Tag: quote

"Let me tell you one great thing about America, that everbody in Europe could be jealous of. For the land mass that we have Vs. the land mass of the European part of the world, you have more hatred per square foot, from country to country, than exists anywhere in the United States. The idea of the ethnic pride, and the grudges that go back thousands of years, that will keep this part of the world a disaster area for centuries yet to come, is something that we will not experience in the States. And I'm happy to be from there, rather than from here(Europe), because over here(again, Europe) you have to choose. You get to be English, or you get to be French, or Polish, or whatever it is, but you,ya know, you have to say, "We're the best," and you live your life thinking that you're the best, and the guy next door is a poot-head, and you have to conduct your business that way, and its the business of hate.

There's no cooperation, and there's no standardization, and you can insulate yourself and think that what you're doing in your country is really terrific, but it's not. Ultimately, it Bites. And in the Unites States, weird as it is, there is always the possibility that something good could happen all the way across the country, there is a national feeling there among a large number of people. Even though the guy from Vermont might have totally different tastes than, politics and everything else, from the guy in Texas, but they are still Americans, and they're happy to be that way. You don't hear people saying, "I am a European and proud to be that way." You hear them say, "I'm French, and the rest of you guys go die."-Frank Zappa (Music Box, 1984)