Reading Assignment for Mon 4/17
R. Steves, "How Travels Changed my Perspectives & Politics"
After reading this article, I started looking back on how my views of travel were as I was growing up. Much of my vactioning was much less than needlessly spending money, and mmore about spending time visiting relatives around the world (mainly in N. America and Asia). Many of my relatives in China were always eager to hear about life in the US as they in turn complained about their own. Human nature has a tendency to cast a more critical eye on ourselves than others, which was the feeling I got from this article. My first question is - how do the Europeans see their own government and how different is their view from ours?
R. Steves, "A United Europe in the 21st Century..."
The union of the European States today seems reminescent to when the American 13 colonies banded together to form the US in the 1770's. There was a line in the article, "The EU parliament can make lawa that supersede the laws of its member states," which oddly sounded like the Article VI of the US Constitution. Similiarly, the current Europeans (environmentalism, equality/welfare) are idealistic as our forefathers (democracy, human rights) were in the policies they envisioned. As the article states, the US has apparently succumbed to its capitalistic tendencies and may have overlooked some of the ideals they initially fought for. My second question is - how long can the Europeans hold up to to their idealistic standards?
Another key aspect brought up in this article is the issue of immigration in Europe. Unlike the US, which is known as a "melting pot," Europeans tend to sequester immigrants (or maybe they sequester themselves) into isolated communities - diasporas. If the EU extols human rights and tolerance, why is there such a big issue about immigration? What are the underlying issues that are causing these anti-immigration attitudes?
After reading this article, I started looking back on how my views of travel were as I was growing up. Much of my vactioning was much less than needlessly spending money, and mmore about spending time visiting relatives around the world (mainly in N. America and Asia). Many of my relatives in China were always eager to hear about life in the US as they in turn complained about their own. Human nature has a tendency to cast a more critical eye on ourselves than others, which was the feeling I got from this article. My first question is - how do the Europeans see their own government and how different is their view from ours?
R. Steves, "A United Europe in the 21st Century..."
The union of the European States today seems reminescent to when the American 13 colonies banded together to form the US in the 1770's. There was a line in the article, "The EU parliament can make lawa that supersede the laws of its member states," which oddly sounded like the Article VI of the US Constitution. Similiarly, the current Europeans (environmentalism, equality/welfare) are idealistic as our forefathers (democracy, human rights) were in the policies they envisioned. As the article states, the US has apparently succumbed to its capitalistic tendencies and may have overlooked some of the ideals they initially fought for. My second question is - how long can the Europeans hold up to to their idealistic standards?
Another key aspect brought up in this article is the issue of immigration in Europe. Unlike the US, which is known as a "melting pot," Europeans tend to sequester immigrants (or maybe they sequester themselves) into isolated communities - diasporas. If the EU extols human rights and tolerance, why is there such a big issue about immigration? What are the underlying issues that are causing these anti-immigration attitudes?
posted by Belinda Luk @ 10:54 AM
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