mgroves

I’ve mentioned this essay several times to friends and collegues in the past, so I thought it might be interesting to post it here.

This essay was written by a German born professor who has lived in the US since 1992.

It’s called A subjective comparison of Germany and the United States, and while he puts the word “subjective” in the title, and I think that point should be stressed, I think most of his observations are fair. While I certainly think the USA is a great country and I feel very lucky for living here, it is by no means a paradise (nor is any country for that matter).

I think there’s a line from the essay that sums things up pretty well: I’d say naive optimism characterizes the American mentality and deliberate, hesitant pessimism the German one.

I find this essay particularly interesting not just because of the typical Europe-North America differences one might expect, but because of the unique history of Germany, especially in WW2, and it’s affect on the current culture.

Note that the author isn’t really expressing a preference here, or endorsing one country over the other, but merely listing differences. He certainly does inject his opinion in many places, politics included, but as I’ve stated before, everyone and almost everything has a bias, and the author makes no bones about that.

Also note that this essay isn’t exactly recent. Therefore, some things might have changed (in both countries) since it was written.

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