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    Why I Hate The European Fantasy

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    Why I Hate The European Fantasy

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    amelie.sahadevan
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    Why I hate the European fantasy

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    Why I Hate The European Fantasy

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    amelie.sahadevan

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    Why I hate the European fantasy

    Scroll through TikTok for 5 minutes and you’ll probably find someone packing for their Spanish
    vacay or raving about how they lost so much weight because “food in Italy isn’t processed.”

    Even throughout Europe, the US is condemned. In a debate about education systems, a Swede
    I met abroad asked me to “Name one good business school in the United States.” 7 of the 10
    best business schools in the world happen to reside in the States.

    So, why are we so obsessed with Europe? And is European veneration and US demonization
    really a form of escaping our own reality?

    Here are some reasons why it shouldn’t be.

    1. The melting pot of the US.


    In a Freakonomics episode on how “The US is just different”, Mark Anthony Neil, a professor of
    African and African-American studies at Duke University, commented that “You have no real
    other example of a country that has brought together so many different national and ethnic
    backgrounds.” While racism, equal opportunity, and police mistreatment for minorities are
    issues in both Europe and the US alike, and there is still so much more work to be done, it’s
    important to recognize one of our greatest strengths as a nation is our appreciation and
    recognition of other identities.

    Nearly “9 in 10 Black people in mainland France say they are victims of racist discrimination” on
    a regular basis, according to Le Monde, a French newspaper. I witnessed this discrimination
    first hand on a trip to France to see my friend Nell. As we sat on the beach, we heard two men
    blasting music. One of her friends says, “They’re probably Algerian.” In his eyes, a foreigner
    with no right to be in his country. After stereotyping, he says, “I have the right to be racist in their
    country.” I was horrified.

    2. An economy that’s struggling.


    We often look to Europe and especially Nordic countries as measures of performance for the
    US. Danish people are the happiest in the world, with human-first policies like paid family leave
    and free healthcare. How come the US doesn’t?

    The US has such a unique history and culture that it would be hard to emulate a Danish system
    and get the same results. Despite the characterization that the US is failing on the social
    equality front, “incomes for America’s poorest fifth have risen in real terms by 74% since 1990,
    much more than in Britain” due to significant tax cuts. As we create new policies and programs
    that help Americans, we have to stop measuring ourselves and recognize our own individuality.

    3. A slower pace of life, but not a rejection of capitalism or consumerism


    Current sentiment depicts Europe as a slower, more relaxed place with more vacation time and
    breaks and less rampant consumerism. While this is true for some places, every person and
    situation is unique and many French people work similar 9-5 hours as Americans. According to
    Steve Rogers, a statistician for finmasters, in the US, Americans allocate 2.6% of annual budget
    to clothes whereas in the UK the budget for clothing is 4% per year.

    I’m not saying don’t go to Europe, never gaze at the twinkling Tour Eiffel at midnight or eat
    ensalada rusa in Madrid or swim in dazzling teal Mediterranean waters, but, like any place you
    visit, stop to consider the veil that clouds our perception of the Occident. There’s a reason
    utopia translates to “no place.”

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