Tyler Cowen: belief

Transcript context

…Oh. I don’t know, really. It’s too general a question because people coming to London — they’re going to have misconceptions. I don’t know they get things that wrong. I don’t think it’s necessarily a quiz. They seem to love it. They can’t all be searching for their roots. I think people love it. The atmosphere is great, and things are so easy now with transportation. It’s very expensive though, I have to say. It’s much more expensive than it was. I think we regard the Irish as especially friendly. I’m not sure that’s entirely wrong, to be clear, but we don’t come away necessarily from England saying the same thing. The more depressive side of the Irish personality is less apparent to visiting Americans. That would be my sense. I think it’s also, anyone on holiday — they’re in a good mood. If you’re a tourist, you’re probably spending money, so people are going to be friendly to you. It’s just common decency, but also good service. Irish people going to England, for example, will come back and say, “Oh my God, the English are so friendly. They’re not like that. They’re much friendlier than we are. They’re much more polite.” I think it’s also what you know. You walk into a shop in Ireland, and somebody will immediately maybe tell you a joke or something, which is unusual for you, but not unusual for us. Then, maybe that Irish person will go to England and go into a shop, and the person in the shop might be telling them some little bit of history or something, and because it’s different, “Oh my God, that’s so friendly.” When you’re on a holiday, you’re looking to have a good time. You’re in a good mood, so I think that has a huge effect.…

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