Pleasurepays

what i mean is in general. everything must be an "us against them" arguement and the core of problem in my opinion, is simply that we are all from very different cultures and have a very poor concept of each others cultures.

instead of understanding or trying or even wanting to understand the other side... people bicker about motivations, conspiracy theories and unrelated referrences to past world events of the last century... until someone out of desperation plays the "hitler card" or the "who saved whos ass in World War II" card... or starts making nasty remarks and the conversation takes a turn for the worst.

i have spent the last 6 years living in Eastern Europe. I understand fully why most Europeans dont like Americans and Americans in my opinion are completely ignorant about even that simple issue of how the world perceives America. America is very lost in itself and its own excesses and really out of touch with the international community. American people have an arrogance about them that they themselves do not even seem to be aware of.

But there is another side that gets lost in the arguement and that is that most Europeans are often just as ignorant as Americans about American culture and see nothing but media and Hollywood enhanced stereotypes of a life that does not really exist.

in my life, i have learned one thing about people. i used to believe that people were inherently different. as i grew older, i realized that people are inherently the same. right across the street from where you live is probably two small children, a brother and sister fighting over a small toy and arguing about who hit who first and who pulled who's hair... that same scenario is simultaneously being played out in every country.

it is governments that make people hate each other. it was two governments that made the Cold War happen... it was not the collective decision of 500,000,000 people to start hating each other. It is governments as well in my opinion that have a deep responsibility for international relations and peace and understanding between cultures and societies. I dont agree with Bush for example because he very abrasive and irresponsible in how he goes about things - Kyoto for example, Steel Tariffs with the EU, the Iraq thing etc. BUT that also does not relieve the responsibility of other world leaders to continue to encourage understanding and reach out.

What Europe does not understand is that America exists almost in a vacuum. the rest of the world is exposed to US movies, music and media and culture - yet we are almost not exposed to anything foreign (except Mr Bean and Monty Python ) There is no European Billboard Top 40 playing Scooter in English, Tic Tac Toe in German and Tarkan in Turkish. There are no dubbed films on TV or in Movie theaters.

what is ironic about many of the conversations here about Europe and America is the "us against them" attitude. Sadly, that is the attitude that perpetuates the very problem of understanding. If i want one of my models to listen to me or to work better, i start by telling her how beautiful she is and how pretty her smile is.. now she will listen to what i have to say. If i start the conversation by saying "look you dumb bitch" then i am the one creating the problem as well.