Stories like this are why I donate my CPU/GPU time to SiDock/Rosetta/Folding@home. We all can make a difference, even if our contributions are small.
Stories like this are why I donate my CPU/GPU time to SiDock/Rosetta/Folding@home. We all can make a difference, even if our contributions are small.
I’m American, live in the deep south (about 20-30 minutes from Destin actually, I’ve lived in Europe, and I’m non-religious.
Now that my bona fides are out of the way, I really think that most people have a skewed view of America, and especially on religious topics.
In broad strokes, you’re right. Americans push religion more from both the Atheist side of things and the fundamentalist side. However, this isn’t like a day-to-day normal thing for most people. If you’re on a university campus you will 100% see some religious organization handing out fliers. On a street on a busy Friday, you might even see people proselytizing on the street corner.
But…
I saw all that in Europe as well. Definitely less common, don’t get me wrong, but it was absolutely a thing. There’s different vibes (American fuck you my religion is right; you’re going to hell vs. European Please save our most sacred nation that was founded by GOD!), but it’s really not all that different.
Tl;dr: Humans are human. You can draw whatever lines in sand you like, but it’s really not all that different no matter where you go.
Totally agreed, thanks for the perspective.
Setting aside the loonies on either side of the pond, I do think understanding the cultural difference is important, if only because it sets a standard of social acceptability. Destin’s (mild) religious proselytizing would be off-putting and socially… challenging(?) coming from any of the French-speaking YouTubers I follow for example.
But coming from an American, I still find it personally off-putting but I can just chalk that feeling up to different cultural sensibilities and suck it up.