February 18, 2005
SOCIALISM
Good to go's jerk comment here made me think of something else. We do "depend upon [the government] for everything." The military is socialist system. Health care is free, housing is free, most services are free. And that's the worst part about being with the Army. Health care is free, so there are long lines at the doctor and forget about making a dental or eye appointment. Housing is free, so if you turn down the house they offer you, they take you off the list for 90 days. And services are free, so when we moved here, our flight was delayed for six hours and they put us on a plane with no overhead compartments that didn't have enough fuel to make it across the Atlantic. The movers also forgot to ship our belongings until after we arrived here (and the Army also forgot to pay us for two and a half months).
But all of this stuff is free, so you can't complain. Often the people who provide these services don't have much job pride or customer-oriented goals either, because what are you gonna do, take your business elsewhere? I live a socialist lifestyle, and it ain't pretty.
Posted by: Sarah at
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Sarah,
I grinned when I read this. It is true, we get what we pay for. Older military folks recognize that sometimes things don't go well in the military, especially after moving throughout the world so many times. My wife is an Air Force brat, and they frequently lived in what her Mom called a "D-U-M-P, Dump" for many years in several duty stations. She lived with me in 10 different locations in 21 yrs, and even cried when I brought her to the D-U-M-P we lived in while I served in our nation's capital.
But we forget that we get what we pay for, and in the case of soldiers moving around, the military doesn't pay much. The job goes to the lowest bidder on almost everything. We frequently joke that even the ammunition we use, and the weapons we wield, were provided by the lowest bidder. Lucky for us the military really, really cares whether they work or not.
The only consolation, sometimes, is that we pay an awful lot for a plane or a tank or a ship. And those things bring us to the fight, and bring us home to the love and affection you, our wives, provide us when the fight is over because they work so well. It is you, the wives, who have to live with the neglect and cheapness of the military life, because America will pay for the things we need to fight, but she won't pay well for the things we need to live.
You have my sympathy and my respect, but not my pity. You are too tough and honorable for that. And for what it is worth, when all this is over, it will have been worth it, whether you do it for 4 years or 40 years.
Bless you, dear.
Subsunk
Posted by: Subsunk at February 18, 2005 02:06 PM (YMrHN)
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Its only communism when you get these things simply for being a citizen of the country. Your husband signed an employment contract with the government. That's capitalism! Whether or not you signed a fair contract, is a whole different ballgame!
Posted by: Tanker Schreiber at February 18, 2005 02:31 PM (sdM4+)
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I think the salient point is that g2g's "jerk comment" (Sarah, you're a saint to be that generous in your description) suggested that they're getting a good deal/free ride, where the reality is that almost anybody out there could live a better life elsewhere -- military service is a *sacrifice*, not a joyride. I'm sure Canada has plenty of space for asshats like good to go.
Posted by: James at February 18, 2005 02:51 PM (QvU5o)
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The first thing my husband said on IM when I showed him that comment was "I provide a service to my government and I get a salary. Government workers are not the same thing as getting government entitlements." Sometimes his salary seems generous (when we think of the tax-free benefits) and sometimes it seems stingy (he makes $4/hr in Iraq), but it's a *salary*. It's not welfare.
Thanks for your eloquent comment, Subsunk. I appreciate your respect, and I don't need any pity. I love my life just the way it is.
Posted by: Sarah at February 19, 2005 02:06 AM (/35cK)
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"The military is soc1alist system."
I noticed that, too. In the Army, I said it once to a buddy who must have grown up in an old-school 'better dead than red' household and boy did he get pissed. But yeah, the military is about the closest thing we have in our society to the soc1alist worker's paradise. So, I can't understand why self-proclaimed soc1alists (who mostly live the lifestyles of privileged, pampered capitalists) hate the military so much.
Posted by: Eric at February 19, 2005 06:45 PM (uLAqP)
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February 17, 2005
RESPONSIBILITY
I just noticed
this comment by PAC tonight and I wanted to address it. It's a very normal point of view for a European to have, the same point of view I've found in most of my European friends. It is, I believe, the biggest dividing factor between Americans and Europeans and the source of our value differences.
It's also related to Bill Whittle's social vs. individual responsibility.
When I was a senior in high school, I was trying to decide whether I should go to a public or private school. I really wanted to attend this small private school I had chosen, so my dad decided it was time for a lesson in economics. He knew I wanted to be a teacher, so he made me figure out how much of an average teacher salary would go towards paying off $50,000 in student loans. He asked me if it would be worth going to this school to pay perhaps half of my monthly income towards loans. I agreed that it would not and decided to go to the public school. Only once I had started school did my father say that if I had believed that it would have been worth $50,000 of my own money, he would've helped me go to the private school. But since it wasn't worth my own money, it must not have been that important to me.
That's an awesome lesson that my father taught me, one that I personally think applies to my American worldview. You spend your own money far more frugally than you do your father's, and certainly far more frugally than you do the government's. People are simply more responsible when they have more responsibility to take care of themselves. We saw that with today's link about sharing: you end up with more Hershey Kisses if you're in charge of your own.
The biggest difference between Americans and Europeans is responsibility. In the US you're individually responsible for far more (and not nearly enough, in my opinion) than you are in Europe. I was responsible for paying for my own college, so I chose wisely and finished quickly. In many European countries, you can take as long as you want to get your degree; it's someone else's Hershey Kisses. I wish we were in charge of our own Social Security in the US, because I could do a much better job of managing it than the government can, to where I could pay for both medicine and travel. Me, myself, paying for it, not the government.
When my husband and I met with a financial advisor, he asked us how much money we wanted to set aside for our children's college funds. We slowly looked at each other, looked back at the advisor, and sheepishly asked if "nothing" was an acceptable answer. We both paid for our own college educations -- he through ROTC, I through academic scholarships -- and we expect our children to do the same. I don't plan to pay for my own child's college; there's no way I would want to pay taxes to make it free for everyone. I don't even like thinking about the tax dollars that fund the Pell grant.
PAC's opinion is completely understandable, given his background, but completely incomprehensible given mine. I can respect that he feels that way, but I certainly don't want my government emulating Europe in that manner.
MORE TO GROK:
Response to good to go above.
Posted by: Sarah at
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I saved money for my kids' college from the time they were born. Ended up with more than enough for a public college, and enough that most private colleges were within reach, if wanted badly enough. Both initially wanted private (or expensive, out-of-state public) - but I forced them to make a financial value judgement. By making the money 'theirs' I hoped to make them spend it as if it was 'theirs' One chose private, but with big scholarship, and maintained the grades to keep the scholarship and graduated on time - so there was money left over for the first year of law school. The other (your 'double') is in in-state public, so there will be money left over for other opportunities. One such is a summer school program in Innsbruck this year - I'll tell her if she gets in trouble she should pretend she is you.
Posted by: Glenmore at February 17, 2005 10:50 PM (+IHgL)
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The funny thing Sara is that you claim the mantle of personal responsibilty while living off taxpayer money. Both you and your husband will never have earned an honest nickel until you go out into the real world and get a job and pay the taxes that supports teachers and soldiers.
You are not really in a position to criticize others for asking for health insurance from their government when you depend upon it for everything.
Posted by: good to go at February 18, 2005 03:03 AM (fLlQ8)
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Soldiers may depend on the government for 'everything', but the government (and we) likewise depend on the soldiers for everything. It is a contract willingly entered by both parties. I believe, given the costs paid these days by our soldiers, that we the people are getting quite a bargain in this contract.
Posted by: Glenmore at February 18, 2005 08:30 AM (loaB2)
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Excuse me? My husband and I most certainly do pay taxes (except during deployment), so you can hardly say we don't contribute. And anyone else who wants to join the military is more than able to make the same money and benefits my husband and I do.
How dare you say we've never earned an honest nickel? Screw you.
Posted by: Sarah at February 18, 2005 08:54 AM (qdVAy)
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So,
good to go doesn't know what he's talking about. A soldier and his family do pay taxes. As an officer, the exact same percentage of my pay went to the IRS as my pay does now in civilian life. I have lived on both sides of the military/civilian divide. And the difference is ----- in the military you wear a cheaper suit, you work longer for less pay than the civilian, and you get little thanks until the shooting starts.
The upside is that the military folks aren't afraid to make a decision which could cost them their job. In my commercial life, my bosses frequently abdicate responsibility for decisions to lower levels and then fire those people when their judgment proves to be wrong.
Lots more freedom and time as a civilian. If they paid me time and a half for the hours I was at work in the Navy, they would be paying me until I was 90. The service my shipmates and fellow soldiers provide has few parallels anywhere in the world. We prevent butchers from cutting our people's heads off with impunity. Find that service in the civilian world and see how much it costs you. Then tell me who earns the more honest nickel.
As for health insurance, those who want to live forever on the cheapest health premiums will get the life they deserve, --- a long life of miserable existence because everything they earned is going towards their life support. I have helped my mother take care of several really old and senile relatives. It is more expensive than living and working a job till you die. My advice to "good to go" is to live well, die young and leave a good looking corpse.
Subsunk
Posted by: Subsunk at February 18, 2005 02:24 PM (YMrHN)
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GRrrrrr.... Good to go is really off the mark. How long have you lived under the gun so to speak? How many jobs do you hold? How ridiculous. I wonder if he/she would say that in person. Judging from some of the stuff you have had to hear in person, they probably would. But would they do it in a roomful of your friends? and defenders? I think not. Good to go indeed. Good to stay away please.
Posted by: Ruth H at February 18, 2005 08:15 PM (h08Dy)
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good to go is an ass-wipe. ive had the not so pleasent opportunaty to meet several here in my home state. ive heard people actually say that they "hope the soldiers in iraq get what they deserve". shit like that revolts me. i hear france is accepting applications for village idiots. good to go seems to have it in the bag.
Posted by: liz at February 18, 2005 08:58 PM (iq+aH)
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Yes Sarah, I understand that social democracy vs individual selfishness (or, to be more kind, "individual responsibility") is a big divide between Europeans and Americans (or at least the 51% of Americans who vote GOP). And I understand that you are more responsible with your own money than other people's money. But it's sad that in a country which says is superior to Europe, people have to risk their lifes (i.e., enroll at ROTC) just to pay for their education. It is sad that hard labor workers (McDonalds, construction, etc) have to die if they get sick. Do they die or live in poverty and abject conditions forever because they are not responsible or because they are not middle class and don't have a loving father explaining them the economics of university tuition? Do you really believe the US system is about personal responsibility for the poor? It seems to me more about screwing those who born poor and never (or rarely) giving then any opportunity to raise up. I am not saying give them all "the Hershey's Kisses" in the world... but at least give them some so that they can survive and move on to better things. If they are preocupied with surviving they will never have time do discuss economics, meet with financial advisors, contribute to a better America... it's okay to disagree with Europeans like me just don't forget that in our own country 49% agree with European social democracy.
Posted by: PAC at February 19, 2005 06:03 PM (2HGdB)
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PAC,
I'm 42, a former Navy Nuke Submarine Officer educated through ROTC, been civilian for 13 years, have a daughter soon to be in college. My wife worked at McDonalds as a kid, I didn't work for anyplace quite so classy. Is it hard work - NO! Anyone from 15-90 can work at McDonalds, sorry. In a free market economy we reward people based on the level of skill the job requires. McDonalds – 1 day of training.
ROTC gave me the chance to get the college education from the start that my father got through years of night school. ROTC is far from a tragedy, unless you believe the military useless. The military is underpaid for what it does, that is why it is called the “Service”
Wish I could refer you to the exact date, but in a NEWSWEEK article about 6 years ago a woman wrote in to say her Doctoral Thesis was going to be on how Welfare helps lift people out of poverty and should be expanded. It helped her after her husband left. Instead, what she found is that people with "Middle class" values who wound up on welfare worked hard to get off as quick as possible, but there was a definite core, the majority in fact, that don't want more than what welfare provides and are content to sit and collect. This bears out the experience of a couple of family members who worked in offices handing out government money.
Before my daughter started high school they got all the parents together and talked about how one of the things they wanted to teach the students was good decision making. My father taught me that what I made of my life was my decision. However, my brother-in-law has passed his donÂ’t graduate high-school do drugs mentality to his son. He also has no savings, cheats on his disabled wife who he leaves alone, etc. Frankly, I donÂ’t like my taxes taking care of dirt bags who DECIDED to be dirt bags. I heard a psychiatrist once say that you canÂ’t always change how you feel, but you can CHOOSE how you act.
People are sinners, not saints. If we were saints, sharing would work. WeÂ’re not, so itÂ’s personal responsibility. Does is suck, yes it does sometimes. ThatÂ’s life, deal with it.
PS, if I havenÂ’t convinced you and we should share more, please send your share of my daughterÂ’s college tuition. IÂ’ll place it in her college account.
Posted by: Xopher at February 20, 2005 06:38 PM (doKQq)
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February 13, 2005
MACDO
Amritas mentions the French nickname for McDonald's:
MacDo. Once when I was in France, my friends and I were walking to the McDonald's, laughing and talking to each other in the parking lot. A man pushing a baby stroller passed us and began yelling at us to speak French or go home. "This is France, we speak French here!" We were dumbfounded, and as he walked away, we noted how ironic it was that he had just walked out of the biggest symbol of American soft power -- where he had likely uttered the words
un Big Mac et un Sprite s'il vous plait -- and he had the nerve to tell us not to speak English. Can you imagine that same scenario in the US: going to a Mexican restaurant and yelling at patrons not to speak Spanish?
Ahh, the French.
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MacDonald's? Non, non! C'est ne pas francais! Je voudrais une Whopper avec la works!
Posted by: Francis W. Porretto at February 13, 2005 08:03 AM (MzH7h)
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Ahh, the ever tolerant and open-minded French. How we all aspire to the standards they've set...
Posted by: James at February 13, 2005 04:38 PM (fmHaY)
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Hopefully you told "Jean Claude" or whatever his name was to be thqankful for the freedom your husbands predacessors provided and please shut the F up.
Posted by: cptham at February 14, 2005 02:11 PM (NMK3S)
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With a name like McDonald's, shouldn't everybody be speaking Gaelic there?
Posted by: annika at February 14, 2005 03:55 PM (zAOEU)
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Should have told him that if wasn't for the English speaking he'd be speaking German.
By the way, did anyone ever tell the guys manning the Maginot Line that the Germans went in by the side door.
Posted by: David at February 14, 2005 04:53 PM (lvRBT)
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February 12, 2005
SINECURE
Amritas pointed me towards
John Ray's response to an article about how much better Europe is.
Hud has an interesting post on Europe's stagnant economy. Both of them made me think about my friends' jobs.
Some jobs here on post are German contract jobs, and the only two Americans I know who have these jobs are my friends who work for the quartermaster here. When soldiers have TA-50 that needs to be laundered, they bring it to my friends. My friends sort it, tag it, and bag it for when the laundry trucks come. They don't actually launder anything; they are just the middle men for the operation. Some days they're quite busy, especially at the end of a deployment. Other days they see very few customers. If no one is coming in, they can do whatever they want: homework, quilting, knitting, watching DVDs, hanging out with Sarah.
Remember, they're employed by the Germans. For this job that a monkey could do, they get paid 10 Euros an hour (which is $13 right now). They work only 20 hours per week each but get six weeks of paid vacation plus Kindergeld (the child allowance the German government gives you just for having a child). They know that they have it good; if they did this same job in the States, no doubt it would be minimum wage ($5.15 per hour, not $13), and there would be no benefits since it's just a part-time job.
I'm glad that my friends have such a great job, but I simply can't understand it. How can the Germans afford to pay them so much for a sinecure? They make more than I did teaching English for the college! I think part of Europe's problem is that they pay way too much for jobs that require no skill. I don't know how they'll continue to give lavish benefits to the monkey jobs.
(No offense, girls: you know I'd love to get paid to knit.)
Posted by: Sarah at
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Hee hee. No offense taken. But I often wonder the same thing...How long will they be able to afford paying such high wages for jobs that anyone can do?
Posted by: Erin at February 12, 2005 04:53 AM (ilI3X)
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FWIW, I work in Texas in the computing industry. Nothing you described seems much different from what I see day to day at various companies I work with. In my experience, the more you are paid in Corporate America the less productive you become, and there are inevitably a ton of useless chair-warmers in most larger enterprises.
Posted by: VOT at February 12, 2005 06:56 PM (sWOH9)
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VOT,
I often hear/see those kinds of comments and I always wonder why if that's true, the person saying it isn't busy doing nothing so they, too, can make a lot of money.
Certainly there are those who rise via political acumen rather than skill, but if what you say is true, most companies would collapse in on themselves.
Posted by: Bunny Slippers at February 15, 2005 05:00 PM (0sEOJ)
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As an European living in America, what I don't understand is why some Americans can even think or suggest that people who perform low-level jobs should not get benefits like child allowance,paid vacations, high-quality health care, etc...Those are precisely the people who need the most help from the government! Are these low-level workers just suppose to starve their children, let their children loose without day care and exposed to drugs, never have a vacation or rest in their life?? I guess so according to some Americans who don't care that many of their inner cities are just like or worse than 3rd world cities. The view that if you are a high level worker in a good corporation then you and only you should have benefits like good health care insurance is not only ridiculous/greedy/selfish but also crimimal and unChristian. That is why America has a minority of the richest people in the world (forbes 400), but 45 million people without even health insurance or the most basic needs that every European takes for granted (free university education, surgery, etc). As for the European economy being stagnant, then how come the currency even in litte European countries like Portugal, Luxembourg, or Greece (the Euro) is 30% higher than the dollar? And how come my mother - a retired teacher in Europe - can have fun and travel the world based on her social security monthly alone, while here Social Security is barely enough to pay for basic medication?? America is a great country but has much to learn from Europe instead of insisting that it is the best at everything!
Posted by: PAC at February 16, 2005 12:19 PM (LKlsp)
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January 22, 2005
January 17, 2005
SECOND LANGUAGE
A quote from Toren, via
Amritas:
.. [T]he fact is that if you speak any other language than English, and then learn English, you can go practically anywhere in the world and communicate since it is the second language of choice nearly worldwide. So the motivation value is high and the rewards substantial, plus, many countries teach it to children at an age when they can soak up an extra language with ease ...
It's just that if you're raised speaking English, one of the primary motivations for learning a second language is nullified.
Americans get a lot of crap from Europeans for not learning foreign languages. But seriously, which one should we learn? I spent ten years learning French and two years learning Swedish, and they do absolutely no good here in Germany. I still hear the joke all the time about how "a bilingual is someone who speaks two languages and a monolingual is someone who is American." Even if Americans worked hard to learn Spanish, the obvious choice in the US, they still would be looked down on everywhere but Spain. There's simply not an easy second-choice language for us, like English is for every other freaking country in the world.
If I had known when I was 15 that I would be living in Germany, I could have taken German in high school. But when you're in high school, German and French seem about equally as useful (read: not at all). And when we do come here to Germany, and we try to learn German (our beginner level German classes are always packed), Germans just roll their eyes at us and reply in English when we try to use it.
My husband came upon a poster in Iraq that was put up by the Honduran troops. He started translating the poster when one of his Hispanic soldiers said, "You can read that, sir?" My husband said that he had taken five years of Spanish and could muddle his way through the poster, but he could use some help. The Hispanic soldier looked my husband in the eye and said, "Don't look at me, I don't speak Spanish." The former-gangbanger from L.A. with the uber-Hispanic name doesn't speak a word of Spanish. I guess English works just fine for all of us.
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Yes, I took 4 years of German and got nothing out of it except for a curious blessing whenever someones sneezes. My children will certainly be learning chinese though. 1.3 billion people can't be
wong. Ok, bad joke, but I am serious about the language.
Posted by: mdmhvonpa at January 17, 2005 10:07 AM (/D3gv)
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Facing our PCS to Germany, I really have kept it in my mind that I don't want to be one of "those" people, who expects everybody in the entire world to speak English. Especially "my" English with the most gentle hint of a Southern drawl, or even my husband's emphasized Chicago accent. We've been told by many people on post, countless times, that if you at least try to communicate in the native tongue of your host country, that most people will try their best to meet you halfway.
I took Spanish in high school. German wasn't even offered! But like you, Sarah... had I known, I think I would have attempted to learn sooner
Posted by: Susan at January 17, 2005 11:25 AM (ExCyr)
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i took latin. wtf was i thinking?
Posted by: annika at January 17, 2005 01:25 PM (zAOEU)
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In business, though, the European who speaks several languages does have an advantage over the American who speaks only one. You're probably right that only *one* other language doesn't do that much good...but if you can manage 3 or 4 of them, you've really got something.
Posted by: David Foster at January 17, 2005 05:23 PM (MO+oq)
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English has a REALLY big advantage over many languages (even that of my own ancestors, as pretty as it is). It doesn't have to be perfect. Accents don't matter much.
Consider how many different accents you've heard mangle just the word "hello." Hallo, hello, hullo, and twangy to nasal variations. In hawaiian, "oi" and "oe" sound very different to people who grow up with a lot of dipthongs, but CONUS I have a hard time getting people to hear the "ei" sound in my name (let alone get them to pronounce it). I mean, the difference I usually hear (that they can't) is the difference between "the beloved child of heaven" and "the voice of heaven." Big difference.
Other languages, especially older ones, are even less forgiving.
English, especially Amerenglish, is quite the opposite. It is very forgiving. Spend some time hanging with military spouses and you'll hear english tinged with German, British Stan, Thai, Phillipino, and a bunch of others. Yet all those different, and often horrible, accents and pronounciation blunders are understandable.
Gotta love it. Especially having grown up in Hawai'i.
Kalroy
Posted by: Kalroy at January 18, 2005 12:28 AM (9RG5y)
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This is exactly the conclusion I came to about Americans. Brits, on the other hand, have no excuse. I went to Germany for a year with a group from a UK university, and our employer paid for three hours a week of German tuition on company time. There were three pupils: a Canadian, a Turk, and me - not one Brit.
That said, it took me a good six months before I could persuade Germans to say so much as two words to me auf Deutsch...
Posted by: Dominic at January 18, 2005 06:22 AM (uyRJS)
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I learned Spanish, although I learned some French when I lived there, and even took a year of it in high school.
If you speak English, Spanish, and Arabic, you can converse just aout anywhere in the world. I'm convinced much of the antagonism from France is due to their language no longer being the "universal language."
Posted by: Bunker at January 18, 2005 07:52 AM (cyYKH)
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It's funny being a gringo that speaks Spanish and working around a lot of non-Spanish speaking Hispanics. Of course I do go out of my way to point that out to them.
After a couple of generations, most of the youth here have lost their Spanish speaking skills. Or, and this happens a lot, they speak "Spanglish." There are three or four radio stations here that target Hispanic youth as their audience, and the DJ's talk Spanglish like this: "Es muy temprano for a choque on the freeway, but hay uno at Main street. So tiene cuidado and watch out for it on your drive to el trabajo."
Posted by: Cerberus at January 18, 2005 06:46 PM (nzIoS)
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Reader R.K. had trouble posting this:
Europeans really have little choice, but to learn another language, English or otherwise. Americans have such a range of climates and geographic areas here in CONUS that we feel little need to leave the country. Europeans on the other hand have much more limited choices no matter what country they reside in. If growing up here in the Midwest I had to learn another language to go see the mountains, chances are I would have tried harder. Or more pointedly, if I had to learn another language to go somewhere NOT at 2 deg f right nowÂ… Si! yo hablo espanol. Now having exhausted my 3 years of High School Spanish (yahÂ… same year 3 times, I had trouble with spelling and English classes too. J 3 guesses why I work in the computer industry) I read somewhere only 1 in 10 US Citizens has a passport. I couldnÂ’t find anything to back that exact number up but did find
this link where someone take the number of passports issued over the last 10 years and thinks it closer to 1 in 5. I think itÂ’s on the rise as the cost of Airfare to Europe decreases. The interesting part of this will be if more Americans learn a second language or more Europeans find it more economical to know English.
Posted by: R.K. at January 19, 2005 03:50 AM (xLwUS)
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After 1 semester of college German, and some bar-time tutoring from a friend who had lived there, I know a few phrases:
-Another beer please.
-Where's the bathroom?
-I have no money.
-I want to f*** you.
-Cheers (as in a toast).
-My record player is broken.
What more do I need to say?
Love your blog Sarah, read it every day!
Posted by: MargeinMI at January 19, 2005 08:40 AM (4tbvs)
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December 15, 2004
LUNCH
When I sat down at our office Christmas lunch, I immediately remembered that I don't like any of the people I work with. I ate with a bunch of
looters. Two hours of conspiracy theories and "health care is a right" and all sorts of socialist nonsense from people who have chosen to remain in Germany as squatters, mooching off the Army. The table conversation would've been funny, I suppose, if it didn't make me want to throw up. One woman was complaining about health care in the US and about how much better it is in Germany. She said that German doctors weren't motivated by money like American doctors and that they earn the same salary as schoolteachers. "Then what's the incentive to become a doctor?" I asked. She got all flustered and condescending. "But that's thinking like an
American! You can't think like that!" "But I
am an American," I responded. "I'm an American to the bone." "But life isn't about money!" she whined. So here's where the fun began. "OK," I said, "then since we all work equally hard in our education center to help soldiers, why don't we pool our money and all get paid the same salary?" "Oh, but that's different because we work under the American system..." she trailed off. Different, really, how? Oh, because she makes $61,000 a year and I make $12,000. It's
her pocketbook now, so it's different. "Germans aren't motivated by greed like everyone is in the US," she continued. Her mental gymnastics were simply stunning: this is the woman who gets an outrageous housing allowance from the American government, illegally rents part of her house out, and uses the profit to buy up property in Germany and re-sell it. I suppose she does all of that out of the goodness of her heart and not for profit or anything.
AAAAAAAAAAARRRGGGGGHHHH!
On the way home, I tried to convince myself that I had just had a lovely lunch with Bunker, Deskmerc, Amritas, Fad, and CavX.
A girl can dream, right?
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We can have lunch together any time. The trick is to be within a reasonable distance from each other. Halfway across the planet doesn't cut it. Oh well, I will be in a closer time zone very soon ...
Posted by: Amritas at December 15, 2004 10:30 AM (sIr5j)
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You're tongue must have scars from biting it all the time around those people.
Posted by: Cerberus at December 15, 2004 10:38 AM (nzIoS)
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I was wondering why I woke up feeling full this morning.
Posted by: fad at December 15, 2004 11:30 AM (6WByt)
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I had the same sense as fad!
Posted by: Mike at December 15, 2004 01:24 PM (cyYKH)
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See what Ayn Rand will do to you. Welcome to the Club.
Posted by: sTEVE at December 15, 2004 02:43 PM (8HxzN)
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Sure, I was there. I remember it like it was yesterday. Actually, it WAS yesterday... right?
Posted by: CavalierX at December 15, 2004 10:02 PM (sA6XT)
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Fear not, Sarah...you're not alone.
Posted by: david at December 16, 2004 08:57 AM (ZVhuO)
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Liberals need to be slapped with an economics text book.
Posted by: Mark at December 16, 2004 09:45 PM (Vg0tt)
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December 12, 2004
LIFE IMITATING ART
The husband finished
Atlas Shrugged the other day; I still have a couple hundred pages left. But what I'm noticing as I'm reading is a sad parallel between what's happening in the book and what I've been reading on blogs lately. Take
this gem for example: In Britain, if you want to replace a broken window or rewire the lighting in your house, you have to ask the government's permission. Bureaucrats have to come and make sure your home still meets Kyoto regulations. Of how 'bout
this from the Netherlands: The government would pay artists with taxpayers' money to create art, which would be stored in a warehouse, just so that people could have a job.
So how do people react to a society of "each according to his need", of government control of everything, of forced multiculturalism? They want to leave:
"Van Gogh's death was a confirmation for them of what they already sensed was happening," he said. "They're accountants, teachers, nurses, businessmen and bricklayers, from all walks of life. They see things going on every day in this country that are quite unbelievable. They see no clear message from the government, and they are afraid it's becoming irreversible, that's why they are leaving."
...
Ellen, 43, a lawyer and banker who votes for the free-market Liberals, said the code of behaviour regulating daily life in the Netherlands was breaking down.
"People no longer know what to expect from each other. There are so many rules, but nobody sticks to them. They just do as they want. They just execute people on the streets, it's shocking when you see this for the first time," she said. "We've become so tolerant that everybody thinks they can fight their own wars here. Van Gogh is killed, and then people throw bombs at mosques and churches. It's escalating because the police and the state aren't doing anything about it.
"There's a feeling of injustice that if you do things right, if you work hard and pay your taxes, you're punished, and those who don't are rewarded. People can come and live here illegally and get payments. How is that possible?
"We didn't think about how we should integrate people, to make sure that we actually talk to each other and know each other, instead of living in ghettoes with different rules.
Is life imitating art, or did Ayn Rand predict all of this?
(But don't forget that our country isn't immune to ridiculous government spending...)
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"There's a feeling of injustice that if you do things right, if you work hard and pay your taxes, you're punished, and those who don't are rewarded."
Funny, that's just what Kerry/Edwards were saying during the election.
Posted by: mrgumby2u at December 13, 2004 08:38 PM (5nwX5)
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Yeah, I agree with mrgumby2u. In addition ellen's point seems to be she wants *more* government regulation, and more conformism, not less. she just wants to make sure that everyone conforms as much as she does.
Sure sounds like hell in england, though, 'cause it could never happen here that the government would come in and tell, like, a builder that he should build to code so the building doesn't fall down, or that schools should be handicapped accessable so that elderly people, women with strollers, and disabled children could get into them. Odd that. But don't worry, Sarah, you could move to jeb's florida where builders are suing to prevent people from complaining about shoddy workmanship. REmember, you can *choose* to give up your rights and then you will be everyone's favorite mark. BUt that's still a kind of favorite, so I guess that's ok.
aimai
Posted by: aimai at December 14, 2004 05:39 PM (aSNkY)
Posted by: Sarah at December 15, 2004 02:03 AM (ya79V)
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This has nothing to do with building to code. Yes, if someone is building
for you, and they jack it up, then you have the right to recourse. But if it's your own property, and you decide not to hire someone to do handywork and instead tackle it yourself, the govt has no business saying what you can or can't do to your own home. If you have a broken window, and you choose not to fix it, then you're the one who will pay higher heating/cooling bills, have an ugly house, and likely not be able to sell it until you get your act together. Why on earth should the government intervene and say that you must fix your window and you must fix it with a certain type of glass, etc?
Posted by: Sarah at December 15, 2004 04:54 AM (ya79V)
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Uh, part of the reason is that a broken window, for example, has a negative externality on the property values of all your neighbors' homes as well as yours. Nobody wants to live next to some dumb fucktard who won't even replace a broken window. That's why there are neighborhood associations all over this country (which are undeniably a form of "unofficial governmnet") - to prevent dumb fucktards from dragging down surrounding property values through their own laziness.
As for your "a certain type of glass" argument, let's say that person goes to sell his house. The government's interest in regulating on this issue would stem from the consumer's inability to tell good glass from, say, glass that'll shatter with the first strong breeze. Rather than forcing the consumer to spend an inordinate amount of time researching glass types (as well as details on everything else that goes into a house), it simplifies things by placing the burden on the seller instead. Just replace your window with "a certain type of glass," and even though it may be a burden on you right now, you come out ahead when you go to buy your next house because you don't have to learn every last thing about home construction before you buy.
But if you don't like regulations and government and stuff, there are plenty of places on earth where you can live to be free of them. Yes, they're mostly third-world shitholes like Angola, but I wouldn't expect that to stop someone as fucktard-dumb as you.
Posted by: fucktard-dumb at December 15, 2004 12:32 PM (M/ldG)
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Dude, did you even read the original article? 'Making it easier for the consumer' has nothing to do with it.
Posted by: Sarah at December 15, 2004 12:41 PM (ya79V)
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I wasn't responding to the original article. I was responding to your response.
But way to intentionally miss my point. Keep trying to grok, maybe someday you'll finally succed.
Posted by: fucktard-dumb at December 15, 2004 03:11 PM (M/ldG)
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Wow - did that ever go off the rails from the original posting!!
The point is that legislation which rewards stupidity, and punishes hard work, is counter-productive to society and the general welfare.
This places the burdon for supporting society on the backs of the few who work, and eventually these folks ('Atlas') will shrug, and let go of the load when it becomes too heavy and unbearable.
I love Atlas Shrugged (and have enjoyed all of Rand's fiction) - it is a true classic!
Posted by: Barb at December 16, 2004 03:11 PM (q9AXC)
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From what I can make out--big governement forcing private homeowners to fix broken windows is bad!--this thread is attacking the pride of conservatives everywhere who support the "broken windows" theory of ending crime, restoring values, etc. Mayor Giuliani credits this approach--you begin by fixing the broken windows (on private property, presumably) and then work up from there to a more wholesome environment--for turning around New York City. That commie . . .
And as long as you're thumbing your noses at conservatives everywhere, you might own up to Ayn Rand's thoughts on marriage while declaring your admiration for her. Your husband's enthusism might entail a downside!
Posted by: notjg at December 17, 2004 10:58 AM (PBtSS)
Posted by: gutter at May 05, 2005 07:40 PM (tfAWX)
Posted by: pocket bike at June 25, 2005 01:43 AM (Zlipb)
Posted by: mini bike at June 25, 2005 01:44 AM (Zlipb)
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October 17, 2004
STRESSFUL DINING
I've talked to Europeans in the States who hate feeling rushed at American restaurants. I'm so deeply American that I can't really feel their pain, because I really don't like lounging around in restaurants all night. Even people here will applaud the slow pace at German restaurants and say that they enjoy not being rushed out the door right after dinner, but I still haven't gotten over the feeling of "wasting time" during a German meal.
I read, with intense envy, Varifrank's details of his weekend. I was beside myself as I imagined an evening of a Mexican restaurant, Barnes and Noble, Starbucks, and a grocery store. All after 1800 -- that's madness. But the timeline for his dinner struck me. They arrived at 1830 and got out of there at 2100, and because they had to wait so long, their dinner was free. Hoo boy. I go to dinner here every Friday night at about 1830, and we never get out of there before 2100. Usually there's only one or two other tables occupied there, and there's never a rush. Except for on my part: I usually get up and go get the menus myself.
Now before Oda Mae feels slighted, since she's one of the people I eat with every week, I must say that it's not that I don't mind the company. I enjoy talking with friends I only see once a week. But I always feel this feeling of stress about wasting time. I feel like we're waiting too long in between Necessary Dinner Actions.
Back in the States, I have on occasion paid the bill and sat there for a while longer. That's enjoyable, because you're done with all Dinner Actions, but you've decided you're not ready to leave yet. Here, as soon as we pay the bill, it's like I can't get out of the building fast enough, because we've already waited about 45 minutes to pay the bill. I feel like we wait an eternity to Get Menus, Place Orders, and Pay the Bill. I'm constantly trying to flag the waiter down so we can pay. It's not relaxing for me. I don't feel like we are in charge of our eating pace, the restaurant is, and so I feel enslaved to the waiter's time schedule. (The word "enslaved" sounds pretty intense, but I can't think of a better way to express the feeling of impatience and frustration I feel trying to get a German waiter to notice me.)
I know there are plenty of Americans who enjoy this type of eating experience, so take what I say with a grain of salt. But it drives me crazy. One night my mom suggested we go "grab a bite to eat" when she was visiting, and I cracked up. There's no such thing here, and I always feel stressed when we spend hours at the dinner table.
And don't even get me started on Varifrank's midnight trip to the grocery store...sigh.
Posted by: Sarah at
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The post came about because at about 9:00 on friday my wife exclaimed "For an economy that is supposed to be in such bad shape it sure as hell is hard to find a place to park!"
and bear in mind, we chose to go to 'on the border' because its usually pretty easy to get a seat. you can see how wrong we were.
Thanks for visiting.
Posted by: Frank Martin at October 17, 2004 05:56 AM (fWDG+)
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Nope, I don't feel slighted,just surprised. With the guys gone, what else is there to do on a Friday night except gab with your friends? Do you run home to clean your oven? (Gah, I hope not!) No, I think the problem here is that you have not been taking advantage of your passenger status on those Fridays when you're not designated driver. Then you'd understand why 9 or 10 o'clock is fine with me - as long as I have enough Euros to keep setting up the red wine!
Posted by: Oda Mae at October 17, 2004 10:03 AM (KhuvC)
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Maybe part of it is that I also work a lot of Saturday mornings, so it still feels like a "school night" to me...
Posted by: Sarah at October 17, 2004 12:49 PM (6QL7C)
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OT but did you hear that Steven den Beste has a post up?? I knew you'd want to know!
Posted by: beckie at October 17, 2004 02:26 PM (hoo48)
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I no longer eat anywhere that has a waiting list. I've never eaten anywhere that was worth waiting for. And I hate waiters who want to be a part of my dining "experience." If I wanted to spend time with the waiter, I would dine with him. My idea of a good waiter is one who never asks if I need more water or tea or coffee--he simply sees when I need more and shows up to take care of it.
Posted by: Mike at October 17, 2004 05:07 PM (ckYKs)
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One time in Pisa and once in Prague, I had to literally beg for the check so I could get the hell out of the restaurant already!
Posted by: Tanker Schreiber at October 17, 2004 05:55 PM (dERQH)
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Maybe if the restaurant was a really quiet space in which to actually have a conversation without yelling or saying "what?" after every sentence, I would feel like hanging out.
But I'm with you, I hate waiting for the check when we're done eating. If it feels like the waiter is going to be slow I'll just ask for the check when they bring the food. I'm also with you on chatty waiters, no thanks, I'm not there to be charmed.
I waited tables for over a year, so while I know it's hard, mostly honest work, I also know when the service sucks.
Posted by: Beth at October 17, 2004 09:57 PM (KugRT)
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October 14, 2004
PURCHASES
We often get soldiers from different countries around here because of the training area. Right now there are a bunch of Belgians here on our post. I was surprised to hear French in line behind me at the commissary, but I wasn't surprised at their purchase; they were stocking up on the two things you can't get in Belgium: peanut butter and barbecue sauce. Hilarious.
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Can't buy in Belgium? You mean like soap or deodorant?
Posted by: Tanker Schreiber at October 14, 2004 10:59 AM (vf6rj)
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MASS GRAVE
Mr Kehoe said that work to uncover graves around Iraq, where about 300,000 people are thought to have been killed during Saddam Hussein's regime, was slow as experienced European investigators were not taking part.
The Europeans, he said, were staying away as the evidence might be used eventually to put Saddam Hussein to death.
"We're trying to meet international standards that have been accepted by courts throughout the world," he added.
These are the people we're supposed to worry don't support us? I would be ashamed if they did approve of us.
Toddlers clutching toys. We did the right thing.
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If you are so concerned about kids you might watch this
http://www.bushflash.com/pl_lo.html
as you both contemplate the future for Your kids
And consider with remorse or glee as you will, the estimated hundreds of thousands of iraqi kids who died under US led sanctions.
Also
You might remember that Saddam was just following the Brits 1922 lead;
http://www.cambridgeclarion.org/e/omissi_graun_19jan1991.html
Like Saddam's brothers, the squadrons of the Royal Air Force flew most of their missions against the Kurds who resented rule from Baghdad. For 10 years, the British waged an almost continuous bombing campaign in the oil-rich and mountainous north-east against the Kurdish rebels, to whom they had earlier promised autonomy.
The Iraqi air force - which the British had built up, trained and equipped - carried on the work after Iraq became nominally independent in 1932.
Churchill consistently urged that the RAF should use mustard gas during these raids, despite the warning by one of his advisors that "it may ... kill children and sickly persons, more especially as the people against whom we intend to use it have no medical knowledge with which to supply antidotes". In the event the air force did not use gas bombs - for technical rather than humanitarian reasons.
Posted by: charlie p. at October 14, 2004 06:11 AM (SGDG1)
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I keep hearing about "hundreds of thousands of iraqi kids who died under US led sanctions." Somehow, I find that difficult to even imagine with a rational mind. There doesn't seem to be a dearth of teenagers and young adults in that country.
The wonderful "Oil for Food Program" was in place to help with things like baby formula, and medicines were never sanctioned. Unfortunately, our friends in France and Russia assisted Saddam in getting things other than the food and medicine he was supposed to have free access to.
There are many parallels I could draw from in history for many things. Proving a point (which it really doesn't) with a piece of information gleaned from millions of contrary ones should give you some idea of how poor your logic is.
Of course, you are interested in bashing the US, not in logical thought.
Posted by: Mike at October 14, 2004 07:42 AM (MqNKC)
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Somebody buy Charlie a time machine so he can back and stop the Brits. Then, he can stop our allies the French from killing the Jews, and our other allies the Germans from killing the Jews, and our other allies the Russians from killing the Jews.
Maybe he can also stop our French friend Napoleon from invading and killing everybody. Of course, if he could stop M. Guillotine from helping to kill thousands of innocent French during the 'Terror', that would be nice too.
And if he still has time, perhaps he can prevent the French from training future genocidal lunatics in Rwanda and Cambodia. It takes a first class educational system to create a Pol Pot!
Posted by: Tanker Schreiber at October 14, 2004 10:58 AM (vf6rj)
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>the estimated hundreds of thousands of iraqi
>kids who died under US led sanctions
Oddly enough, I agree with you that sanctions didn't work. They
never work. They only hurt the people, not the scum in power. The only answer, as you have no doubt figured out, is to immediately remove bad leaders from power. Surely you advocated the immediate removal of Saddam Hussein from Iraq three months after the 1991 cease-fire was signed, since that's when he violated it. Obviously, you understand that sanctions on Syria, Iran and North Korea won't work either -- sanctions only hurt the people. The leaders of rogue nations must be removed. I'm SO glad you've realised this.
Posted by: CavalierX at October 14, 2004 02:11 PM (sA6XT)
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I beg to differ that sanctions only hurt the people. It was Saddam that was hurting his people. He was the one that put them through wars and in mass graves. He got to decide what to buy through the oil for food program for his people via sanctions. That is the promise the U. N. hospitably provided to Saddam as they received their kickbacks as Kofi Annan's son was supervising what sanction approved products made it into Iraq. Sadly, supplies meant for the people were siphoned by a madman slowly refurbishing his finances through bribes and kickbacks at the U. N. as the U. N. looked on getting fat as the Iraqi people starved.
This sad plight of people suffering under oppresive regimes can look to Sudan where the only country presently dropping food for the Sudanese people is the United State of America.
Where is France? Where is Germany? China? Russia?
Posted by: Moor at October 14, 2004 06:31 PM (g8OfD)
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>I beg to differ that sanctions only hurt the
>people. It was Saddam that was hurting his
>people.
You're right, of course. Allow me to rephrase my point. Sanctions
on a non-democratic nation only hurt the people.
Posted by: CavalierX@yahoo.com at October 15, 2004 12:41 AM (sA6XT)
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October 13, 2004
INDEED
I've you've ever had a conversation with a European, you'll appreciate reading
The Secret Weapon.
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Very interesting article.
My favourite material was at the bottom.
"That is something that no member of the European Union can ever understand."
Does the author demonstrate an equivalent ignorance and dismissal of every individual in an unknown culture, or in this case, many unknown cultures ?
Judging all Europeans by the ignorance of a few citizens sounds rather arrogant to some readers.
Might some Europeans, or Asians, or Africans, Or Arabs, or Pacific Islanders, or South Americans therefore also be justified in branding the USA a particular way because they met a few USAmericans who couldn't speak another language?
Doublespeak.
Here come the flames ... :-)
Posted by: Mark at October 13, 2004 09:18 AM (bVOJW)
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I'm not judging them all by the actions of a few by any means, but there is a kind of groupthink has gotten into many peoples minds, mostly european minds, that presupposes that they know all about the US, and that we dont know anything about europe. My guess is that we are both equal in our ignorance, but this is not the postition taken by many in the self loathing left.
I'm simply am rejecting the knee jerk idea that America has less to offer than does the storied lands of old europe. My basic feeling after lving in Europe for 5 years is that the best parts of Europe migrated across the pond when the opportunity presented itself. that was a cruel and cyinical view, but it was an honest one.
If you want to find the capitol of anti-semitism, you dont have to go to the middle east, you need only go to Paris. If you want to find brutal strong arm crime, most cities in europe outdo anything I ever saw in pre-guliani New York. Amsterdam, for all of its tolerance is one of the most genuinely unhappy places I have ever seen. Most of Europe reminds me of the kind of darkness you see in the eyes of kids in the richer neighborhoods of the US, where the kids have all of their material needs taken care of, but their parents spend no time with the kids, leaving the kids spiritually vacant and wondering aloud what is their purpose in life.
The people of Europe have nice art and nice ruins to visit, but the current generation has become a selfish and spoiled generation of people who look at everything in terms of their own personal comfort. Once upon a time, Germany was the economic powerhouse, based solely on the productivity of its people, today that is no longer the case, and it only took 10 years to get that way.
Too many people in Europe believe that America is really the source of all their problems, and its at that dark idea that I was hoping to shed some light.
America bothers them becasue we are disturbing their sleep. We in America challenge the Euros, while Americans tend to enjoy competition, Euros look at competition as something that needs to be stopped before someone gets hurt.
Posted by: Frank Martin at October 13, 2004 12:28 PM (fWDG+)
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I've lived there twice and talk to people there all the time. There has always been an anti-American element there. Leftists have had an even bigger role in the media and education then here, or it feels like it.
Socialism and Communism were invemnted there, after all.
America stands in the way of a lot of that stuff, which is why the elites there view us as a threat. They also resent that they depend on us for their security, because they have never done much to secure it for themselves since WWII. I remember well, all through the 70s and 80s hearing American politicians bitch that we were spending billions to protect Europe and they were doing little or nothing to beef up ther militaries.
Posted by: James Hudnall at October 13, 2004 09:21 PM (FV8Tp)
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A I find your piece a simplistic -as the lady says about another- "bunch of rambling nonsense" surprising for a polyglot who can't use a spell checker.
B "The function of the military in a democratic society is the application of violence on behalf of the citizenry. The vocation of the professional officer corps is the management of that function." (Huntington) This wonderful group has enabled we americans at 6% of the worlds people to be able to consume 40% of the world's resources. Pretty cool eh? And so
enabling the U.S. military to become the single largest user of energy in the world. Which then is then able to get more resources- Wah Lah!
C Is that why you brown nose the neo con chicken-hawks led by the court appointed president.
D Then if you can go deep, Martin has this Prof. got you pegged or what?
"...the perennial anxiety that accompanies imperial hegemony in the New World might be a compensatory gesture for the originary Ishmaelite fate of castoffs relentlessly clamoring for re-integration into the mainline genealogical history as the chosen people..."
http://complit.la.psu.edu/faculty/kadir/absoluteamerica.html
Finally
E Remember as Jefferson said "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."
Posted by: Snidley Whiplash at October 14, 2004 06:58 AM (SGDG1)
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Hey Snidley - I notice you don't use your real name!! What are you ashamed of yourself and your views unlike Frank, Sarah, James and Mark? Maybe you're AFRAID someone won't like what you write so you use the shield of a fake name so you're just a coward! People like you don't deserve the protection of our wonderful military. You think you're so cool and hip being snide and snarky. Well you're not, you are just another pathetic whiner of the left.
Posted by: Toni at October 14, 2004 09:19 AM (SHqVu)
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This part in the article resounds in me as an American:
"Americans share one thing in common with each other that no other person in the world can understand. While the rest of the world goes to bed at night saying 'Well if things get really bad, I can always go to the States...' As Americans, we know that we have nowhere else to go. If we don't make it here, there is no where else we can go, and few places that will accept us even if we wanted to go. If America were to fall, we all know that we would not be welcome anywhere else. That, is why we fight so hard, that is why we still hold onto our patriotism and faith when most of the world has thrown theirs away."
Posted by: Moor at October 14, 2004 06:22 PM (g8OfD)
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I would respect Snidely's decision to post nicknonymously if, as I do, he had a valid email address and a consistant identity.
I would, in any case, like to ask him how a court ruling that any further recounts would have to be done in accordance with existing state law constitutes an appointment.
I too, BTW, have had similar online discussions with Europeans who do not comprehend what makes USians tick.
Posted by: triticale at October 14, 2004 08:15 PM (1w0oB)
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As a kid, I lived in France. We were not made to feel welcome there in any way, and this was little more than a decade after defeating Hitler. As Americans, we were not even allowed to drive through DeGaulle's hometown.
They have never appreciated us or considered us as equals. We show them daily how little they have, and they cannot stand it.
Posted by: Mike at October 15, 2004 10:03 PM (ckYKs)
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Yes, clearly they are all just jealous. Go USA!
Posted by: John at October 16, 2004 09:22 PM (oDYDz)
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October 02, 2004
INGRAINED
I love when the bias is so ingrained that people can't even see it. My German co-worker said yesterday that the German media was reporting that Kerry had won the debate. I said that I hadn't seen the program, but that everything I had read had called it a draw. I said that people who like Bush generally gave him the edge, while people who like Kerry said that he had won. She said that Germany didn't really have a preference in the American presidential election, so they were just reporting objectively. I wanted to laugh my fool head off, but instead I casually mentioned the
polls that show overwhelming German support for Kerry. And I printed
this out for her. How can she not see the elephant in the room that is Europe's love for Kerry?
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Makes sense to me. The Eurotrash prefer good debaters to good soldiers. That is why the UN is the world's biggest debating society, and the world's least useful institution!
Posted by: Tanker Schreiber at October 02, 2004 01:29 PM (ejMHq)
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Your point about the Germans is probably true, but not proven in this case -- because the President did lose the debate.
Posted by: Herostratus at October 03, 2004 02:30 AM (ygBH5)
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It's not a matter of who won or lost, but what was said. I find the words, "global test" before we can defend America to be truly frightening. Those two words signify the death of America, and in that regard Kerry might have won for himself in the debate, but it also means America will be the loser in the end. So it isn't a battle between Bush and Kerry, but a battle between Kerry and America.
Posted by: Moor at October 03, 2004 01:54 PM (g8OfD)
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September 30, 2004
September 26, 2004
MORE ON ITALY
I found common ground with a porcelain artist in Nove, Italy.
You all know that I love my identity as a military wife, but the worst feeling in the world is that split second right after you have to answer the "Why are you living in Germany?" question. You never know what to expect from your European questioner. Most often you get that "oh", that bit of surprise that you're not here to bum around Europe "finding yourself" by getting drunk with Australians. Sometimes you get that recoil, and you feel the mood of the conversation change. Sometimes you get the look of pity, like it must be so miserable living under the thumb of the New Hitler.
And sometimes you get the, "Sure, I know where you live. I used to train in Grafenwoehr when I was in the Italian military."
Mom and I had a wonderful talk with this porcelain artist, and we could find enough common ground to really try to understand each other. He confessed to full support of the war in Iraq -- he likes the flypaper concept -- but admitted that he doesn't always think President Bush is best for the world. He he thought that a president who would kiss France's butt a little would be better for other countries in the EU. I can see where he's coming from: As an American, I don't give a flying leap what France and Germany think, but I can now see better how the smaller EU countries do have to play the cooperation game, even though this Italian man rolled his eyes and agreed that it was farcical. Mom was extremely forthright and asked him many questions to which I feared the answers, but we learned a lot from him, and hopefully he from us.
So I didn't get to meet Serenade, but we met his kindred spirit.
Overall, I found Italy to be quite pleasant. All of the people we met seemed to be genuinely happy to meet us Americans, and one of them even went on and on about how much she loved Wisconsin. Really. I've never heard a foreigner speak of anywhere but NYC, LA, or Vegas. The loving way she spoke about Wisconsin was quite touching.
The Italians also seemed thrilled that I had spent a day teaching myself a bit of Italian. All I did was teach myself a bit of non parlo italiano and quanto questa, but I guess the effort went a long way. I found the language to be quite easy to pick up, albeit on a superficial level. I crutched on my French and guessed by saying the latin root with an Italian accent a couple of times and managed to get along quite well. I also had a not-ugly-American moment when we wanted to ask a shopkeeper a question and my Italian simply wouldn't do: we asked if he spoke any English, and he shrugged apologetically and said, "Non...Deutsch." Well then, I thought, and asked the question auf Deutsch. Heh. And I speak two other languages that didn't even enter into the picture, buddy. Now go tell your friends that there are Americans who aren't monolingual jerks.
The Italians loved pointing and whispering about my American-issued license plate, I ate the same pizza at the same restaurant three nights in a row, it was that good, and I burned a ton of gas driving up and down those mountains. What a week.
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Seeing I'm living in London at the moment, it would have been quite surprising to meet me in Folgarida - especially while there's no snow there! Try again in 3 or 4 months' time, when I should be in the vicinity... but you'll have to be quick to catch me, I'm getting
good on a snowboard now!
Posted by: Dominic at September 27, 2004 07:08 AM (pqgq+)
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ITALY
In a normal week, I drive perhaps 15 or 20 miles. This week I drove 1300. In a normal week, I do three things: work, knit, and blog. This week I didn't do any of those activities. It was a week of doing things that were out of the ordinary.
I painted my fingernails. That may not seem so exciting, but I realized that I hadn't made the time to do that small task in nearly a year. I read 500 pages of my book. I worked obsessively on this puzzle. I went to see this man. I bought a set of these. And when I walked out of our residenza, this is what I saw.

We went to a ski resort in September. There was no snow, there were no people, and there was nothing pressing to do. The resort owner seemed embarrassed and apologetic that we had come at such a boring time, but it was exactly what I wanted. For me, a true vacation is about doing nothing. I did a lot of nothing this week; it was wonderful.
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Welcome back! I missed you!
"I do three things: work, knit, and blog"
... and study! Still don't know how you do it all.
"This week I didn't do any of those activities."
So how did you manage to wish Pixy a happy birthday?
"I went to see this man."
For a second I thought you meant serenade. Maybe next time ...
Posted by: Amritas at September 26, 2004 05:21 AM (PzREt)
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Bunker did me the favor of posting the photo for me on Misa's birthday...and I didn't get to meet Serenade, but I met many people like him. I will explain more about that this evening...right before I study for the stats test I have to make up tomorrow!
Posted by: Sarah at September 26, 2004 06:06 AM (AJ3qj)
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So, make us jealous! How much did one plate cost you in Italy?
Posted by: Oda Mae at September 26, 2004 06:18 AM (yeG9M)
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Heh. Four euros per plate, and I got some seconds with minor flaws for one euro each. I love that pattern.
Posted by: Sarah at September 26, 2004 06:29 AM (AJ3qj)
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September 17, 2004
SUBTITLES
Amritas weighs in on
subtitling Fahrencrap 9/11 into Farsi at the screening in Iran. I started emailing him but then decided to post my thoughts here too. When I lived in Angers, there was one movie theater that didn't dub movies, and that was the only one we ever went to. I saw some pretty interesting movies with French subtitles, and I can certainly say that there were numerous jokes that went right over their heads. Often they didn't even bother to try to translate stuff. Some movies just don't translate well:
The Big Lebowski,
Buffalo 66, and
Smoke. The subtitling for these movies was pitiful; there's no way the European viewers got even half of what we got out of the movies. We would be cracking up, and they'd stare at us like we were nuts. And that's just the actual dialogue; the culltural references didn't make sense, even to the English-able Brits. There's one scene where these gangstas come by the store, and the Brits were laughing at them: "They don't look so tough; I bet I could take that guy," they said. An American friend dared them to come to her neighborhood in the States and roll up to a character like that!
On the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, there are snippets of dialogue from the movie. My French roommate in college borrowed the CD from me and was visibly shocked when she heard the diner dialogue, you know, the one with the "sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie" bit. She made me play it over and over again, repeating the dialogue more slowly so she could understand, and she swore up and down that she had never heard that in the French version she saw. She claims that the exchange never even happened, not even something similar to it. I've always wondered what the French version of Pulp Fiction was like, but I've never seen it myself.
Maybe on the next trip over the border.
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September 09, 2004
WALLS
Blackfive points to an op-ed called
A European Conversation. I've certainly been there and had that conversation, and I sure wanted to bust their chops too. He also points to an article about how one in five Germans wants the Berlin Wall back. I know of at least two Germans who blame all their country's economic troubles on the former East. I can't say if they're representative, but they make no bones about how they feel towards the former East freeloaders.
Incidentally, I thought Europeans in general were against walls. I guess they're only against one of them.
Blackfive ends by pointing to a Kim du Toit post about how warmly he was received in Paris. Many of the commenters echoed his sentiments; I wish I had been as lucky as they were. I majored in French and studied it for 8 years before moving to Angers. I won all sorts of awards in high school and won French Student of the Year in my college. I placed into the top level of French study when I moved there to study abroad, and I found the French to be quite rude to Americans. They would pretend not to understand me, even with the simplest sentences. (How hard is it to figure out that I'm asking for stamps when I'm in the post office?) Our teachers would praise the Taiwanese and Japanese speakers and then cringe when the Americans spoke and say things like, "Oh, you really need to get rid of that horrible American accent." Some landlords even banned English in the home, even when three English speakers lived together. Once when four of us Americans were walking down the street, a French person started yelling at us for speaking English to each other, telling us to go home if we wanted to speak English.
My experience with my extended family is the only thing that redeems France for me. They have never been anything but kind and encouraging. I wish I had met them first instead of the awful people I met in Angers.
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Admittedly my French carries an Italian rather than an English accent, but I never had any trouble of the sort you describe. My experience was very similar to Kim's. Maybe it was an Angers thing - I've never been there, so I can't comment.
Posted by: Dominic at September 09, 2004 05:00 AM (pqgq+)
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September 08, 2004
FRANCE
When I was 18, my grandmother gave me an address for a distant relative in France and asked me to write to him. He and I corresponded for two years, and then when I lived in France, I went and met him and his brother. I returned a few months later with my mother and
uncle, at which point they rolled out the red carpet in our ancestral village and we drank champagne with the mayor. After a
disappointing year of study in France, I came home, changed my career goals and really felt bitter towards all things French, even my distant family. However, I
wrote a month ago about how this kind man passed away recently and how I regretted letting politics get in the way of family. So Mom and I packed up and went.
First of all, I can't believe it takes five hours to drive across an entire country. My husband and I lived five hours apart while we were dating! Mom and I traversed all of Germany and crossed the border to find a freaking plethora of roundabouts. I had forgotten how much the French love their roundabouts. (Unfortunately, on the way there, Mom and I took three lefts off these roundabouts and ended back up in Germany!) We made it safe and sound back to see the family I had neglected for so long.
And the reunion was a wonderful one. My French was a little rusty, but one of my "cousins" had worked for a year in the US, so he helped with the translations. We ate, we chatted, we met even more extended family, we ate some more, we hugged, we laughed, and we ate again. They invited me for Christmas, and I just might consider it.
I swore I'd never set foot in France again, but I'm glad I went.
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Family has a way of doing that to you, if you have a nice family.
Spent labor day myself at an uncles in chicago, good times had by all.
Posted by: John at September 08, 2004 06:56 AM (crTpS)
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Hi Sarah,
I have been faithfully reading your blog nearly every day.
Anyway, that is neither here nor there.
I am so excited that you went back to see the French family, so to speak. Granny will be very happy to hear about it. It sounds like you saw cousin Thomas? I hope he is well. I remember sitting at the "dinner table" (ok, a picnic table on the side porch) with you and Russ, and Thomas and his sister, I think?
Love you,
Kate
Posted by: Kate at September 08, 2004 03:02 PM (L2+yu)
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As an Aussie, the notion that you could take a wrong turn and end up in a different country is wonderfully amusing.
Sounds like you and your Mom are having a great time!
Posted by: Pixy Misa at September 09, 2004 07:14 AM (+S1Ft)
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August 21, 2004
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