Re: ASCII Art Fart for Thu, 2004 Nov 25

Michael M. wrote:
> On Fri, 03 Dec 2004 00:46:56 +1100, ABCGi wrote:
> 
>>Michael M. wrote:
>>
>>>their neighbors when there are only two conflicting groups (in Rwanda,
>>>in Bosnia, in northern Ireland, in Palestine, in the Sudan, etc.,
>>>etc.), resulting in wanton slaughter and destruction.  The U.S., which
>>>AFAIK is unique in its cultural, religious and ethnic diversity, seems
>>>to me to be doing rather well by comparison -- "rather well" both in
>>>terms of continuing to encourage and support diversity more vigorously
>>>than any nation on Earth (and recognizing that the strength and
>>>resiliency of the U.S. experiment derives from its diversity) and in
>>>terms of managing the inevitable conflict that arises.
>>
>>I would go along with that. One thing I noticed on my visit to the
>>States, though, was how a large percentage of the cities and places were
>>  quite homogeneous and lacked variety - as opposed to Europe, but this
>>is also a function of a much longer history.
> 
> I'm curious about what cities you visited and what, exactly, was lacking
> in "variety."  Europe is a continent with many small countries, the U.S.
> is one large country, so if you mean that there's more variation between,
> say, Paris and Barcelona than St. Louis and Dallas ... well, d'uh. :-) One
> thing I liked about living in London was how easy it was to get to
> numerous other countries.  But those countries, as self-contained units,
> struck me as much more homogeneous than the U.S. -- even London itself,
> which aside from New York City is probably the most wide-ranging and
> diverse place I've been (let alone lived), is more segregated and
> compartmentalized than NYC (my home now).  With the notable exception of
> London, none of the European capitals I spent time in could hold a candle
> to New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, and perhaps even Chicago
> in terms of ethnic and cultural diversity.  That's not to say they aren't
> "more different" from each other than many American cities are, but none
> are in and of themselves as diverse.

That's true and I would agree about London, I didn't enjoy staying there 
as much as the continent. I loved Manhattan. Miami Florida had some 
character too, and I enjoyed California - San Fran reminded me of 
Sydney. Chicago, Los Angeles, Orlando, cities in Ohio and other such 
cities I felt a little samey. Malls, you drive everywhere, all the 
buildings are modern, the commerce all seemed the same, all had the same 
franchises etc. But it was only a holiday visit so we're really only 
talking first impressions - to be fair, I'm sure living in any of those 
places would give a more accurate feel. I did also notice a shift in 
culture from the North to the South - language, attitude, education (and 
temperature!).

I traveled down the East coast and back up inland, I did California and 
some of the West Coast, but not much of the mid-west (the furthest in 
was Nevada - Las Vegas - which again had a different character). So on 
reflection I guess there is quite a bit of difference, not withstanding 
a lot of the big cities feeling a bit homogeneous (apart from tourist 
attractions).

> The depressing trend here in North America (and I say that because I've
> talked to Torontonians and Vancouverans who feel the same way) is the
> "mallization" of our cities.  When I first moved to NYC, it was full of

Yeah I noticed this.

> oddball quirky clothing stores and hole-in-the-wall cafes and cool little
> independent bookstores -- now it's full of Gaps, Starbucks's and Barnes &
> Noble superstores.  Once I took a friend visiting from France to dinner at

Yeah lots of the same franchises everywhere I went... Dendy's etc

> a Vietnamese restaurant down in Chinatown.  We decided to walk back to my
> neighborhood -- roughly a three-mile walk that took us through what's left
> of Little Italy, SoHo, the West Village, and Chelsea.  We passed -- I kid
> you not -- 14 separate Banana Republic stores.  Now that a Home Depot has
> opened in Manhattan, I fear all hope is lost -- can Wal-Mart be far
> behind?

Oh yeah there are a lot of Wal-Mart stores aren't there! We have a 
K-Mart and Westfield here that is not quite as bad, but we seem to copy 
a lot of US ideas - and tend to be 10 to 20 years behind your 
development in such areas. Malls continue to grow here, we just don't 
have the population to support too much of it (20 million total).

>>That sounds reasonable, cultural diversity should be added to the list
>>of possibilities to be explored. I wonder what other countries would
>>qualify as diverse but have low per capita violence/gun deaths in
>>comparison?
> 
> What other countries would qualify as diverse -- or rather, "as diverse
> as" the U.S.?

Yeah its a good question! I'm still wondering. There probably are 
examples of diverse people getting along in history, but it certainly 
doesn't stand out as a trend to me - as you were pointing out.

-- 
ABCGi - Atomic                             ______________________
<===>   Bacterial  Genetic                |---------------------||
         Chemical   Infantrymen <=========== http://abcgi.fly.to =-+-=>
                                           |---------------------|'

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