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    231 points rntn | 14 comments | | HN request time: 2.416s | source | bottom
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    hunglee2 ◴[] No.35413150[source]
    I think we (Americans and Europeans alike) wholly underestimate how Americanised European culture is becoming.

    This is an observation rather than a criticism as I don't know whether this is 'good' or 'bad' but it is noticeable phenomena manifest through language, and probably an unintended consequence of the dependency of Europe on US communication technology, leading to the import of US communication styles, political priorities and cultural values.

    France have always been conscious of this, no doubt as a result of their centuries old conflict with England, but it is interesting now to see Italian nationalists responding similarly. It's futile of course, as neither Italians, French nor any combination of European countries can or will make an internet independent of the US

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    _vbnz ◴[] No.35413290[source]
    Yeah, it was shocking here in Stockholm when there were BLM protests in 2020.

    It's like people are more involved in US politics than their national politics.

    replies(14): >>35413333 #>>35413371 #>>35413402 #>>35413454 #>>35413557 #>>35413995 #>>35414151 #>>35415188 #>>35415749 #>>35417244 #>>35418853 #>>35419116 #>>35419935 #>>35421105 #
    1. hanniabu ◴[] No.35413333[source]
    Maybe racism isn't just a US thing
    replies(3): >>35414408 #>>35414611 #>>35417756 #
    2. hanniabu ◴[] No.35414408[source]
    I'm amazed this is being downvoted. Do people really think that racism only exists in America?
    replies(4): >>35414724 #>>35414742 #>>35414895 #>>35415765 #
    3. onethought ◴[] No.35414611[source]
    But BLM is targeting a very specific type of racism, that is almost not applicable in Sweden.

    It would be like them protesting Asians being treated unfairly on University acceptance, another American form of racism, that is also not applicable to Sweden.

    Protesting your government on issues that don’t exist and they therefore cannot address is odd, and unless I’m missing something, extremely stupid

    4. pb7 ◴[] No.35414724[source]
    Yes, many Europeans think that because they don’t talk about it and refuse to collect statistics to show it that racism doesn’t exist within their borders. Europe is just as, if not more, racist than the US. Just ask them what they think of the Roma people.
    replies(2): >>35415263 #>>35419164 #
    5. TulliusCicero ◴[] No.35414742[source]
    Some European countries are behind the states on accepting that racism exists there, yes. E.g. in Germany there's still a very common attitude of, "well, we're not racist here" even as anyone with a non-German name and especially anyone not white struggles to rent an apartment. At this point in the US, acting like racism isn't a big deal or isn't common at all has become somewhat of a far-right position.

    Now, in some ways the impact of racism is lesser in Europe, because there's less police violence generally and typically a much stronger social safety net.

    6. luckylion ◴[] No.35414895[source]
    People probably don't mix up BLM (which was a movement protesting police brutality against black Americans) with some vague claims for racism ("Europe is much more racist than America").
    7. gbrindisi ◴[] No.35415263{3}[source]
    Racism is everywhere, what I think eludes americans is that in Europe identities are way more tied to nationality rather than ethnicity.
    replies(1): >>35415644 #
    8. pb7 ◴[] No.35415644{4}[source]
    It doesn’t elude us. Anyone that looks outside of the country knows that but hate is hate. You don’t choose the color of your skin any more than you choose where you are born.
    9. patmcc ◴[] No.35415765[source]
    If you ever want to suddenly hear a lot of racism, ask any European about the Romani. I've literally heard many people, after stridently arguing against racism and discrimination, say "oh well gypsies are different, they actually are that bad".
    replies(1): >>35415949 #
    10. tim333 ◴[] No.35415949{3}[source]
    It's debatable if they are actually a race.
    replies(1): >>35418942 #
    11. fomine3 ◴[] No.35417756[source]
    Racism is global problem. Killing black people by white police is a US specific problem. I feel weird to see BLM outside of US, rather than other anti-racism campaign.
    replies(1): >>35418968 #
    12. slim ◴[] No.35418942{4}[source]
    they certainly are not because the only stupid definition of race within the human race is by US administration and they're not in the list

    https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/report-your-data/race-ethnicity-de...

    13. justrealist ◴[] No.35418968[source]
    This is only true if you have an extremely narrow definition of "white".
    14. pkaye ◴[] No.35419164{3}[source]
    Interestingly US has a large Romani diaspora (1M) but I think they have integrated into the US culture over time.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani_Americans