Progressive people in USA thinks different than those in Europe?

Question

I wonder it because the majority of progressives in Europe are totally against american politics.

Answer 1

Dear Rdnoval,

I actually think the opposite is true. There is a great sense of intellectual closeness and mutual admiration between progressive people in both places. Generally it is more with rural, traditional Americans that progressive Europeans feel a real cultural clash. The biggest thing that Europeans cannot understand about traditional Americans is their approach to religion and patriotism.

In Europe, people have a much more sceptical view of both. History has taught Europeans that mixing politics and religion is very bad news indeed - there have been enough brutal religious wars in Europe to substantiate this view, whereas Americans have a different experience because religion in the US (though occasionally a source of tension) has never been the cause of massive armed conflict there. In many countries of Europe, religious influence in civil society (schools, etc) has often been consciously repressed, with the enthusiastic support of the entire population. Even devout people with strong religious beliefs in Europe would not dream of advocating an increase of religious influence in government, for instance.

Europeans feel deeply uncomfortable with some of the religious proselytising that goes on in American society, and do not understand the sectarian self-righteousness exhibited by some people in the US. They also fail to understand what they see as the permissiveness with which the US government treats this sort of people - in Europe someone like Pat Robertson would be the target of universal scorn and probably never be allowed on air. An institution such as Bob Jones University would be declared unconstitutional.

The same suspicion applies to the notion of patriotism in Europe. In the 20th century, patriotism in Europe mutated into a murderous monster, leading to a vengeful jingoism that has led to generalised warfare. Europeans have been widely taught after World War II that a sustained belief in your own country's superiority leads to a scorn for other nations which can eventually degenerate into a dangerous hostility. It is quite unseemly in Europe to appear too patriotic.

Many Europeans are therefore shocked by the fact that so many Americans display the flag on their houses or their lapels. European patriotism is much more subconscious and self-evident, and no one sees a need to wear it on their sleeve. In Europe, only ultra-nationalist nutcases do this sort of thing, and these people are not usually well integrated into society. Europeans often do not understand that patriotism in the US has much more positive associations.

In Europe, suspicion of nationalism has extended into the perception of government too, so that Europeans feel no compunction at all in bitterly criticising their own governments - therefore they find it very worrying that some Americans somehow see this as unpatriotic behaviour. To Europeans, the fact that some Americans view government criticism as bad civic manners smacks too much of the dangerous totalitarian regimes of the 20th century (of which, let us remember, many Europeans have had personal experience): "if you disagree with your government, then you're a traitor".

All these misunderstandings, to a certain extent, hark back to a fundamental difference of priority in the conduct of politics. Americans, having been so strongly influenced by liberal philosophy, place the individual first, whereas Europeans have a long tradition of governance that puts the welfare of society above the individual. This is why Europeans accept that, for the good of the country, religious influence in public affairs can be curtailed - whereas in the US this would be seen as a heinous repression of civil rights. Europeans take it for granted that income inequalities should be rectified from the top, whereas many Americans would view this as unwelcome government intervention.

They are simply different experiences, and both are obviously valid. It is a shame that so many people on both sides of the Atlantic fail to understand them. However, in general it is progressive people in Europe who are most pro-American, whereas lesser educated Europeans are more hostile to the US. The same actually applies in the US, where progressive people are in general much more pro-European than more traditional Americans.

One final thing: many Americans seem to think that those Europeans who feel hostility towards the US are just jealous, and in reality would love to go to America. This is utter nonsense: that type of European, on the contrary, tends to consider the US an iniquitous den of cheap vulgarity, violence, backwardness, crass materialism and religious fanaticism, and would die before setting foot in the US. Of course such people are wrong, and this is all prejudice - just as it is pure prejudice for some Americans to presume that Europeans are supposedly jealous of America.

Hope this helped,

Answer 2

The europeans passed the USA on progress years ago.

Answer 3

If they hate our form of democracy so bad, then why do they all for, the most part, want to be here instead of there?