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Message: <blockquote data-quote="fuindordm" data-source="post: 2605617" data-attributes="member: 5435">Almost everyone is proud of their own culture--does that make them arrogant?  The French have lots of things to be proud of: the quality of their food, which still comes mostly from small farms and businesses; the quality of their schools; their diplomacy; their family values... (heavily subsidized day care rocks!).  They also have things that they're not so proud of: their impenetrable beauracracy, their slowness to adapt to change, areas of their economy that are still in deep trouble, etc.  They will extol their virtues and decry their faults in the same breath, and I haven't yet met one who wasn't willing to explore any issue in all its nuances and shades of grey.(I'm married to one, by the way.)The willingness to talk about anything, and debate everything, without taking things personally and getting defensive is really fantastic.  I wonder if it used to be like that in the US.  By the time I became politically aware, politics were already taboo.  I think it's because people in the US care *too* much--we feel almost hurt when someone doesn't agree with us. In France they care deeply as well, but somehow they manage not to take it quite as seriously.   When the European constitution was up for a vote here, I saw lots of people on the metro reading it on their way to work.  Reading the whole damn constitution, not just a summary of it.Ben</blockquote>