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Comment by tobltobs | Hacker News Reader

In Switzerland they speak four different languages and that doesn't seem to be a problem.

You should try to live for a few years in different European countries like Hungary, Romania and Germany. Most importantly see how each of these people see each other and their neighbours.

I bet that people in Switzerland have more in common (economically and culturally) than people from Bulgaria and France have for example.

Don't even mention the Balkans...in some countries they still angrily talk about 1054 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East%E2%80%93West_Schism and 1204 (Sack of Constantinople https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Constantinople_(1204))

Hopefully the new generations will care more about their iPhone 68 than ancient history.

I assume you know or realize that in certain European countries the medium monthly salary is 300 - 500 euros. Do you really think that say more than 10% of people from such a country could afford to buy an iPhone 7 ?

Most people are concerned with keeping their jobs and making enough money to live from month to month. Also, when they lose their job the politicians will tell them that this is because of EU policies, Soros, big banks and similar ...

I heard that the residents of Cadiz still hate Sir Francis Drake for his raid in 1587! Don't know how true that is though. Incidentally Cadiz is definitely worth a visit.

I guess the difference would be similar to NYC vs. Kentucky or Alabama vs. California. Those differences (economically and culturally) don't seem to be a too big problem for the US.

To come back to the example of Switzerland, the economically and culturally differences between a mountain farmer and a Banker in Geneva shouldn't be underrated also.

Regional inequality is pretty bad in the US[0].

The following paragraph is an excerpt from the linked article.

Yet starting in the early 1980s, the long trend toward regional equality abruptly switched. ... In 1980, the per capita income of Washington, D.C., was 29 percent above the average for Americans as a whole; by 2013 it had risen to 68 percent above. In the San Francisco Bay area, the rise was from 50 percent above to 88 percent. Meanwhile, per capita income in New York City soared from 80 percent above the national average in 1980 to 172 percent above in 2013.

[0] http://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/novdec-2015/bloom-and-...

You don't understand. The cultural divide is huge and we have a long history of territorial disputes. Nation states in Europe are also relatively young and still forming. Just look at Yugoslavia.

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