Walking around Albuquerque’s Old Town center.
Archives for April 2010
The epithet of European style.
Remember when “European Style” was something that was admired for its taste, refinement, sophistication, perhaps even a bit risqué and playful?
Lately though, European-style has taken on a different meaning in the US.
I first noticed it in the media, references to ‘European-style health care’ during the debates on the reform bill. Then I found it on book jackets in airports, referring to ‘European-style socialism’ in conservative rants against Obama.
Now it’s everywhere:
- Obama White House would advocate a European-style tax to help finance their European-style government.
- Detroit pushes Americans to adopt European-style automobiles.
- Reform will be paid for by a European-style VAT, backed by universal mandates in which everyone must pay.
- Adopting the European-style approach to innovation will lead to global economic collapse.
A lot of this adjectival use began with Fox News and conservative bloggers, who use it as a synonym for center-left social democracy. But it’s clearly entered popular usage to mean that People must either give something up (trucks), pay more to get less (apartments), or submit to bureaucratic approval process (death panels).
And it just isn’t true in daily life in Europe; I shake my head each time I see it and wonder what people are thinking, where they get their facts..
There are many areas of European society and governance that Americans may justly contrast and critique styles, overuse of the precautionary principal, the extent the social safety net, the relative gerontocracy of EU leadership, adoption rates for new medical technology.
But reducing differences to epithets is no way to understand one another and learn best practices.
On the road again
Flights were leaving from Schiphol yesterday; I took the train north to catch my mid-afternoon flight and made it over without incident. There were more police around the check-in areas and they had walled off the ticket counters, passengers had to go outside then back in through a single entrance. Crowd control I suppose. But things were on-time and low-key – we flew too far south to see the volcano but the air layers were the usual translucent blue rather than ash-grey.
I dropped into 
Albuquerque at sundown amidst towering purple and gold clouds from a weather system causing tornadoes in Texas. The colors here are amazing; I’m going to enjoy taking it all in during my first visit here. There was snow in the mountains last night and a bite in the air this morning, unexpected when I come this far south. But at over 6000 feet I guess it’s not surprising.
Two days of meetings ahead and a side trip to Santa Fe before headed back to Europe.