This is something I like to ask people, and Hubski would be so great for it, I don't know why I haven't posted this before. But this post earlier made me think it's as good a time as any to actually bring it up.
Obviously this country is very different than it used to be, and even less people-- especially those under 35-- believe in the 'American Dream' or the idea of America that our government and media seem to present. But it would be a lie to say there are massive benefits to being here. Does the good outweigh the bad for you? Do real opportunities mean more to you than your ideals and qualms with America? Do you truly love everything about it, and find the issues to be minor or inconsequential or overblown? Do you have hope for a bright future of change? Do you feel it's your duty to attempt to change things? Romantic, sentimental, possibly knowingly-illogical reasons keep you?
Or did you leave? Do you plan to?
Personally, I'm conflicted. I despise so much of what goes on here, I don't believe the idea of America exists as it should anymore, or maybe never did, and the American Dream is laughable and impossible to attain if you aren't born into money. Our government disgusts me on a deep level, and I don't see it ever doing anything but getting worse. I find many of the things the US does to be total violations of humanity and push us further into a state of ruin as a society as a whole. But there are still things I love about being here. I don't know if I'd ever be able to give up the US entirely. Perhaps a dual-citizenship is in my future.
I like people, and I'm good around them, but human nature disturbs me, and I find the idea of removing myself further and further away from people more appealing as time goes on. Perhaps it adds to my hatred for the US because that happens to be where I am, but I often toy with the idea one day I'll leave near on a small town or in a forest, owning land or a farm, being far enough away from people for peace, but close enough that I can go to town if I like. Half of the time in this fantasy, it's still in the US, in places like Montana or Iowa, and half the time it's elsewhere in the world. Somewhere cold. Estonia or Finland or Norway or Poland or a variety of places.
Anyway, this is a complicated topic in my head frequently. It's hard to make succinct points of it even to myself, or to summarize things, so what are all your opinions?
Didn't. Moved from Oklahoma to NZ in 1998. Best decision evar. AMA.
K. Whereabouts in NZ? As an American Kiwi, how to you feel about NZ's increasingly close relationship with the US? What changes in NZ culture/society/politics have you noticed in your time in NZ that your average kiwi might have missed due to a lack of external perspective?AMA.
Auckland. I'm not so sure we really are becoming "increasingly close", except maybe in regard to horrible things like the TPP - and that is seen as a result of pressure from the Americans; it certainly isn't helpful for anyone else, and it's actively harmful to relationships with our other trade partners, especially China. NZ is becoming more and more like America culturally (due to TV and Hollywood I guess), and most Kiwis aren't too happy about that. It shows in things like resentment towards Halloween (seen as a 'Walmart holiday' - we would call it a "Warehouse holiday" though, we have no Walmarts). We (rightly) don't want to lose the things that make us Kiwi.
You can visit for three months, they'll extend to six if you ask, but then you must leave unless you have a work visa or PR, permanent residence. There's a points system and I had almost enough for PR. With a bona fide job offer I'd have enough, so visited first and applied for jobs. Got one, applied, got approved, and moved. Could have gotten the work visa first and PR later but preferred the security of PR. With PR you're nearly a citizen, but you can't stand for public office, get a passport, or own non-residential property. We got citizenship a few years later.
I was in Norway for half a year and came back to the US. The first week back there was a car wash fundraiser. I went to it and went to buy some cookies as well to support whatever cause it was. It was for a boy with a severe food allergy. They were raising money for his special diet. I was shocked. In Norway it would be no question -- this boy would get all the care he needs and it would cost the family nothing. In America, his community has to operate a car wash. After that, my eyes were opened to wide disparity in the US, a land where "freedom" has come to mean "every one for themselves". Not the kind of place I want to be. I'd rather be in a culture where people take care of each other. I moved back to Norway the next year, and have been here for 6 years now. It's not perfect here. But they've got their priorities straight at least.
It's a great question. I had to think about the answer, with bourbon and a hot tub. I came up with this: 1) Of all the countries I've been to, America is the easiest to strike up a conversation with a stranger, and that stranger is most likely to be friendly. This may be a function of my American heritage, but no matter how long I would live abroad, I'd always be "the American" so in the end it doesn't matter. 2) America is a rigged game but it's not so rigged that I don't feel that I've been given my fair shake. I fully understand that it's rigged less towards people better off than me and rigged more towards those worse off, but I have a nebulous understanding of the rigging and am used to the gradient. Your mileage may vary. All prices plus tax, title and license. Not valid on Indian reservations or predominantly African American neighborhoods. 3) It's possibly the least homogenous place I've ever been. New Mexico and Arizona have more in common with Mexico than they do with Massachusetts and Los Angeles has more in common with Bangkok than it does with San Francisco. There are great swaths of the United States that I do not care to visit but the United States is so vast that I've found truly lovely places that don't require a visa, passport or even giving up my fruit. 4) Americans, as individuals, are generally lovely people and Americans, as a group, devolve to individuals faster than any other country I know of. We just suck at mobs. Riot when the Kings win the Stanley Cup? Front page news. Riots when Arsenal wins fuckin' anything? "Soccer hooliganism." Look - li'l story. When I think "France" and "Muslim" I think "banning the hijab" and "race riots." When I think "Denmark" and "Muslim" I think "cartoons of Muhammad." But when I think "United States" and "Muslim" I think about the molotov cocktail some shithead threw through the window of the mosque in my old neighborhood. And I think of the immediate vigil every old white man and old white lady launched around that building. And I think of the flowers and potted plants that occupied the stoop for the next six months, and I think of the rotating watch of old codgers playing checkers on the steps so that the muslims could go to prayers without worrying about some fuckin' inarticulate redneck who thinks "Islam=hate" because he can't think past generalizations. And I think about the fund raiser the neighborhood did to pay for an expanded parking lot rather than bitching about the mosque in city council meetings, and I think about the vigil the mosque held five years later when some other shithead shot up a synagogue. The place ain't perfect. There are prettier. And there are all sorts of things that frustrate the fuck out of me. But holy shit, young'uns. It's a fuckin' miderm during a lame duck presidency. walk back with me 10 years to when we were hoping John Fucking Kerry would win and talk to me about despair. This too shall pass. Give the old girl a break.
But this is the most important election of our lifetimes! Actually, I was just discussing with mk yesterday about election despair. We both agreed that the only times we've ever felt a large emotion over an election was 2000. That was a hard pill to swallow. And, despite the fact that we're always told elections matter, that one actually mattered. Fucking Iraq. I want every young person to go back and read the history of how Cheney became president (or, wait, who was the main guy again? Some artist or something, right?). Free and fair elections died at the hands of Katherine Harris and the Court. I remember waking up for several days after the final say by the Court, and thinking that something had to give, that something could be done. The whole thing was surreal. And I'm not sure most people remember how despised W was for the first 9 months of his term until Al Qaeda gave him his lifeline. I hope that there will never be another election that leaves me with that feeling (I suppose not, even if more underhanded dealings are afoot, as I was 18, and that was my introduction to participatory democracy). Kids, think of what that $3T could do for your education. All was wasted, and everything was in vain.But holy shit, young'uns. It's a fuckin' miderm during a lame duck presidency. walk back with me 10 years to when we were hoping John Fucking Kerry would win and talk to me about despair.
I was driving home in the rain, listening to the news, when NPR announced that the recount had been stopped by the supreme court simultaneous to being cut off by a beat-to-sit beige Aerostar with Florida plates. Fucker nearly caused an accident. I remember thinking "fuckin' Florida" and that's pretty much where I've been ever since.
> When I think "France" and "Muslim" I think "banning the hijab" and "race riots." When I think "Denmark" and "Muslim" I think "cartoons of Muhammad." But when I think "United States" and "Muslim" I think about the molotov cocktail some shithead threw through the window of the mosque in my old neighborhood. And I think of the immediate vigil every old white man and old white lady launched around that building. And I think of the flowers and potted plants that occupied the stoop for the next six months, and I think of the rotating watch of old codgers playing checkers on the steps so that the muslims could go to prayers without worrying about some fuckin' inarticulate redneck who thinks "Islam=hate" because he can't think past generalizations. And I think about the fund raiser the neighborhood did to pay for an expanded parking lot rather than bitching about the mosque in city council meetings, and I think about the vigil the mosque held five years later when some other shithead shot up a synagogue. As an Aussie who's previously lived for a couple of years in Europe and recently spent several weeks in your fine country, I believe this this paragraph sums up your country more aptly than anything else on here. I reside, allegedly, in the world’s most liveable city. And let me be clear: I know that I live in one of the world’s most liveable cities. That said, I could move to the north east of the United States tomorrow. You’ve got an optimism and a can-do attitude, a positive sense of entitlement, that seems to be damn near universal amongst your population - an attitude that is not only taken for granted, but is fucking expected of you as a citizen – that just isn’t there in a lot of other countries.
It’s a bizarre thing, and a paradox, that I found these attributes as frequently among the obnoxious, flag waving, marine-loving crowd as I did among the vegan, latte sipping crowd to which I belong. Even when you’re at odds with each other I feel as though there are these basic principles you agree on that underpin your success as a country. And you’re all as friendly as fuck. Sure, you’ve got a lot of problems. Holy shit there’s so much wrong with your police and your prison system and your drug laws. I’d hate to be born a minority in the US. But there’s a lot wrong with every country, and the only reason that you think there’s more wrong with you guys is because you spend more time in the centre of the world’s attention. Look at the treatment of indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory and northern Queensland, or domestic violence and alcoholism in regional NZ, or the eternally alienated welfare class in north east England. We’re all of us rooted to some degree, and these are all countries at the top of the spectrum, as far as standards of development go. You do need to do something about your health care system, though.
Immediate sweeping changes I would make: 1) A conscript military. Don't want to serve in the military? Americorps. Peace Corps. Medicins sans Frontier. But I want every mother's son to spend 4 years out in the world, with a gun or without, and I want politicians to stop voting other people's kids out into danger. 2) A higher top marginal tax rate. Let's shake a little money loose, shall we, and increase upward generational mobility while we're at it. Capital accumulation is bad for humanity. 3) Nationalization of primary and secondary school budgets and standards. 4) Single-payer healthcare. 5) Abolition of the electoral college. 6) Election finance reform such that 33% of all funds collected must be disbursed to your competitors. My king-for-the-day list, anyway.You do need to do something about your health care system, though.
Ha! And if I'm not mistaken, your recent trip was to NYC, no? That's the least friendly place in the USA, as far as I've seen (although I haven't spent much time in Boston). The South is the most friendly, if you're the right kind of person (and I mean white; let's not be euphemistic; I've been to the Deep South many, many times, and I've heard terrible things from otherwise decent-seeming people). The Midwest and West are populated by generally good-natured people, and are fairly inclusive. What about Australia. I've met Aussies while traveling, and though I've never been there, they always seem like friendly sorts. I've always assumed being former British colonies, that the US and Australia had a similar makeup, culturally speaking.And you’re all as friendly as fuck.
Not a fan of the TSA, the GWOT or any other Bush-era acronyms, but it's important to point out that you're talking regions and ideologies, not religion. Ask the Israelis why they have so few terror problems at the airports and they say "racial profiling, duh." Mention racial profiling in the United States and everyone freaks the fuck out. Which is not to say they don't do it. We're good friends with a married couple. Both are American citizens. Her parents fled the Shah; he emigrated from Morocco. Whenever I hear their travel stories I thank my pink skin. But it is to say that we have to do it sub-rosa lest the shame undermine 'MURICA.
A region is where you come from. An ideology is something you ascribe to. A religion? Something else. You can be Moroccan, you can be conservative, and you can be Islamic... but you aren't necessarily conservative just because you're Moroccan and Islamic.
I'm still not quite sure what you mean. I was talking about the incidents we associate with the words for a certain nationality and religion, like you did when you associated "Denmark" and "Muslim" with "caricatures of Mohammad". I was just pointing out what I personally associate those word pairs with, as a foreigner of the countries you were talking about.
So check it: For the most part, when Americans get their panties in a twist about Islam, it's "radical Islam" or "Islamist radicals" or "fundamentalist clerics" or "jihadists." And for the most part, when the French or the British get their panties in a twist about Islam, it's about Islam. We had that embarrassing bit with the mosque near "Freedom Tower" or whatever but by and large, Americans at least pay lip service to the notion that not all Muslims are bomb-throwing, sword-wielding, Koran-quoting zealots. There's a presupposition of sanity, albeit a thin one. France? France just up and bans the hijab. England? England calls a voluntary Muslim arbitration a "Sharia court." I'm saying there's a difference.
I've thought about this a lot recently. I think I stay for several reasons: family, friends, fear of the unknown, and laziness likely top the list. The USA is riddled with problems… but it's also full of opportunity. It may not be the "best" place in the world, but for all of it's issues, it's far from the worst place to live.
As my mom has said many times - no matter how shitty it gets here, it's not nearly as bad as Sudan. That being said, I like to entertain the thought of going to another country, probably an Arab one, and teaching in some private school for tons of cash. When I was in private school in Saudi Arabia, I had a (fantastic!) English teacher from Colorado that was there for that exact reason - In SA working for a Private School/Well-off Business means that EVERYTHING gets paid for you - your car, your rent, internet, phone...pretty much everything except food. It leaves you a ton of cash left over. He and his wife, who also worked at the school, were there to make enough money to pay off their house, and then they were gonna bounce. So yeah, sounds like a plan to me.
For most of my 20's, I haven't lived in the US and that was a very conscious choice. Others have mentioned the "can do" attitude that is very particular to American culture. I remember being on the beach with some friends (Brits and Americans) and enjoying the hell out of being alive, but we got to talking and in the course of the conversation, it became clear that all our needs were being met. We had enough money, food, social standing, etc. to basically do what we wanted there and to continue doing it indefinitely and I remember feeling really sad. One thing I hated about the US was that everyone is striving so hard all the time and so many end up falling so short. That and the ever-present desire to win. There was no risk living abroad and since there were no stakes, I couldn't feel like I'd won anything. What I know about myself is that I do want to test myself, to stand shoulder to shoulder, or go head to head with other people. Even if I don't "win" at least I'll know I can take a hell of a beating. Anyway, that's why I'm back. I'm trying my hand at something and really swinging for it this time. If I fail, there's a beach out there that I can wash up on, I'm sure.
You know, I ascribe the term "crystal meth culture" to the angry, uptight, overly demanding culture in America that seems to value hard work for its own sake and decries what it calls the "stoner culture" in which everybody seems to be a "lazy bum". I've never had marijuana in my life, though. I just feel like a lot of conservative commentators are on crystal meth for that reason.
How old are you? If you're under 30 or so it shouldn't be too difficult to get a two-year working holiday visa to Australia or New Zealand. Once your feet are on the ground and you start making connections (i.e. drinking buddies), finding an employer to sponsor your residency beyond two years can be pretty straightforward. There's still a degree of good fortune involved, but you have to take the first step.
Sign me up. Two years would be amazing in either country...I should actually look into it at some point and see if there's any industry I could get into as a Chemical Engineer / something related out that way.How old are you? If you're under 30 or so it shouldn't be too difficult to get a two-year working holiday visa to Australia or New Zealand.
No kidding? Chemical engineers are actually listed on the Skilled Occupations List so you don't even need a sponsor to come out here. Get a job in the resources industry and you'd be making mint.
Isn't this part of our biological programming? Regardless of the interpretations of the conditions, humans build their realities around where they were born (mostly.) Adventurous spirit is not the norm condition in whatever this is that I was born into. I don't think the things we hate about this construct are necessarily the entirety of human nature, but rather, the people who propagate these behaviors have been dominating social development for what seems like a millennia. I currently phrase my feelings as wanting to separate from the toxicity, find those who chose a similar path, and building together in opposition and despite the current construct. I feel you.But there are still things I love about being here. I don't know if I'd ever be able to give up the US entirely.
I like people, and I'm good around them, but human nature disturbs me, and I find the idea of removing myself further and further away from people more appealing as time goes on.
Anyway, this is a complicated topic in my head frequently. It's hard to make succinct points of it even to myself, or to summarize things, so what are all your opinions?
I am not and will never leave this country. I was born here, raised here, and I will die here. I'd rather be here standing and voting for what I think will lead to the best results for this nation rather than leaving and abandoning everyone, and everything, I know. Running from problems will never fix them.
Fixing America's problems was less of a motivation to me than improving my own life. To each his own :-)Running from problems will never fix them.
Now, you see, your stance is predicated on the believe that our voting has: A.) Value, in that what you do makes a difference B.) Choice, in that your two real options are any different C.) Ability for change, in that the system itself works, but it just needs someone to effect that change from what's happening now. I do not believe our system provides any of these things. I believe for any of these to happen, a revolution would be necessary to overthrow everything we currently have, and furthermore, I do not believe the people of our country have the will or ability to do that.
I'd like to address this, if I may. First, "value." Off the top of my head, - The 2000 presidential election was ultimately decided by 537 votes. - The 2004 Washington gubernatorial election was decided by 129 votes. - Al Franken won in Minnesota in 2008 by 312 votes. Yes - it seems more "capricious" than "valuable" but that's the thing - you never know when your vote is going to count so you might as well act like it always counts. Because keep in mind - your neighborhood is full of old people. They likely vote differently than you. And voting is the highlight of their day, their week, their month - it's a social occasion beyond compare, and their chance to stick it to those goddamn liberal kids that keep playing their hippity hoppity music. If all you do is negate one of them, you've done a good deed. Finally, it's not like you trudged four hours across the steppe to cast your ballot. All 50 states allow some form of absentee voting. Do what I do - gather with your loved ones, pour a glass of wine, and go through that ream of election flyers while paging through the Internet. You can make an absolutely informed decision in like 20 minutes tops, on every issue down to circuit court judges. Shit, get your friends over and order pizza. My uncle's family has done it that way since before absentee ballots became the rage. Democrats, republicans, libertarians, pizza and beer. You wanna see a lively party, discuss ballot measures with the opposing side over cocktails. It's a trip. Next, "choice." Your options are likely not as different as you'd like, but it's easy and flippant to argue that they're the same. Do you really think McCain and Palin would have run the country the same way Obama did? Do you really think Al Gore would have run the country the same way as George W. Bush? It matters down to your local legislators - know them, understand them, see who endorses them and why. Politics, like real estate, is a game played by people who suck at everything else. It's about the most transparent spectator sport ever seen. If you can't pick out a difference or two between any two candidates - and extrapolate what that difference might mean - you aren't paying attention. Finally, "change." There are now more people living in states where gay marriage is legal than states where it isn't. White men can marry black women. Marijuana is steadily becoming legal. Does the system always benefit you? Does it work at the speed you want it to? Is it utterly beyond reproach? No to all three... but to pretend that it's a lose-lose situation is just the sort of apathy that permits people to be elected by a hundred and twenty nine fuckin' votes. Finally, there's this: If you don't participate in that most basic, most simple, most painless and most easy of civic duties, you have no right, absolutely no right, to bitch about the consequences of your inaction. Fuckin' vote. Y'all act like it's an insult to be asked your opinion about who should run the country for you. Yeah, they're asking everyone else, too, and you might not get your way but if you don't even open your mouth how the fuck do you think you're entitled to a say in the matter?
Don't get me wrong: I agree with you on everything here. I vote in every single election. It makes even more of a difference since I'm still registered in California, so I can vote for my third party candidates without worrying that I'll be allowing a right wing nutjob to get a lead over the Democrat that I, while don't believe will do much more, at least provides the conversation and the ideas that should be in the public's conscious. It's dangerous without liberal ideas being discussed and considered. The people quickly revert back to horrid conservative ideals. I've watched it happen over the last six years on reddit as our country has gotten more and more conservative. That's not a world I want. My point isn't about voting, it's about the entirety of the Democratic and governmental system of America being broken. Voting is still fucking important, no matter how little it might actually do in the end in this system, that amount might make all the difference. Never assume Gore would be just as bad as W. Never assume Mitt would be better than Obama. That said, the first election I really cared about was 2000. Seeing that, I completely understand people believing voting is meaningless. Gore winning very well could have been-- and I truly believe it would-- the difference between America having a prosperous future and what we have now. That it came down to... That... I don't put it past anyone to consider it futile. I think they're wrong, but I can't blame them.
Both accurate and flippant at the same time. Since nobody here is ever going to be a Supreme Court justice, it's more fair to say that, through the byzantine and outdated system we call the electoral college, 537 votes ended up counting more than the entire state of Montana.
Sorry. Didn't mean to be flip. I have a bitterness about that election that I've never been able to reconcile. At the time, it felt like we were subject to one of those "elections" of dictators, where thee outcome is guaranteed in advance by some shadowy figures. Of course you're correct that they wouldn't have been able to pull this off had the race not been so close. One can only obfuscate so much.
You and me both, buddy. The one that really pisses me off is 2004, though. I mean, at least Gore fought. 2004 had all the election fraud 2000 did but Kerry just rolled the fuck over. I probably spent 200 hours on that election. I haven't recovered from my jadedness. I even bought a bottle of cask-strength MacAllan to celebrate Kerry's victory, and didn't drink any until Obama was in office... and I'm here to tell ya that cask-strength MacAllan is actually pretty gross.
Word to that. Bought a bottle for a friend as a way of saying thanks for a favor. I had wanted to try it for a while and it came highly recommended to me by a colleague. We tried it out New Years 2003... it still sits on his liquor shelf to this day -- the only loss to evaporation.I'm here to tell ya that cask-strength MacAllan is actually pretty gross.
Uhh... thanks for the recipe? Your reply sounds a bit condescending and combative. Don't know if you meant it that way. I never said hate, and it's not my bottle -- I no longer live in the same state as the guy who seems to be storing it till doomsday. If I was the one who owned it, rest assured it would not have lasted long. It's bad but it ain't that bad. More disappointing and absolutely outclassed by others in the price range. And if I have a choice, I'm choosing something else every time. Just so you know, I do actually know my way around a bar (and a kitchen). I was the chef and part owner of a successful fine dining house for 7 years. Been a working chef for over 17. I'm on a bit of a hiatus for the present but, I have a fairly good grasp of what you can do with liquor.
Guy I gave it to is a bit weird anyway. He's rich as shit (born into it) and he doesn't drink all that much. He REALLY didn't like the MacCask. He has options. He won't touch it. He feels no sense of obligation to drink it. Although he does occasionally try to get others to drink it, he has never succeeded.
My comment was directed at everyone I have ever met who, in the midst of me explaining any number of superb cocktails involving Scotch (or even just a dash of water to bring out the flavor! which you're supposed to do!), scoffed and said, "Real Scotch drinkers don't mix their Scotch. What a waste. I know more about this than you." It's one of my secret ways I decide whether I shouldn't ever talk to someone again, actually.
It's a good filtering system. Comments like "Real ______ never do this" reek of elitism and pretentiousness. It usually also denote's someone who just got into the scene of whatever it is they are prattling on about. One of the first things you learn (or should learn anyway) when you open a restaurant is: never scoff at the ways people enjoy their food and drink. No matter how counterintuitive it may appear. If that's what they want and they are paying for it; who am I to criticize? And sometimes some of the off the wall shit they suggest is brilliant. Nope, life is too short to go around looking down on others because they enjoy a well done Niman ranch filet or cocktail sauce with their oysters. And cocktails using Scotch? Nothing wrong with that. Just a different way of enjoying a drink.It's one of my secret ways I decide whether I shouldn't ever talk to someone again, actually.
Fine dining. Worked in some fast food and chain places as a teen. Went to culinary school (never go to culinary school). Worked in a couple of casinos, worked in a super crazy restaurant that should have been fine dining and was... in the 50's, then I worked at a real fine dining place, then another, then another. Then opened my own place with 2 friends/business partners. At my place we did what they call California cuisine (which is just a seasonal menu using fresh ingredients, apparently that was such a novel idea in the 80's that it required it's own name). I based my menu on classical french techniques with a fairly broad Mediterranean influence. I incorporated stuff from France, Spain, Italy, Germany as well as Morocco, Greece, Lebanon. Are you into dining?
I am withholding judgment on whether living in the USA long term is worthwhile until I've lived abroad for a period of time and then returned. To this end I am taking a job in Shanghai next July (moving from NYC), which is by far the craziest thing I've ever done. I don't expect to find China my new home per se, rather I hope the experience will be a stepping stone to living as a citizen in the wider world in my life thereafter. I am a USA citizen, born and raised here, so it will always be "home," no matter where I am, however in my ideal future I won't feel "trapped" by that. The USA is one of many countries, full of wonderful people and awesome sites, cultural heritage, and so on. In the long term that is how I expect to experience it -- as its own entity, with its own good and bad sides, and not something that traps me in any way. All that said, I don't think there is any escaping the global economy and the powers that run it, no matter where you go. A lot of those powers are concentrated in the USA, but I truly believe that most of the people who will ultimately reshape the world for the better, at least in the next 50-100 years, are not.
At the moment, I have no choice. That being said, I may be getting my Finnish Citizenship in a few years. My great-grandmother was a Finnish citizen, born there, raised here. Finland has this program where the children of Finnish citizens can claim Finnish citizenship. So if my grandfather gets his, my mother can get hers, and then
I can get mine! Which would be neat.
I'm foreign (from NZ) and moved to the USA. I love New Zealand, it's an amazing country and I hope to raise a family there one day. However, it is small and there's just not the access to opportunity that there is here in the US. My view of the US is pretty utilitarian - I enjoy living in California and I have friends here, but I'm here because of what being here can do for my career. The flip side though, is what I'd say to any American (or anyone at all) considering jumping ship to live in another country. It's rarely the right decision to make. Whatever issues or problems you have here won't disappear because you move countries - unless you are literally a refugee on the run from war or despotic governments. And the US does not have a despot in power, as much as some people would like to characterise him that way. Stick it out and make your country a better place rather than running away to somewhere else. Moving countries is hard, you're without everything familiar, even if you move to another English-speaking country. Your family, your friends, your support network, they're all gone. Even the brands at the supermarkets are different and you have to get used to whole different ways of life. If you leave a country for the wrong reason, you'll only end up unhappy and resenting your new home for being different from the one you left.
I'm not from the US but growing up it always seemed like a golden land and I loved the idea of living there. The past 15 years, during which I've actually learned more about the place (and visited twice) have made made me shiver with relief that I wasn't born American. Great place to visit, possibly a nice place to work temporarily (up to a year or so) but no way I would want to live there long term. The main things that deter me from America: - healthcare costs - attitude towards women's reproductive freedom and abortion - religiosity - guns - corn syrup (I visited LA and it was literally in every single product I looked at in the shops)
We're animals, and I believe the media and those they serve have almost perfected the process of pushing our buttons to push an agenda. We want to be part of the majority naturally, so we're easily riled up and manipulated as a species and "culture." So I think certain problems are overhyped and other, more pressing or longterm matters are not reported at all. We've been drinking this specialized cocktail (which hits all our primal urges) for decades if not centuries and there's no end in sight. On the other hand, I we are a pattern-recognizing species. So I think the masses can and will eventually understand and demand more from our natural resources and their distribution. Ultimately I believe that if you can reach people individually, you'll find that no one wants to be fooled or duped. In fact people enter denial to create a world in which they are right. So my hope is as technology and global communication advances we will recognize the patterns of manipulation and force the oligarchy to at least come up with new lies which are closer to the truth. Over time, like "going green" we'll see that we're all better off and more efficient helping each other on this rock as we hurtle through spacetime together. I'm a romantic in the sense that I want to help show people the light, but I'm also a selfish bastard and have to fight the urge to lift myself up by pushing others down. It's something ingrained in our consciousness as survival of the fittest. But the most impact we will all most likely have is on those immediately around us. That's how you change the world. Be kind and forgiving of those around you. Choose love instead of fear. Speak truth to power. And realize we are made of nothing and will return to this earth and to the stars sooner or later. Until then we're stuck here together (though let's try to fix that and explore the galaxy).
I stay in the United States because the chicken wings will never be better elsewhere than my hometown. And my family and friends all live here. Beyond that, I would have to visit other countries before delivering a definitive answer to whether or not it would be worth it to move away from the United States. Maybe it would, I just wouldn't know.
Yep. I intended that comment to come off as facetious. I've no intention of ever leaving. Is the US the best place for me to be? Yeah. My reasoning though, is more akin to " democracy is the least worst form of government" than "God Bless the US, hand me my Bud Light, and legally concealed firearm. Yee-ha!"