Europe vs America

Which is the best continent to live in? Europe or America?

All right, the term ‘America’ is ambiguous. I am referring specifically to North America (that is, US and Canada).

The ultimate competition for the two main continents of the developed world! The ultimate dispute between the two sides of the Northern Atlantic! The NATO countries now fighting for the best continent! EU vs US! Europe vs America! The Old Continent vs the New Continent! Who shall win?

Now, here is how it works: just post a reason why you should prefer either Europe or America. Post the number of the reason (the number that follows the previous post, obviously) followed by the letter E or A, depending on the continent you are voting for. The count for each continent is independent, meaning it can go like 1E, 2E, 1A, 3E, 4E, 2A, 3A, 5E, 4A... The idea is that, at the end, we may have a final count on how many reasons there are for Europe and how many for America.

The reason can be a direct reason as to why my continent is better, an accusation as to why the other continent is worse, or both.

You are allowed to give reasons for both continents, even in the same post.

Commenting on and discussing reasons given by others is, of course, allowed, but should not be counted as extra reasons (which means you cannot make the accusation that someone else's reason is invalid an extra reason for your own continent). In addition, no-one is anyone authorised to consider invalid the reason someone else has given, or to decrease or increase the number or reasons already given for one continent — even if someone else's reason is completely stupid: on the one hand, because it may be relative, and no-one is here to judge anyone; and, on the other hand, because this thread is mostly for us to just have fun, and not to be taken seriously.

I am not encouraging you to say stupid stuff. Please, let us be rational. However, if someone does say something stupid, let us not impose our belief that it really is stupid and should be invalid.

And, please, let us not be offensive. Do not say someone else is stupid. And be careful when writing stereotypical references, so that they may not be easily taken as offences.

That is it! Have fun!

I shall start:

1E: Europe has greater multilinguistic diversity.

Your turn, guys!

Hi again, kaynight!

Actually, I am rather confused by your post. What exactly do you mean by that? Are you quoting a saying or something?

Well, this isn't quite getting the attention I desired... Let me try to stir it up a bit.

2E: The metric system makes much more sense than the imperial system.

Europe 2 — America 0

Ok, a lot of rules but I think I got this right; No bashing others' posts (sounds fair to me) while presenting one's own understanding why a given continent is perceived better; trying to be objective also counts, I understand. So, I'm going to try to do all of that. :)

1E: Cultural heritage

2E: Tourism destinations

3E: Access to free/affordable education

4E: Access to free/affordable health care

5E: A more lenient penal system & lower prison population

6E: Larger population

7E: Smaller gap between the rich and the poor

8E: Higher minimum wage

9E: Lower degree of violence (at least for now)

10E: Better public transportation system

11E: A wider access to renewable energy

12E: Overall less risks & rewards in many ways

1A: Lower level of taxation

2A: Strong Military that also protects Europe and other countries

3A: A narrow overall advantage in science and technology

4A: A bigger space program

5A: Larger territory

6A: Fast but sustainable population growth

7A: More resources

8A: More billionaires

9A: US Dollar World's reserve currency

10A: Lower gas prices

11A: Bigger houses

12A: Economic dynamism

13A: Ease of starting and running a business

14A: Larger and more dynamic middle class per capita

15A: Lower unemployment rate

16A: Freedom of gun ownership

17A: More opportunities for individual growth

18A: Overall more risks & rewards in many ways

My final score is America 18 - Europe 12. But, of course, if I keep thinking on this longer, I'm sure I'll be finding more reasons to add to either place. And by America I mean the US exclusively. Now, of course, there are tradeoffs in wanting to live in either place. For example, Europe has a better public transportation system but cars rule in America and gas is cheaper. Somebody may like America, somebody else may like Europe. Also, interesting to note that a lot of Europeans get their education in Europe but move to live and work in America. That is, from their own words, because they can get a free education in Europe and pay less taxes while working in America and they can start a business here too. A lot of them work for multinational corporations that have businesses on boths sides of the Atlantic. They would spend some time here while they are young, make some good money; some of them will stay here to become Americans... Others will leave to continue their careers in Europe. They have some capital for a rainy day and, being older, they can use more generous packages and vaccations while not minding to pay higher taxes. Of course there are also Americans who move to Europe. But, as far as I know and personally observed, there are more Europeans who move to America than the other way around. The last point for both places I put "overall less/more risks & rewards." I view both of these as an advantage that Europe and America can claim. I think this is an interesting thread but requires some thinking which is why it's probably not gonna take off although I hope I'm wrong in that prediction. :)

Can you find a proper dish of octopus there? If so, I'll think about it.

Trick question.  The best continent is obviously Antartica.

Britannia waives the rules!

Hi, SpiritoftheVictory! We haven't seen each other in a while! How are you doing?

Hmm... Actually, I was thinking mostly that each person should continue the already existing count (so, given that I had already reached 2E, you should start with 3E and finish with 14E), meaning that we would reach one general final count.

But perhaps each person having his own count actually works better: it would feel a bit more like each person weighing his own perceived pros and cons in his own way. Maybe we should keep it like that.

With that said, let me add a few to mine:

3E: The date format day-month-year makes more sense than month-day-year.

4E: The Schengen Area allows you to freely travel between countries, with no worries.

5E: The Euro — the single currency

6E: You cannot easily get a weapon (which leads to...)

7E: Less violence and fewer school shootings.

8E: The American Electoral College is such a terrible election system!

1A: Greater space exploration programme.

I'm sorry that my 6E contradicts your 16A, but I do believe that allowing any citizen to easily possess a weapon is not a very good idea — and the many school shootings we have seen in the US keep supporting this idea I have.

Overall, so far, for me, it is Europe 8 — America 1.

Duh! :)

I've been good, friend. Thanks for asking. I guess we'll have to disagree on guns but hey, that's fine by me. I would say that overall living in America entails more risks and that's not only related to guns. With guns, one may look at them from the point of danger - seeing how many tragic incidents occur. That's a risk factor of course. However, no one reports how many crimes it helps to prevent. There are many shootings related to stopping criminals from committing robberies and rapes. In the US, if somebody breaks into your house, you have the right to shoot him/her on the spot. Guess, what? Where I live I wouldn't wanna try to break into a home and steal something... But hey, of course, that won't get reported because there's nothing to report. So, there's the risk and reward factor in general. And when it comes to America, we embrase risks here . And it's not only the guns...

Some other examples include employment. In Europe, your employer can't fire you easily while in America they can. Sure, from the standpoint of an employee it sounds good... But. If you have money and want to start a business the US is a much more business friendly place. That may explain why you folks have too much unemployment over there. Same goes with taxes. Your education and medical bills are being taken cared by the government, if I'm not mistaken but... Once you get a good education and start making money you'll need to pay much higher taxes. That's why I see a lot of Europeans who, after getting their education in Europe, move to America to make good money and pay less taxes. You may be one of these folks in the future. :)

But, of course, in the end, comparing Europe and America we're all looking through things from our personal, biased, point of view. I tried to think as objectively as I could so that the total score is not too big in favor of one place or another. Both Europe and America are good places to live in. In fact, from what I know, they're probably the two best places to live in right now and that will stay true for the forseeable future.

'Murica!

Americans are Europeans that left Europe.

I'm sure though one day they will realize their mistake in leaving and come back home. O all the "well come home" parties we will have!

I'd like to go to Europe to check it out for awhile. My distaste for air travel makes it unlikely that I'll ever go though.

Sadly, I'm not that adventuresome. If I ever get to a point where I can take enough time off work, I will try to come over via cargo ship.

I'd rate using a cargo ship instead of a plane as pretty adventuresome :)

Canada? OK. I suppose you can begin making your own list with ‘1C’, ‘2C’, etc.

That is an interesting perspective. If what you are saying (about risks and rewards) is really true, then I prefer Europe — I'm not the kind of guy to take chances, even if more rewards are possible; I would be comfortable with my European life.

About guns, I still do not feel comfortable with the idea of allowing people to easily get one. Sure, it could help prevent crimes as well. But do not forget that we are assuming that the attackers are allowed to carry weapons as well; this means that, if all citizens are allowed to bear arms, a scene where someone attempts to make a robbery is very likely to end in a bloody shooting — which, in many cases (especially when the attackers' main intention is not to kill anyone), is likely to result in more souls lost than it would if the robbery were to simply take place as originally intended.

In other words, suppose someone wants to commit a robbery. Firstly, with easy gun ownership, just the idea of a robbery actually occurring becomes much more likely to happen. Secondly, if more people around have guns as well, they will start shooting; if everything goes well, the robber is either immobilised or killed (happy ending!); but if it does not, a shooting will occur, and scores of people may be killed before the police arrive. (About the scenario you suggested of someone breaking into your house, the analysis is the same, with the single difference that fewer people's lives are at risk.) Therefore, in these situations, I am led to conclude that the European style actually works better.

Now, what about massacres? That is a slightly different story. Similarly to the previous example, we have to consider that the occurrence of a massacre is much more likely if people are easily allowed to possess weapons. However, could it be that, if all those round the murderer were also allowed to bear arms, fewer people would die? We cannot tell. That would depend on many factors: the rhythm at which the murderer would kill people, the time police would take to arrive, whether the attacker could easily be shot down, etc.

To summarise, I think that an environment where everybody is easily allowed to get a gun is more dangerous than one where this does not happen. Surely, not allowing civillians to bear arms has the disadvantage of making it much more difficult to defend yourself if you are attacked — but, on the other hand, 1) it is likely to reduce the number of estimated fatalities (because there would not be any shooting) and 2) it reduces the likelihood of such an event even occurring in the first place!

As for jobs and taxes, I cannot say much. I have no experience with that. However, the idea of making it difficult for someone to fire me sounds interesting! :)

Yes, my viewpoint is surely biased, because I live in Europe already. And, personally, I like ‘my’ Europe. To me, she is the nicest place to live which I am aware of. I do hope I will not see myself moving to America (this is nothing against America, much less against the Americans: I just do not think I would feel very well there, given what I know). I am not saying everyone should come and live here; I am just explaining why I like it here! :)

Wait for next year's elections, then you'll know how America is.

I've actually spent about a month in Denmark back in '96. Would love to visit some again.

Oh yes! I mean, I was not at random that I wrote:

8E: The American Electoral College is such a terrible election system!

I mean, do not even get me started on that one! Do the maths! You can literally become President with only 23% of the country's votes! How ridiculous is that?