Expats have never been exceptionally rational creatures, and today’s version is no different. Most have benefited enormously from everything America offered them—pensions, divorce settlements, inherited wealth—and then taken it overseas to complain about the place that made it possible. This tradition goes back to the “Lost Generation,” those insufferable rich kids who decamped to Europe, especially Paris in the 1920s, to whine about America. Sadly, many befriended newspaper editors, magazine publishers, and literary gatekeepers, so their prolonged adolescent angst survived and still infects university English departments and bookstores today. By comparison, they look positively right-wing next to the postmodernists who followed, who dressed up tribal resentment in dense academic jargon. But when your literary tradition starts with “woe is me, I’m fucking rich but I identify with the common man,” it’s not a long leap to full-blown whining and affectation masquerading as art.
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Expats have contributed precious little to European society. They’re mostly posers—living like landed gentry among the locals while pretending to blend in. Some locals profit from their real estate investments or patronage, sure, but their commentary on America is one-note resentment. They import none of the American capacity for generosity or clear-eyed thoughtfulness. To fit in and be “one of the guys,” they’ll swallow even the craziest falsehoods about the country they left. They’ll praise European showers and washing machines that barely work, insist that owning a dryer will murder the planet, and defend the rude asshole running the corner café who treats American customers like dirt. It’s self-loathing on steroids. They can’t bring themselves to admit that not everything American is bad and not everything European is wonderful.
Well, I can. Living in Italy hasn’t made me want to trash my own country. I’m fully aware of what America gave me: a place to live, a roof over my head, an education, a livelihood, and a home for ancestors driven from their homeland by despicable acts. But I’m also American enough to want to contribute to whatever community I’m in. That starts with respecting local customs and manners. But it also doesn’t mean turning your brain off. Sometimes you have to say what you know is true, even if it offends people.
And here’s the uncomfortable truth: Europe is failing its poor and elderly during these brutal summer heatwaves. It’s become fashionable among the European and American intelligentsia to claim that air conditioning will kill the planet—or spread illness, or whatever other nonsense they trot out at the same dinner parties where Trump is Hitler, there are 72 genders, pig intestines are gourmet, and eating insects “wasn’t that bad.” It’s nauseating. Stick around long enough and listen to this kind of nonsense and even Abbie Hoffman would be reaching for an NRA membership card.
But let’s stay focused on air conditioning. Europe’s summers have been scorching for more than a decade. Prolonged stretches above 100°F (38°C) have been disastrous. In 2022, heat-related deaths reached approximately 62,000–70,000 across Europe. Another roughly 63,000 died during the summer of 2024. These numbers rival or exceed major historical tragedies in scale, yet they receive far less urgency than other causes of death. The human toll is compounded by serious knock-on effects: overwhelmed hospitals, spikes in cardiovascular and kidney issues, widespread dehydration, and thousands of preventable deaths among the elderly and vulnerable who simply can’t cope with the heat in poorly adapted homes and care facilities.
Beyond the deaths, the economic damage is substantial and getting worse. Heat stress significantly reduces labor productivity, particularly in outdoor work, construction, agriculture, and even indoor service sectors without proper cooling. Studies from the International Labour Organization and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre show that high temperatures lead to measurable drops in work output, increased absenteeism, and lower cognitive performance. In a continent already grappling with sluggish growth, high unemployment (especially among young people in southern Europe), and demographic aging, this adds up. Estimates suggest that without better adaptation, heat-related productivity losses could shave billions off Europe’s GDP annually as heatwaves intensify. Sectors like manufacturing, logistics, and tourism suffer when workers slow down, infrastructure buckles (rail lines warp, roads degrade), and businesses lose operating hours. Southern European economies, which already lag, pay an especially heavy price for clinging to traditional schedules instead of investing in climate resilience.
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Europe has spent decades mocking American air conditioning while clinging to siesta-style schedules that surrender the hottest hours of the day. Instead of designing buildings and economies for productivity in heat, they just shut down. That might have made sense in an agrarian past. In a modern service economy—especially one already struggling with low growth and high unemployment—it’s self-sabotage. American “excess” didn’t appear out of nowhere. It came from hard work and relentless adaptation: draining swamps, developing antibiotics, sterilizing instruments, building cars for mobility. Air conditioning is the same—a tool that lets hot places like Arizona, Nevada, and inland California keep functioning.
Look at Phoenix versus Seville. Phoenix hits 109–115°F (43–46°C) regularly, yet offices stay open, construction continues, restaurants hum, sports go on indoors, hospitals and airports function. The city adapted to its desert climate. Seville gets almost as hot but essentially closes in the afternoon. Productivity tanks, the elderly suffer, and the economy lags. Similar gaps exist between Las Vegas and Rome, Palm Springs and Sicily, Dallas and Naples, Houston and Athens. No one sweating through an Athens summer calls it glorious. In struggling economies across southern Europe, the fix is straightforward: turn on the damn air conditioning and grab some ice. Nonna shouldn’t die in her apartment because the hospitals are full and she can’t manage the stairs.
As the saying goes, the definition of stupid is doing the same failing thing and expecting different results. Europe’s allergy to air conditioning isn’t quaint or planet-saving. It’s killing people and economies. It’s flat-out stupid.
Research from the International Labour Organization, the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, and others backs this: heat slashes labor productivity, and air conditioning is one of the most effective countermeasures. The argument against AC isn’t entirely false—it’s worse. It’s selectively true. Yes, cooling uses power and refrigerants. But so do the hospitals, trains, data centers, and jobs that keep society running. Europeans love lecturing Americans about guns, yet a continent where heat now kills tens of thousands annually treats a life-saving, economy-preserving tool as decadent excess. It’s ridiculous.
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And for crissake, put some ice in your Coca-Cola.
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This content originally appeared on Abstract Truth Substack.
