>non-earnestness because it doesn't make as much money as the US (because they have more startups [...] , and judging almost everything through the prism of mon

>non-earnestness because it doesn't make as much money as the US (because they have more startups [...] , and judging almost everything through the prism of money, You're interpreting the blog essay unfairly. PG isn't looking at everything (such as "earnestness") only through the prism of money. It's a blog post with deliberately limited scope. His first sentence sets the context for the rest of the essay: "Jessica and I have certain words that have special significance when we're talking about _startups_." Yes, we all know there can be other activities to also express earnestness such as creating art paintings, music, parenting, volunteering, teaching, etc. but he omits those and discusses it in relation to startups because... startups is what he often specializes in writing about. It doesn't look like mocking Europe to me. I understand you want a more universal essay (measures of earnestness beyond startups) but that's not necessary for PG's blog audience.