I think that in Europe(at least in the part where I am from) we have this phenomenon as using "shame" to safeguard ourselves from making "mistakes". We do have more superficial and shallow layers in our cultures and in our media, but we tend to be very snobbish and dismissive about that inside our own societies. Perhaps it's because, here and now, intellectual dominates over emotional. Or maybe because we made some very grave mistakes when we got too indulgent in that shallowness and we know the consequences and are afraid of repeating them.

Americans, it seems, have this pop cultural space that carries much less shame which makes it freer, more experimental, expressive and, in a strange way, more serious. To be popular, to crave attention is not only not shameful but in a sense one of the main goals of the American dream. That makes it valuable and desirable. And that's why we get attracted to that — as a way to challenge our long tradition of thinking that some parts of our identify are inferior to others. Yet, we still can't not notice all the mistakes American do and it makes us less inclined to adopt that mentality wholeheartedly.

But adopting a Thanksgiving seems like one of the safer choices, right? 😄