choosing sides
Tonight I'm awake. I'm doing some last minute work to get ready for my 4 am train to the Brussels airport, trying to get my head ready for America. After a few weeks of immersion in the world of European metrosexual diplomacy (thanks for the article, Remi!), militant Amsterdam liberalism, French electro-music, Belgian performance art, Rotterdam architecture, and highly subsidized housing, it takes a little preparation to return to America.
If given a choice, yes, I would prefer to live in Europe over America. The diversity here is amazing, and I'm actually totally optimistic about the future potential of the EU: politics that involve such a huge number of people and cultures should be complicated. Life is complicated.
My friend Seamus thinks that the reason the USA is so successful economically is precisely because of the inability of its residents to digest subtlety in issues (as seen in the daily circulation rates of USA Today, which reads like a bad cartoon, vs The New York Times, which at least has the aura of thoroughness. It's about 2 to 1, you can guess which is more popular), making it much easier for everyone to agree on simplistic solutions, producing a kind of success through brute force.
Well, whatever, making a big issue out of the "Atlantic-divide" does get a little tiresome after a while. Of course, I hope Bush loses as much as we all do, and I also hope the Christian Democrats get kicked out of office here in Holland as soon as possible. Politics are a problem everywhere. But right now, I just can't wait to be in New York tomorrow!