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I'm not wondering. I fully expected hackernews crowd to be gushingly pro-european. This view is thankfully not echoed in the UK. It's not about being selfish.

I'm not wondering. I fully expected hackernews crowd to be gushingly pro-european. This view is thankfully not echoed in the UK. It's not about being selfish. It's about democracy and freedom. Imagine laws being created by people who don't even live on the same landmass as you, speak the same language, or know anything about your country or culture. Imagine if Brazil started making laws about what US citizens could do.

mverwijs 13y ago
I think you overestimate how United the United States really is, compared to the EU. London is a 4 hour drive from Brussels. Washington D.C. is a 41 hour drive from Seattle. And you can't even drive from D.C. to Hawaii. When looking real hard at culture, I'm sure we can find as many differences between people from NY,NY and say Fairbanks, Alaska as we could between Londoners and Berliners. I'm not against your arguments that the EU is a Bad Thing as such (I'm still on the fence on that one), but if you're thinking that US citizens cannot possibly relate to our issues with the EU since they're all nice and united, you could be in for a surprise.
- voicereasonish 13y ago
  The US is all on the same land mass (mostly). They all speak the same language. They've all lived there pretty much the same amount of time. With Europe, the UK is a different landmass, we all speak different languages, and we have centuries of complex history and culture. Sure, the US varies quite a bit, but nothing like the amount that europe varies.
  - wooter 13y ago
    Not to mention, States (as opposed to Federal) Rights is a big deal in the US because we find your exact concerns to be crucial to efficient government. I'm glad to see a European that the idea of local government isn't completely lost upon. Its also strange to see such a pro-centralization crowd on HN given that the causation relationship between diversity/decentralization and robustness of a complex network is well documented.

mverwijs 13y ago

I think you overestimate how United the United States really is, compared to the EU. London is a 4 hour drive from Brussels. Washington D.C. is a 41 hour drive from Seattle. And you can't even drive from D.C. to Hawaii. When looking real hard at culture, I'm sure we can find as many differences between people from NY,NY and say Fairbanks, Alaska as we could between Londoners and Berliners. I'm not against your arguments that the EU is a Bad Thing as such (I'm still on the fence on that one), but if you're thinking that US citizens cannot possibly relate to our issues with the EU since they're all nice and united, you could be in for a surprise.

voicereasonish 13y ago
The US is all on the same land mass (mostly). They all speak the same language. They've all lived there pretty much the same amount of time. With Europe, the UK is a different landmass, we all speak different languages, and we have centuries of complex history and culture. Sure, the US varies quite a bit, but nothing like the amount that europe varies.
- wooter 13y ago
  Not to mention, States (as opposed to Federal) Rights is a big deal in the US because we find your exact concerns to be crucial to efficient government. I'm glad to see a European that the idea of local government isn't completely lost upon. Its also strange to see such a pro-centralization crowd on HN given that the causation relationship between diversity/decentralization and robustness of a complex network is well documented.