tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9487055.post3465584768017715614..comments2024-03-26T05:56:59.938+11:00Comments on THE PSYCHOLOGIST : JRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00829082699850674281noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9487055.post-45880726858598219282016-08-08T23:28:11.689+10:002016-08-08T23:28:11.689+10:00"Could such an ideology be transplanted elsew..."<i>Could such an ideology be transplanted elsewhere? Probably not. ... and the competitive element in American culture would also rule it out.</i>"<br /><br />Really? Most people in America treat others are their <i>moral</i> equals ... it comes of being a member of a culture that -- <br />1) is so thoroughly shaped by Christianity (despite that most living Americans aren't really Christians, the culture has been shaped by Christianity)<br />2) was founded almost exclusively by people of the middle classes, and never really had an aristocracy.<br /><br />It seems to me that American and Australian societis are similar and different because of our founding circumstances and founding populations. Both were frontier societies -- of primarily Englishmen -- in which land was plentiful but labor was scarce; and these facts put our cultures on similar paths. At the same time, the founding population of America was mostly from the English middle classes, whereas that of Australia was mostly of the English and Irish poor/unwanted.<br /><br />So, while of course I may be wrong, never having experienced Australian culture first hand, it seems to me that Australian egalitarian has a strong undertone of "don't get 'too big' or we'll pull you down".<br /><br />It's like Bono is reported to have said of the difference between Americans and Irish. To paraphrase: an American sees a big house on a hill and says, "Someday I'll have one of those", but an Irishman sees a big house on a hill and says, "Someday I'll get you, you bastard!"Ilíonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15339406092961816142noreply@blogger.com