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After every business- or holiday trip to the land of unlimited possibilities I feel pushed to and fro between admiration and condemnation for what is called the "American Way of Life". Since the time of colonisation by the pioneers this crucible of nations has been an enormous focus of ideas. Scientific endeavour, faith in progress and dreams of freedom are the driving forces leading to the phenomenon that is America.
America has been, and in some instances still is, pointing the
way for numerous developments that we Europeans owe to her
pioneering spirit and experience. Our own rather conservative
attitude and our reluctance to accept risks cause us to wait for
the Americans to eliminate the prototype's bugs and pay for its
development until we introduce it here.
Did you know that two American federal administrations
inofficially govern regulations on a nearly worldwide scale in
their respective fields? Civil air ministries of many countries
await the laws passed by the Federal Aviation Administration
before deciding on new measures in national air traffic. National
health authorities have an ear cocked to Washington where the
Food and Drug Administration, inofficially, of course, forges the
food and pharma policy for the rest of the world.
In our country the path for many American developments goes
via Germany before it can be evaluated here. This detour has the
consequence of extending the time until the new development is
going into service. Thus an industrialised country like ours will
profit later than a developing country from motorways or
stereophonic radio.
Our adherence to traditional and partly outdated formalities too,
shows how difficult it is for us to adjust to a constantly
changing situation. For example, the Swiss army was certainly the
last European high-tech militia to finally abandon useless
Prussian military traditions.
Referring to women's rights to vote, I am a bit ashamed in the
face of foreign observers for the time it took here to
constitutionalise the fact that womens' political maturity is as
good as that of the men.
"How do we score over there?" or "How do you
like America?" are questions often challenging the visitor
to risk comparisons. Myself, I cowardly dodge the noose in most
cases. The escape lies in offering my opinion that every country
has or does something better than all others. But the noose is
attached to a trap that snaps in place with the subsequent
question "Who defines what is better?"
The exciting philosophical problem remaining is: Does the
absolute, objective notion of quality exist or not?
Is Italian caffè not much better than American coffee
which, although both part of American hospitality and drink of
embarrassment, does not really merit the name of this stimulant?
Ironically, I owe the privilege to have seen such a large slice of the world to an industry that only occasionally succeeds in demonstrating the clearly superior quality of its products on the American market. Okay, we know about the success of Swiss machinery, watches and army knives, of French aircraft and mineral water, of Japanese cars, household electronics and cameras in the United States. But what about ordinary small objects of daily life?
Take an American clothes hanger. It is made of wire, bends
pitifully under the weight of your winter coat and leaves rust
stains on your freshly washed shirt. Its counterpart in Italy,
for example, is not only made of real wood, it even has a handle
for easier hooking-in.
Carrying your breakfast tray in both hands, you open the door in
Europe by using your elbow. Not so in America. Instead of the
practical door handle, they have door knobs.
So put down your breakfast, turn door knob, pick up breakfast,
put down again on the other side, close door, pick up ......
better have breakfast in a restaurant!
Just around the corner a brightly lit establishment in plastic
and chrome says "Welcome". The place is still empty and
the welcome consists of a wooden board demanding that you wait
until they show you to a table.
When the British cue in patient discipline without any written
request, even an individualistic Central European can comply
happily. But when I'm asked to wait in a half-empty, shabby
American establishment until someone appears to ask me "Can
I help you?", I am left speechless. Except perhaps for the
acid reply: "No, but perhaps I can help you
find a way to make this place more customer-oriented!"
While over here every half-civilised child carries his or her books to school in a knapsack, satchel or briefcase, American youngsters tie a belt around their stuff. Once grown up, Europeans carry their cash money, including the coins, in a billfoldor wallet, not in the pocket.
Speaking of practically-minded Americans. This little exercise
dates from the Fifties and Sixties when there were still ample
fish in our lakes and rivers. So, if the US have since switched
to the European solution, look at it as history.
Your task is to develop a contraption capable of winding a nylon
thread at the end of a rod so that it unwinds as easily as
possible through guides on the rod to its tip from which a light
weight is cast in a whip-like fashion.
If you're a European, chances are you design a rigid roll open
towards and perpendicular to the rod's tip. You will also include
a bow to catch the nylon as it unwinds from the roll practically
free of resistance. Bravo! You have just re-invented the European
fishing reel. With a fishing rod thus equipped your fly will land
farther out than with an American reel which needs a guidance on
a spindle for the nylon and a jewelled bearing for the rotating
roll. Resistance galore!
While the Americans have long since realised that some foreign products can be superior to their own, they still cope with inferior little things of everyday use. Where big money is involved, such as in Detroit's reaction to Japanese or German cars for example, there seems to be no problem. On the other hand they still strike a light with those ridiculous cardboard matches that, like toilet paper, always tear at the wrong place.
None of the "practically minded" Americans has asked for a paper clip that does not tear paper to shreds when removed. Other countries long have realised that the wire in paper clips simply must be bent twice to avoid that.
As America controls the development of international aviation, the world's pilots, air traffic controllers and meteorologists still measure altitude in feet, speed in nautical miles per hour (knots) and visibility in kilometres. Three different units of measure for distance to safeguard international aviation! Most probably a switch to metric would come too late now. Certainly going metric would be followed by an unacceptable series of accidents, especially involving American pilots.
There are two possible replies to the question of why this backward attitude is so persistent:
In spite of several starts, discussed in their journals, Americans are yet to make the first step in this simplifying modernisation of technology, except in science, of course. A representative of the leading western nation sounds outright touchingly archaic when he still has to say: "One tenth of one percent", because he would not be understood saying "0.1%". All over the world you can buy a 4 mm drill, only in America this corresponds (approximately) to five thirtyseconds of an inch. America, your Fahrenheit!
What really strikes an old European in looking at the American
way of life is the toleration of brutality.
"This is a violent country" an American friend once
said as we passed a forest of billboards depicting sheer
brutality. Of course, carrying weapons has tradition in a country
where pioneers had to be prepared for all kinds of attack. The
result is historically visible: Less Indians and buffalo. But are
firearms still necessary today?
Will the American of the 21st Century really be bereft of his
fundamental rights of freedom if they take away his shooting
iron?
A few years ago a Texan told me he would not feel properly
dressed without his "gun" in the morning. When I
retorted he could also kill rattlesnakes with a wooden stick or,
better still, go out of its way, I quickly realised how much of
what I had stepped into stuck to my foot. We are not any better
here, but a lobby publicly advocating the right for everybody to
carry weapons would be unthinkable. Everybody and his brother's
army claims that his or their arms are exclusively for defense.
The right to kill, indeed!
Similarly unreasonable is our own attitude towards wearing
safety belts in our cars. Everybody dutifully buckles up in an
airplane. Probably because they do not feel competent in matters
of aviation safety and also because they feel less safe than in
their own cars. Many drivers using the belly-and-shoulder ribbons
feel like the Texan without his gun: Somewhat hampered in their
freedom of movement. In fact, neither is only a private affair,
as shown by the statistics of social expenditure.
When I had my first car belts installed in 1957, I had no need
for a law to enforce their use, only a bit of high-school
physics. Italians in particular were amused. If I drove so fast
into bends so as to need restraints, they wanted to know. Not
even the national Touring Club then shared my conviction on
wearing safety belts.
Puritanism and the Church have bestowed America with a series
of strange behaviours.
On the one hand, there is the cramped attitude towards sexuality.
On the other, the subliminal glorification of violence. How the
two can be mixed such as in "Sex and Crime" is
anybody's guess. To a normal European, this American
word-creation sounds like "Tulips and Pus". Over there
it's a composite word of objection.
On my first visit to America in 1962 television was allowed to
show a brassiere commercial for "Cross your Heart" only
from behind! Things have not changed much. Even today, a naked
human body is "indecent" and, taken as dangerous for
minors, simply censored. In contrast there are countless scenes
showing people knocking themselves out, dropping to the ground
bathed in blood or taking eachother's lives in ever more brutal
ways. Do they really consider these abundant scenes of violence
less harmful to youth?
The average American's Puritanism towards the human body is
fully revealed when it comes to his choice of the strongest
cursing and swearing words.
In essence, to "fuck" and "fucking" are
nothing but vulgar words to denote one of three of mankind's most
pleasurable diversions. Not so with the Americans. To them, these
words are both an expression of abomination and of damnation.
A parallel from one of our own mountain-dwelling peoples, also
with a puritanical background comes to mind:. Their worst
curse-word. too, is from the domain of sex: "whore",
used as an adjective, e.g. "That whore bugger ows me a whore
fiver!"
Why nobody ever had the idea to use words like "war",
"brutal" or "killer" as swearing words is
beyond me. It would certainly make more sense than demonstrating
one's cramped attitude by cursing with words of sex. In the
language of sexuality, Americans are incomunicado!
Most Americans admire the traditions of the Old World and the
Orient, because they are themselves in the process of building a
culture of their own. Language is part of a culture.
An Englishman once said with the characteristic dryness of his
people: "During the time of the overseas colonies it was
decided that English is to become the language of America. It is
hard to see why this decision has not been implemented."
Very amusing, when at a party an American pointed out an
Englishwoman to me as follows: "she's the one by the door;
speaks with an English accent."
Somehow, English in North America has developed similarly to
other European languages in the New World. Like what became of
Portuguese in Brazil, French in Quebec or Spanish in Latin
America. The differences are easy to master, though sometimes
difficult to hear. When they say "winner", only the
context can tell you wether they mean the person carrying away
the trophy in a contest or the season following autumn, pardon
me, fall.
Difficulties arise when Americans adopt foreign words in their
own vocabulary, the meaning of which they have misunderstood. A
resume (French=resumé) is a summary, isn't it? Not to
Americans. They took the French word to mean curriculum vitae. If
you happen to see the word "circa" on an engraved brass
plate under a painting, it doesn't mean that the exact date of
the old master is unknown. It just means Americans have mixed up
"circa" (lat.=about) and "anno" (lat.=in the
year...). With the language of cuisine, too, they seem to have
their problems: There, an entrée is not the first but the
main course. A matinée is not a morning presentation and a
châlet is not a mountain hut but any old small house.
Finally, cabaret is not what the name implies, satirical small
stage theatre, but something approaching varieté. Here's
hoping they don't pick up this word and recycle its use as a
foreign word for say, "brothel"!
Many Americans have a unbalanced relationship towards
alcoholic beverages. They take them to be narcotics rather than
part of a culture returning joie de vivre to us. Europeans,
enjoying a glass of wine with their meals, are shocked by the way
"drinking" is generalised in America.
From American films we all know the crumpled brown paper bag in
which an unshaven bloke, his shaky hand clasping a bottle's neck,
tries to hide his abominable addiction. While the overworked
image serves directors to typecast an unsteady character, it also
opens a window on American "lifestyle", showing a taboo
which is non-existent in Europe.
In the early Seventies I bought a carton of beer cans in a
Southern state town's supermarket. The idea was to treat my host
family by cooking a European dinner while avoiding that they wash
it down with Coke. This was during the time when the handy
multipack cartons appeared on the market. Clever engineers had
developed a machine, cutting, punching and folding it all out of
one piece of cardboard, even making part of it into a carrying
handle.
On arrival at the cashier's, I was stunned to watch the carton,
including its handy handle, disappear in a brown paper bag. Not
very practical to carry, but "Nobody's business, what you're
taking home with you!", as the helpful girl at the counter
said.
If you can live with the incessant commercials, you will find
that Americans make much better radio than we do. News are of
incredible actuality as well as professionally presented. You can
easily find a station bringing only that kind of music you feel
like hearing. There are many stations dedicated to special
themes. With the excellent geographic coverage of FM stations,
radio is much more personal, too. In our country you must be
ninety-five years old until you qualify to be congratulated over
the national radio. The majority of the population are six feet
under when their turn comes to hear "Happy Birthday"
over the radio. In America I have even heard teenagers being
congratulated for passing an exam.
Nowadays (30 years later) we, too, have local FM stations. For
decades the state radio monopoly had claimed that local stations
as in the US would hopelessly swamp the ether. Until the Eighties
the government Post, Telegraph and Telephone still warned that
freeing frequencies for so-called citizens' bands would result in
a terrible mess of the waves. Meanwhile, CB works as well here as
in the States.
Gradually, I am tiring of the constant excuse of authorities
that the situation for This or That is so t o t a l l y d i f
f e r e n t here that it cannot be compared with the USA.
People will even try to harden this claim by stating that
"You can't compare apples and oranges". What profound
nonsense! You can compare everything to anything, including
apples and oranges: An orange, e.g. has a thick, hand-peelable
skin with juicy segments inside. An apple has a thin skin with a
semi-solid spherical texture inside - to only compare a small
part of the two fruits
No doubt, America has just as much to learn from modern Europe
as Europe from America. Only, it seems that Europeans are far
better aware of this fact than are Americans.
One day, perhaps they may discover "..we're not alone!"