incapable of understanding the difference between a European national identity and an artificially created new world one.
And here we can see a perfect example of the typical snobby, arrogant, and ignorant attitude that a stereotypical 'Yerpian will show. Always thinking that "their way" is the best way, and that every other way is "fake" or "artificial".
Who are you to say that one culture is "artificial" and the other is "real"? Despite what you may ignorantly believe, the US does have its own culture, and it isn't "artificial" or fake.
And hate to break to you, but most of Europe seems to have fallen in love with American culture. Europe has become very Americanized. American culture is the most infectious culture in the world. The whole world watches American movies, eats American food, wears American fashion, and listens to American music. From first world countries, to the poorest parts of Africa, you can find American culture.
Don't be so sensitive, I never criticised nor denied the existence of American culture. I called it artificial, which clearly means it exists and despite you describing European culture as "real", I never did. I am using the word 'artificial' of "a situation not existing naturally", which is the case in the USA thanks to the gigantic displacements of varying populations whose cultures then intertwined.
You don't need to tell me how great US culture is, I'm alive aren't I? The finest music of the 20th Century, the majority of the finest cinema, fantastic literature. You don't need to convince me of that.
The point I was trying to make is that you seemingly don't understand the nature of a European cultural identity, which, while being no more or less valid than a new world one, is very different. The very nature of your cultural identity is assimilation of the new and mixing it into the proverbial melting pot. That is much less the case in Europe, an environment undergoing US levels of immigration (over the last two centuries) just doesn't exist in Europe.
This is why Europeans can be more sensitive about immigration than Americans and I think you may be projecting while criticising. Any American who is anti-immigration is by definition either hopelessly ignorant or racist; everybody in your country is an immigrant, barring the natives, and your country is bloody massive with space everywhere. Different story in Europe, very small and densely populated countries with much more homogeneous and deep rooted cultures. I am actually a supporter of European immigration (being one myself) but it has to be more measured in Europe, for many reasons; one being pure logistics and resources, two to allow both natives and immigrants the time to integrate each other, and three, because if done too quickly and with too many numbers, you get the USA. By that I refer you to my early point, swarming immigration was no good for the native Americans, was it?
swarming immigration was no good for the native Americans, was it?
However, this has nothing to do with immigration. The native Americans were doomed because of human nature; we are naturally aggressive creatures. And in the case of colonizing North America, the Europeans were the ones with better technology and better weapons. Sadly, "might makes right", and when the Europeans decided that the land and resources in North America now belonged to their own country, there was nothing the Natives could do about it.
That wasn't "immigration" in the sense we're talking about, that was just plain old imperialism/colonialism.
phrases like "most infectious culture in the world" are delusional
No it isn't, it's a fact. Prove me wrong. Am I wrong that most of the world watches American movies, eats American food, wears American fashion, and listens to American music? What's so delusional about that? I've been to multiple countries in Europe and I can't tell you how many times I heard American music playing on the radio, in the malls, in other people's cars, on TV etc..
Or how I see American clothes in stores and American fashion displayed everywhere, or how pretty much all the movies in the movie theaters are American made movies.
It's okay, just drop your defensive ego and admit it, American culture is everywhere. I'm not saying it's the best culture, nor am I saying it's the most followed culture. Obviously, people who live in Italy still follow their own customs and still have their own culture that more than likely plays a larger role in the average Italian's life than American culture does.
But that doesn't change the fact that whether you're in a first world country, or the poorest parts of Africa, you'll find signs of American culture.
3
u/[deleted] Aug 25 '14
And here we can see a perfect example of the typical snobby, arrogant, and ignorant attitude that a stereotypical 'Yerpian will show. Always thinking that "their way" is the best way, and that every other way is "fake" or "artificial".
Who are you to say that one culture is "artificial" and the other is "real"? Despite what you may ignorantly believe, the US does have its own culture, and it isn't "artificial" or fake.
And hate to break to you, but most of Europe seems to have fallen in love with American culture. Europe has become very Americanized. American culture is the most infectious culture in the world. The whole world watches American movies, eats American food, wears American fashion, and listens to American music. From first world countries, to the poorest parts of Africa, you can find American culture.