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[Leafsnail]

To be fair, very few people are actually caught on the Terrorism law.  And it's 30 days without charge, but any country can hold a person for that long if they just bring a charge against them.  Anyway, I've mentioned the word "bomb".  Bomb Bomb Bomb Bomb Bomb.  It doesn't get me arrested, nor does saying something religious (otherwise reading IWM's posts would've already brought the police to me).

[Siquo]

To be fair, very few actual terrorists are actually caught on the Terrorism law. 

[umiman]

It might be worth nothing that there are also very few actual terrorists.

[Leafsnail]

There was the Lucozade bombers thing, and the Glasgow airport attack caused no casualties because their original plans were foiled by the police (their backup plan, crashing a flaming jeep into the wall of the airport, did not go well).

[redacted123]

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[Nilocy]

I think we'd all have done the same in that position. Y'know the guys now turned his fame into minor political power, he's running to be an MP.

Anyway, back to the main topic.

At work I was discussing with a friend that having a single European country would be extremely good. She disagreed, and I can see why. Her views were that having a country for your own people gives you a sense of who you are and where you belong. But I had to disagree since this was like the only thing she came up with in defence of not being a single union.

So, a slightly same topic but different question: What do you think are the major barriers in setting up a new super state is?

Personally I think its the nationalism that stands in our way the most, that and differing opinions on laws.

[cowofdoom78963]

At work I was discussing with a friend that having a single European country would be extremely good. She disagreed, and I can see why. Her views were that having a country for your own people gives you a sense of who you are and where you belong. But I had to disagree since this was like the only thing she came up with in defence of not being a single union.

Thats like saying that you disagree with someones stance on unprotected sex becuase their only defense was that you could get a baby.

[Nilocy]

Yeah, she wasn't very good at making points... and I told her about all the pro's of going super... sounds like some kinda thing that'll just happen by accident.

"Sir! The readings are coming through. You won't like them..."
"Get on with it man!"
"The EU! She's gone SUPER!"
"Dear god. Get me the president."

[cowofdoom78963]

Yeah, she wasn't very good at making points... and I told her about all the pro's of going super... sounds like some kinda thing that'll just happen by accident.

I was talking about you...

[Il Palazzo]

...because nationalism is a huge barrier. This is exactly why comparisions to USA are fallacious - the Europeans spent their whole history building up and treasuring their animosities and sense of national superiority, even before the rise of full blown nationalism in the recent couple of cenuries.

[Siquo]

... having a country for your own people ...

And there it is.

We need a broader interpretation of "your own people". Problem is that it's always relative to another group. "My own people" would be the entire EU if I had to relate to the US, and "My own people" would be blood-relatives compared to the in-laws.

To elaborate on Il Palazzo: The EU has not by far the relatively homogenous spread the US has (yes, I know you think the midlands are waay different than the east-or-west-coast but FYI: it's not).
Almost every country has at least one unique language, and mostly 2 or 3 real languages and a few unintelligible dialects.
People have lived in their place in the EU for many generations. You can really tell by someone's looks what part of what country (s)he is from.
So what you have is very local-minded people, who hardly communicate across borders, hardly migrate, and hardly ever travel (yes, most of the EU is like that).
They do not really know their neighbours (except that their neighbours had invaded them 760 years ago and we still haven't forgotten!) so you get a culture clash about every 300-400kms that you travel.

[Dwarf]

Ignore this.

[Siquo]

Lucky US. It happens that everybody there has the same culture (IF there even is culture) for they are descendants of a single country (originally).

I knew something like that was coming.
Really: relatively, they do. Why? They are all descendants of a single country (the US).
And before you go on a rant of how different everyone in the US is, remember that we're talking about quantitative and qualitative relative internal cultural differences on the scale of a continent. Africa wins, the Americas lose, Asia and the EU go in between.

[Aqizzar]

Indeed.  We've been discussing the past and future of the EU in a class of mine lately, and it's astounding how obvious it seems to some Americans to just turn Europe's countries into states like we have.  Texas and New York and California may have their laundry list of differences, but they're absolutely nothing compared to, say, France and Germany.  Or any other two countries in Europe.

But, once again, can we please stop with the unsolicited America bashing in every thread?  I'm talking to you Dwarf.  You don't think we have a culture only because our movies and television have dominated yours.

[Dwarf]

Screw what I wrote.