Are Europeans too smug, condescending and secular...

[_son of Ishmael]

Ha! Just when you thought this thread was dead!

I love wine!.....and masturbating

[_son of Ishmael]

Um...sorry I had too much Australian wine tonight

[_Dr. Shades]

French women do not get fate because they eat good food in small portions more frequently

France gave us Satre

Germany - Bach

UK - C S Lewis, Tolkin etc

The U.K. also gave us Benny Hill.

[_Drifting]

French women do not get fate because they eat good food in small portions more frequently

France gave us Satre

Germany - Bach

UK - C S Lewis, Tolkin etc

The U.K. also gave us Benny Hill.

Adam Sandler....

[_ludwigm]

France gave us Satre

Germany - Bach

UK - C S Lewis, Tolkin etc

(SaRtre and TolkiEn)


Hungarians created America's Hollywood before other Hungarians less destructively created America's A-bomb.

Hungarian names from Hollywood:
Sándor Korda (Sir Alexander Korda), Adolf Zukor, Michael Curtiz, Andy Vajna, Menyhard Lengyel, Joe Esterhas, Laszlo Kovacs, Willy Zigmond, Bela Lugosi, Tony Curtis, Leslie Howard
Hungarians have been laureated by Oscar Awards: George Cukor (director), József Rufusz (cartoon director), Vilmos Zsigmond (cinematographer), Adolf Zukor (for life's work).

Hungarian names from Manhattan Project: (classified)
Some communist (leftist! copyright Droopy) agents have reported Edward Teller, John von Neumann, Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner...


by the way
Speaking an alien tongue

An obvious explanation of the myth of the Hungarians may be their strange language: its grammar and vocabulary are quite distinct from those of the Indo-European languages. Theodore von Kármán and Robert Bárány proudly accented the á in their names at all times, in spite of the opposition of computerized word processors. (The Báránys did so through generations.) When polyglott Valentine Telegdi decided to learn Japanese, he rushed to Budapest to buy a Japanese language book written in Hungarian, because Hungarian grammar is similar to Japanese, while for an English author it is difficult to explain how Japanese think and speak. (Chinese, Japanese, Koreans put family name first, given name as last; in Europe only the Hungarian language follows this rule.)

[_Albion]

Sir Alexander Korda and Leslie Howard a part of Hollywood...who knew? Both spent the vastly larger part of their careers in the British film industry and it is a stretch to say they were "Hollywood".

[_bcuzbcuz]

I didn't know I was Hungary until I ordered tickets to Turkey and Brussels.

[_subgenius]

Why does Otterson think Europeans are too smug to understand American pluralism and why is he being 'superior' about the whole thing?

P.S. Nuit St George...

your own citation provides a little insight into your question as it refers to
"The bulk of European coverage, by contrast, remains cynical if not outright mocking" - which is not a quote from Otterson but rather the author of the article.

Otterson likely "thinks" that way because of personal experience and perhaps from his working in newspapers. I think your perception of "superiority" may be due to his editorial habit, but also its a perception based on your perspective.

as for the original question in the OP, it is not a difficult position to justify when it comes to EU understanding the depths of American pluralism. Our ability to form associations for civic engagement have been noted as significant since de Tocqueville....the irony being that an argument can be made that this pluralism is on the decline in our country...which is dangerous to the very idea of democracy, especially American democracy - greater individualism equals political solitude and loneliness....pluralism can easily be argued as the essence of our "representative" government...and this "representation", if you may recall, was a REVOLUTIONARY idea back in 1776....oh yeah!
Even this thread has comments about the "less educated" and "fat" Americans...these are not the type of people that should be involved in a direct democracy, are they?

[_Samantabhadra]

...direct democracy...

American democracy is representative, not direct.

And for what it's worth I think there should be restrictions on the franchise: GED or equivalent and military service. Athenian democracy was not open to all citizens regardless of status and neither was American democracy for most of its history. To be clear I think allowing women, black people, and poor people to vote is a good thing but I also think that allowing anyone to impact the system of governance simply by virtue of having managed to continue breathing until 18 years of age is no way to run a nation. YMMV

[_Drifting]

...direct democracy...

American democracy is representative, not direct.

And for what it's worth I think there should be restrictions on the franchise: GED or equivalent and military service. Athenian democracy was not open to all citizens regardless of status and neither was American democracy for most of its history. To be clear I think allowing women, black people, and poor people to vote is a good thing but I also think that allowing anyone to impact the system of governance simply by virtue of having managed to continue breathing until 18 years of age is no way to run a nation. YMMV

What about the system Bush employed? The one where you keep counting and recounting votes until the numbers add up to you winning...