Originally Posted by
solarisregvm
But there are things that make me mad every day.
Because generally people don't know this side of Europe, they don't know the reality of several countries. I'm going to make a lot of generalizations so anti-generalizations don't start with "oh but we're all different and all the same". Of course we are, but there is a probability that things will happen in certain ways.
Life is a completely different concept
In any country in southern Europe, life is tastier, more intense, and interesting. People really are too busy enjoying life, they don't have time to deal with shit. The focus is on savoring life.
I understand that they [from the North] might think they're a little better but they're not that much
I really don't understand some people in Northern Europe who think that just because they have a better job and the wages are so much better, that they might think that in Southern Europe you don't strictly do anything. It's really irritating when I say that I'm Portuguese and 99% of people think I'm lazy, corrupt, that I'm not strict. I understand that we don't have such good salaries, but to generalize so much and say that the Portuguese are and have always been so insignificant is something at least with little thought. Not so long ago these countries were hundreds of times less developed than Portugal (I know the world changes but not that quickly). We have a lot to improve but don't put us in the same bag with an African country that doesn't have our conditions. We are a country that was very rich and made a great contribution to the world, and despite the widespread ignorance of the population, it still had quite decent wages and acceptable standards of living even in the dictatorial periods.
Did you know that in France until the mid-sixties, that is, until then Prime Minister Georges Pompidou (1962-1968) started the so-called urban revolution, a magnificent building program designed to accommodate the popular urban classes, 45% of French people didn't had bathroom, running water and electricity. In Paris, only 20% of the apartments had a bathroom, whereby residents shared access to weekly showers and toilets.
Explaining what it means to be Portuguese
Sometimes I think that it's not even possible to explain what it means to be Portuguese to a North European. Being kind, generous, enjoying food, at the same time being very hardworking and given to interaction with all peoples is something that is really difficult to explain. Just some weeks ago, I was explaining to some Finns that in Portugal it's super normal to talk to unknown people either in the café or restaurant or anywhere else… they simply despised it and said they don't like small talk or talking to strangers. Sometimes I think that the main reason for the development of these peoples is perhaps the lack of development of human/social values/collectivism. They are so often so cold, so rude, so unliving in life, and so law-abiding that I often get really upset at how we can regard such peoples as developed.
Let's compare
Well, they like to compare so let's compare south and north, according to my experience, in reference to southern Europe.
Food in southern Europe is — 20 times better
Nice, easy-going people — 100 times better
Intensity of living life — 50 times better
How the law works — it's 1 time worse
Climate and Weather — it's 200 times better
Salaries and opportunities — it's 3 times worse
Success propensity — is 10 times worse.
Good life and 24 hours (it's not just until 6 pm) — it's 200 times better
You, Northern Europeans, think you are so much better but you only have a salary that is 3-4 times higher when we are lower, but with an intensity of what life is completely different. Seriously, you guys think you're so much better for a mere paycheck? There are factors so much more important than wages and opportunities. I prefer a thousand times to have sun every day and good food than to have a salary of 2500 euros. I know it's great to have good jobs and pay but that's far from the end of it. And yes I know I overreacted but it's not that extreme — the food, the atmosphere, the lack of sympathy is really hard to deal with.
Life well lived is much tastier in southern Europe than in the North, and yes I know you know that too, because this is where you spend your holidays. Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece are democracies, they are developed countries, and I would say much more interesting than the overwhelming number of northern European countries. I think people are not judging well when they compare the two realities. Life in southern Europe really is life with pleasure every single day. I think people from Northern Europe have a hard time analyzing the culture of other countries as they really are. They have to realize that there is one factor that makes all the difference—northern Europe is the coldest place in the world for humans to live. It's a climate that doesn't make you want to leave the house. I think because of that there is so much focus on work.
See with eyes to see
I believe that Northern Europeans need to know the reality of southern Europe much better and understand it not according to their reality, but according to the reality of those people. What we consider developed is quite different. It goes as far as downgrading Italians! With all the development, innovations, high GDP per capita and millions of other factors that Northern Europe can only be jealous of. Italy is one of the most developed countries in the world. It has a bigger economy than the Brazilian one and compare population and size. Milan alone is larger in population than almost any Nordic country.
I may be wrong, but at least I say my opinion. I believe that they consider themselves much more evolved for having a strong economy and discolor other characteristics, which in my view are more important and indicators of development than the economy itself. I met several German people and by the way one of my best friends is German (in a very Latin mood) and I even have great respect for all the technological advancements and development after the Second World War. I really consider myself quite rebellious, and I don't really like injustices or that they are so rigid — Flexibility, after all, is in my opinion a much more evolved characteristic than rigidity.
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