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Europe ahead of the game?

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I listen to the BBC Global News podcast twice a day - along with NPR’s foreign dispatch I get more global news this way in a much shorter time period than I can listening to American TV or reading American newspapers. Lately I have heard several news stories that really impress me with the ideas coming out of Europe. Ecotown in Sweden, radical traffic management ideas in Germany, practical and expanded bicycle ideas in the Netherlands…and then I think, well duh, they’re a lot older than we Americans are. So here’s my appeal to my fellow Americans - stop being so damn arrogant and ethnocentric and learn some things.

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6 Comments

  1. Tia Lynn — February 1, 2008 #

    This clip is along the same lines. It’s from Bill Maher, he’s a little much and a tad vulgar, but I know you can handle it. I actually thought he made some good points, basically that America needs to stop bragging that its the greatest country and start acting like it. :)

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=tcz_NHAFGS0

  2. dawn — February 1, 2008 #

    Thanks for your posts - I’ve been discovering some interesting blogs as of late, and yours is one I enjoy.

    And as for the BBC and NPR, I certainly agree. I lived overseas for several years and the nationals in the country where I lived loved to listen to VOA (Voice of America) because they believed that American media was trustworthy and unbiased. :-l Yet when I compared the news I heard on (short-wave radio) VOA to what we were hearing on the BBC, I realized how much the American gov’t censored that news (at that time about the war and international relations). And even now, I see just how much about the world we as Americans never hear about in our local “national news” reports. NPR does a good job of looking at different perspectives on an issue and it is refreshing to hear the European perspective.

    BTW - one thing Bill Maher said is so true - basically he was saying we claim our greatness based on the accomplishments of previous generations and ignore the reality of our current position in the world. If I may add, we are so blinded by our patriotism/arrogance, that we can’t admit that there are other countries in the world that are doing much greater things than we are here in America. There really are a lot of things we could learn from our neighbors in the global community.

  3. Mak — February 1, 2008 #

    thanks for the kudos dawn and the comment :)

    tia - I’ll have to watch that

  4. Lori — February 2, 2008 #

    Mak- Sweden may be a leader in all things eco, but you can’t get a damn soda with ice anywhere in the country ;-)

  5. Mak — February 2, 2008 #

    Lori - oh yeah? I’ve also heard from my Swedish downstairs neighbor that they can be so fiercely nationalistic it borders on the extreme. so of course no place is perfect. lol

  6. Julie Clawson — February 2, 2008 #

    Thats why I really like Ode Magazine - a social justice magazine that isn’t americacentric. I find it refreshing.

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