Being an expat is a western privilege, in other words?
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I think in many cases it is, if by âexpatâ you mean someone who can decide to move to another country within six months, work there for a couple of years and move on. I did know people who went abroad on business, but they were generally sent by their companies rather than being free to get their own visa. In return, they owed their company a year of service for every month spent abroad.
It took less than five minutes for me to be approved for a six month visa to the US (and my reason was basically that I wanted to spend 3-6 months there), but it took over a month, hours of negotiations and eventually a letter from a congressman before they let our three year old son come too (he had a Chinese passport). Apparently they had to assume that he would overstay his visa and work illegally.
There are many other benefits that often come with being a western expat, such as being able to take your family with you, the assumption that you are valuable to the economy rather than a drain on it, being considered of equal status to locals, knowing that your countryâs government is respected and that they will speak for you if you are treated unjustlyâŚ
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That reminds me, and Iâm drawing a bit of a blank on who wrote it, but there was a book on 19th century immigration from Europe. A key issue was that many of the immigrants, that we often think of as being disconnected, and lacking needed skills for a new industrial economy, were actually skilled laborers, and were often recruited by family members/friends already living/working in the US⌠Maybe it was John Bodnarâs The Transplanted?
Seems like that was the oneâŚ
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I hear what youâre saying, but when us Americans move to other countries, almost always, it results in the betterment of that country. Even pretty developed places like Canada and Oregon are pretty livable because of the Americans who bit the proverbial bullet and moved there.
American âExpatsâ are a global âUpliftâ squad (even the stinky backpacking hippies.)
Youâre welcome, rest of the world.
By-the-way, I just love Fox News. Arenât their news anchors totally dreamy?
Iâm sure some First Nations people might object to your assessment of the benefits of American migration.
Migration is often good for the host country. However, I think westerners often overestimate their own value and underestimate that of others coming to the west. I particularly dislike the way that some immigrants are dismissed as coming for the benefits in a country, when they often have to clear a much higher bar and work much harder for these benefits. While western expats have often benefited their host countries, this is far from universal and there are many examples of the opposite happening .
They remind me of chickens:
So do their viewers quite often, which is tragic when you know them to be good, compassionate people who are being programmed to think of others as dehumanised concepts rather than sympathetic human beings.
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Jsroberts -
I enjoyed reading your post & I completely agree.
I like how you responded, in earnest, to my satirical (at least attempting satire) post.
Cheers!!!
~cdh
Is that a Chihuahua on the table? If so - get into my
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