It's valuable to learn how others view us because there is always a bit o' blindness in our own self-image. I recently came across a UK blogger who makes interesting asides:
...ah, America! What can we say about her? Chesterton said she was a "nation with the soul of a Church". For me, she is a kind of inverse Europe - the things we keep private are public over there and vice versa.I also enjoyed this:
And little old UK kind of sits here in the middle of the Old Continent and the New - which way are we going to go? Like little Israel between the howling desert and the ancient city, can we keep our distinct identity when these two giants are tugging us two ways? Will we end up a typically British compromise of European and US culture? Perhaps there is a way to synthesise them and promote peace and life. That's my prayer; that's the challenge as I see it.
Frighteningly, the American 20-somethings they interviewed for the Robbins and Wilner book sound a lot more mature and sensible and realistic than the English ones in Barr's book.Frightening indeed.
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