A Country of Fear and Courage: What I Learned from Two Years in America - SPIEGEL ONLINE -...

Thank you shipmate for the great share this morning.

Interesting perspective. I was born in Germany and lived there on and off for 20 years. For a guy that lived in the U.S., there seems to be many things he doesn't understand about Americans.

I thought his perspective of our "fear" was interesting. The U.S. was founded on the principles that average citizens are in control. The government works for us. Americans like to be in control, in an effort to avoid being victims or catching diseases, etc we have put forth preventive measures. I would call that being prudent, not being fearful. Folks in other countries live in denial and "hope" that bad things don't happen to them. They don't take any action to prevent the bad things because they have given up all control in their lives.

This is a great share on being American. I've spent a lot of time in Europe and Germany both as a GI and even more as a civilian. Germans who haven't been here are very curious about us and the country is rife with false assumptions about the US. But they are also open to the idea that those assumptions could be wrong. That's a refreshing change from the French who feel the know everything they need to about us. I've been told by Frenchmen that I am wrong about my own country. I find that endlessly amusing.

One critique about the article is that it seems like the author and his family kept close to Bethesda and D.C. If so, while it is America, it is kind of a weird little bubble that may not be the truest reflection of the country at large. I'd love to invite the author back and take him to small Midwest towns, rust belt cities, mountain towns and the entirely different Americas that are Florida, Louisiana, Texas and the whole West Coast. Throw in Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and Puerto Rico and the article would probably be very different.

I will say I understand the gun comment. It baffles all Europeans because their impressions come from action movies and Westerns. We sell an America in movies and in the news that is very violent. When we go overseas en masse it is usually as a military to do violence. For better or worse, we are very, very good at it. The best in fact and we don't mind people knowing that. That can give a skewed perception of us as a nation, particularly in countries in which we have had a decades long military presence.