🚀 go-pugleaf

Dani Kuettel (kuettel@dsp.net) wrote:
:>What makes China a "leading" country? How about Germany and Japan?
:
:
:by Valdas Anelauskas
:
:The Automobile Kills Livability
:
:Americans keep asking me what is, in my opinion, the major difference
:between life here in the United States as opposed to Europe, from where I
:came. Generally, there are a lot of differences - major and minor - but not
:all of them are so clear and so easily seen as difference in our cities.
:Most European cities are still desirable places for people to live and enjoy
:an urban lifestyle. They are not like cities here, where the word "city" in
:an American context means something very bad, ugly and dangerous. Most
:American cities today are like visual symbols of this "cutthroat society" in
:general. I lived in New York for a while myself, and I know what I'm talking
:about. As a writer working here in the United States on my new book about
:this society, I feel like a qualified observer of American culture and
:lifestyle.

You make no mention of the direction many cities are heading towards.  Take
San Diego.  I live downtown (on the edge of the Gaslamp), and it's relatively
safe, clean (pollution index rarely goes above 50), and in general, it's a
*very* desirable place to live.  More so than many Euro-Cities I can mention. 
There are slews of other US cities in the same boat, or nearly there. 

I've lived in many European countries for long periods of time.  I encountered
many Europeans who became experts in 'everything American' after having lived
here for three or four years. They apparently had a certain Euro-analytical
ability which allowed them this luxury, gave them this gift.  I'll leave you
to form your own conclusions.


(text cut - see previous post by Dani Kuettel - twas just too long to quote,
and still feel civilized)


I think your piece would be more effective if you stayed away from lines like
this one, from your marathon: 

"American cities and towns have already lost all feeling of humanness and
warmth because facilities for cars, not the environment for people, etc"

I can name you plenty of European towns and cities that haven't the soul of a
San Diego, the brassy sass of a Chicago, the rauckus but intensely bright
cacaphony of a New York.

Granted Luxembourg City is cute, but unliveable, it's so boring, so closed, so
divided (the locals vs Euro civil servants, vs the Portuguese, who do the
road-work and the cleaning - no social interaction between those three groups
to speak of).

Geneva, while I like that city and lived there for over ten years, doesn't
hold a candle to a vibrant North American city.  The locals are out of the
picture unless you're very lucky (I was)  or your family's lived there for
three centuries - they're closed, except for business.  The International
Community is broken-up into little cliques (UN, Corporations, and-or
nationalities, and groups of nationalities).  Then you have your foreign
workers, who do the road work and the cleaning (where have I heard this
before?)  Never the triad shall meet. 

Parking in Geneva?  Puhlease.  The gas wasted by people circling, circling,
eternally circling the old town in hope of a place would make a fully-garbed
bio-hazard team choke.  (forget the Place Neuve, it's always full)

Unbalanced view?  One needs to emphasize in order to balance, my friend.  All
I stated is true, but put in rather vehement terms which I wouldn't
necessarily need to use.  Get the point? 

In order to make a valid point about automobiles, you've done three things
wrong in my view: 

1) you've overstated your point (making you sound unreasonable)
2) you've exaggerated the examples (same)
3) you've stereotyped the US as the baddie, and Europe as the goodie

That third point - you've idealized and demonized.  Never a good thing when
trying to sway intelligent (hey, even semi-intelligent) people. 

Now folks are going to think you're just the typical, brooding, tense,
unfriendly European.

I didn't create that stereotype, but you seem to be furthering it.

Post Tenebras Lux?  One hopes. Nex

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"Ah, if in this world there were no such thing as cherry blossoms, perhaps
then in springtime our hearts would be at peace." Ariwara no Narihira
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