• Europe seems like a collection of communities while the US is definitely a nation of individuals.
• American cities look and sound like databases, often with street names like “150th St.” (clear but lifeless) while European cities grew like something in nature and reflect those softer values. Their old buildings– even industrial ones– are beautiful, as if they were made by people who love life while modern ones look like American construction: built strictly for efficiency, not for enjoyment.
• Americans are fat! There is no ignoring it once you see the alternative. Europeans are more sleek and beautiful. (I hesitate to even say this, as we also export anorexia around the world!)
• They also smoke like chimneys. Their hospitals will be crammed with smokers in a few years.
• But at least they have a health care system that will treat them regardless of their personal wealth.
• And they can get there on efficient public transport, which is not possible in much of the US.
• In Europe land is precious and is carefully partitioned for rural and urban use where in the US seems ambiguous about land– leaving areas of developed urban space empty and filling rural spaces with development. Our spaces are huge and we seem to value them less as a result.
• Like old European art, their ads are classier and sexier than ours, which seem crass and conservative in comparison.
Obama is our president! He's their's too. We know the names of US companies. Theirs have the same names and now we can buy familiar products everywhere. Now it's harder to find places anywhere with unique character, which seems best preserved in poor rural cultures. That is where tourists will go in the future– places of singular interest that offer something different from what people have at home, places where globalization doesn't just flatten out everybody but preserves their own story, unique on all the earth!
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