3 ms·

Truth be told this article is exactly why a lot of (mostly untraveled) people from the US have a really distorted view of the rest of the world.

by velcro 13y ago

wyclif 13y ago
What an odd interpretation of this story—projecting a Yugoslavian problem onto the US. Sounds like "blame the US" diversion to me. McDonald's is a company of US origin but the Yugoslavian work ethic is a thing that would exist even if Ray Kroc had never been born. Also: I think US citizens are a lot more well-travelled than you assume. Sure, they work hard and don't get much holiday time, but they do travel quite a lot in their free time.
- velcro 13y ago
  Huh? Odd interpretations all around then - I thought I was blaming the media? In my ignorance I must have interpreted the article like this: 1. Communism = bad, 2. all Communist people lazy = Communism doomed to fail, 3. big Western company comes bringing enlightenment but people no want jobs (couldn't possible have anything to do with lousy pay = must mean communists be lazy), 4. everybody knows in capitalism people work incredibly productively 8 hours per day - except those crazy Yugoslavs Blame it on the communism still goes hand in hand with the era when the article was published, but today...? Really - "a Yugoslavian problem"? EDIT (after your edit): Also - where do I say or assume that a lot of US citizens are not well-travelled? Please read again...
- leviathant 13y ago
  Counterpoint: http://travel.state.gov/passport/ppi/stats/stats_890.html http://travel.state.gov/passport/ppi/stats/stats_890.html The US citizens you hang out with, sure. And certainly, a lot of US citizens I know now are well-traveled as well. But I moved away from an area in central Pennsylvania where there were families who had lived in the same county since the 1600s. Friends who had, by their mid-twenties, never gone so far as New York, let alone across a national border. It's certainly a mistake to think that all Americans are ignorant and sheltered, and it's great to see that more and more Americans have passports, but it's still very accurate to say that Americans are mostly untraveled.

Truth be told this article is exactly why a lot of (mostly untraveled) people from the US have a really distorted view of the rest of the world.

by velcro 13y ago

Truth be told this article is exactly why a lot of (mostly untraveled) people from the US have a really distorted view of the rest of the world.

wyclif 13y ago

What an odd interpretation of this story—projecting a Yugoslavian problem onto the US. Sounds like "blame the US" diversion to me. McDonald's is a company of US origin but the Yugoslavian work ethic is a thing that would exist even if Ray Kroc had never been born. Also: I think US citizens are a lot more well-travelled than you assume. Sure, they work hard and don't get much holiday time, but they do travel quite a lot in their free time.

velcro 13y ago
Huh? Odd interpretations all around then - I thought I was blaming the media? In my ignorance I must have interpreted the article like this: 1. Communism = bad, 2. all Communist people lazy = Communism doomed to fail, 3. big Western company comes bringing enlightenment but people no want jobs (couldn't possible have anything to do with lousy pay = must mean communists be lazy), 4. everybody knows in capitalism people work incredibly productively 8 hours per day - except those crazy Yugoslavs Blame it on the communism still goes hand in hand with the era when the article was published, but today...? Really - "a Yugoslavian problem"? EDIT (after your edit): Also - where do I say or assume that a lot of US citizens are not well-travelled? Please read again...
leviathant 13y ago
Counterpoint: http://travel.state.gov/passport/ppi/stats/stats_890.html http://travel.state.gov/passport/ppi/stats/stats_890.html The US citizens you hang out with, sure. And certainly, a lot of US citizens I know now are well-traveled as well. But I moved away from an area in central Pennsylvania where there were families who had lived in the same county since the 1600s. Friends who had, by their mid-twenties, never gone so far as New York, let alone across a national border. It's certainly a mistake to think that all Americans are ignorant and sheltered, and it's great to see that more and more Americans have passports, but it's still very accurate to say that Americans are mostly untraveled.