I’m proud to be an American, where there’s less CCTV
July 7, 2009 by Chris Hallquist |
I didn’t post a happy Fourth of July post, because I was too busy celebrating. Not only was I on vacation–making celebrating to the max a necessity–but it’s so much fun telling the Canadians among my fellow tourists why the Fourth is so much cooler than Canada Day.
But, since I’m on vacation, I’ve had a lot of time to think about the differences between America and the superficially similar (or at least rich) Europe. And I’ve come to feel a sense of American identity that I’ve never felt before. Here’s why:
Size. I started in my travels in Lyon, and left due to claustrophobia. In Lyon, the bars are literally just bars and barstools, no big area away from the bar to hang out and get lost in the crowd. There are no “bar crowds,” usually you find about one group of friends per bar. Stores are crammed together, if a store takes up three stories for half a block, it’s huge. In spite of there being a million people in Lyon, huge stretches of the city don’t have a single building above five stories. There’s one 40-story building, but no one knows how it got past the zoning board. The only time I felt comfortable in Lyon was when I went to a gay pride parade: it was big, loud, and obnoxious and made me feel like I was back home in America.
Other places I’ve been have been better in terms of having bar crowds, large stores, and so on, but there are still limits. In the main part of Paris, there’s exactly one skyscrapper. It’s supposed to be about 200m high. Everyone considers it an eyesore, only the high cost of removing asbestos keeps it from getting torn down.
Civil liberties. This concept does not exist in Europe. This is something I’d heard about a lot on BoingBoing, mainly in regards to Britain. There’s police making life difficult for photographers. Bizarre anti-photography propaganda. CCTV everywhere. Bizarre pro-CCTV propaganda. Easily abused libel laws. Oh, and I’m under the impression that they don’t like it if you photograph the CCTV.
I have yet to experience the worst of this, but I’ve seen how common CCTV is, and it’s creepy. This is everywhere in Europe, not just Britian (I actually haven’t been to Britain yet). And the French have no concept of needing propper cause to search you. Once, on the French metro, I got stopped by a group of four cops who made me empty my pockets to prove I didn’t have any drugs or weapons on me, then temporarily took away my passport, apparently so they could call into the station to check if there were any warrants out for my arrest. I can only guess as to why. Maybe it’s because I have long hair–I also saw them searching a guy with an incompletely shaved head, so maybe the rule is “search everyone with funny hair.” Or maybe it’s because I looked at them funny, wondering why there were cops on the metro.
The Netherlands: I’m struck by how different the Netherlands is from the U.S., but it gets to be special because it’s also different than the rest of Europe. The Netherlands is the only place I’ve been where: (1) the authorities will not try to prevent you from doing something without good reason and (2) if they have good reason to prevent you from doing something, they’re straightforward and efficient about doing so.
This really sunk in when I picked up a tourist guide that had a two-page message from the police, which both offered helpful advice about how to avoid paying for fake drugs and fake women, tells visitors not to be afraid to talk to the police if they have trouble with a prostitute or pimp, and also contains some very firm reminders not to drink or urinate on the streets. In other cities, it’s sort of taken for granted that you can get away with those things, but I have a hunch the Amsterdam police actually try to stop these crimes. Maybe it’s because they’re not wasting their time seeing if they can find marijuana on people with funny haircuts. Oh, and while random strangers will help you farebeat in Paris and no one cares, bus drivers in Amsterdam will show you no pity even if your bus ticket is failing to scan for no reason at all and you don’t have any other way to get home.
Theoretically, I wish the U.S. were like Amsterdam in all these ways. However, these facts of life deprive visitors to the Netherlands of two distinct pleasures: (1) the pleasure of feeling superior to the authorities because you know the laws against marijuana and prostitution are stupid and (2) the pleasure of feeling superior to the authorities by committing mostly-harmless crimes that still really should be illegal, like farebeating and public urination.
Admittedly, most of this stuff is trivial. Even some of the civil liberties stuff. But when I think about this stuff, what I realize is that no matter how well-rounded your liberal arts education, you will still be a product of your culture. Embrace it–no matter how big, loud, and obnoxious.
