Why I’m Glad I Left America | Hacker News Reader

Why I’m Glad I Left America

theatlantic.com

23 pointsharambae20 comments

There is no single place in the world that will be best for everybody. I have friends in South America who would never move to Europe or US. It's not that South America is better in some absolute way, but it is great at the things they value (including proximity to family).

I personally would never, ever leave the US for France (or pretty much anywhere in Europe). For all the problems we have in the US, it's still one of the best places in the world for the things I value.

The author is clearly left-leaning, so it's not entirely surprising he would prefer Europe. US liberals tend to want to implement many things that already exist in Europe (free X, free Y, subsidized Z, more vacations etc).

Equality of opportunity (including free healthcare for everyone, and same quality of education), regardless of where you're born, is one thing hardly discutable on an ideological point of view, whether you are conservative or liberal..

For no reason I would have my children think the state of the US healthcare or education is a good thing.

Left America for - France? Isn't that a bit like jumping from the frying pan into the fire? I guess I was expecting to see the usual Scandinavian suspects, not France. Mind you not that there's anything wrong with France, it's just they're grappling with the same issues the United States is. You don't notice it as much because it doesn't dominate U.S. news. But let me tell you, Western Europe is in a sinking boat as well. To abuse the metaphor a bit all our boats might be at different levels and rates of sinking, but they're all sinking nonetheless. Which is all to say that Western Civilization is dying.

If I were to leave the United States I would avoid the West.

For me the biggest quality of life improvement has been moving to a less populated area with clean air, clean water and access to good organic food, forget what country that is in, that only matters in which the local government either degrades or improves upon those basic things.

This is why I probably won't move to Asia, it's just too polluted. Or why I won't move back to a big city.

I'm glad the author is happy where he's at. I wish more people would move to where they are best suited.

I want the people of France to enjoy the best France possible. Likewise to the people of Germany, Egypt, etc.

As for me, I like the America I was born in. To be sure, it's changing, but it has unique traits that I wouldn't give up for anything.

A glass of wine is only 5 dollars!!!

Let's keep our priorities straight.

A politically correct author referring to the United States of America as simply "America". The same title could be used by someone from Mexico, Hondura, Chile, Brazil, but, who cares? :=D

I think this is a pretty well balanced article. There are a lot of problems in the USA but there are problems elsewhere. People are allowed to make the choice to move, and probably right now a lot of people in the USA are considering just that.

I've lived in several cities in my lifetime and two countries. I definitely feel like each place has different forms of stress. Things that you can't get around that swallow up your energy. But they also have certain charms that nowhere else has as well. This article captures that nicely.

I am so tired of this fetishisation of the easy way. It is something only available to the privileged and is, in this case, nothing short of abandoning the rest of us to the fascist takeover occurring in the USA.

How is abandoning your life and home the "easy" way? Sure, it takes means but it's nontrivial. And yes, many are left behind but should we all be forced to stay on a sinking ship, when there are lifeboats? If anyone must perish, we all must perish? I'm headed toward the exit with my family. It's a long process and if I didn't have a kid, I probably wouldn't be doing it. My kid's life is more important than mine and I'll leave everyone behind for them. It's not easy but it's important.

It absolutely is easy compared to staying and fighting for a better future. Also if you think there's anywhere you can run where things like the fascist tide, globalization, and white supremacy cant reach you you're extremely naive. It would be far better for your child to grow up in a better world, and know how to fight for that, than to grow up on some shrinking islet of comfort without learning anything from their parents except how to run. Good things don't just spring up out of nowhere, they're built and fought for.

Furthermore, the people of comfort in the US (read: the people who have the means necessary to leave) are largely the same people who have benefited from this extremely racist/violent system. That is almost true by definition... For those they very people who are most comfortable because of the exploitation in this country to deem it 'too uncomfortable' and leave is just incredibly gross. It has been far less comfortable for the people being oppressed, who could never dream of having the means to move, than it has been for you forever.

> It absolutely is easy compared to staying and fighting for a better future.

What is this fetish we have with fighting. How are people that don’t migrate fighting?

I don’t think you managed to explain how the people that leave are to blame for the problems

> How are people that don’t migrate fighting?

Have you not noticed the uprising occurring in the US currently? That is people, who did not leave, staying and fighting.

> I don’t think you managed to explain how the people that leave are to blame for the problems

I'm not saying they're to blame for all of the problems. What I am saying is that people of comfort, which is a group that people who can leave are among, have historically benefited tremendously from the exploitative system that makes our country "bad." Now that its ruined here they simply want to run off, commonly to another colonial power, to live it up there.

That is not a fetishisation with fighting, that is a sober observation that the masses are being oppressed and that if they want that to change they will need to confront their oppressors.

You can't hide from everything (not that I intend to hide at all) but you can definitely improve your situation. As white guy, u benefit basically everywhere. Know who doesn't? Women. Know where they have more benefits than in the US? Almost everywhere. Why should we stay and fight something that us so obviously unbalanced when we can walk away and let it burn behind us? How is that my responsibility? Or my wife's? Or my daughter's? We've built a world that's so obviously not for them, that thinms they're literally thought if as incapable of making decsions for themselves, that have no chance to come out ahead (rare exceptions do not make the rule). Even worse if you're a woman of color. It's not "uncomfortable," as your condescending response claims, it's fucking dangerous. That you can't see that indicates that your pedestal is too high.

Let it fail. After the fires are out and it's time to rebuild, I'll lend a hand. Until then, good luck. I'm done with this mess.

The places that have better women's right FOUGHT FOR THEM. I'm not saying its fair, but leaving behind your comrades, whatever group you're from, isn't fair either. It literally perpetuates the colonial mindset that started this mess when privileged people think they can just "go where the grass is greener."

Also do you not think a further collapse of civil rights in the US will have a global effect? It absolutely will.

I disagree partially. Much of those fights were enabled by wars, where the men were busy with killing each other, because other men said so. Meanwhile back home the women had to carry on in the war economy, and taking over many former male tasks. That was the primary enabler of womans rights IMO. Not that I'd been against those, just saying...

I struggle with this.

Without the US engaged in intl cooporation, then it's even more guaranteed that climate change and ecological collapse will crush us all.

I do consider finding a better place for my family but the safety may be short lived.

Yeah France doesn't have 'any' fascism (eyeroll): https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/french-bar-owners...

Tsk, tsk. Ever heard of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_voting vs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibelungentreue ?

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