5 ms·
Honest question: are you American? I ask because while I may agree in principle with your ideas I would like to stress that it's a bit difficult, on a personal
by Pamar 10y ago
Honest question: are you American?
I ask because while I may agree in principle with your ideas I would like to stress that it's a bit difficult, on a personal level, to go over considering yourself French, Greek or whatever when your thoughts are framed in a language which is Greek or French or whatever. Take citizens from any two random US states: they still have more in common than people from two different cities in Belgium, just depending on which language is in the majority in the area.
- Udo_Schmitz 10y agoDoesn’t the choice of English in your example weaken your argument somewhat?
- Pamar 10y agoI am writing this from Rostock, Germany, but I am not German. I am Italian. My relative fluency in English is the exception in Italy and in Rostock, too (moved here two years ago so I think I can say something on this matter). In other words if you think that every citizen in UE has the same command of English (and the same propensity to think globally, assuming I have any and it is related to English) you are wrong.
- Udo_Schmitz 10y agoYou misunderstood. I was hinting at USA, Canada, UK etc. being different nations though they share the same language. Let’s change one of your sentences a little bit: “Take citizens from London,UK and Austin,TX: they still have more in common than people from two different cities in Belgium, just depending on which language is in the majority in the area.” Would this still hold? I’d say no. I am German and consider myself as European if not a world citizen. Coming from Bremen in northern Germany I have more in common with folks in Sønderborg or Groningen compared to Vienna or Zurich. More often than not Nations are arbitrary.
- drinchev 10y agoIf I have to continue the rhetoric of my original comment I would say I'm european. I was born in Bulgaria, currently living in Berlin, doing IT. I think the culture is indeed different between the member-states, but not so hard to overcome if you are acting together and vote.
- Pamar 10y agoI suppose someone remained in Bulgaria to tend the fields, repair the roads, work in the industries and so on. They of course have political opinions, watch TV and vote. But they - I suppose - lack the kind of experiences you had in Berlin. So you either take off their voting rights (UE Commission would not mind at all, I suppose) or you have to accept that USE is not gonna work.
- mamon 10y agoThat's the problem: people that would say "I'm European" are extremly hard to find, they are just insignificant minority. Most of us feel Polish, Italian, Greek, etc. as each of those nations has over 1000 of years of historical background, cultural differencies, not to mention different languages. And yet EU officials try to merge Europe in a single country. To be honest, I think that Europe (and, by extension, the whole world) will unite one day. With modern communications and transportation people from different countries have far more intense contact than ever before and that will inevitably lead to blending into single community. The problem is that this process must take some time, and by "some time" I mean "centuries", and EU officials try to speed it up to few decades.