Since I arrived in the US 17 months ago, I’ve been trying to put my finger in a fairly big cultural difference between the US and the UK.
Perhaps by explaining where I‘ve got to/noticed, someone might help me articulate it:
Perhaps by explaining where I‘ve got to/noticed, someone might help me articulate it:
I left the UK about four months after the Brexit vote. I think it’s fair to say at that point, those who voted “remain” had sunk into depression and discourse was about feeling powerless in the face of the decision.
I arrived in NYC just weeks after the US election and the atmosphere amongst a city that mostly voted for Hilary was different.
There was an energy fuelled by horror and outrage that seemed to manifest for many in organising some form of resistance activity, however futile.
There was an energy fuelled by horror and outrage that seemed to manifest for many in organising some form of resistance activity, however futile.
I thought, maybe in time, New Yorkers would sink into the same depressed stagnation I saw in London.
They didn’t.
I realised that was a fundamental cultural difference.
They didn’t.
I realised that was a fundamental cultural difference.
Over time, I think the best way to explain that difference is how much you believe in he power of the individual over the structural to effect change.
I’ve been impressed with many ways that manifests positively in US culture - the entrepreneurialism and the social acitivism.
I’ve been impressed with many ways that manifests positively in US culture - the entrepreneurialism and the social acitivism.
BUT
The one place the focus on the power of the individual confuses me is when trying to tackle the structural.
The US is having some pretty huge public conversations right now about some pretty fundamental structural problems.
The one place the focus on the power of the individual confuses me is when trying to tackle the structural.
The US is having some pretty huge public conversations right now about some pretty fundamental structural problems.
Yes, time and time again, I hear those debates manifest only in solutions at a personal level.
Don’t get me wrong - there is plenty individuals should do to combat their own ignorance and understand how their actions and language reinforce structural problems.
Don’t get me wrong - there is plenty individuals should do to combat their own ignorance and understand how their actions and language reinforce structural problems.
But what about the debate about the structural interventions?
This was much more a focus of the UK “remainer” conversation after Brexit: how the legal system and the opposition in government might intervene to stop Brexit.
This was much more a focus of the UK “remainer” conversation after Brexit: how the legal system and the opposition in government might intervene to stop Brexit.
And so, I *think* there’s a cultural difference in where the citizenry of the US and UK see power coalescing and this fundamentally changes what’s possible in each democracy and how it’s achieved.
But, I could be talking utter nonsense. Thoughts?
But, I could be talking utter nonsense. Thoughts?
Weirdly I managed to quote tweet instead of thread the penultimate part of this tweetstorm. 🤔
