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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]. But thanks for your concern.  My father recently died from Parkinson's but my mother kept him home and hired two assistants to help out.  Again, thanks for your concern.  (sarcasm, btw - b/c you seem a bit too dense to "get it")

If you would look outside of your little world, you'd understand that not all countries are run like the US - and that not all people are as selfish and greedy as we are.

good luck - You'll need it.  Most pathetic people do.[/quote]

So is smugness a typical family value in your[b] generic non-US country?[/b] If it's so great and homey and family-friendly there, why are you here?

Glad your mom was able to hire a couple of assistants. Not all of us are, either here or there. [/quote]

My generic non-US country is Italy.

[b]We value family there, and those of us here carry on that value.  [/b]

[b]We're not smug. [/b] In fact, I can't tell you how often my friends invite themselves over b/c we are great hosts!

But again, responding to your posts is like writing in chalk on a brick wall during a rainstorm.  Understand a culture first before you blast it.  Italy is very family-friendly, but b/c of the crushed economy, people are not marrying and are certainly NOT having kids.

chalk on a brick wall - Remember that, dense one.[/quote]

LOL! Ok there. If you say so. Look, I love Italy. I've traveled there. My family immigrated from Italy. They are wonderful hosts, you are right. But, "family value" certainly has to be parsed out beyond the Pollyanna view of it that you state here.

Women in Italy are notoriously treated as "less than", though that is changing. Bunga, Bunga ring any bells?
See also this article (which is not scholarly by any stretch but is in line with other things I've seen and read in the news and includes the statistic I was looking for): http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2010/11/15/bunga-bunga-nation-berlusconi-s-italy-hurts-women.html
I particularly like the following excerpt:
"An appalling portrait of Berlusconi’s Italy emerges from the World Economic Forum’s October 2010 Global Gender Gap Report. The WEF looks at such issues as wage parity, labor-force participation, and career-advancement opportunities for women, arguing that closing the gender gap Europe-wide could boost the euro zone’s GDP as much as 13 percent. But as things stand now, Italy would be left leering on the sidelines. In every category but education, Italy lags badly: in labor participation, 87th place worldwide; wage parity, 121st; opportunity for women to take leadership positions, 97th. In the report’s overall ranking, Italy now places 74th in the world for its treatment of women—behind Colombia, Peru, and Vietnam, and seven places lower than it did when Berlusconi returned to office in 2008. “Italy continues to be one of the lowest-ranking countries in the EU and deteriorate[d] further over the last year,” the report says."

A country that devalues women like that can hardly be the shining example of family values. America isn't perfect. Neither is your beloved Italy.

BTW, smug is defined as "Exhibiting or feeling great or offensive satisfaction with oneself or with one's situation." You seem to fit that bill nicely, actually.[/quote]

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