BB1
Distinguished Member
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2009
- Messages
- 2,049
- Reaction score
- 380
I've always had a problem with the "American Dream" alluding to the ability of the common man being able to succeed in American society... When in reality getting anywhere in American society definitely requires you to be very shrewd. The fact is, the average person is not very intelligent. And half of the population is less intelligent than your average person...
Yes, but American society is more likely to allow the shrewd to succeed, whereas in Europe there are more barriers which prevent their success. For example, without the right connections or family background it is difficult to get venture capital money in Europe in order to launch a new innovative business. This is why the US has always provided a disproportionate number of the successful new businesses in the areas such as Internet, computing, and other emerging areas and why the income level gap between the US and Europe continues to increase.
I've mentioned it before that I feel like when I'm in the US, people in service businesses seem to hate their jobs and take it out on everyone else... As if they got shafted with a ****** life and don't deserve it. While I'm not sure how your average service worker thinks of themselves in Canada, whatever they feel like, it certainly doesn't reflect negatively in their demeanor during their jobs. Again, both cases have plenty of exceptions, Canada has its asshole service workers too, and I've definitely had meaningful conversation with some American ones. But it's the difference between these things happening on a weekly and monthly basis...
The idea that Americans are unhappy with their lives relative those in Europe or Canada is not accurate, despite this view being frequently preached in these other countries. Here's a recent Pew Global poll on the subject....