Greece has always juggled the west and the east. For a while, actually a long while, basically from the conquests of Alexander the Great and the founding of Alexandria in 350 BC to the fall of Constantinople in 1453 (an 1,800 year run; for contrast the Tea Party threatens to end our run after only 235 years) the Hellenes pulled it off.
But now Greece can't win for losing.
In 1980, Greece officially joined the west when it became a member of the European Union. It may sound odd to think of the founders of western civilization as joining the west but Greece has historically looked east. Consider everything from defeating the Persians to Alexander the Great spreading Hellenic values and culture as far east as India to the melding of Greek and Egyptian cultures in Alexandria to the eastern Roman empire based in Constantinople, all those things happened facing east. Combine that orientation with unhappy events that came from the west: the conquest of Constantinople by the Catholic crusaders of the Fourth crusade in 1204 - the event that really started fostering Greece's anti-western bias - and the perceived western favoritism towards the Ottoman Empire in opposition to an independent Greek state. In modern times, US and NATO support for the Colonels during the military dictatorship from 1967 to 1973, and similar support for Turkey during their 1974 invasion of Cyprus, re-enforced Greek mistrust of the west.
That ambiguity was finally settled when Greece joined the EU in 1980. And Greece has benefited from being part of the EU. Since 1980, EU money has flowed into Greece in the form of funding for infrastructure and farm subsidies, and in increased tourism and the construction of vacation or second homes for prosperous northern Europeans. Bottom line, the country is much more modern than it was in the 1970s, and after decades of exporting people it now imports people from poorer parts of the region, not just the Balkans but from the Middle East and north and west Africa.
But Greece has suffered, too. Parts of Greece look like the worst of Florida, with cheap hotels full of sun burnt tourist wandering from taverna to t shirt shop in a bloated holiday stupor.
And now we find out the vaunted - and healthy - traditional Greek diet is taking a hit. I found out this week that almost 9 percent of Greeks have type II diabetes, a shocking number but even worse when you consider that 20 years ago the disease was unheard of there. That's how quickly the Greek diet has changed from healthy - primarily due to 160 days of fasting in conjunction with the Greek Orthodox calender and a lower living standard - to a western junk and processed food one.
Greeks also used to shop at local shops for fresh food - from bakers, butchers, etc. But supermarkets - full of processed food - are taking over in Greek cities and villages.
The Greek lifestyle has changed as well. As it is in the American south, where for decades folks stayed healthy even when eating a fried foot diet, both Greeks and southerners no longer do much hard, physical, historically-rural work. Like Americans, most Greeks live in cities and work at a desk or behind a cash register at a tourism-related business.
Finally, junk and processed food - potato chips, ice cream and candy bars, sugar soda - is everywhere in Greece. Greek life is so western that Ariadne and Evan don't actually notice much difference between the U.S. and the motherland. I just asked them to compare Athens and Washington, and Greek like with American life, and Evan said "Athens is a lot older" and that "Greeks eat a lot more food and spent more time eating" than Americans. Ariadne said she wished "we had siesta time in America," noted that neither city has big sky scrapers, and though Athens is not as clean as Washington it is much cleaner than New York.
Joining the EU and the west has been a huge win for Greece. Even with the current economic crisis Ellas has never been this prosperous. Hard to believe that Greece survived the 4th Crusade, the Ottoman Empire, and a military dictatorship but may lose out potato chips and ice cream.
A Few Random Thoughts
That ambiguity was finally settled when Greece joined the EU in 1980. And Greece has benefited from being part of the EU. Since 1980, EU money has flowed into Greece in the form of funding for infrastructure and farm subsidies, and in increased tourism and the construction of vacation or second homes for prosperous northern Europeans. Bottom line, the country is much more modern than it was in the 1970s, and after decades of exporting people it now imports people from poorer parts of the region, not just the Balkans but from the Middle East and north and west Africa.
But Greece has suffered, too. Parts of Greece look like the worst of Florida, with cheap hotels full of sun burnt tourist wandering from taverna to t shirt shop in a bloated holiday stupor.
And now we find out the vaunted - and healthy - traditional Greek diet is taking a hit. I found out this week that almost 9 percent of Greeks have type II diabetes, a shocking number but even worse when you consider that 20 years ago the disease was unheard of there. That's how quickly the Greek diet has changed from healthy - primarily due to 160 days of fasting in conjunction with the Greek Orthodox calender and a lower living standard - to a western junk and processed food one.
Greeks also used to shop at local shops for fresh food - from bakers, butchers, etc. But supermarkets - full of processed food - are taking over in Greek cities and villages.
The Greek lifestyle has changed as well. As it is in the American south, where for decades folks stayed healthy even when eating a fried foot diet, both Greeks and southerners no longer do much hard, physical, historically-rural work. Like Americans, most Greeks live in cities and work at a desk or behind a cash register at a tourism-related business.
Finally, junk and processed food - potato chips, ice cream and candy bars, sugar soda - is everywhere in Greece. Greek life is so western that Ariadne and Evan don't actually notice much difference between the U.S. and the motherland. I just asked them to compare Athens and Washington, and Greek like with American life, and Evan said "Athens is a lot older" and that "Greeks eat a lot more food and spent more time eating" than Americans. Ariadne said she wished "we had siesta time in America," noted that neither city has big sky scrapers, and though Athens is not as clean as Washington it is much cleaner than New York.
Joining the EU and the west has been a huge win for Greece. Even with the current economic crisis Ellas has never been this prosperous. Hard to believe that Greece survived the 4th Crusade, the Ottoman Empire, and a military dictatorship but may lose out potato chips and ice cream.
A Few Random Thoughts
- One reason things are kind of looking up in Greece is increased foreign investment. Cosco, the Chinese trading company, has signed a 35-year deal to run the port of Pireas, a deal that will bring in billions of dollars. Qatar is also investing heavily in Greece's energy infrastructure. Greece and Turkey are starting to cooperate with green energy companies to build a new, regional, energy grid.
- And the French are going as nuts as the Greeks did in reacting to an increase of the retirement age there so we are no longer on the front page.
- Finally, since I brought them up I do want to point out that: Evan hit a triple in his game on Saturday, a line drive that reached the warning track in the air, and Ariadne has a A- minus average so far in the first trimester, with her lowest grade a B.
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