It's healthier in the physical sense probably because we walk a lot more.
But beyond that I think it's a bit silly to ignore the economic advantages America has. Much of Europe has sky-high youth unemployment which takes a serious toll on the mental health of those people and strains family relations as well.
Housing is much more expensive, especially given the small size of most housing. And of course, salaries are much, much lower, especially net salaries given the higher rates of taxation as well.
I guess many of these things aren't as apparent to a travel writer because he doesn't live here, and if he does, he probably brings his American money with him.
> Big city Europe is in the process of being conformed, changed, and ultimately smoothed into a generic boring singular entity. A soulless Americanization that’s accelerated dramatically over the last few decades.
It goes beyond "Americanization". Cynics, or conspiracy theorists, would argue that there is a plan at play to erode all traces of uniqueness and specificity in Europe, and in "Europeans" as different people, in order to turn everywhere into a bland, 'standard' part of the EU.
You can catch glimpses of that generic Europe in recent American movies filmed in Budapest, Vienna, Paris, or other capitals. In Netflix "local" productions, also, and local TV shows meant for international distribution, where a lot of effort is made to make the setting as universal as possible.
The real life of real people is still very different across the continent (the gradient from Oslo to Athens is striking), but how that reality is presented is important. And it is currently presented in a very polished, generic way.
It's healthier in the physical sense probably because we walk a lot more.
But beyond that I think it's a bit silly to ignore the economic advantages America has. Much of Europe has sky-high youth unemployment which takes a serious toll on the mental health of those people and strains family relations as well.
Housing is much more expensive, especially given the small size of most housing. And of course, salaries are much, much lower, especially net salaries given the higher rates of taxation as well.
I guess many of these things aren't as apparent to a travel writer because he doesn't live here, and if he does, he probably brings his American money with him.
> Big city Europe is in the process of being conformed, changed, and ultimately smoothed into a generic boring singular entity. A soulless Americanization that’s accelerated dramatically over the last few decades.
It goes beyond "Americanization". Cynics, or conspiracy theorists, would argue that there is a plan at play to erode all traces of uniqueness and specificity in Europe, and in "Europeans" as different people, in order to turn everywhere into a bland, 'standard' part of the EU.
You can catch glimpses of that generic Europe in recent American movies filmed in Budapest, Vienna, Paris, or other capitals. In Netflix "local" productions, also, and local TV shows meant for international distribution, where a lot of effort is made to make the setting as universal as possible.
The real life of real people is still very different across the continent (the gradient from Oslo to Athens is striking), but how that reality is presented is important. And it is currently presented in a very polished, generic way.