replies to wretched

I recently received this comment from a disgruntled Trontonian. He says, in part:
Though your reasons for coming here seem somewhat vague and idealistic to me, and not really related to what will be everyday life, they're not really my business.

But, a couple of points on your comment "... it all adds up to a very different attitude about government, society and a nation's place in the world."
For sure! Ppl here still have that sort of British/socialist attitude that Gov't knows best and will take care of us.

And Society? Well, the mind-blowing immigration rate will change it by tomorrow or the next day, so don't get too comfy with whatever it is today!

As for their "place in the world", well they're not sure yet. They cannot actually define what they *are as a people, only what they are *not - i.e. "we're not Americans." How original.
And I reply:

Re my reasons seeming unrelated to everyday life: I'm an American every day. I have to live in this disgusting, shallow, militaristic, jingoistic, undemocratic culture and support it with my taxes. Can't get much more every day than that.

Anywhere I live, everyday life is going to be pretty much the same. We're going to write, work, watch baseball, love our dogs, go out to dinner - we're going to live our lives. In that sense, the pros and cons of New York City vs Toronto could be argued in various ways. Our reasons for moving are the larger picture, which doesn't seem at all vague to me.

Re government taking care of people: as you may have noticed, I have that attitude, too. No one says "government knows best" - that's ridiculous. But yes, progressives do feel the role of government and of our taxes is to help people live better lives. Given the choice between paying high taxes so that every person can have health care or paying high taxes to kill people in other parts of the world, I'll take health care every time. I'm not anti-government per se, but government has got to have a function other than making extremely rich people extremely richer.

Re society rapidly changing from immigration: excellent. It's something I am accustomed to from NYC, and something I look forward to in Canada. But if you read what I wrote, my reference to society isn't about that.

Re Canadians' place in the world not being American: perfect. That's the whole point. But what I meant - obviously - was that Canada is not bullying and conquering and exploiting the rest of the planet.

Thanks for stopping by. And p.s., if you're reading, we have traffic in New York, too.

Comments

  1. Kyle_From_Ottawa10 January 2005 at 06:50

    You can't quite escape it all when you move here. It's just you'll be on the majority side instead of the minority side.

    Then again, even in France I'm sure you could find an ardent Bush backer.

    ReplyDelete
  2. laura k10 January 2005 at 06:59

    Maybe one! And he's probably emigrating to Texas.

    ReplyDelete

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