Here You Go, Europe

[Pyrrho]

I'm an American.  Europeans are right about all of those things.  America is the land of batshit crazy.  (I think we're number 1 on that.  USA!  USA! USA!!!)

Still, I am not big on hugs.  But I had no problems when I visited Europe.  Really, going to Europe was like leaving a mental institution and visiting sane people.  I did not want to come back.  But, it was not feasible financially for me to stay.

[Dystopia]

I had no idea about number 3 honestly but the rest is true, specially circumcision. Everyone I know is not circumcised and I see it as normal - The only person I know that got circumcised was my uncle because he had a health problem.

Four more things I'd add:

- The healthcare system --> Yes, we don't get it, why the hell should your income determine if you can have decent healthcare or not?

- The obsession with individual rights to the extent it is considered communist to support a universal healthcare system or a good public education program or raising a minimum wage is bad because it oppresses the job creators

- Gun laws - I know it's debatable, but it just sounds weird to me, living in a country where I can't have guns unless I have a justification (to be fair if I become a judge like I aspire to I will be authorized to carry a firearm)

- The inlfuence of religion on politics. If a politician I know ever said "God said it" as an argument he would most likely either be fired or strongly criticized and would have to fire himself.

[Longhorn]

But me like hugs :c

[KUSA]

Regarding circumcision, I like dicks either way.

I'm not surprised.

[The Valkyrie]

If it helps to know, Aussies and Kiwis often look at the US with a WTF?? on our lips.

You people ARE frigging crazy.

[Metis]

Yeah, I agree on most counts there except the hugs and the dicks, it's gross. Unless they're family I don't want them and the French are especially touchy freely in that department.

I still think circumcision should be outlawed unless for dire medical reasons before eighteen. How dare anyone decide that for a boy before he even knows what that involves, we all flip our shit when someone puts a scalpel to the clit in the Muslim world but doing it to a dicks cool? No, just no.

[abaris]

Some of the things in the article are right, some a wrong and some miss the mark by a thousand miles.

First, TV shows. Yes, it's bizarre that you can show heads blowing up or post mortems in all their gory glory, but not a single nipple. But outside of HBO or some other pay TV stations I'm not to keen on American shows anyway. Some, like Navy CIS, look as if Goebbels himself commissioned them.

Hugs, I don't know. I'm not from Southern Europe and we're not big on hugs anyway. For me it's rather the other way round. Too much superficial intimacy, such as being on a first name basis with the cars salesman or some business acquaintance. In Europe it usually has some deeper meaning if you call someone by first name.

Politics? Well, that's where batshit crazy kicks in with a vengeance. What's called conservative in America is called rightwing extremism in Europe. What's called left in America would be called conservative by European standards. And it goes deeper than that. This enforced admiration for everyone making some bucks is rather disgusting. If you present figures like Andrew Carnegie as role models, who hired Pinkerton thugs to shoot up striking workers, it really gets bizarre. So why not go all the way and admire Al Capone or Lepke Buchalter? They were at least honest in their approach.

[Regina]

1, 2, and 4 I had some idea about but 3 and I hadn't heard of.

I'm surprised circumcision is so high in America. I heard a statistic recently that apparently 74% of American men are? I'm sure that needs confirming but if it's true that blows my mind. I've always associated circumcision more with Jews and maybe Muslims than I have with Christians. It's virtually non-existent here (UK) except for among Jewish and Muslim communities.

Some European cultures aren't very huggy either though. I wouldn't say British people are scared of hugs, but we definitely don't touch non-sexually as much as the Southern European cultures do. British people actually find it weird and questionable the way Southern Europeans (including straight men) kiss eachother when they greet.

Europeans are actually very diverse and I think it shows looking at this list. It's funny seeing the culture clash within my own family being of both Maltese and German ancestry.

[Pyrrho]

I used to have a French girlfriend who summed up Americans when we came across some by the Arc d triumph.
"Americans are a race of children" she sneered.

She sounds like a keeper.  When I was in Europe, I did not like the Americans I met there.  I was asked if I was English and was very, very tempted to say "yes" because I did not want to be associated with them.  But I told the truth anyway.

Your former girlfriend seems to have had a good understanding of Americans.

[Dystopia]

1, 2, and 4 I had some idea about but 3 and I hadn't heard of.

I'm surprised circumcision is so high in America. I heard a statistic recently that apparently 74% of American men are? I'm sure that needs confirming but if it's true that blows my mind. I've always associated circumcision more with Jews and maybe Muslims than I have with Christians. It's virtually non-existent here (UK) except for among Jewish and Muslim communities.

Some European cultures aren't very huggy either though. I wouldn't say British people are scared of hugs, but we definitely don't touch non-sexually as much as the Southern European cultures do. British people actually find it weird and questionable the way Southern Europeans (including straight men) kiss eachother when they greet.

Europeans are actually very diverse and I think it shows looking at this list. It's funny seeing the culture clash within my own family being of both Maltese and German ancestry.

In Portugal men handshake each other unless it's a special occasion - Then you can hug - Men handshake women in formal occasions, mostly business and when you're meeting strangers, but the common practice is two kisses on the cheek - But you don't literally put your lips on the other person's cheek unless you're very close, you just lean your cheek on the other person's cheek and do the kiss sound. Women kiss each other on the cheek but sometimes handshake like stated above. Honestly I don't know if Spaniards are more close physically but from my experience it's rude to have too much physical contact without developing affection for the person first. But maybe I'm so used to living in X society that I see everything as normal and I'm not perceiving why and if other cultures are less touchy physically - I do feel weird when I meet Brazilians because they are much touchier than us, and always seem happy.