Alright. Let me weigh in here.
If by "cultured" you mean knowing about the world and what is going on? OR at least knowing about famous tourist landmarks in other cultures, perhaps these video clips on Australian TV can answer the question while giving ya'll a good laugh:
As for "culture," well if Europe has always been seen as the center of civilization and culture in the world (Greeks, Rome, Britain, etc) in terms of art, music, governance, democracy and all these other "universal" ideals which todays "modern" institutions aims to spread, then Europe > America in terms of culture. Why? Because Europe as a continent and collection of nation-states has a longer history, royal families, older buildings/land-marks, older philosophies etc etc.
For myself, I can only relate some common dinner conversations in some working class households in parts of Europe I've been in when on student exchange. And it has become a cliche to diss America and Americans at the dinner table (I am not sure if that is true in other parts of Europe), where it is common to say things like
"the American are so into our royal families because they secretly are jealous of European royal families because America does not have one." (Danish household)
"Americans have no culture," (English household)
"Americans cannot win wars, they are armed civilians," (French dinner conversation, although I found this pretty ironic coming from this French family I stayed with)
So... Stuff like that, if you interpret culture in such a way.
But some guys here have a point, you have new hip hop culture that is non European, drawn from African-American people. There is also this idea that America is the New World, new in terms of being the new center of civilization/culture?
Isn't today's EU a kind of mock-version of the USA? What exactly is Europe?
It all depends on what you mean by culture and how you define these terms.
You mention Canada? I do know Canadians painstakingly want to disassociate themselves from Americans, and so do the Australians. But most Australians identify themselves as Aussie, and NOT European, although they acknowledge English roots/heritage, and many Australians today do have relations in the UK as well as in Australia. And then of course there are divisions between first fleeter Australians and subsequent generations of them.
Furthermore! What sort of Europeans are we talking about? I believe there are boundaries between East and West Europeans.
And ofcourse you do have Americans pain-painstakingly trying to constantly play up the fact that they have European ancestry and connections, which can imply a sense of inferiority or insecurity.
So I believe there definitely is a culture barrier. But how specific it is, it really depends.
Americans are less European then Europeans.
What does it mean to be 'cultured'? To care about culture? You might argue that the average European young person knows more about classical music or art, but I might argue the average American knows more about hip hop. Continental European 'pop' is (with some exceptions) 'derivative' in comparison with American/uk music. There is some really avante garde stuff for sure, but there's a bigger gap between the avant garde and mainstream.
There's also less of a class system in north America, so if you are basing 'culture' and 'sophistication' on the rich, a higher proportion of the European 'rich' are rich people descended from a long line of rich people, who have focused on 'taste', as opposed to being self made or having someone self made within a few generations. I'm not sure that this is an advantage.
Its also an open question as to whether Americans or Europeans are more 'open minded'. It really depends what you ask and how.
Its also unfair to suggest that Americans aren't knowledgeable about other countries (though they aren't.). Its unfair because the rest of us so easily view 'the u.s.' as one country, while 'Europe' is many countries. But this is in many ways an accident of history. The U.s. is a huge country - not just physically but in terms of population, and regions. Most of us 'know' something about washington, new york, boston, chicago, los angeles, maybe seattle, a little about texas and miami as well. But we look down on Americans for not knowing every country in Europe, yet how much to most of us know about that big center bit of the u.s.? How many people who sneer about Americans not knowing the capital of European countries can name the state capitals of california or florida - which would be big countries in Europe - let many of the mid sized or smaller states.
There's a lot to complain about with regards to 'Americans', but a lot of US are being smug in acting like we know so much about them.
In terms of behavior, my experience is that Americans are loud, optimistic, outgoing and friendly. Those outside of big urban areas are friendlier - just as it is everywhere else in the world.
Technically? Yes. Culture is basically defined as the collective achievement of arts and other intellectual manifestations. Europeans have a longer history than Americans, Canadians and Australians, so it's reasonable to say that they have more culture. They've had more time to cultivate it.
But I think a lot of Americans, Canadians and Australians tend to think they have "no culture" which I find to be completely false. Whilst the merit of such culture may be debatable, I don't see how anyone can contend that it doesn't exist. The very fact that someone can distinguish a culture shows it exists. But that's beyond what your question is asking :)
Basically, yes - Europeans have more culture. They've had a longer history which means more revolutions, movements, wars, empires, etc. It goes to stand that they'd be more cultured as a result of that.
well,it depends on the person,but I think an American would have to get cultured on their own (not many of them choose to do that) since their education is pretty below average when compared to European standards. and I'm just saying this from a bosnian point of view-i'm not even going to begin talking about the difference between germany,france,similar countries and America-the difference is immeasurable. a friend of mine-born in bosnia,lived in America since he was 5,spent a year in my class and all he got were F's,while in America-all he got were A's,he decided to go back to America cause it was too hard for him here. so yes,we are more cultured,cause our education is better,and cause of this link our history makes us seem more sophisticated than Americans (perception is everything)
I'm not going to get into this whole argument, because wherever people are from they will give a valid answer according to their experiences and travels. sexually speaking Americans are so so behind, they may have the p*rn industry but that's all. If you've ever slept with US or UK man, they're retarded in bed. I live in the UK and can tell you European men make much better lovers and treat women more respectfully based on a soild understanding of their bodies and attitudes to sex. American men just suck and thrust, emulating what they've see in p*rn. Incidentally, we must clarify a point made by someone earlier that the Brits/English are not European, they do not buy in to being a part of Europe yet and I can't see that changing.
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I hate generalisations. It's like saying all apples taste good because all the apples I've ever eaten have tasted good to my palate.
Whether or not someone is cultured is subjective and difficult to place a blanket statement on. It can be reasonably defined by:
1. An individuals upbringing, and environment (which gives the parameters of what can be defined as "cultured")
2. Another individuals view of that person (which is the interpretations of others within society of what is "cultured")
Hence, there as as many views on culture as there are individuals who can possibly view anything considered "cultural". One person will consider a painting by Picasso as a cultural artefact, another sees Korn as a cultural icon, and my mum might consider a gourmet (she pronounces it gore-met) sandwich as cultured.
I, myself, am an Australian. I consider myself slightly more sophisticated and cultured than the average person, and definitely more so than the average microbe. I can rationalise until my eyes water and quote Socrates until my face comes off. What I consider as cultured and sophisticated is demonstrated intelligence, and the ability to articulate one's own opinion on a subject, generally of an "arty" or "cultural" nature (nonsense), for example, developments in New Media Artefacts.
That doesn't change the fact that the kid in the front row of my class still considers me as simply being a douchebag.
wana hear a European;s pov? : this is ignorant bullsh*t.
most Europeans copy-cat American culture. I spent most of my winters and summers in Europe. I have family in Odessa, Ukraine... Marsiella, France and Manchester,England... and moved to the states myself when I was 14. everywhere I f***ing go in Europe I see jay-zee posters and rap music in different cultures. the kids I spent time with there obsess over American culture...
we can legally drink at 18.. yet we still have 21 year old bar tours... because this is AMERICAN... Europe.. is failing socialist network of collapsing nations...
young Americans in their repulsive ignorant spit upon the states and put European nations and cultures on a pedestal
the amount of young Americans that talk sh*t on their culture and don't realize how amazing it is... with its ability for upward progression and the revolutionary success it gives the ambitious... deserve to be deported or killed for their ignorance and traitorous attitudes.
i LOVE the US and its culture with all my heart. but this is probably just because I know better.
dumb f***s.
Well, European people are in any case not as loud as Americans.
In general Id say its harder to reach them, but that's not a guarantee they also have better beahviour...
Atmosphere means much to people in general there however.
And people don't just live loose as much as in the U.S.A.
We like to keep some values, like medical care for people and stuff for free.
So in general we'd less say f*** society, BUT we're not pro things as they are.
There are no standards for a conversation as they're more there in USA I think.
Yes, people will ride in a train without ticket, even first class if they know the route.
A lot.
But that's because there's a twisted view of what is fair.
Society is not really fair.
You don't have to fight for money here, so people tend to want to get the system more fair in general I guess, instead of worrying about money that brings nothing, no fears about it.
You get 0% rent for study, paid if your outta work, food if you don't have food, medical care for free with insurance.
But... some people completely lack respect too here.
But that's most of the times because they think the society is pretty sh*t, I personally think that.
Well, but most Europeans aren't capable of changing it... changuing anything.
I guess were more silent perhaps more cornered off but we live up in the right circumstances and we cling onto things more than usa people I guess in general.
Dunno what more to say.
Btw I'm 100% Dutch myself. (Netherlands, Europe.)
history as we know it is written out of a western view. As most of this history occured in Europe , people in Europe know more about it , and have seen more places involved in this cultural history.
In America they see way more American history than we do here in Europe , neither America or Europe see a lot of Asian history I think.
so it all depends on the viewpoint .. some Americans seems stupid because they don't know paris is the capital of france , but I must be honest , I don't know that much about the states of America and their capitals !
I know a lot of European history , partly because we see it a lot in school . but when it's about the civil war or something like that my knowledge is little...
you could say that there is an overall more (western )cultural base in Europe because it is habitated longer than the USA , canada or australia . We tend to find western culture more important and 'better' than the older cultures of those area's .
If we assume that by cultured and sophisticated, we mean having been exposed to and influenced by different cultures, then I think there is really no contest. Europeans have taken in far less immigrants than the other nations mentioned.
While it could be said that Europeans are far more likely to visit other countries, this is misleading because tourism only gives you a little nibble of another culture. Also most of the time they just visit other countries in Europe. Which is far more similar to their own culture than going to another continent.
The end result of all this is Europeans are not more cultured than people from other countries, and in fact, the opposite may be true.
Yes, and in my view there are two important reasons for this 1. the American mindset itself and 2. the educational system. For me one way to see which is more cultured is by reading books by American or European authors. American writers are usually annoyingly approximative and superficial in their analysis, and they are not concerned with doing homework and documenting themselves on what they write (I'm not talking about great American writers, I'm comparing the average writer in America and Europe). European authors are more rigorous, WELL read and cultured in general, and you can tell their knowledge is usually broad. As for being less sophisticated, well yes, I just think about the way the average American dresses, or the junk food the average person eats (unfortunately this is becoming standard over here too...). But, as a person I know put it, at the same time nobody can be as good as Americans at criticizing their own culture and fellows, and this is something I really admire.
It's quite funny. I was on holiday recently in Prague. And naturally you mix with various different people from a myriad of countries. All the Americans were so loud! One of countless examples, we were in a restaurant, mixture of cultures, everyone was talking at a normal level, with a reasonable consciousness of other people around them. The bloody Yanks, were babbling to the point of overpowering the room. 'I really love to travel. It helps me grow and develop as a person'. *vomits*. I always thought Canadians exaggerated when describing the crassness of their border chums, but it's true! Everything they say is true! You distinguish between a Canadian and an American a mile off.
Actually, Australians are probably the most savage of the lot. Just looked greasy and generally dirty, and I spotted one didn't wash their hands in the bathroom! Dirty buggers!
That statement isn't true for ALL Americans, nor is it true for ALL Europeans. It mainly depends on their individual background, their parents, the schools they went to, the country they live in.
For instance, knowledge of foreign languages is certainly greater in Europe: basically EVERY HS-student learns at least one second language (some better and more than others! I learned Dutch, French, Latin and English in HS, learned German in college.My wife learned classical Greek -Koine- on top of these.)
Moreover I picked up a lot of Italian and some Spanish during vacations. I learned to read the Greek alphabet because it was used in physics an I trained it while on vacation in Greece.
Same for many people I know.
It's true that not all Europeans get their HS degree: there are HS dropouts in Europe too.
Only in certain things. Fore instance, when it comes to respecting their parents, Europeans are certainly more respectful than Americans. Also when it comes to interracial marriage, Europeans care less and are less bothered about marrying from a different race than Americans are. Majority of the white guys that showed interest in me for instance were European.
However, when it comes to being sexual, Europeans are certainly less cultured! I mean, more European guys aren't scared of posting pictures of their d***s online. You hardly see Americans doing something like that! And even the ones that do it, if you do a background check on them, you'd most likely find that their parents were immigrants or something.
I agree, I honestly think that Americans are really less cultured than any other region, that being said, I lived most of my life in another country until I moved to the U.S... so I can only speak about people from the U.S. Over all I think that Americans are mostly cold.. I hope you can understand me when I mean by cold... but, that doesn't apply to EVERY single person that lives in the U.S. not every one is the same.
Yea Americans are retarded compared the the rest of us. They have no history, no culture, no values and their country is a just a sex-fuelled drug-induced, oil-dependen tmess. Amercians are laughed at all over the world. Thank god great britain is distancing itself because we're getting dragged down with them.
Europe gets dummied down on ourpose, but USA is too. It's done on purpose ,so that certain people can manipulate others. I think USA is better tho. I live in Hungary, and belive me, culture is really dark here. People drink,smoke, they only think of themselfs and hate on others. Europe is going DOWNHILL, so is America. Lady Gaga is having tea with Obama about bullying...that is there left ot say.
I guess I was the only one who assumed that by cultured you meant well read, educated in the arts, fine dining, travels to historic places etc. If so, I would say yes, Europeans are certainly more cultured than Americans.
Europeans are more educated their test scores are higher than those of America. America ranks always above 20th in math science whatever. Americans set a lot of trends though so you can't call them uncultured, although their idea of culture is very unsophiticated. Americans are genrally more stupid and thickheaded? I guess like they are a bit less civilized? this is coming from an American so dnt hate
Depends on what you considered 'cultured.' I generally accept being cultured as exposing yourself to a wide variety of cultural things outside the one you were born in.
In that regard, yeah, I'd say Europeans are generally more cultured, partly because there are more differences culturally when you across country lines there than state lines here.
The question here is what is your definition of cultured? What constitutes sophistication?
Am not American or European but am jus going to say what I think so this is just my opinion from the few people I have met.Europeans are more cultured and oh yes sophisticated and Americans are just so liberal so much that it is hard to imagine them as cultured.
im not sure about canadians and australians, but for Americans yes its true. at least from what I've seen...Europeans dress and act differently, have different manners, different culture (America didn't seem to have its own culture when I was there) etc.
Americans don't seem to care about anything seriously, they dress equally and well...just not my type. the people I liked the most during my stay in the US were Hispanics. I guess that says it all lol
If you believe in evolution, then the most cultured place on Earth, would undoubtedly be, Africa. If you don't, then I'd say it's probably a tie between the two. The only reason being is because America lets in all sorts of people on a yearly basis. Yes, we don't really get along with our northern and southern border but..other than that we let in all sorts of cultures.
Well, America is a new country, so naturally they would have less historical culture. In Europe we have lots of heritage and you are exposed to the cultures of all the other European countries around you. In the UK we can freely travel to N. Ireland, Scotland and Wales, then there's the Channel Tunnel, so we can simply drive into the European mainland. There is simply so much around us.
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