3 ms·

I am just here to +1 what everyone else is saying: Austria/Germany/etc. != Europe I have heard very similar comparisons using Portugal/Denmark instead of Ameri

• coldtea 10y ago
  >I am just here to +1 what everyone else is saying: Austria/Germany/etc. != Europe I'm not from Western Europe either, but it doesn't matter if they don't include us while talking about "Europe". Most of such articles discuss the cultural core of Western Europe, even if they call it just "Europe". Europe might have 30+ countries, but it's mostly those Western/Northern few that define "Europe" for such purposes. This stems from a lot of things, but the historical divide of the "Eastern Block" and the "North/South" also helped solidify it. Those Western/Northern European countries were large global empires and they still have the EU power, are big global economies, are members of the G8/G20, etc. So other countries get the short end of the stick, even if nominally they are "Europe" too. Portugal or Greece or Czech Republic, etc., might not even exist in most such treatments of "Europe" -- those, when are mentioned, are explicitly called "the south", "balkans", "eastern europe", etc.
  • _delirium 10y ago
    Sure, I can see glossing over the Czech Republic or Bulgaria. I'm more surprised by articles that seem to forget the existence of France, Spain, and Italy, though, since those are solidly in the traditional conception (even the traditional American conception) of "European culture".
  • pedrosorio 10y ago
    I guess I can't blame them for excluding the PIGS (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIGS_(economics) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIGS_(economics)) when thinking about Europe.
    • coldtea 10y ago
      Well, if anything why not exclude the Swine (e.g. the countries that fostered and collaborated with Nazis)? What's a bad economy comparing to exterminating millions and causing global bloodshed.
• wowoc 10y ago
  Yeah, the author just means the Germanic countries/culture.