How different are Americans and Europeans?

[DRSB]

A friend of mine spent 5 months in Chicago and wrote an essay about it. He felt the closest kinship to black Americans. Said, that the differences in mentality between Europeans and Americans are so big that the national differences within Europe pale in comparison. If one is to look for similarities, my friend found more with the black Americans. Interesting, huh, the black Americans have a European mentality. Could it be the keener sense of minority? Because in Europe everyone is a minority somewhere?

I hope this thread does not strike the wrong chord with somebody. I'm just curious and don't have sufficient first-hand impressions, apart from several days in NY and Boston. I really am a huge fan of US, ever since I was 12 and read the collected works of Hemingway.

[Trolldor]

...so Europeans are more inclined to live in lower socio-economic conditions, commit crime, deal drugs and have a negative attitude towards education?

[DRSB]

I see, you're a racist, I was hoping for a more positive note.

[Trolldor]

Racist... that's a good one.
Unfortunately for you, those are the conditions of the majority of blacks in the United States. You stated:

Interesting, huh, the black Americans have a European mentality.

Well, "the blacks" is a fairly blanket term, so we have no choice but to refer to the conditions that most blacks find themselves in.

[Rum]

A friend of mine spent 5 months in Chicago and wrote an essay about it. He felt the closest kinship to black Americans. Said, that the differences in mentality between Europeans and Americans are so big that the national differences within Europe pale in comparison. If one is to look for similarities, my friend found more with the black Americans. Interesting, huh, the black Americans have a European mentality. Could it be the keener sense of minority? Because in Europe everyone is a minority somewhere?

I hope this thread does not strike the wrong chord with somebody. I'm just curious and don't have sufficient first-hand impressions, apart from several days in NY and Boston. I really am a huge fan of US, ever since I was 12 and read the collected works of Hemingway.

I have known a lot of Americans, though only a couple of black ones. I find your friend's premise unfounded.

[DRSB]

Forget black and white, let's talk about Americans and Europeans in general, this was the topic of the thread, are there any marked differences in mentality? And let's stick to the positive tones.

[Feck]

Europeans don't tell everyone they meet they are Scottish .

[charlou]

Racist... that's a good one.
Unfortunately for you, those are the conditions of the majority of blacks in the United States. You stated:

Interesting, huh, the black Americans have a European mentality.

Well, "the blacks" is a fairly blanket term, so we have no choice but to refer to the conditions that most blacks find themselves in.

It would seem that Deersbee's friend came to see black Americans from a different perspective to the one you painted in your earlier post, TMH, and that's where his thinking is coming from.


Deersbee, I wouldn't be surprised if your friend found a similar thing among other 'minority' groups .. in the US or anywhere .. It is an interesting observation on his part. My impression, as someone who hasn't travelled outside Australia (yet) and so have only observed via reading and viewing, is that the overarching theme of the US culture is quite different to that of other countries/continents, including those that have a diversity of more disparate cultures within them, and that there are probably some pretty obvious historical reasons for it.

[Trolldor]

Racist... that's a good one.
Unfortunately for you, those are the conditions of the majority of blacks in the United States. You stated:

Interesting, huh, the black Americans have a European mentality.

Well, "the blacks" is a fairly blanket term, so we have no choice but to refer to the conditions that most blacks find themselves in.

It would seem that Deersbee's friend came to see black Americans from a different perspective to the one you painted in your earlier post, TMH, and that's where his thinking is coming from.

But it isn't my 'perspective' at all. It's what the data shows to be true. I never said how or why that's the case, my point was that if someone's going to run around brandying terms like "the blacks" they bloody well ought define what they mean.

[Robert_S]

Racist... that's a good one.
Unfortunately for you, those are the conditions of the majority of blacks in the United States. You stated:

Interesting, huh, the black Americans have a European mentality.

Well, "the blacks" is a fairly blanket term, so we have no choice but to refer to the conditions that most blacks find themselves in.

Those attitudes, conditions and behaviors are more prevalent among African Americans than whites, but it most certainly is NOT the majority.

[Trolldor]

Racist... that's a good one.
Unfortunately for you, those are the conditions of the majority of blacks in the United States. You stated:

Interesting, huh, the black Americans have a European mentality.

Well, "the blacks" is a fairly blanket term, so we have no choice but to refer to the conditions that most blacks find themselves in.

Those attitudes, conditions and behaviors are more prevalent among African Americans than whites, but it most certainly is NOT the majority.

Oh, well, here I was thinking that most blacks in the United States were confronted by those conditions. I guess the majority of them are completely ignorant of the conditions then.

[charlou]

Racist... that's a good one.
Unfortunately for you, those are the conditions of the majority of blacks in the United States. You stated:

Interesting, huh, the black Americans have a European mentality.

Well, "the blacks" is a fairly blanket term, so we have no choice but to refer to the conditions that most blacks find themselves in.

Those attitudes, conditions and behaviors are more prevalent among African Americans than whites, but it most certainly is NOT the majority.

Oh, well, here I was thinking that most blacks in the United States were confronted by those conditions. I guess the majority of them are completely ignorant of the conditions then.

It would be good if you could connect your line of argument back to the intended premise of the thread topic.

[Pappa]

It's a good question.... there do seem to be some major differences, differences that seem obvious at first, but I'm not entirely sure what they actually are.

I do remember once reading some comments that America is the only country in the world that has the right to peruse happiness enshrined in its constitution, a fact that has trickled down into the American consciousness and also forms a part of "The American Dream". Americans in general may have the feeling that they actually have a right to be happy. Broadly, I don't think Europeans share this mentality. We've been ruled over by monarchs, dictators, corrupt governments.... In most European countries the masses have a history of being peasants with no rights. In the UK we have a huge distrust of any and all politicians. In most central and southern European countries, they actually still expect their officials to be corrupt. In Greece, even doctors still take bribes. In Spain, nobody carries their national ID card (or pays taxes), because the government can go fuck themselves. I think Europeans are more likely to expect their lives to be miserable (at least some of the time), and are disdainful of too much happiness.

All this is painting with a pretty broad brush though, and I'm only talking in very general terms.

Going back to what you said about black Americans, perhaps because they have a slightly similar history of having minimal rights and being ruled over, they might possibly have a similar mentality. I think "the blues" probably best describes what I'm on about.

Just some thoughts.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

A friend of mine spent 5 months in Chicago and wrote an essay about it. He felt the closest kinship to black Americans. Said, that the differences in mentality between Europeans and Americans are so big that the national differences within Europe pale in comparison. If one is to look for similarities, my friend found more with the black Americans. Interesting, huh, the black Americans have a European mentality. Could it be the keener sense of minority? Because in Europe everyone is a minority somewhere?

I hope this thread does not strike the wrong chord with somebody. I'm just curious and don't have sufficient first-hand impressions, apart from several days in NY and Boston. I really am a huge fan of US, ever since I was 12 and read the collected works of Hemingway.

Massive sample he's working from. One city in a country where you can drive 2,000 miles without hitting a border? A country that could swallow most of Europe?

I can tell you that Chicagoans have a different attitude than their closest neighbors, other Chicagoans. That city is as diverse as they come.

[DRSB]

Very interesting thoughts, everybody, thank you very much! The Americans do feel as belonging to a "chosen people", it is part of their genetic make-up, that probably few other peoples can boast. Not sure about how this feeling and skin-colour co-relate.