Is the American Dream Dead? Can Asians Think?

gotterdamerung!! was ist die problem, mein Herr??


the german comeback kulharee wanted :-)

James, I think I am being politely aggressive, unless you want me to kick it up a notch. Now let`s hear your German comeback.

Re: # 41
Why are you so aggressive, Kulharee? Don`t you know how to have an exchange of ideas in a polite manner? What is it to me if you don`t like Germany or the German chancellor?!

Re: # 37

James..what’s the biggest export of Germany? Lemme guess: industrial ovens and chemicals. For crying out loud, Kobe Bryant is known more around the world than your Chancellor, whatsername Merkel?


Re: # 40
Marshakala,, a good question. You should also ask why the world is fascinated with the US? Here we have Germans comparing themselves with the US..haha. and not to mention the Frogs. We don’t think that we are defending the “American Dream” we are just informing the misinformed because Europeans in general are the biggest hypocrites, while they talk about equality on one hand, and don’t allow headscarf to be worn by Muslims on the other. In Badden Wottenburg Germany, it is unlawful for teachers to wear headscarves in the school premises. And this guy James is lecturing us on the German exports. Where do you think his head is?

Just wondering: If the American dream is alive and strong, why then do so many people here and elsewhere feel they have to defend it vehemently and even aggressively? Is the US a religion?

tahmed
what is it with jehlum, gujrat, sialkot, there is a massive exodus of young men from there into europe.

#35 your wish indeed had come true
as you made your chowk debut!!

love2love on valentines day
appropriate nick, by the way

Re: # 17
First, some corrections to my original post. Western Germany has pumped 1.2 trillion euros into the former East Germany, not 600 billion euros as I had mentioned. Secondly, Germany is the world`s largest exporter, not the second-largest exporter.

It is simplistic to compare race relations in Europe with race relations in the US. The history and causes of immigration to the US and immigration to Europe are completely different. On average, the Arabs of France are doing as good or as bad as the blacks living in ghettoes in the US.

For a different look into the American dream, and how immigrants fare in the US compared to in Europe, read this:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/4159974.stm

IMO, there is a layer on American that a lot of people find really hard to crack, and that is Protestant Guilt.

It results in a finicky, obsessive, self-improving culture that is particualrly good at examining itself for deficiencies (cf. Shining India).

A lot of the present hype regarding science & math is a part of the same phenomenon.

The US trains engineers far better than China or India. But its National Academies deliberately exaggerate figures to create a different impression.

Anyway, all of this does create a certain aura for us brown skins.

Re: # 34
I sincrealy wish you are being tongue-in-cheek and which is a tad different than being ironic.

one way to avoid racism is to stay in pakistan and not go to europe. you can then walk around in the land of the pure, where people are so much more superior to europeans morally speaking.

bjkumar: what is this index you are talking about??

as for ``insulting the author``, I am sorry if that sounds insulting to you. but am i wrong in saying that the whole article is an exercise in unintended irony?? which is basically what i am saying in #29.

hamdim # 7 is right on the mark in regards to racism.

Americans indeed have made tremendous progress in scaling down racism from work place and american culture. That is not to say that racism at many levels does not exist in american society today. It surely does and the blacks would be the first one to say so. However, the mainstream society recognizes it as a problem and has frameworks in place to deal with it.

This is not the same in europe, which has historically kept the immigrants at bay and the non-white immigrants on the sidelines. The second generation of Pakistani americans consider US to be their home, something I dont see in second generation of european pakistanis. Japan, China and Middle East also suffer from the same desease, although to a bit lesser degree than Australians and East Europeans - who are by far the most racist people (in general).

So lets give the credit where it is due - countering racism in our societies is one area where the US could serve as a role model for the entire world.

I am a bit of a pessimist. If you look back in history, all progress and development of some has come at the expense of others. The Industrial Revolution was funded by the colonies of India and the US. The Dutch, French, Portugueuse, Spanish and other European countries became developed nations by exploiting the colonies in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Even the Americans (or European immigrants to America) displaced the native population through what can only be termed as genocide, in order to get access to a resource rich land and become developed. If you look at the under-developed countries, the rich amongst them got that way only by exploiting the poor who had to suffer bonded labour and famines. Almost all great constructions - be it the Pyramids or the Taj Mahal came by exploiting slave labour - I very much doubt the kings of past would have been able to afford these magnificent constructions if they had to pay minimum wage and health benefits.

My point is that if India and other developing nations of today have to develop, who do they exploit? There are no remote colonies any longer, and it is increasingly becoming difficult to exploit your own, what with human rights and one-man-one-vote putting a crimp on things. There is not going to be an Utopia where the developing nations of today join the developed world. There will always be a small bunch of developed nations and a large mass of under-developed ones, though some countries may move from one group to another.

#29 Tahmed32

Tauheed saheb, whatever the shortcomings of the article, it is written in a polite tone and so there is at least SOME lesson there for all of us.

Deliberately insulting the author probably runs counter to SOME chowk guideline - or does it?

(PS: Can you fork over to me 1.0 from your interactor index so we can both be even at 2.0 each? I believe it would be only fair.)

I find it ironic that an article titled ``Can Asians think`` and ending with talk of america`s ``intellectual hegemony`` has nothing in-between other than excerpts from some book.

I dont know about asians, but you - and pakistani babus like you - are obviously incapable of thinking for yourself, mr. athar osama. and when you try to do that - all that comes out is hot air about ``intellectual hegemony``.