline which says “The CDC estimates the US would waste (could save) $50 bajillionkazoos on preventative health care”.
Huh. I started with the screen I’m looking at. Turns out the development of LCDs doesn’t get claimed by any one country (and includes work by Marconi). You get the mouse I’m using. That CD - oh no, Philips and Sony. A midi cable - international comittee. And so on.
No, it means you’ll get exploited or harmed by those who have advantages over you, and you’ll have no recourse.
It’s called paying your fair share. Anyone who is successful is successful in part because of the government and society in general.
They are exactly the same; survival.
No, not paying taxes is theft, because you are reaping benefits from society without paying.
Argue about who was the worst American leader ever and you’re arguing Nixon or Bush.
Argue about who was the worst European leader ever and you’re arguing Hitler or Stalin.
Since we’re talking genocide and ethnic cleansing, then surely you have to include Andrew Jackson? Were he a European leader I’m sure he’d have caused a lot more trouble; as it happened, the victims of his policies didn’t have the military infrastructure for it to become a proper war.
Two things immediately come to mind:
Toilet paper and soccer.
Some of these are ridiculous. European countries slow on the uptake of electronics in the home? What European countries are you talking about? Eating offal? You know some of it actually tastes nice?
You got a McDonald’s in your area then?
Okay, hold on. Are you seriously arguing that the ROMAN EMPIRE was more intrusive than the modern US?
Seriously?
A film about Chamberlain would be laughed off the screen.
Churchill would not
Not all countries in Europe are the same you know - as a Brit I have spent a lot of time explaining to my continental bretheren why we don’t have mixer taps in the UK (something to do with rising mains and using the plug to fill the basin for washing rather than using running water).
In Italy “French style” toilets are still common, more so then here, but are they more backward ? I remember one company I worked at in Northern Italy you were presented with a choice in the Ladies - one “western style” cubicle, one “French toilet” plus bidet ! Different isn’t necessarily backward.
Still on the theme of not all Europe is the same France is pretty good on high-speed internet coverage compared to other European countries altho’ I don’t have the information to compare with the States.
And in contrast to the Italian judge’s comments let’s welcome the fact that the following European countries have, or have had a female president or prime minister - Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland (twice), Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the UK, not bad eh?
I could be wrong but I’m getting a strange feeling from this thread … millions of Americans love to visit Europe for our traditions, history - especially the thrill of walking through “living history” buildings and roads hundreds of years old, seeing a member of the Royal family etc. yet … you wouldn’t actually want to have to live with them yourselves ?
Notice how this thread is titled “Are There Any Ways In Which Europeans Are More ‘Backward’ Than Americans?”, and not “Are There Any Ways In Which Europeans Are More ‘Backward’ Than Canadians?” or “Are There Any Ways In Which Europeans Are More ‘Backward’ Than Australians?”
Based on what I’ve seen here and on other message boards, Americans are quite comfortable with criticizing their own country. Sure, there’s the rednecks that think everything is the biggest and best in the US, but most Americans I know are self-critical of theer country, and willing to acknowledge its faults. I don’t see Brits, Canadians, or Australians beating their country up or posting “the grass is greener”-themed messages as much as Americans do.
This is what I was going to say. Depending on which definitions you use, “Europe” covers a range that runs from countries like Romania and Bulgaria at one extreme to Sweden, the UK and so at the other. Those countries are different enough to make West Virginia, Missouri and New York look like indistinguishable carbon copies of each other, and it’s not like the US is exactly homogenous.
Is Italy a bit primitive and sexist compared to New York? Yes. But then Missouri is pretty backward compared to Sweden or Germany, so what does that prove?
I’ve always put that down to most places in scandinavia being quite small towns. Not enough potential customers available to cover the cost of staying open. It’s the same in the small towns in the UK. What are things like in Minnesota or Wisconsin or similar?
No, we don’t go in for such topics on American-dominated message boards - we just talk about them in the pub instead
Meh. The USA has had plenty of female governors and Senators, and a Senator or a Gov from a large state represents more people than a President of most of those nations. They also change governments more often, and have different forms of government, also, where the Cheif Executive may well have less power than the US President- or even a US Governor.
Nope, it was the early closing times of bookstores in Stockholm that was the main inspiration for that rant.
Some Swedish Doper: Please tell me that there are better bookstores with longer hours somewhere in Sweden than the ones I saw in the tourist areas of Stockholm.
Believe me, we do, and especially in the UK are self-critical to a fault. I guess you’re just not looking at the right messageboards.
I think that is exactly sums it up. Keep in mind that were we are largely settled by people that literally risked their lives and were willing to work in abject poverty for years or generations for an unknown outcome just to get away from the Old Country. It doesn’t seem quite right for someone to pine for the fjords when they hear what their great-grandfather went through just to get away from the place. Most Americans would not live in Europe even for large sums of money. They do look at it as a curiosity and a museum. I am not really speaking for myself. I would live in France for a while if it weren’t for the taxes and the creeping socialism was toned down a bit but I don’t know many people outside of students that want to live in Europe at all, let alone for any length of time. It just isn’t an idea that the average Joe entertains. Florida yes, Europe no.
I’m seen the fretting over chavs, passenger rail service, and white van men, but not the equivalent of the “(something) is much better in (country X) than it is in the US” posts that fill the SDMB, in the manner of this Onion article.
I’ve seen SDMB posts by Americans that proclaim the superiority of candy, driving skill, comedy, television programming, the news media, Indian food, live theater, the handling of passenger cars, beer, soft drinks, and other aspects of the UK. I’m sure if I look hard enough, I’ll find a post criticizing the fat American Santa Claus, wondering why he can’t be more like the civilized and refined Father Christmas. Do those on UK-dominated boards post messages lamenting the quality of plumbing and climate control compared to the US? “The hot water lasted forever in the shower, the house stayed at a comfy 71 degrees, and the windows were double-pane with no drafts! Why can’t the UK be more like that?”
Of the Americans I know who’ve settled here, they are without exception of a political leaning which places them way to the left of American mainstream thinking, but which fits in fine over here.