Comments on: U.S. Health Care Debate Feeds Anti-Americanism in Europe (Part I)

By: Marie Claude

Marie Claude — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:16:03 +0000

Misanthropicus, but your source is anglo-saxon of course :devil:

Now, I tell ya who are the worst from a french point of view : The Brits, the Germans, the Americans, the Italians, in between, the French… and bottom line, the spanish.

Believe-me, I’m a professional

By: oldguy

oldguy — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:59:32 +0000

I don’t know what the average foreign citizen thinks of Americans, but I can tell you what the average citizen in America thinks of foreign countries. Never again will we allow our leaders to save you. From Korea up to today, I think the average citizen has had enough of “pulling your chestnuts out of the fire”.

By: misanthropicus

misanthropicus — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:05:22 +0000

Oh, by the way – while I don’t trust polls in cultural matters, I read them with curiosity. A few months ago the BBC came with a ranking of nations’ qualities according to their “abroad” manifestations, as seen by hotel/travel workers across the world, and the ranking as curteous/ generous/ positive was the following (larger nations):
1) Japanese are the most liked, invariably polite, understanding, reserved and patient -
2) Germans on the second place,
3) Americans,
4) other,

… and to the bottom, way after the British (the Manchester Utd. problem), the most obnoxious, miser and constantly acting up, and taking offense are…
… sorry, Marie Claude, but from Sankt Petersburg to Lisboa to Osaka to Buenos Aires, the French have the worst reputation of all, soundly beating even the early 1990-s wave of Russian petro-millionares (scourge of Davos and St. Morritz) -

By: misanthropicus

misanthropicus — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:49:22 +0000

The Guardian views are extreme and they represent the views of a small, yet alas! very vocal category of British and other left-wing Europeans. As far the rest of the various populations there, the views of America are rather positive and I don’t think that one can find that many Portuguese, Danes, Poles or Greeks really consumed by the health care issues in the USA, as the Guardian editorial board seems to absurdly be obsessed of (Madonna’s Papp smear topping anything anywhere in the world, of course).

The problem is that the US is in a unique cultural position in the world – it is considered a sort of “public cultural property” on which Europeans (and not only they) for generations have projected their aspirations or resents, and this sense of “cultural ownership” warrants anyone to issue opinions critical on anything American, from shoes to JFK to beer to whatever -

One of the funniest illustrations of this I found in an interview with Lars von Tiers (hey, we got a friend here!) who, when asked why or whether he is anti-American, he bitterly burst in a tirade: “I AM AN AMERICAN! I speak English [sic!], I wear jeans, I smoke Lucky Strike, I drink whisky [sic!], I don’t know who a prime minister in Danemak is, but I know most of the US senators, I eat hamburgers, most of things I see on TV come or happen in America, I… etc., etc.”

Cultural hegemony like America’s in the past century does inspire resent -

By: pelaut

pelaut — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:04:42 +0000

Marie-Claude:
no, I never went to the American Hospital in France, didn’t even know there was one. Pasteur, Pitié — yeah. Don’t really have any disparagement about French medicine, but that was a long time ago. I’m sure you’ve ruined it now like everybody else (incl. Americans).

By: michael

michael — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 06:58:44 +0000

When I dislocated and fractured my right shoulder last year I was first taken to a hospital 3 miles away, which had a minor injuries unit. They xrayed me and patched me up and shipped me to the nearest A&E who relocated my shoulder for me. If I had been further away from the minor injuries unit, then it is quite likely that the local air ambulance would have come for me. In urban areas it makes sense to concentrate A&E facilities at one hospital.

And to dr strangelove (good film with a BRITISH lead actor), no reason why you should care what “euros” think. Nor why we should particularly worry about what Americans think.

By: Michael Lonie

Michael Lonie — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 03:05:05 +0000

“The only reason a hospital in the UK would turn away someone who had cut off her thumb would because not all hospitals have accident & emergency facilities.”

I never heard of or saw a hospital in the USA that did not have an emergency room, even in small rural communities (Okanagan, Washington for example, where I was treated once). Is this an example of the nationalized health service not making sufficient investments in equipment and training in skills to provide necessary services? Perhaps like the mothers in labor being turned down for maternity beds we hear about in Canada, because there are not any open ones left in the whole of British Columbia? Or the lack of MRI machines there?

By: dr strangelove

dr strangelove — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 22:50:34 +0000

…do we really care what the euros think?

By: Michael

Michael — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 16:39:31 +0000

The only reason a hospital in the UK would turn away someone who had cut off her thumb would because not all hospitals have accident & emergency facilities. The presence or otherwise of A&E is clearly signposted. They would direct you to a suitable hospital. If you had lopped off your head they would take holding action. Although in your case it probably wouldn’t matter!

This is the sort of story you hear from prats. It corresponds with the similar story line of UK prats – the first thing a US hospital does is ask for your credit card.

By: Marie Claude

Marie Claude — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:29:46 +0000

“Eurotrash hate Americans because they can no longer publicly hate Jews.”

how ya goin there ? aren’t you abusing of the amalgams use ?

“Many Euros are like street Arabs. They hate Americans out of jealousy. The ones that don’t hate us already emmigrated, but they’re finding out the America they were jealous of has become worse than Old Europe”

Again generalisation out of amalgamism !

I notice that you didn’t gave a french exemple for trashing our medical healthcare again you ought to mistrust amalgams !

now, I bet that the american hospital in Paris wasn’t in your mind !