So just last night I was at the bar with my friend from Naples and we realised that a girl at a table near to ours - she was with other Europeans - had said something in Italian. He had heard this too and as we had been exchanging the odd comment previously with these people I thought he might want to say hello, however briefly. But he was very reluctant to do so - " her accent is from the north of Italy" he told me...In his defence he did say that not all northern Italians were facists etc. (but still...)
So me, being a person who tries to speak to everyone despite their political or religious or whatever beliefs, thought that he was - maybe due to the copious wines we had downed - was being a bit of an arse. There are no doubt people from the north of Italy who hate all things connected with the right wing parties there, as there will be southern folk who dearly wished they lived further north.
In Germany, many people are very negative about the Bavarians. This includes many people from Baden-Wüttemburg, where my partner comes from. That said, I think that most Germans rub along pretty well most of the time. Maybe most nations do. Apart from the obvious candidates (wars and so on) which ones don't?
Another question I ask myself is this: what is, or would be the relationship between a shopworker from Alabama and one from Boston? Are they on the same wavelength, do they have the same worries etc.? I suppose the answer should be in the affirmative, but I wonder at the same time just how much countries are dividied along political, racial, economic etc. lines. I read recently Paul Theroux's book on his travels in the southern states of the US and although the book itself is pretty repetitious one thing which came across is the immense differences between the north and the south of the country.
I don't see much inter-country conflict in nations such as Japan or Croatia or Sweden. These are just examples and I could well be wrong.
Any opinions, put-downs etc. gratefully received and read.
So me, being a person who tries to speak to everyone despite their political or religious or whatever beliefs, thought that he was - maybe due to the copious wines we had downed - was being a bit of an arse. There are no doubt people from the north of Italy who hate all things connected with the right wing parties there, as there will be southern folk who dearly wished they lived further north.
In Germany, many people are very negative about the Bavarians. This includes many people from Baden-Wüttemburg, where my partner comes from. That said, I think that most Germans rub along pretty well most of the time. Maybe most nations do. Apart from the obvious candidates (wars and so on) which ones don't?
Another question I ask myself is this: what is, or would be the relationship between a shopworker from Alabama and one from Boston? Are they on the same wavelength, do they have the same worries etc.? I suppose the answer should be in the affirmative, but I wonder at the same time just how much countries are dividied along political, racial, economic etc. lines. I read recently Paul Theroux's book on his travels in the southern states of the US and although the book itself is pretty repetitious one thing which came across is the immense differences between the north and the south of the country.
I don't see much inter-country conflict in nations such as Japan or Croatia or Sweden. These are just examples and I could well be wrong.
Any opinions, put-downs etc. gratefully received and read.
Comment