What makes Europe special?

[Insomniac]

Well, first of all I guess I should ask if Europe is special. It may not be, but I think considering everything it accomplished, just short of collective worldwide domination, it's a valid assumption that there was something special about it.

I know the Guns, Germs, and Steel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns,_Germs,_and_Steel) answer, but I'm not talking about that, because "European exceptionalism" has a lot more to it than just conquest or technology. If European force nearly conquered the world, European ideas certainly did. America doesn't exist without Rousseau and Locke; capitalism without Adam Smith. Even the philosophies rejecting Western imperialism have largely accepted Western philosophies to do it (i.e. Marxism).

So why Europe and not China, Europe, or Mesopotamia? That's what I'm asking.

[Archangel]

A shitload of tribes on very little space. With the exception of Rome, no single dominant faction. Competition breeds excellence, both intellectually and militarily: China had a major war every 200 years, we had one every 20, so we were simply more proficient at killing people; also, Christianity being constantly under attack for 500 years (and then proceeding straight to civil war) led to a philosophy of ideological, then actual domination. In China or India, many religions or ideologies co-exist, and have for centuries: Here, one has to dominate. The intellectual battlefields of Europe were just as bloody as the actual ones, which they more often than not helped create.

[Insomniac]

I'll grant you India, but China? What was so co-existent about the Emperor?

[Archangel]

The Taoists don't try to prove to the Buddhists that they're the only ones who have got the right answers, and the Buddhists don't try to convert the Confucianists at gunpoint. And if you paid your taxes and respected the authority of the emperor and his bureaucrats, the government more or less left you in peace, pretty much like the Romans did.

Here, every time a new religion (Islam, Protestantism) or ideology (democracy, nationalism, communism) reared its head, half the continent got wiped out to prove that the others were wrong.

[Phil Theehor]

To the Europeans: Will the formation of the EU change this? The competitive aspect?

[Phil Theehor]

And to Insomniac's question (great question, by the way): Of all that they have given the world, I think the concept of the social contract is probably the most important. That's what led to individual rights.

If you look at the two competing regions you mentioned, the very lack of the "consent of the governed" concept has them where they are today-- rich in some ways, but still existing in a very backwards state.

[Archetype]

Individual rights are overrated. I mean, come on.

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u50/jjmckool/ghostdog.jpg

[lusonico]

To the Europeans: Will the formation of the EU change this? The competitive aspect?

EU has all the potential to be another soviet union kind of entity, with one deadly motherfucking factor the soviets did not have, MULTICULTURALISM. So it will be either an opressive central power or a balkans kind of region.

[freegood]

Europe was a runt until they formalized higher learning into a rigid set of quantitative steps. Philosophy, science, culture, and most of all, education benefited. Plus they had a general appetite of things not their own. Spices, porcelain, and silk were at times more than their weight in gold. So they had that hunger and drive that wasn't present among more advanced civs of their time.

Why not China? Because they believed they had all that one could ever want and could make whatever that will be.

Arrogant fucks.

[Claydon]

Europe gave us the renaissance and the enlightment which gave us the United States.

Course, they also gave us hitler and marx.... hmmmmm.

[Claydon]

Europe was a runt until they formalized higher learning into a rigid set of quantitative steps. Philosophy, science, culture, and most of all, education benefited. Plus they had a general appetite of things not their own. Spices, porcelain, and silk were at times more than their weight in gold. So they had that hunger and drive that wasn't present among more advanced civs of their time.

Why not China? Because they believed they had all that one could ever want and could make whatever that will be.

Arrogant fucks.

Not to mention Mao probably set them back about 100 years.

[freegood]

Huh?

[worldsnemesis]

Europe is special because of the fact that their competitiveness throughout history bred excellence and superiority. This is because as previously stated the close proximity of warring factions. Other regions in the world that did not have this competitive mindset because of their geography were still special for their own involvements in human history. However, without the competitive nature their greatness has not survived the test of time.

[EVILution!]

England's OK. They gave us Monty Python, Def Leppard, Guy Richie, and Alan Moore.

[heelsguy]

the only thing that makes europe special is the fact that 90% of our ancestors came from there.

edit: 90% of the LEGAL immigrants

[Hoser]

The only things for me now are, the history (much older then where I am from), the culture (very different, very relaxed from what I hear), girls who speak a different language, and I have never been there.

Other then that it I dont see anything that special. Although from my time spent in the US, which is alot, It seems like I would like Europe alot more.

[Yelram]

White people?

[Limp]

What makes Europe special?

The highest number of faggots per capita than anywhere else in the world.

[xfancy]

Because the people who don't live there think it's special. For instance, how many people dream of going to Paris and standing under the Eiffel tower? I've been to Paris so many times I've passed on a few trips. It's special because it's view unattainable for most people I think. Ha and because people are influenced by the rich and famous, and the rich and famous make a big deal about Europe, others do too. It's funny, Americans who think they're trying to be European are very snobbish

For me personally, having lived in America and Europe, it's just a different quality of life, different cultures, different environment... Though it is nice being so close to history.

[Skybase]

I just wanna take a piss of the Eiffel Tower. During a strong wind.

[Archangel]

What makes Europe special?



Hmm.

Short answer: me.

[Yelram]

What makes Europe special?



Hmm.

Short answer: me.

Special wasnt in quotation marks.

[BIG PIZZLE]

Jamon iberico.

[freegood]

The highest number of faggots per capita than anywhere else in the world.

Uhhh, that makes Europe fabulous, not special.