Re: Culture was Re: [OT] Vietnam and modern combat

At 11:23 AM +1000 5/5/2004, Alan and Carmel Brain wrote:
>From: <warbeads@juno.com>
>
>>  There is a _huge_ cultural
>>  >gulf
>>  >between "northern" and "southern" Europeans, and while it isn't
quite
>>  >as
>>  >cleanly along national borders as the NSL/FSE depicts, it should
>>  >certainly not be ignored.
>>  >
>
>>  I admit there are cultural differences, just look at East Coast
versus
>>  Left Coast (basically Socialist versus Anarchist <grin>) in the USA.
 The
>>  differences are just exaggerated for effect in the Tuffleyverse. 
IMO.
>>  But I'll have to take consideration of others' first hand experience
>>  since I don't see myself out of country (I turned down the chance to
be a
>>  'tourist' in S.E.A.  this year already) in this life time.
>
>To see a truly embarressing article in the Grauniad, er, Guardian, have
>a look at
>http://aebrain.blogspot.com/2004_05_02_aebrain_archive.html#10836776220
6934393
>
>Summary :
>A British journalist goes to Alabama, and proceeds to extrapolate "what
the
>average American thinks".
>So I decided to write about Denmark, and extrapolate "what the average
>European thinks".
>
>Australia is incredibly homogenous*, the differences in accent and
language
>between, say, Melbourne and Sydney are so minute as to be lost in the
noise.
>The difference between the Australian and New Zealand accents is
actually more
>pronounced now than it was 30 years ago, probably because both
countries have
>only existed in their current forms for about a century.
>
>* Queensland excepted. They do things differently there. Even more
differently
>than Taswegians.
OT
*AHEM*
North of the border between Queensland and the Southern types there 
are some differences that we "northeners" put down to the 
ameliorating effects of the heat and lack of shoulder-to-shoulder 
living practiced by the inhabitants "down south".
Please be aware that we are speaking of all of Australia north of the 
Queensland/NSW border and that does represent a land mass comparable 
to most of Europe.
We have more in common with the Taswegians in that we are used to the 
way that the politicians ignore us. The accents and dialect words are 
discernable. (part of my job)
The proposal is that cultural differences can occur as a result of 
climate effects as well as the perception that there is a 
centrally-navel-gazing government clique looking after themselves who 
"see not the others".
;-)
MarkS