I won't pretend to defend what the Euros do, Lord knows they've brought a lot on themselves. But, I'm here most of the year, and you aren't. You get the biggest part of your info from the news media. Hmmm. Wanna hear a little bit of everyday junk from the other side of the pond? Maybe some of this will help you to see things from a different perspective, maybe some is lost in translation.
To start with, you have to understand that until fairly recently a huge part of Europe was not free to exercise the freedoms of speech, press, assembly, etc that we Americans (mostly) take for granted. Now it's literally everywhere. Confusing, yet fun. (Remeber the Iraqis running in the streets on TV?) Maybe some over-compensation here, but they're just words. WE still have the barbed wire, tanks and nukes, guys. Not the Euros. That could be kinda scary, huh?
Speaking of barbed wire, I rode the train back from work with an ex-commie boder policeman recently. He was trying to feed his family, same as I was. We traded smokes and talked about kids. We might have had to shoot each other back in the 80s. We moved on. My best friend's GF grew up in East Germany. Her parents were genuine party members. Now, 20-some years after the wall came down, she's still struggling with the difference between Pravda and Rush Limbaugh. Anybody ever listen to Radio Free Europe? How about Radio Free Moscow? How do you think Baywatch and The A-Team reruns factor in to the equation? Confusion? Mis-information?
There's plenty of jealousy and resentment, too. If you think about it, it's pretty natural. They grew up believing that we were the big enemy, who then won the Cold War. Everything we stand for was evil until just a few years ago. Now they have Mighty Capitalism, for which I stand, and, despite what they were fed by the all-knowing, ever- wise politicians, not everybody is driving a Mercedes, much less a Trabant today. It's gonna take a generation or two.
You've probably seen some of the demonstrations on TV. Think they may be a fun place to drink a few beers, skip class, yell, and meet girls? Nah, college kids back home are much better behaved when their teams WIN the championship, aren't they? Burn, baby, burn.
My downstairs neighbors are in their 80s. Guys, they LIVED history. I read about it in a book. A lot of us grew up listening to Grandma telling stories about the Great Depression, WW2, etc. Horrible, wonderous stuff. These people have had it all at least twice in their lifetimes. I wouldn't even know where to start.
Let them blow off some steam, folks. Remember what happened last time they couldn't?
Cheers, Ya'll