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Rk, how can you sit in a country that operates a system of Extraordinary Rendition and then tell me my part of the world is bordering on totalitarian?
There are differences in approach to things like censorship, true, but that's not because we are becoming more censorial. There was never a time when most Euro states weren't actively censoring material in the public domain. I'm not arguing this to be good or bad, just pointing out it's not a progression from a time of greater freedoms to a time of lesser freedoms. In terms of the 'nanny-state', I don't really see we're that different to America in many ways. Your approach to drugs use is way more draconian than in Britain, for instance, and certainly than in much of Europe (with tyhe possible exception of France). That is the State nannying its citizens and telling them the State knows best. I heard a story a few years ago about a Californian woman being prosecuted for smoking and drinking whilst pregnant.
In Europe, just like in the States, there are sometimes knee jerk laws responding to a perceived social ill. I rarely agree with these moves, but they are not something that Europe has a monopoly on.
I understand how you see Europe rk, but I completely disagree with your analysis of it. Part of the problem, I think is where the emphasis lies. In America a pop star accidentally shows her nipple and all hell breaks loose: in most european states that wouldn't even cause a flicker. We attach importance differently to different things. Our cultures are different to yours in many ways (and also similar in many ways).
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