But if not hers the Dance of Death,
Great Dostoievsky's dance,
And if the things most finely French
Are better done in France--
Might not Americanisation
Be best applied to its own nation?
G. K. Chesterton
One of the greatest
threats that the
Europeans have had since the end of the 2nd World War (and even before, as the above poem indicates). Through
television and through Europe turning generally more and more
capitalistic, American thinking, the
American way of life is deplyoed all over our poor countries.
Some of the statements here might be mainly true for the Scandinavian countries than for Europe as a whole (Hooray for France and Germany).
Most unfortunate is probably the fact the most young people
hail this development. We didn't have junk food until the 1980es.
McDonalds didn't enter the Danish market until
1981. In the
1970s, the most populer soft drink in Denmark was called
Jolly Cola - it hardly doesn't exist anymore -
Coca Cola and
Pepsi are all over us. And the
young people love it. Commercials aimed for
teenagers are in English (
uhm - American of course) only - it's coolest. Speaking in Danish is simply too boring.
TV Shows
à la Ricki Lake and
Oprah have infected the European homes -
Germany taking the lead. TV commercials found their way up through 80es and 90es - Denmark still having the first national channel without them.
MTV Europe is an institution in itself.
It is still very
popular for Danish teenagers to take a year in
High School in America - and they come back and think that they are so special and cool -
deploying even more cultural disaster onto us.
Some Americans (what a funny word to use - considering that Americans should actually be all the people of North and
South America) still wonder why Europeans are turning
hateful towards them. Some people still don't understand why I feel like
punching a tourist in the face, just for having an American
accent. Well - it has become too much - we are
drowning...
And don't get me wrong - most Americans are really nice people. But unfortunately, we have to take it out on them (even when they are not to blame), when we see our culture vanishing in front of us. And ryano - haw haw - actually, I looked it up and the poem is called AMERICANISATION...