Polls show that Greeks don't see themselves and other Europeans like everyone else

Maciamo

Veteran member
Admin
Messages
9,971
Reaction score
3,275
Points
113
Location
Lothier
Ethnic group
Italo-celto-germanic
The Economist reposted an opinion poll by Pew Research about the stereotypes European people had about each others.

The Greeks stick out of the lot by their lack of objectivity when asked for their place inside Europe. While all Europeans agreed that the Germans were the most trustworthy nation, the Greeks saw themselves as the most trustworthy nation, and the Germans as the least trustworthy. The general consensus among other Europeans was that the Greeks and Italians (or occasionally the French) were the least trustworthy.

Interestingly, the Italians recognised themselves as the least trustworthy nation, completely at odds with the Greeks who constantly think of themselves as the best and brightest. Whatever the question, the Greeks always voted for themselves when asked about qualities, and for others (usually Germany) for shortcomings. I don't know if the Greeks realise the irony of proclaiming themselves the least arrogant nation in Europe.

This is nothing new though. In the 2012 poll, the Greeks considered themselves to be the most hardworking Europeans, while the majority saw them as the least hardworking.

So why is it that the Greeks have such a hard time being objective about themselves and fall so easily in the childish habit of boasting about themselves, especially when it is not deserved ?
 
I 100% agree lol Greeks have over-inflated egos, the majority of them anyways; Italians know they are the least trustworthy due to the mafia infiltrating politics probably....
 
Funny is that everybody voted themselves as Most Compassionate,
The French voted themselves as Most Arrogant and Least Arrogant ???
And the British display their textbook opinions on their old rivals France.

seems like we Germans are the least Compassionate (no changes there) but also now the most Arrogant (somewhat understandable where that comes from);
in Germany we have a saying Leistung muss sich lohnen - and when hard work does pay out and everything works better than expected - we do get a bit more loud and proud.
 
I don't think germans are the most trustworthy nation.
 
Objectively most trustworthy or not - for an outsider (as we Norwegians are) it seems that the Germans are the only nation that is capable of holding the experiment EU together - that is; German politicians, as my impression is that many ordinary Germans don't care if EU survives or not, at least if they have to pay for its survival. I can sympathize with that.
 
Yes the Greeks do like to beat their chests occasionally, sometimes without cause.

But Yetos is one of my favorite contributors... so I can overlook these things.
 
Do you think it has anything to do with "democracy" and the worlds love affair with ancient Greek culture?, sarcasm!

They are a proud people with a very impressive history. They are the foundation of western modern societies. It's the same arrogance that most Americans have when they look at the modern western world and believe it to be Americanized.
 
The Economist reposted an opinion poll by Pew Research about the stereotypes European people had about each others.

The Greeks stick out of the lot by their lack of objectivity when asked for their place inside Europe. While all Europeans agreed that the Germans were the most trustworthy nation, the Greeks saw themselves as the most trustworthy nation, and the Germans as the least trustworthy. The general consensus among other Europeans was that the Greeks and Italians (or occasionally the French) were the least trustworthy.

Interestingly, the Italians recognised themselves as the least trustworthy nation, completely at odds with the Greeks who constantly think of themselves as the best and brightest. Whatever the question, the Greeks always voted for themselves when asked about qualities, and for others (usually Germany) for shortcomings. I don't know if the Greeks realise the irony of proclaiming themselves the least arrogant nation in Europe.

This is nothing new though. In the 2012 poll, the Greeks considered themselves to be the most hardworking Europeans, while the majority saw them as the least hardworking.

So why is it that the Greeks have such a hard time being objective about themselves and fall so easily in the childish habit of boasting about themselves, especially when it is not deserved ?

Greeks are deluded and very much into conspiracy theories.

But look at the poll again. You castigate Greeks for not being objective by seeing themselves as the most trustworthy when 3 out of the 7 other nations consider them to be the least trustworthy.

But no word about the Germans when they and they alone consider themselves to be the most compassionate whilst 6 out of 7 (virtually everyone else) of the other nations consider Germans the least compassionate. Same is true for everything else btw. The Germans, like the Greeks in this particular poll (although note that the earlier poll shows different things about corruption for example) rank themselves as the best and brightest in everything.

So why are you singling out the Greeks, Maciamo?
 
Last edited:
I 100% agree lol Greeks have over-inflated egos, the majority of them anyways; Italians know they are the least trustworthy due to the mafia infiltrating politics probably....

You can't decide by a single poll what the majority of Greeks do or do not have. I am Greek (I haven't lived there for the past 5 years but still am Greek) and I certainly consider Greeks to have an unexplained sense of self-entitlement (as someone in here noted, it can be explained partially by reference to history but surely that fact alone can't explain it). Whatever else Greece is, it is certainly among the least trustworthy countries in Europe.

That said, this is a single poll. Look at the Corruption Perception Index by Transparency International. When people say that studies show that Greece is the most corrupt country in the EU, how do they know? they cite the index (link below) which is using self-perception as the measure of corruption. I.e. what the Greeks think of themselves vis-a-vis corruption. And it's quite clear they believe their country is the most corrupt in the EU - by far.

http://www.transparency.org/cpi2012/results
 
Last edited:
The Economist reposted an opinion poll by Pew Research about the stereotypes European people had about each others.

The Greeks stick out of the lot by their lack of objectivity when asked for their place inside Europe. While all Europeans agreed that the Germans were the most trustworthy nation, the Greeks saw themselves as the most trustworthy nation, and the Germans as the least trustworthy. The general consensus among other Europeans was that the Greeks and Italians (or occasionally the French) were the least trustworthy.

Interestingly, the Italians recognised themselves as the least trustworthy nation, completely at odds with the Greeks who constantly think of themselves as the best and brightest. Whatever the question, the Greeks always voted for themselves when asked about qualities, and for others (usually Germany) for shortcomings. I don't know if the Greeks realise the irony of proclaiming themselves the least arrogant nation in Europe.

This is nothing new though. In the 2012 poll, the Greeks considered themselves to be the most hardworking Europeans, while the majority saw them as the least hardworking.

So why is it that the Greeks have such a hard time being objective about themselves and fall so easily in the childish habit of boasting about themselves, especially when it is not deserved ?

Sorry but I posted a data from international employ organisations that show how many hours work a greek and how many a german,

just consider that a greek works with only 21 days for holidays per year,
how much is in rest of Europe?

the main problem is not Greeks but Greece,
in a country with 50% youth unemployment. people may vote someone for 10-50E, as in bad times of Roman empire,
Greeks demand to stop European laws about nationality due to that,
the problem is mainly elsewhere,
for example a well known case with German submarinew, the minister is inocent for stealing greek people money,
innocent for many,
but he is going to judge court for not paying the apropiate tax when he decide to invest the money he steal,
Gods, and when greeks protest, Athens was in fire, but due to political tricks, like the law that gives >1/6 parliament places gift to 1rst party,
the same time MERCEL suported the corrupted old families cause she knew that if they lose the power then 'strange hiden burgains' no more,

THE ONLY THING THAT KEEPS GREEKS ALIVE IS OUR EGO,
without that, maybe greece never existed.
the EGO to fullfil the destiny.
only few can realize the power of that ego,
those who can stand against the stream.
we beat our depressure with that EGO,
 
Greeks are deluded and very much into conspiracy theories.

But look at the poll again. You castigate Greeks for not being objective by seeing themselves as the most trustworthy when 3 out of the 7 other nations consider them to be the least trustworthy.

But no word about the Germans when they and they alone consider themselves to be the most compassionate whilst 6 out of 7 (virtually everyone else) of the other nations consider Germans the least compassionate. Same is true for everything else btw. The Germans, like the Greeks in this particular poll (although note that the earlier poll shows different things about corruption for example) rank themselves as the best and brightest in everything.

So why are you singling out the Greeks, Maciamo?

Every country voted for themselves as the most compassionate. Actually that's the only question for which I wouldn't know what to answer myself. Is there really any nation that is more or less compassionate ? It always depends with whom. People are naturally compassionate with people they like, usually their friends and relatives. So it is only to be expected that people regard their compatriots are more compassionate towards themselves or their nation.
 
Every country voted for themselves as the most compassionate. Actually that's the only question for which I wouldn't know what to answer myself. Is there really any nation that is more or less compassionate ? It always depends with whom. People are naturally compassionate with people they like, usually their friends and relatives. So it is only to be expected that people regard their compatriots are more compassionate towards themselves or their nation.

Yes every nation voted for themselves as the most compassionate but that's not the whole story. When discussing "objectivity", you have to look at the difference between how you view yourself and how others view you. When virtually all other nations (bar one) consider Germany the least compassionate and Germans consider themselves the most compassionate, that's a serious disparity. As far as I can see, no such glaring contradiction is to be found in any other category for any other nation.
 
Yes every nation voted for themselves as the most compassionate but that's not the whole story. When discussing "objectivity", you have to look at the difference between how you view yourself and how others view you. When virtually all other nations (bar one) consider Germany the least compassionate and Germans consider themselves the most compassionate, that's a serious disparity. As far as I can see, no such glaring contradiction is to be found in any other category for any other nation.

As I have explained it is not a disparity nor a contradiction because it is natural to see people closer to us as more compassionate. So the Germans could only have voted for themselves as everybody else. It would be far more useful to see the top 3 of countries considered compassionate after one's own. But I am guessing that the Germans would have voted for the Swiss, Danes or Dutch as more compassionate because their mindset is closer to theirs. Likewise the Italians and Spaniards might have voted for each others. Germans still suffer from a bad image from WWII, which must be why so many countries instinctively chose them as the least compassionate.
 

This thread has been viewed 15727 times.

Back
Top