Europe is definitely not better than America.
There are many areas where I feel America is to be admired and Europe performs poorly. One of them is patriotism. Another one is the belief in market economy and entrepreneurship. Yet another one is the standard of living; large parts of Europe is much poorer than America due to laziness, general backwardness, corruption and irresponsibility among most citizens.
You’ve got to understand that as a Swedish member of an American Republican forum, I will always be looked upon as a ‘European Socialist’ (even if I’m not) so I might as well fight back. Another point about expressing myself like I do is to get attention and get a good debate going. Nobody would bother to reply if I wrote things like “Volvo is an ok car, but rather boring”. It’s better to put it like this: “10 reasons why Volvo is the best car on Earth!”. Get my point?
When I write about how superior and splendid my Sweden is, it is meant to be interpreted tongue-in-cheek - not as hatred. Guess I could be more clear though..
I admire America and if you read what I write more carefully you will see this.
I don’t believe in senseless bashing of other nations and mud throwing. There’s too much of that on the Internet. But I do believe in competition. There’s a big difference.
There are things that really suck about Sweden and Europe in general, but I won’t apologize for loving the things that truly are great about my continent.
Again, Europe is not better than America. I’ve never said so and I think you aware I never have. Perhaps I sometimes go too far, but don’t overreact and accuse me of saying things I haven’t said.
Let’s continue to compete and do so for the right reasons.
Europe and America are close allies, not bitter enemies.
“I admire America and if you read what I write more carefully you will see this.
I don’t believe in senseless bashing of other nations and mud throwing. There’s too much of that on the Internet. But I do believe in competition. There’s a big difference.”
as a canadian on this forum, i agree with a lot of this.
one of the things we can learn from others is to benchmark our own country against the best of the other countries.
I think people who have read you over the years do know that about you. You love to tweak the Americans, but its always good-natured and always gets a good thread going.
Look at this one, for example. You pulled our whiskers about the execrable crap that passes for American music these days, which is true, and got a good thread going about what various FReepers consider good music, yourself included. Great thread and great fun.