Europe -- A Sick Continent

Discussion in 'Politics & Current Events' started by Karl K, Jun 17, 2005.

  1. NUFCBayern

    NUFCBayern Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 9, 2004
    Columbus, OH
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Sometimes I want to say Albuquerque instead of Santa Fe.
     
  2. stopper4

    stopper4 Member

    Jan 24, 2000
    Houston
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Every 7th/8th grader at a decent junior high school? (depending on when you have state history vs. a us history)


    It was always Madison, Wisconsin, that got me.
     
  3. Shurik

    Shurik New Member

    Nov 2, 1999
    Baltimore, MD
    Courtesy of Dave Barry.
     
  4. X X I

    X X I Red Card

    Apr 9, 2004
    Well I was in Ancona, Italy last summer and nobody knew who DJ Tiesto was. Pretty ignorant if you ask me. ;)

    And people my age thought that Puerto Rico was in Spain.
     
  5. 96Squig

    96Squig Member

    Feb 4, 2004
    Hanover
    Club:
    Hannover 96
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    I am pretty sure you are wrong, too.
    In Europe nobody asks whether Hitler's still alive or not... can't say that about the US. (not to mention BMW=Belgish/British motor works...)
    Plus Europe did admire the Us untill Bush came in charge...

    But I agree with the sensus. The EU is too much buraucracy and not enough democracy. We need to elect an important person (europe prime minister?) through the EU parliament and the national governments should not have that much of an influence, leave alone the comission. We do not need EU wide regulations on how a banana has to grow or similair stuff.
    But I am sure Europe will be able to handle that. the Non and the Nee are not signs of majorities rejecting Europe but the EU as it is today, they actually do really care about Europe, I am sure about that.
    the EU was set up so that things like the 2 World wars don't happen again. I am sure nobody over here wants that to happen.

    Europe was able to survive 2 world wars on it's soil, it will survive this crisis. And it will get bigger, stronger and, most important, better for it's citizens and the world.
     
  6. Yankee_Blue

    Yankee_Blue New Member

    Aug 28, 2001
    New Orleans area
    Should I give a quick recap of what Europe thought of Reagan? See a pattern here?
     
  7. 96Squig

    96Squig Member

    Feb 4, 2004
    Hanover
    Club:
    Hannover 96
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    feel free to do so, I was born in 86 so my memory is a bit little. all I know is that the US was considered 'cool' when I grew up and is considered 'uncool' now (kids (up to 10 years) speak the truth)
     
  8. Nanbawan

    Nanbawan Member

    Jun 11, 2004
    Haute Bretagne
    Club:
    Stade Rennais FC
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    Not fair, nobody asks them to know about France's 22 regions for instance.

    Anyway, the more we wait, the more Western countries as a whole tend to unify their cultural references. Despite its so-called specificity France also accepted real-TV programs, the slight differences resides in small (and therefore decisive) details. Still, there's a will of defiance towards this global trend in some parts of the media or the cultural 'industry'. Call it 'résistance', stupidity, arrogance, hypocrisy, whatever...
     
  9. Nanbawan

    Nanbawan Member

    Jun 11, 2004
    Haute Bretagne
    Club:
    Stade Rennais FC
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    For the sake of all those who were bashed in their primary school years...i hope not. :p
     
  10. Dan Loney

    Dan Loney BigSoccer Supporter

    Mar 10, 2000
    Cincilluminati
    Club:
    Los Angeles Sol
    Nat'l Team:
    Philippines
    How many elected Republicans are willing to say in public that they believe in evolution?

    Sincerely,
    William Frist, M.D.'s Discount Diagnostics
     
  11. sardus_pater

    sardus_pater Member

    Mar 21, 2004
    Sardinia Italy EU
    Club:
    Cagliari Calcio
    Nat'l Team:
    Italy
    This is a result of the opposition to the EU integration.

    They anti-EU crowd moans because of non political administration imagine how they'll react to an EU political Prime Minister with political powers overriding the national ones.

    I am all for a EU Prime Minister elected by the paliament but the way to do it is the 2 speed entity mentioned elsewhere.
    If you hope to have the approval of all the member states you're deluding yourself.
     
  12. Matt Clark

    Matt Clark Member

    Dec 19, 1999
    Liverpool
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Precisely. And it is both that sense of delusion and the increasing bewilderment caused within French and German political circles by the expansion of the EU that combine to make the EU look so daft at the moment and the French and Germans so out of touch.

    The answer to most of the logistical problems of running a 25-nation organisation is not particularly difficult. Unless your basic mindset on the issue cannot even allow you to view the EU as a 25-nation organisation. That's where the federalists are falling apart at the seams.

    The answer is broad, not deep, loose not tight, simple, not complex, pragmatic, not idealistic.

    But that runs counter to the vision of those people who, in the 1950's, conceived of a European ideal and who to this day remain the focal point of their French and German acolytes in European politics.
     
  13. dmar

    dmar Member

    Jan 21, 2002
    Madrid, Spain
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    Nat'l Team:
    Spain
    I agree with that. I think the French wouldn't have said no to a constitution that established a clear power structure, with preeminence of a directly elected parliament and President.

    I think it's time for the countries with similar economic and political view, this is the bigger ones in the mainland, to pursue their own road and goals on their own while keeping loose economical ties with the rest.

    Well, in Spain the most popular paper is Marca... :rolleyes:
     
  14. Belgian guy

    Belgian guy Member+

    Club Brugge
    Belgium
    Aug 19, 2002
    Belgium
    Club:
    Club Brugge KV
    The fact that the people of Ancona, Italy don't know that overrated twat is a great credit to them.
     
  15. Matt Clark

    Matt Clark Member

    Dec 19, 1999
    Liverpool
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Exactly. DJ Tiesto is the David Hasselhoff of dance music. And I mean that in the really bad, pop-career-in-Germany sense, not the vaguely, briefly cool knightrider sense.
     
  16. 96Squig

    96Squig Member

    Feb 4, 2004
    Hanover
    Club:
    Hannover 96
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    I don't know that DJ neither, and I don't mind dance music in general
    (but Hasselhoff's great: I'll be looking for freedom *jk*).

    Europe's most popular paper is Bild (quincidence, with Germans being the biggest population) but that is not that far apart from the sun, I am afraid (it is a bit better, but just a bit, it's not owned by Murdoch at least). This does not bring a bright light upon Europe, but hey, at least our TV stations don't bring the crap Fox brings over there...

    About the prime minister thing:
    I thinkl the biggest problem is, that the EU comission, which is basically running Europe, is being send in by it's member states' governments (like the Bundesrat in Germany). But the governing body should be voted more directly (I am in favour of an indirect election like the German chancellor is elected, but a direct vote should work as well), to give the ppl a feeling of power. All the power ppl have in a democratic system is in the elections, and since the EU parliament elections are pretty much unimportant the population at least feels that it has to less power over the European government. When this changes Europe should be back like a Phoenix out of the flame (gotta love German idioms ^^)
    Don't know if this is possible with the scandinavians, British and Polish around, so maybe a Europe of different speeds, as it started with the Euro, would be a good idea.
    The other possibility would be the comission stopping to find rules for everything. They basically overwrite one national law after another, I don't think that is the right way...
     
  17. marylandred

    marylandred New Member

    Aug 19, 2004
    Very similar, and in some cases the same criticisms could be made of the US right now.
     
  18. SgtSchultz

    SgtSchultz Member

    Jul 11, 2001
    Parts Unknown
    We all know what is happening. Germany is tired of paying more than its fair share to the EU. Now it is time for the frogs to pay the piper and they are balking.

    I am sure the Germans wished they had not shared their bed with the French. With a minister like Dominque De Villipin, I don't see how anybody can trust the frogs.

    The sad part is Germany should know better especially after WWI.

    With a bunch of feckless Eurocrats in Brussels, the myth of a United Europe is just that.
     
  19. Nanbawan

    Nanbawan Member

    Jun 11, 2004
    Haute Bretagne
    Club:
    Stade Rennais FC
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    Thanks for your constructive contribution... :rolleyes:

    And it is Dominique de Villepin, i don't really like him either but I assume it is not for the same reasons. Villepin is Chirac's turbulent padawan, that's why he chose him over Sarkozy (whom I definitely hate).

    France : 2 millenia and still running... :p
     
  20. X X I

    X X I Red Card

    Apr 9, 2004
    Overrated? I'll be the first to agree.

    But, please. I don't even listen to trance and I know who Mauro Piccoto, Ferry Corsten, Armen Van Buren (sp?), etc. are.

    If you listen to electronic dance music (which these kids did) you must know who DJ Tiesto is.
     
  21. aloisius

    aloisius Member

    Jul 5, 2003
    Croatia


    Don’t be arrogant. I just saw on German TV a test where half the people stopped on the street couldn’t pick out Germany on the map of Europe.

    Another question was does sun revolve around the earth, I’ll let you guess what the most common answer was.
     
  22. 96Squig

    96Squig Member

    Feb 4, 2004
    Hanover
    Club:
    Hannover 96
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    Are you sure it was like that? Usually those tests are done by comedy shows, and the most stupid answers get picked.
    But anyways, off course we have more than enough stupid people in Europe and Germany, never said it's not like that (somebody has to buy the Bild to make it Europe's best selling newspaper).
     
  23. NUFCBayern

    NUFCBayern Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 9, 2004
    Columbus, OH
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Stopped on the street? Which streets? German streets?
     
  24. ceezmad

    ceezmad Member+

    Mar 4, 2010
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Red Stars
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    20 year bump.

    This includes Japan, not just Europe.


    The USA is leaving the rest of the developed world behind, some of our citizens may chant death to America when they protest and others may flirt with fascism, but overall the State of the Union is good.

    "A massive wage arbitrage has opened between the US and its competitors. The overwhelming majority of people in the US have no idea just how much more money they make than the Japanese, French, British, etc."



    And some people commented, 'it is only the rich Americans', well it is not.

     
    celito, Dr. Wankler and Chesco United repped this.
  25. Auriaprottu

    Auriaprottu Member+

    Atlanta Damn United
    Apr 1, 2002
    The back of the bus
    Club:
    Atlanta
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    1. It's 2024. There are people who somehow made it to America but can't do math.

    2. Europe no longer has Hitler, Mussolini or Cecil Rhodes. But America elected Trump. Game, set and match to Eurooe.
     

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