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| Subject: Pt. 3 |
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RE:
Actually, I am not moving to Canada for any political reason. It is simply where my wife and I want to be. I wonder if the folks here are just going to abandon Canada if it does not think the way they do? Community and government is something everyone needs to participate in. I think blaming the folks you are leaving behind for your flight is ungrateful, ungracious, and unkind. Bashing the group your are leaving to flatter your new hosts is a nasty form of snobbery.
It is not ungrateful to leave a country if its policies are against one´s morality. And to comment on such policies is not ungracious, but a duty of everyone who sees unjust and unfair practices. Do you think blacks in the South were ungrateful for critcizing discrimination? Were they bashing their hosts? Do you think we would have gotten into the terrible quagmire of Iraq if we as a country would have questioned and criticized more, instead of meekly accepting the deceptions of this administration? Perhaps in your zelousness to always be kind and gracious to your host, you´ve lost your ability to think critically, take a stand, and take appropriate action for what´s right.
[19-10-2006,12:30]
[**.53.231.75]
Richard |
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(in reply to: Pt. 3)
Does your morality extend to running away from these problems rather than participating in the political process to change them? African Americans did not move to another country. They worked within the country to affect change. If your reason to move to Canada is because the country you are living in is not doing what you want, what happens if the Canadian government does not act in a manner you approve of? Where are you going to go? Martin Luther King points out it was not the hatred of the bad people was the problem, but the silence of the good people. Do you think running away is taking a stand? Do you think leaving the US is gong to change it? Perhaps it is not me that is lacking the abiltiy to think critically?
There is nothing wrong with critism. That is healthy and the US has many areas to be critisized. But you are using it as your excuse to leave. You seem to imply the moral inferiority of everyone in the US. Your blanket statement is ungratious to the people who are staying and trying to make changes; it is ungrateful to the people who helped instill those high morals in you.
Like you, I am also immigrating to Canada. But I am not using the Bush administration as a reason for going. I am not condemming an entire nation to support my morality and choice. My choice is entirely personal. I will also participate within my society if I think there is a need for change. Yes, there are serious problems in the US. There are also good things as well. I am grateful for the Americans who have contributed to my life. While it is a very American thing to paint the world in absolute terms like right and wrong, and good and evil, you may find the world is simply shades of gray. I would not hold Canada up so high as you will find out that perfection does not exist anywhere on this planet especially in politics were there are far more similarities than differences.
Yes, go to Canada. Build a wonderful life there. But please don´t use the "morally inferior" citizens, some of whom are my good friends that happen to be working for change, as your excuse.
[20-10-2006,02:02]
[***.3.76.29]
Anonymous |
(in reply to: Pt. 3)
In never said I am morally superior to anyone else. That´s your interpretation. Nor am I "condemning an entire nation". Where are you getting this stuff?
My point is one has to abide by one´s own morality and take whatever action needed to live life appropriately. Looks like according to your rules, you can leave (like you), but just don´t criticize.
I can´t agree with you that you´re supposed to be quiet if you disagree with something. And I don´t believe reasoned criticism is "ungratious". Slandering for it´s own sake, yes, but actual diagreement with policies deserves to be said and heard. This is not a Soviet bloc state I´m leaving where you´re supposed to shut-up and accept the way things are. Everyone has a right to make critical comments, whether leaving or not.
And if, as you say, I´m using politics as an excuse to leave, what´s my real reason for leaving? Is it just a cover-up for something more underlying and sinister? I´m not quite following what you´re saying here.
I don´t think we´ll agree here, so we simply differ. But thanks for your well-written response.
[20-10-2006,11:45]
[**.53.231.75]
Richard |
(in reply to: Pt. 3)
Actually it´s not easy to change the direction of a country where the rulers have pretty much been, since its founding, from the wealthy or wealthier classes, and where the moneyed class more or less controls both access to political power and the media. Furthermore, the United States has always been an aggressive nation since it´s beginning, freely invading other nations and exploiting their wealth and territories and toppling their governments, e.g., Mexico metamorphosing into California. Indeed, other countries and governments were afraid of the inherent violence of this country, which while some writers have blamed on the capitalist philosophy of the United States, e.g., William Appleton Williams and William Lefebre, a new book by Robert Kagan sees our aggressiveness as representing the ideology of violence rather than flowing from our capitalistic economy, that is, as Americans, blessed by God, it is our inherent right under God to invade and conquer other people and countries.
So this is a lot to change in one´s limited lifetime, and it may be simpler, at a certain stage in one´s life, to simply go to another country which more pertinently shares some of one´s deepest beliefs, such as it is wrong to invade another country and kill and torture it´s citizens, wrong to employ the poor as canon fodder for the pipe dreams of the wealthy (after setting up the society so that there are enough poor desperate enough or needy enough to bargain with the lottery of death in order to have access to a college education) and wrong to deny 46 million people access to health care. Actually, for myself, I think I initially chose Canada because I wanted to live in another city again, and wanted to embark on a new and exciting adventure, that of being part of a progressive and vital society in a relatively young and gorgeous and infinitely vast country. It was not chiefly a political reason: at the time (2004) we thought Bush would lose the election.
[20-10-2006,18:59]
[**.213.124.210]
Bob |
(in reply to: Pt. 3)
Well said, Bob.
[20-10-2006,22:05]
[**.53.231.75]
Richard |
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