Hi all, been reading quite a bit this in newspapers this weekend. Some quotes and questions for you all .
<quote> The twentieth century taught Europeans and Americans different lessons. Europe learned that nationalism could lead to destruction; Americans learned that nationalism could bring safety and prosperity. Europe learned that bureaucratic welfare states and powerful trade unions were the only alternatives to bitter class warfare; Americans learned that government and unions were, at best, necessary evils. Europe learned that Christianity was an exhausted religion that could play no serious part in the contemporary world; Americans learned that personal religious faith was more necessary than ever. One result is that the United States today is a much more traditional society than Europe. Especially in the "red" states, most of us still believe in God, the family, the flag, and the death penalty. Jacksonians neither trust nor take seriously anybody who doesn't believe in these things. Europeans think that anybody who believes all that crap is too stupid to make good decisions. </quote> http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2002/04/mead.htm True, not true? BTW, you should read and debate the entire article if you like this thread to become very long. I specifically choose this quote from the article because this quote is the only part that is quoted in the article in the NRC (from which I put another quote below). Would be interesting if you answered the above question, then read the entire article, and then maybe change your opinion. (Just curious how much of our opinions is influenced by which quote one gets from the article.) The quote put me a bit off-mark with the rest of the article (glad I usually check sources). --- <quote> In a recently published book (The News about the News) by Leonard Downie and Robert Kaiser, chief editor and adjunct(?) of the Washington post, a precise deduction is made of how the definition of news has been lowered by radio, TV, newspapers and monthlies. The 'big' evening bulletins of CBS, NBC and ABC have less foreign news as one text-tv page. "Americans who are dependent on their local tv-news receive little usefull information, and no background information at all, about what is going on in the world. Instead, they get a disfigured picture of their neighbourhood or town, a daily drama of crime, accidents, traffic jams, bad wheather and other calamities(?), amused(?) with a cheerfull clip of a parade or a walk for charity." </quote> http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/buitenland/1026538962755.html True, not true? If you get news from around the world, where do you get it from? How much do you get? (And where do you live if that isn't readily known yet?) In my case, I would estimate that about 1/3 of the newspaper I read regularly is about other countries, 1/3 economy and sports and 1/3 of the news is about the Netherlands. Not really happy with that actually, considering the influence Europe has in everyday life. I would be happy if they started to split a page or two of both domestic and international news and started a section on Europe. Apart from that newspapers I read the online version of the NYT (and occasionally WP and Japan Times). Jochem ______________________________________________________________________ This list and all House of Fusion resources hosted by CFHosting.com. The place for dependable ColdFusion Hosting. Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/cf-community@houseoffusion.com/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
