Hi CK, I hope your labor wasn't lost altogether. There was some fun on the way, right? But then it somehow turned nasty - I don't really get exactly where this has been.
I felt it might work out well when I first recommended Gustave to your attention. Now it seems it didn't work out that well. So? What is my response to that course of action?
I am kind of disappointed about Gustave myself now. His ability (or motivation ?) to hold friendly contact, to give people the feeling that he respects them - disappointing.
My personal opinion is that he respects you and truedog more than he shows, but maybe he can't resist behaving provocatively. Like a child boy with a strong ego on a family reunion party tries to get all of the attention. Or like a young man severely frustrated in some areas important to him (like career, or love) trying to hide feelings of depression before his parents by acting artificially bold.
I don't mind so much anymore if he shoots at me - through hard labour we have evolved a way of humor that helps both of us bearing the other one - but if you feel hurt, I am sorry for my action.
However I can't take full responsibility - I made the contact, but most of the dealings were done among the three of you.
My motives were innocent. Also I think not much harm was done. If you didn't or don't have fun out of those conversations, ok, stop them.
Regards MNI.
PS.: I didn't read Gustave as saying that US Americans should feel inferior against Europeans - but as stating that he believes many US Americans actually do feel culturally inferior and thereby induce misunderstandings. I am sure that actually he would oppose the idea of American cultural inferiority (as I do). Anyway, American and European culture aren't distinct. There may be some different shades or tendencies. But the same is true for different cultures within Europe. Also I am sure that Gustave is well aware that the average levels of schooling, academic training etc. aren't superior in Europe. E.g. there are some poor countries over here and also there are some situations in which elitist attitudes outweigh the generally prevalent egalitarianism of education ('equal chances !', an American feature of today's European culture).
300 years of US history (if you were right to exclude any influence of the Native population's cultures) - that would be a weak excuse (even if we were to believe that the cultural dialogue between the US and Europe hadn't been so important for Europe all through that time. E.g. the US were a democracy, and a Nation, long before Germany, long before Belgium.). And for what should the US need an excuse at all?
For example: Harvard was founded long before the University I studied at - and that one is considered an old, traditional excellence. O.k. there are some universities that are older than that - but most students actually are at universities younger than 100 years.
100 years is also approximately the age difference between Harvard and those European universities that were open to the gifted, not only to the richest students. Harvard is the older one, not the Europeans.
Similarly it can be shown for many fields that the US have had a tremendous impact on every state that can be called modern nowadays.
Many Europeans are not really aware of these facts, and would maybe attribute more respect to the US if they were(*,**). However, the false myth of European cultural seniority may also live in US American heads. Don't you think so?
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*: I am not so sure - most people tend to cling to their own place and then try to justify this. Pseudo-reasons for the alleged superiority can be found if you want. But this isn't a specifically European feature. It arises from a tendency to reassure ourselves.
**: This is not to say that most Europeans don't respect the US. Whole generations of youth - now in their 80s, 70s, 50s, 40s, 30s, 20s respectively, and the current teenagers - have been craving for 'the American way of life'. However this doesn't guarantee a respectful behavior against individual Americans. Additionally, our pictures of American life and reality have widely been made by Hollywood. The reality, if confronted in real life situations, may be disappointing compared to the irreally idealized movie world. |
