Even when visiting Western Europe coming from the Eastern part of the continent one can very easily have the same impression. For example I find that France is quite obsessed with the US and, dare I say, it also has a small inferiority complex (which, in a way, the US also holds when it comes to France). All the daily action now for young people happens just outside the cities/towns, where you have all those hyper-markets and fast-food joints, similar to the “spirit of the Mall” that came from the States. NBA is also pretty big, no wonder Tony Parker has become such a star.
Northern Italy is pretty similar, for example LeBron had lived there for a while and was an AC Milan fan, there’s commercialization of everything, a feeling of “you don’t really live if you’re not shopping”, that sort of stuff.
Again, the US holds its own Europe-related inferiority complexes, that’s why I think this cultural dynamic between Western Europe and the States is pretty interesting.
> the US holds its own Europe-related inferiority complexes
Does it? Most of the folks I know here think of Europe as quaint, and have never actually been there or want to go. We do seem to think that Europe has the skin and hair care advantage though, as pretty much any upscale products in those markets are branded as being European.
Most of the folks I know here think of Europe as quaint
Every US political discussion on just about any topic always has very vocal group shouting some variation of "why can't we be more like Europe?" Often these people have a very naive or outright incorrect view of how things actually are in "Europe", but they definitely seem convinced that things are much better there.
Northern Italy is pretty similar, for example LeBron had lived there for a while and was an AC Milan fan, there’s commercialization of everything, a feeling of “you don’t really live if you’re not shopping”, that sort of stuff.
Again, the US holds its own Europe-related inferiority complexes, that’s why I think this cultural dynamic between Western Europe and the States is pretty interesting.