[Camillo]

> Protestants of Northern European descent were horrified by all the "dirty", "drunken", Catholic Southern European and/or Irish immigrants who didn't share their culture.

As a Southern European, I find that idea hilarious. Drunkenness is far more pervasive and culturally ingrained in Northern Europe and in America than in Southern Europe. If all you've ever known is America, you may find it hard to understand just how ridiculously obsessed with getting drunk your culture appears from outside.

[ef4]

The northern Europeans who liked to drink stayed in Europe. It was the Taliban-level Puritan extremists who moved to America to start their own society.

Later waves of immigration were not so Puritan, but the upper classes were still very much associated with those sects well into the 20th century.

And yes, I don't think it's a coincidence that a society founded by Puritans has a binge drinking problem.

[kragen]

That was then, this is now. At the time, they also thought the Germans were lazy and stupid.