Complex Questions

As we get ready to go home, I find myself reflecting on differences between Europe and the USA. I will miss so many things about Germany and Europe, but I'm glad to say there are things I'm looking forward to, as well. From little things, like lower prices on items I have to buy all the time (why should a small-ish bottle of mint Listerine cost $5?) to big things, like the wider range of news coverage and sources available in the US.

I just read a long piece about anti-Americanism in Europe: Hating America by Bruce Bawer, published in the Hudson Review. It's part book review, part historical overview, and part analysis, but the whole thing was fascinating to me. An excerpt (the same one that appeared on Mental Multivitamin, where I discovered the link):

Living in Europe, I gradually came to appreciate American virtues I’d always taken for granted, or even disdained—among them a lack of self-seriousness, a grasp of irony and self-deprecating humor, a friendly informality with strangers, an unashamed curiosity, an openness to new experience, an innate optimism, a willingness to think for oneself and speak one’s mind and question the accepted way of doing things. (One reason why Europeans view Americans as ignorant is that when we don’t know something, we’re more likely to admit it freely and ask questions.) While Americans, I saw, cherished liberty, Europeans tended to take it for granted or dismiss it as a naive or cynical, and somehow vaguely embarrassing, American fiction. I found myself toting up words that begin with i: individuality, imagination, initiative, inventiveness, independence of mind. Americans, it seemed to me, were more likely to think for themselves and trust their own judgments, and less easily cowed by authorities or bossed around by “experts”; they believed in their own ability to make things better. No wonder so many smart, ambitious young Europeans look for inspiration to the United States, which has a dynamism their own countries lack, and which communicates the idea that life can be an adventure and that there’s important, exciting work to be done. Reagan-style “morning in America” clichés may make some of us wince, but they reflect something genuine and valuable in the American air. Europeans may or may not have more of a “sense of history” than Americans do (in fact, in a recent study comparing students’ historical knowledge, the results were pretty much a draw), but America has something else that matters—a belief in the future.

Many of the points Bawer makes in this piece about the European view of America and Americans coincide with my own experiences during the last two years. One of my earliest observations upon arrival was that no matter how much some Europeans may disdain certain aspects of American life, in general, popular culture is not one of the areas they eschew. I have also noticed that what many Europeans think they know about America and Americans is often little more than inaccurate stereotyping ("All Americans love McDonald's," for instance). I'll tell you what, business is booming at the Munich area McDonald's restaurants, but from where I'm standing (outside the door) it doesn't appear to be mostly Americans that are eating there, or walking down the street with McDonald's food in their hands.

I love living in Germany, and I will miss it terribly when I leave. But I appreciated this article about the complexities of the USA and the many perceptions of America in Europe. I know some of you will find it thought-provoking, as well: Hating America by Bruce Bawer.