Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences 
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Let me correct you, Sara. In Europe, in general, all countries DO have legal drinking age stated in the law. How do the countries control this then, that varies very much. For example, here in Finland, where the alcohol consumption has been traditionally very high and social and health problems of alcohol are bad, the law has been very strict with selling alcohol. Like in Sweden, Norway and Iceland, the state owns all the alcohol shops. Only 30 years ago you had to have a special permission card to buy alcohol. Taxes on alcohol are relatively high. The state uses big sum of money to treat the illnesses related to high consumption of alcohol (we do have a national healthcare system, free for everyone). I guess this could be called as ‘restricting one’s individual rights’, but I find it good. On the other hand, in countries like France or Italy, where wine has always been part of a meal, even the young kids can buy wine etc. In those countries people have used to drink wines without an aim to get drunk. I still believe that the Europeans do drink more than Americans. It’s not a social catastrophe to be drunken in a public place here before noon. People are quite tolenrant with the issue.
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Name : Mikko, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 21, City : Helsinki, State : NA, Country : Finland, Occupation : Journalist, Education level : 2 Years of College,Coming from European welfare society where the class borders are much more invisible than in the States, I find it hard to define my socioeconomic class. As a left-wing, I could use the Marxist theory of owning and working class. In today’s society, the working class could be the people who actually work for their living and the owning/ruling class the politicians, big shareholders etc. However I find this 200 years old theory inaccurate in 21th century society. My parents are from working class families but do have a academic higher diplomas and in upper middle class nowadays, working in education. I would like to say I rather want to be considered as a working class person, even though I as well am studying in university. Sounds funny, eh? but I don’t like the conservative, narrow-minded middle-class.
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Name : Mikko, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 21, City : Helsinki, State : NA, Country : Finland, Occupation : Journalist, Education level : 2 Years of College,I honestly don’t believe that Germans would be more militaristic or violent than the other nations. I think it all comes from the history of WWII. As you all know, Americans were fighting together with the other allies against the German Nazis (National Socialists or Fascists). The war propaganda in your home front naturally wanted to label the enemies (Germans) as militarists. This kind of labels are hard to break and will remain to brand the whole nation still after 50 years of peace. In Germany the gun laws are very strict (as all around Europe) and people have to have strict permission to carry or own a gun. All the gun owners are listed by the authorities. Germans are very aware of their far-right background and normally tend to avoid the entire issue. Many Germans still face offensive comments of their history. From European point of view, we see Americans more gun-crazy and militaristic than us Europeans. Maybe because in the USA in many states there is a freedom to carry and buy a gun without a specific permission. The number of gun-related crimes is also bigger in the USA than in European countries. We see the stereotypical Yankee from the Southern states carrying a gun and acting offensively and violently. It’s not close to the reality at all, but all nations have their stereotypes. Better education of different nations and cultures breaks this kind of untrue beliefs.
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Name : Mikko, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 21, City : Helsinki, State : NA, Country : Finland, Occupation : Journalist, Education level : 2 Years of College,
