What would it take for you to leave the country?

[Jimski]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

I left the country in which I was born, which I hated, mostly on account of Apartheid, and the driver was the fact I was about to be conscripted into a racist army. And I've never missed the place. I sometimes actually forget that I wasn't brought up in the UK. I don't consider myself South African at all (and never have really).

But nowadays,. when I think of people's threats to leave the UK on account of right-wing political developments, I can't really see the logic. Sure if you were in a situation such as that faced by Jewish people in Nazi Germany, then obviously it would be wise to leave. But otherwise you're just making use of your own freedom to choose to leave, while the actual people hardest hit by the policies to which you object are actually forced to stay. Hardly a noble act. (Makes me think about my leaving South Africa at 22 - obviously it was ultimately a completely selfish act. Not one I've ever regretted, mind.)

[ad hoc]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

Femme Folle wrote:

Politically there is no country in the world that will not eventually drive you fucking crazy (and many of them will do it fairly rapidly). I've come to the conclusion that in the end the best you can hope for is a country in which people talk about politics a lot, in which there is a high level of public critical thinking, in which there is the freedom to do so without fear, and in which people believe they can - to some degree - make a difference (and with evidence to that end).

Jeez, by those criteria, the USA seems like an okay place to live. Canada might be a little better, though, but I'm sure it has its own problems.

The US struggles with the second one a fair bit. There is such a high level of uncritical unthinking that it actually cancels out the critical thinking that also exists. And critical thinking is actually perceived negatively by some aspects of the mainstream.

[ad hoc]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

Antepli Ejderha wrote:
The structure of languages like Hungarian, Finnish and Estonian make it trickier to learn for those of us who speak Indo European languages.

The structure of Hungarian is - frankly - not that hard. Word order tends to mirror English to a large degree, and tenses are pretty easy (the future is a piece of piss). It's the cases that kill you in Hungarian, and then when you have to conjugate verbs differently dependent on whether there is a fucking direct object or not, it becomes one of those things that I have reached the conclusion you have to have learned as a first language.

[Bored Of Education]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

I think that I have confused people a little. Don't worry, I am not leaving Britain. I am not the slightest bit nationalistic or patriotic - outside of sport - but I do think that this is the best country in the world. That, however, is probably down to familiarity, I am sure. However, the sort of huge seachanges that would have to come in that would make me leave - widespread gun ownership, detention without trial, capital punishment, rescinding of equality laws - would be the sorts that would change this country and what I love about it.

As it goes, I can't think of anywhere else I would rather be now so it makes it hard to think of an alternative place to leave the country to. All the places I have visited and loved have major drawbacks - the US (well, parts of), Cuba, Italy etc - and the countries that are close - France, Ireland etc - don't appeal and have their own issues as well. Perhaps, I could live somewhere I haven't tried yet - Germany, Sweden.

The main thing is that I would have to do anything I could to make sure that the right to bear arms, detention without trial, capital punishment, rescinding of equality laws never come here and maybe I would have to stay and defend these values 'by any means necessary' rather than leave. I am, it has to be said, quite the coward and I am not sure the wife would let me though.

[caja-dglh]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

To echo some of the views earlier in the thread - I actually left the UK purely because I fancied the adventure, something different than a small, if quite wonderfully diverse in geographical form, country.

That and my (now) wife was from a different country. It is hard to imagine heading back now - not to say we haven't thought about it and kind of leave it open. In fact given recent job happenings it came open to discussion again but it unlikely to happen for now. I really dislike the guns here but, on the flipside, the climate is so much better for my mood and general enjoyment.

Like adhoc alluded to, I try not to get too tied up in the politics. Partly because I am in a rather vast bracket where the politics are least impactful and it is more of a social conscience.

At the same time, and probably completely contradicting myself, I would consider leaving the US later in my children's lives. Europe is a fantastic international location to be situated and I think it would be great to bring that diversity to my children to help them make their decisions. Much like everything else, my views don't matter anywhere near as much for what we decide to do.

[Jah Womble]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

At the moment, not much.

(To OP.)