tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post7650913585101784693..comments2024-03-27T03:19:11.216-04:00Comments on Assistant Village Idiot: A Genealogy Of Anti-AmericanismAssistant Village Idiothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-89736609236043531412009-05-04T19:35:00.000-04:002009-05-04T19:35:00.000-04:00Caesar's recommendation about not ignoring all cri...Caesar's recommendation about not ignoring all criticism from Europe would be a lot easier to accomodate if the quality of the criticism were better. After more than 20 years in Europe, I have found most criticism to be contradictory, unrealistic, condescending, and hypocritical. I'll adapt a rather famous phrase from our low-brow culture: Frankly, dear Europe, I don't give a d**n what you say.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-48046460160718568732009-05-04T18:37:00.000-04:002009-05-04T18:37:00.000-04:00Our ancestors are the people who left; theirs were...<I>Our ancestors are the people who left; theirs were the ones who stayed.</I>Many malcontents went to America. Those who were content with the status quo remained in Europe.<br /><br />The difference between Europe and America definitely shows in religion.Those to whom religion was important but who were not permitted religious freedom in Europe, left Europe and went to America. Over the generations, America has self-selected for those to whom religion was important. Their leaving Europe also reduced the proportion in Europe of people to whom religion was important. <br /><br />Centuries later: those to whom religion is important constitute a greater proportion of the US population than the European population. <br /><br />We also recognize that secular/unreligious people also left Europe for America.<br /><br />Not only do I have Quakers in my ancestry, but also some "Dutch" whose ancestors had fled Germany in the previous century for the religious freedom of the Netherlands. <br /><br />Disclaimer: the closest I got to religion was LRY. Actually a pretty good intro to comparative religion.Gringonoreply@blogger.com