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This article was strong because it balanced critique with commendation. It's an interesting observation that America's "bigness" in many things is simultaneous

This article was strong because it balanced critique with commendation. It's an interesting observation that America's "bigness" in many things is simultaneously it's largest advantage and disadvantage. I've often felt that Americans tend to have a kind of naive optimism compared to folks from other countries. In fact, while living abroad I've felt judged by Western Europeans in particular for that quality in myself (some of my best friends are German and French, FWIW). But I think that attribute is what has contributed to much of the success in America, particularly in the entrepreneurial crowd.

philwelch 17y ago
I suppose Americans do have a naive optimism--I've always perceived British culture in general to be cynical and negative, but that may simply be in comparison to my own optimistic culture. I attribute a lot of that to history. The fall of Europe's empires in the 20th century was the failure of their grand national experiments, and on top of it, much of the world faced immense death and destruction during the wars of the 20th century. Europe, China, and Japan were destroyed in WWII, Korea and Vietnam faced significant destruction in their wars, and most of the communist states faced significant internal destruction through mass murder of various kinds. America largely escaped this level of destruction.
- domodomo 17y ago
  Good point. I think a lot of a culture's attitude is based on cultural memory, which comes from lessons learned (or not) from history. Americans abroad are often elbowed about how young their country is (ugh, I lived in Beijing and they always trot out 4000 years of Chinese civilization. Nevermind the CCP is only 80 years old), but what this means is relatively less cultural baggage. Americans have less cultural memory to look backwards at and reference (and a lot we see back there like destruction of Native Americans, black slavery, etc is painful to examine), so as a result Americans have no choice but to look forwards.
  - philwelch 17y ago
    We also don't have all that old stuff. Over in Europe they still have castles and palaces from medieval times. Buildings that are centuries old. With rare exceptions, Americans knock down old buildings and build new ones.
  - csbartus 17y ago
    Remember first of all we are cultural beings. The culture you are part of is the most important determining your dreams, thougths and life. The richer the culture the finer you might be.
lallysingh 17y ago
Remember there's been some self-selection here. What other than naive optimism can explain packing up everything you own and jumping across the atlantic or pacific to lead a new life in a new country? Yet it explains almost all of our parents, grandparents, or great(^n)-grandparents. That's going to bias the culture. And it's a wonderful thing :-)

philwelch 17y ago

I suppose Americans do have a naive optimism--I've always perceived British culture in general to be cynical and negative, but that may simply be in comparison to my own optimistic culture. I attribute a lot of that to history. The fall of Europe's empires in the 20th century was the failure of their grand national experiments, and on top of it, much of the world faced immense death and destruction during the wars of the 20th century. Europe, China, and Japan were destroyed in WWII, Korea and Vietnam faced significant destruction in their wars, and most of the communist states faced significant internal destruction through mass murder of various kinds. America largely escaped this level of destruction.

domodomo 17y ago
Good point. I think a lot of a culture's attitude is based on cultural memory, which comes from lessons learned (or not) from history. Americans abroad are often elbowed about how young their country is (ugh, I lived in Beijing and they always trot out 4000 years of Chinese civilization. Nevermind the CCP is only 80 years old), but what this means is relatively less cultural baggage. Americans have less cultural memory to look backwards at and reference (and a lot we see back there like destruction of Native Americans, black slavery, etc is painful to examine), so as a result Americans have no choice but to look forwards.
- philwelch 17y ago
  We also don't have all that old stuff. Over in Europe they still have castles and palaces from medieval times. Buildings that are centuries old. With rare exceptions, Americans knock down old buildings and build new ones.
- csbartus 17y ago
  Remember first of all we are cultural beings. The culture you are part of is the most important determining your dreams, thougths and life. The richer the culture the finer you might be.

lallysingh 17y ago

Remember there's been some self-selection here. What other than naive optimism can explain packing up everything you own and jumping across the atlantic or pacific to lead a new life in a new country? Yet it explains almost all of our parents, grandparents, or great(^n)-grandparents. That's going to bias the culture. And it's a wonderful thing :-)