But if not hers the Dance of Death,
Great Dostoievsky's dance,
And if the things most finely French
Are better done in France--
Might not Americanisation
Be best applied to its own nation?
G. K. Chesterton

One of the greatest threats that the Europeans have had since the end of the 2nd World War (and even before, as the above poem indicates). Through television and through Europe turning generally more and more capitalistic, American thinking, the American way of life is deplyoed all over our poor countries.

Some of the statements here might be mainly true for the Scandinavian countries than for Europe as a whole (Hooray for France and Germany).

Most unfortunate is probably the fact the most young people hail this development. We didn't have junk food until the 1980es. McDonalds didn't enter the Danish market until 1981. In the 1970s, the most populer soft drink in Denmark was called Jolly Cola - it hardly doesn't exist anymore - Coca Cola and Pepsi are all over us. And the young people love it. Commercials aimed for teenagers are in English (uhm - American of course) only - it's coolest. Speaking in Danish is simply too boring.

TV Shows à la Ricki Lake and Oprah have infected the European homes - Germany taking the lead. TV commercials found their way up through 80es and 90es - Denmark still having the first national channel without them. MTV Europe is an institution in itself.

It is still very popular for Danish teenagers to take a year in High School in America - and they come back and think that they are so special and cool - deploying even more cultural disaster onto us.

Some Americans (what a funny word to use - considering that Americans should actually be all the people of North and South America) still wonder why Europeans are turning hateful towards them. Some people still don't understand why I feel like punching a tourist in the face, just for having an American accent. Well - it has become too much - we are drowning...

And don't get me wrong - most Americans are really nice people. But unfortunately, we have to take it out on them (even when they are not to blame), when we see our culture vanishing in front of us. And ryano - haw haw - actually, I looked it up and the poem is called AMERICANISATION...

Surely you mean Americanization ;-)

A very ironic word, spelled as such.

If you can't grasp the irony, you're probably not English. Or dyslexic. Or something.

British English has a distinct spelling change for some words - 're' instead of 'er' in centre/center - the addition (or American subtraction, depending on which bias you look at it from) of 'u' to such words as colour/color, favourite/favorite, etc. Among one of the many spelling changes is the suffix '-ise' and 'isation' to the American '-ize' and '-ization'.

Since Americani*ation describes the Borg-like process by which Americans assimilate other cultures (I was kind of too busy decrying the ban of women workers in Afghanistan and enforcing my American superiority of McDonalds production facility area choices to really check if this fact is true.), appending a British spelling to it increases the irony. This is the one word that should at least keep the z spelling to it.

For the children's sake.

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