Marsahll, I had the chance to spend 3 months in Greece. I stayed with a Greek family in fact. During my stay, the Greeks said Americans are too technical - always fascinated with the next gadget as a cure-all - to the neglect of politics, the human factors that drive events, choices. They were "on the outside looking in" and saw more clearly our pragmatic fixation with technology. Yes, a power mower to cut the lawn beats the old push-mowers. However, technology is not enough. In Greece, I observed what we would call an "over-politicized" society. You rose or fell in your career or job on the basis of your politics - not your technical skills. Americans, of course, like to think we put skills first and politics second. For instance, you had to be in the right political party to get and keep a job as a pilot at Olympic Airways. How politics connects to piloting skills, this writer fails to see. Yet, the Greeks raised a good point with me and "Opened my eyes" to a cultural bias in America - technology trumps sociology (politics). What do you think?
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