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Stop Generalizing About Europe

jonasbentzen.com

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Re: Stop Generalizing About Europe

#271

Post by snogglethorpe »

SheriffFatman wrote: post #270
snogglethorpe wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> China is agreed by both the PRC and the RoC to include Taiwan -- they just disagree over who is the legitimate government This is the historical position of the Taiwanese government, but it's decreasingly true amongst the Taiwanese people, so to some degree it's already an anachronism. Many actual Taiwanese don't self-identify as "Chinese" at all (while obviously recognizing the common heritage). However, given the…

I would not disagree with you. In fact, I was led to understand that this is not a recent phenomenon, and that even before the flight of the Nationalist government to Taiwan, many (most?) Taiwanese did not consider themselves Chinese, until the Nationalist exiles started promoting that idea heavily.

Well take this with a grain of salt (it comes mostly from informal discussion with Taiwanese), but my understanding is that whereas there was originally a sort of ethnic/historical split to Taiwanese identity following the RoC flight to Taiwan, recent generations of Taiwanese are increasingly self-identifying as "Taiwanese" (as distinct from "Chinese") regardless of which side they come from ethnically, though the ethnic split is still something people are aware of.

I.e., many people now seem to have separate "ethnic", "cultural", and "national" identities (which can make conversations rather confusing).

Re: Stop Generalizing About Europe

#272

Post by lessnonymous »

crucialfelix wrote: post #212
alexchamberlain wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most British people would struggle to tell you the difference between Great Britain and the UK.

> Most English people would struggle to tell you the difference between Great Britain and the UK. FTFY

As most British people are English, if the percentage of unaware English people is high enough, then most British people would be unaware :-D

Re: Stop Generalizing About Europe

#274

Post by white_devil »

nhebb wrote: post #54

I think a lot of us need to admit that the author is right. I, for one, do generalize about Europe. I think of social democracies with high taxes. I think of arcane rules and regulations to start and run a business. And most of all, I limit the term "Europe" to include about 20 of the 50 European countries. I will never think of Russia as a European country. If I entered a contest and won a vacation to "Europe" - and…

> I think of social democracies with high taxes. I think of arcane rules and regulations to start and run a business.

.. Aaand you'd be right about France, Germany, Spain, England, The Netherlands, Denmark, Austria and Italy (and Norway, Sweden, Finland).

In other words, you'd be right about "the countries that matter" (and some that don't).

Re: Stop Generalizing About Europe

#275

Post by loxs »

DannyBee wrote: post #268
loxs wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, we are going deep down the rabbit hole now :). Please excuse me if I say lots of stupid things. How far apart are Louisiana and California? How far apart are Romania and Bulgaria? Yet, the two USA states share the same language (at least on official level), the same currency and the same "american" culture. Neither of these is true for BG and RO. And we are neighbours, mind that. As an added "benefit", we have…

BTW, just to point out a common and incorrect generalization you made in this very comment: "Yet, the two USA states share the same language (at least on official level)" No, they don't. At the federal level, there is no official language. At the state level, English is an official language of California, however it is not an official language of Louisiana. See the table at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-only_m…

From Wikipedia:

"According to the 2000 census, among persons five years old and older,[78] 90.8% of Louisiana residents speak only English (99% total speak English)."

Ok, it might not be "official". Only "de facto".

Re: Stop Generalizing About Europe

#276

Post by alexchamberlain »

aes256 wrote: post #195
alexchamberlain wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most British people would struggle to tell you the difference between Great Britain and the UK.

Then again, I think a fair number of Brits would state Northern Ireland (the difference between Great Britain and the United Kingdom) is part of Great Britain

You've also got the Channel Islands, and the Isles of Mann and Wight to contend with. Then there's the fact that one is a political union and one a union under the monarch... something like that anyway.

Re: Stop Generalizing About Europe

#277

Post by brightsize »

sameerp1 wrote: post #211
gyardley wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your ignorance of the respective areas is showing. It's hard to talk about a common culture between California and Louisiana when neither California nor Louisiana has a common internal culture. In Louisiana, spend some time in Houma, and then some time in Shreveport. Louisiana has a Cajun-dominated region and a region that's very much part of the Old South, and they're not much alike. In California, spend some time i…

Umm, there is very little American cultural diversity. Slight differences in lifestyle don't make for cultural diversity. At least not in comparison to the various countries of Europe.

Agreed. I'm American and spent three months this year full-time travelling the US by car. I did a complete circumnavigation, with a side-trip to Toronto thrown in. It was clear to me that, despite some small regional differences such as accent and general political inclinations, the country is remarkably homogenous. In the States we're far more "informed" - that is to say infected - by the nation-wide "news" media than by regional cultural memory. Texas remembers the Alamo, Vermont remembers Ethan Allen, the Pacific Northwest remembers Lewis and Clark, all in some fairly vague way. But nationally, everybody remembers from last night and that's something to talk about!

Re: Stop Generalizing About Europe

#279

Post by vixen99 »

A trifle off-topic but it's interesting to read that the author believes in a 'strong European union' with 27 unelected commissioners and an unelected president following a constitution that has never been put to the peoples of the EU countries.

Re: Stop Generalizing About Europe

#280

Post by coldarchon »

blablabla123 wrote: post #204
lispm wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ambivalent feelings toward entrepreneurs Germany has over three millions SMEs (small and medium enterprises, called 'Mittelstand'). I can assure you that there are no ambivalent feelings against 'entrepreneurs'. Exactly the opposite. You find world-market leaders in small towns all across rural Germany. You can guess that people are extremely proud to work for these companies. 99% of all companies are in the Mittel…

>"Roughly 95% of all German firms are family-owned. Of these, approx. 85% are managed by their owner." Lol?! ;)

You DO know there can be a difference between owning a company and managing it?
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