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One of my classmates at the Goethe Institut remarked frequently how completely un-American I am (he was Swiss/English). I guess this was based on the type of American people see on the teevee or in the movies or on the news, or on vacation I guess, where they're like "USA! USA! #1! #1!" and commence flag-waving at the drop of a hat. And I'm mostly like, "yeah, there's a whole lot of fucked up shit in the States." It's a true statement, and it doesn't mean that I hate America, no matter what the Limbaughs and Becks and their ilk were saying during the Bush years.
Pretty much every European I talked to was horrified, appalled even, that people can't afford basic medical treatment or go bankrupt after a medical emergency. Because in their countries, health care is cheaper and/or subsidized through taxes. They're also gobsmacked at how much university tuition costs, since a year's tuition at the average European public university is on the order of hundreds of Euros*, and UNC Chapel Hill is up to $9000 or so for in-state students. And that's one of the cheapest state schools in the country. (Out of state students pay almost double that.)
*In 1996/97, when I was a student at Philipps-Universität Marburg (Germany), a semester's tuition was DM180 ($100 at the time), and it included a semester pass for all local and regional public transportation services, which meant city buses, regional buses, and regional trains. I could take the train to Frankfurt/Main for free. (Blah blah paid for; a single-ride ticket on the city bus was DM2. You do the math.) From Frankfurt, I could go anywhere in the world (seriously; Frankfurt Airport is the largest on the continent). (ETA: And German students get interest-free loans (BAföG) to cover things like room & board & books.)
So the American ideal of rugged individualism, which leads way too easily into "fuck you, I got mine," is one I don't identify with or understand on a gut level. People should cooperate and work together, not stomp on each other and kick the guy you're climbing over in the teeth while trying to succeed.
I don't like games predicated on dicking your buddy (Illuminati! and Cosmic Encounter are the two that come to mind first). I don't like "humor" that's based on putting other people down, even if it's "just in fun." All too often, it's not used "just in fun," rather to actually insult or belittle the recipient; there's a reason it's called being the butt of the joke. (I don't enjoy "roasts," either.)
It's a mindset I don't understand on a fundamental level.
Pretty much every European I talked to was horrified, appalled even, that people can't afford basic medical treatment or go bankrupt after a medical emergency. Because in their countries, health care is cheaper and/or subsidized through taxes. They're also gobsmacked at how much university tuition costs, since a year's tuition at the average European public university is on the order of hundreds of Euros*, and UNC Chapel Hill is up to $9000 or so for in-state students. And that's one of the cheapest state schools in the country. (Out of state students pay almost double that.)
*In 1996/97, when I was a student at Philipps-Universität Marburg (Germany), a semester's tuition was DM180 ($100 at the time), and it included a semester pass for all local and regional public transportation services, which meant city buses, regional buses, and regional trains. I could take the train to Frankfurt/Main for free. (Blah blah paid for; a single-ride ticket on the city bus was DM2. You do the math.) From Frankfurt, I could go anywhere in the world (seriously; Frankfurt Airport is the largest on the continent). (ETA: And German students get interest-free loans (BAföG) to cover things like room & board & books.)
So the American ideal of rugged individualism, which leads way too easily into "fuck you, I got mine," is one I don't identify with or understand on a gut level. People should cooperate and work together, not stomp on each other and kick the guy you're climbing over in the teeth while trying to succeed.
I don't like games predicated on dicking your buddy (Illuminati! and Cosmic Encounter are the two that come to mind first). I don't like "humor" that's based on putting other people down, even if it's "just in fun." All too often, it's not used "just in fun," rather to actually insult or belittle the recipient; there's a reason it's called being the butt of the joke. (I don't enjoy "roasts," either.)
It's a mindset I don't understand on a fundamental level.
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Date: 2010-07-31 11:47 pm (UTC)From:I still shy away from people who seem to be outsiders, but that might also be that I'm kind of scared of younger white males in general. But anyways, it's nice to be treated like a human being and to earn a little bit of kindness for being a lady creature rather than a whole heap of shit.
There are still lots of bad things and I could write endlessly on stuff like our culturally shitty perspectives on romantic relationships, drinking and drug use, wariness of outsiders that borders on xenophobia, our lack of artistic identity, blah blah blah. But we have a culture that really super emphasizes respecting others and treating people the way you want to be treated.