*Nick in Vienna
As many of you know Jane and I have been debating whether we would rather live in Europe or America pretty much ever since we got here. I won't bore you with too many repetitions, but basically there are many thing about life here we find very appealing - transportation, easier to shop locally, health care, cultural things, etc.
That being said it is very unlikely to ever happen for longer than this trip because of the difficulty in getting musicology jobs in another country. So, we are trying to not be quite so negative on America (which always annoys me when other people do that, so I guess I'm a hypocrite). Last night I was watching some March Madness games online which combines my one of my favorite parts of American culture with my most hated. I love college sports and really Universities in general. Jane and I stayed up until 2:30 watching Ohio beat Georgetown while chatting on Skype and it was very exciting. The negative side of March Madness, though, is the huge companies scratching each others backs and making millions of dollars off of the efforts of unpaid athletes. As I wrote about earlier, I have really gotten used to not seeing so many ads here. It is so nice watching TV here and not having commercial breaks ever 8 minutes. There are certainly ads in the U-bahn, but even half of those are for the opera or symphony or something (loyal readers will recall that it is because of a TV tax that there are so few ads, which I talked about a month ago). So it is really disturbing watching the game on CBS's website. About 30 percent of their player is covered with ads that move and sparkle. During commercials it doesn't let you switch games. You have to sit and watch yet another add from Exon Mobile or Coca Cola - two of the most irresponsible international companies according to some watchdogs. Fine, I get it Exon Mobile, you are researching algae, but don't think you've fooled me into thinking you are this righteous company.
Anyway, this clash got me thinking that what is, to me at least, truly great about America is that the system encourages so many fantastic people and so many corrupt people. On the one hand there are plenty of nutjobs and people that purposely deceive and distort facts for their own ideological or financial gains. Unfortunately these people have a TV network and are trying to convince us that if we enact a plan to insure millions of people that would have been progressive 80 years ago the country will fall apart. (Side note - when thinking about this issue, please know that Jane and I will very likely be without health insurance next year, and possibly quite a few years to come. At some point we're going to want to have kids or go to the dentist, so I really hope this bill passes). America is also responsible for the great over consumption that will probably destroy the world in a few hundred years. Please, if you haven't, go to www.storyofstuff.com and watch their 20 minute video. It is very informative.
On the other hand, however, the injustices and corruption encouraged in the American system also create thousands of fantastic people, many of which we met in Columbus. These people don't have a TV network, but instead are actively engaged with their communities, trying to make life better for the poor, uneducated, disabled, etc. We had the pleasure of knowing many of these people in Weinland Park and look forward to working with them again. I'm just not sure how many of these people there are in Europe. I am sure there are some, but really life is just so much more comfortable and easy here that really there don't need to be as many. I'm not saying this is a reason to avoid social justice, actually the opposite that this shows it can work. But what I am saying is that right now there are thousands of amazing people doing amazing things in America who don't get recognized or paid for their efforts. Evil can breed tremendous good. The exploitation of the lower class and the abandonment of the working class by corporate America has created huge problems for American cities. While a handful of people have gotten very, very rich, and have gotten very good at tricking us into thinking we need a new i-pod, countless more people have responded to these circumstances and have actually started doing something to make their communities stronger.
Wow. Sorry, didn't mean to get so preachy. And yes, I'm sure I'm wrong about a few things in there, but this is what I was thinking about today, so there it is.
I guess what I'm saying is that there are many fantastic people trying to make America a little more like Europe, and maybe we should be a part of that instead of just moving back here.
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