History and Culture for the Discerning American
Spotlighting some of the holes in pop culture thought is one of the most important goals of this blog. Fighting extremism, terror, and otherwise retarded ideologies can only be achieved if Americans are re-educated in the facts. There are facts and they do not support what Americans are increasingly thinking. This is an uphill battle at best. At worst it is attempting to unbrainwash those who have been sucked into a high-powered cynicism vacuum. While Europe Slept does a great job of doing away with some of those misconceptions that many in our nation’s leadership affirm as fact. Just one of those misconceptions is the Europe rocks, America sucks! thought.
Bruce Bawer says we need to turn that idea around. Much of the pop culture in Europe is distinctly American. The idea that Americans only typically speak English has been something of a resume (how do you type on accent on XP!?!?!?) stain. The western European countries sit in a huddle, each resembling something that the typical American would call a state. It is as if New England was divided into diverse cultural centers, each with it’s own language (and speaking “central Jersey” is nearly speaking a different language). But making this whole language ‘thing’ an issue for Americans is like telling Warren Buffet he is not qualified for a job at McDonald’s. European culture is wonderful (according to most Ameripeans and the Travel and Food channel), but they can thank America for that. In fact they can thank America that they aren’t all speaking German or Russian for that matter.
Yes, many Europeans were book lovers–but which foreign country’s literature engaged them most? America’s. They revered education–but to which country’s universities would they most like to send their children if they had the means? Answer: the same country that performs the majority of the world’s scientific research, wins most of the Nobel Prizes, and has twice as many university graduates as Europe. Yes, mor Europeans were multilingual, but so what? If each of the fifty states had it’s own language, Americans would be multilingual too. And yes, America was responsible for plenty of mediocre popular culture; but Europeans, I was beginning to learn, consumed this stuff every bit as eagerly as Americans did–only to turn around and mock it as “typically American.” –Bruce Bawer from While Europe Slept
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