A Man Walks Into Yet Another Bar . . .
Marketplace wrapped up its tour of European bars last week with stops in Germany and Greece.
What struck me in these interviews, as with the three earlier ones, is how much more sophisticated a world view Europeans have compared with the average American. Remember that all of the interviews in the "Pub Crawl" series were with ordinary people at bars and pubs. And yet, when you have an intelligent program asking intelligent questions, it is actually possible to get an intelligent response.
Compare that with the results of the "average man/woman on the street" interviews conducted by American media that actually make it on the air and, well . . .
Moving on. From an interview in Germany:
Max Buskohl: It's 1938 all over again, you know. It's like, we're going to take over this country, just for a short while. We're gonna swap it all around and make it German and then leave. It doesn't work. It's just an invasion. It is an invasion.
Yeah, I hear you, Max. Substitute "American" for "German" and you realize that the United States has been doing this for decades. And hell, we can't even locate half the countries we're taking over on a map.
A ton of reports came in from all over the world to the website tracking the price of a pint and those results are interesting in themselves.
The most expensive pint? That would be (US)$10.71 for a pint of pale ale at Kerry Parkside in Shanghai, China.
The cheapest? (US)$0.75, the special Monday rate for Pabst Blue Ribbon at Flaming Amys in Wilmington, NC, USA.
At least one customer in Cleveland, Ohio, apparently not understanding the point of the exercise, submitted a price for a "12-ounce" pint. And on that note, I'm going to go now.
What struck me in these interviews, as with the three earlier ones, is how much more sophisticated a world view Europeans have compared with the average American. Remember that all of the interviews in the "Pub Crawl" series were with ordinary people at bars and pubs. And yet, when you have an intelligent program asking intelligent questions, it is actually possible to get an intelligent response.
Compare that with the results of the "average man/woman on the street" interviews conducted by American media that actually make it on the air and, well . . .
Moving on. From an interview in Germany:
Max Buskohl: It's 1938 all over again, you know. It's like, we're going to take over this country, just for a short while. We're gonna swap it all around and make it German and then leave. It doesn't work. It's just an invasion. It is an invasion.
Yeah, I hear you, Max. Substitute "American" for "German" and you realize that the United States has been doing this for decades. And hell, we can't even locate half the countries we're taking over on a map.
A ton of reports came in from all over the world to the website tracking the price of a pint and those results are interesting in themselves.
The most expensive pint? That would be (US)$10.71 for a pint of pale ale at Kerry Parkside in Shanghai, China.
The cheapest? (US)$0.75, the special Monday rate for Pabst Blue Ribbon at Flaming Amys in Wilmington, NC, USA.
At least one customer in Cleveland, Ohio, apparently not understanding the point of the exercise, submitted a price for a "12-ounce" pint. And on that note, I'm going to go now.