General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: This will likely piss off a few of you. [View all]DFW
(54,365 posts)On the other hand, I didn't leave because I was disgusted with the way things were, but because I found a wonderful woman who didn't want to leave her country, and a job that lets me (or, rather, makes me) be based in her country, and travel constantly. I still spend maybe a total of three months out of the year in the States, always visit Washington and New York, and hang with whatever political types I know and are still willing to put up with me, and chat/talk strategy.
I have nothing for or against those who want to leave. Those of us who have, have done so usually for as many different reasons as there are people. I left for love, and had the incredible luck to work for an outfit that could place me at work here without batting an eye, and already spoke several European languages. But that is hardly typical. That information is about as useful to most others as a Tibetian cookbook written in the original.
I can offer tips for those who want to move to my continent (Europe), but neither encourage or discourage it. Know what the hell you're doing, and remember that getting a work permit and a residence permit in a country like Germany if you can't speak decent German will get you consideration by the authorities about as favorable as someone would get wanting to move from Stuttgart to Boston or L.A. if German is the ONLY language you know. "Everybody speaks English" doesn't cut it, and no, they don't either, not everybody, and not by a long shot.
But I say, if you are fed up enough, go ahead and say why. It isn't going to affect anyone else, and it's not exactly a novel idea. A bunch of Greeks left for Bactria some 2500 years ago. When I was in college (Boston to Philadelphia flights were still done by Pteranodon), a book came out called "I've Had It!" It was a guide to leaving the USA and settling in other countries, and spelled out a number of the pitfalls to expect. It even had a chapter on the Soviet Union (!!!). That chapter had a few more caveats than the others. But it was for people disgusted with what Nixon had done to the USA. Seems tame by comparison now, right? But at the time, as a 20 year old, I lapped that book up, I despised Nixon so. Never did anything about it at the time, of course.
I don't tell anyone to STFU about this because I have never been in the shoes of someone who seriously has had enough. Been harassed by a cop waving a weapon for walking while black? Shit, yeah, I'd think about moving someplace else. Had the God Squad constantly harassing you because you don't pretend to believe the same malarkey they pretend to believe? Ain't got time to take a fast train. Me, it was some beautiful blonde woman suggesting, "come live with me in the banks of the Rhein." I promise you, the message was just as powerful to me at the time as anything else. It must have been. I'm here, right?
But blanket condemnations are like chemotherapy. They may knock out what's making you ill, but they can also seriously damage a lot of good parts that you'll need down the road. Use with caution.