Move to Canada?

I think that it is a good thing that my job is boring these days. With the current politico-cultural climate the way it is these days, I don't think I could take the additional excitement. Sometimes I wonder what planet I'm on, which is a signal to me that I need to stop frequenting the poli-blogs for a bit and get some perspective. Still, when NPR feels comfortable interviewing Pat Buchanan as a reasonable person, I get worried!

It's at times like this, when the paranoid mood is on me, that I contemplate moving to another country, preferably one with greater tolerance for socialism and less tolerance for religious extremism. But here's the rub: I'd miss the environment here. The American "culture" (if one can use one term to describe the multifarious beast of diversity that lives here) I can take or leave; there are parts that are good, parts that suck. Many of the good parts I could find elsewhere, so that's not the problem.

Unfortunately, environments are not portable. I like living in close proximity to the local deserts and mountains and ocean. I had a hard enough time adjusting to life in another region of the country; to move to another continent or make a major latitudinal shift would be whole order of change, and I'm not sure I'd be up to it. The closest I came was having a bit of a crush on Australia when I was there, but how deep it runs, I'm not sure. It was nifty, and welcoming, but home?

So I'm stuck here for the duration; guess I'd better start putting more energy into making sure that it's a place I want to live, after all.

Comments

[Michelle]

Was that for real? NPR interviewing Pat Buchanan as a reasonable person? I'll have to ask the poli-nut in my life about that one.

[Duckling]

Life's funny. It's always difficult to work out what's for the best. I keep thinking about living abroad, getting all gunned up and then chickening out again.

[Rana]

Michelle: ayup. Here's the link. He was being asked for his opinion on the Nader candidacy, of all things!

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[susan]

I heard that session on NPR and in some ways it was very revealing. Buchanan did not come across as reasonable at all. Rather, he showed himself to be the reactionary ideologue he is.

I guess I think it's fine that NPR presents his viewpoint. I share your worries, though, about the general state of American politics and culture. Any ideas on what to do about it, apart from moving to Canada?

[Rana]

Susan, that is an _excellent_ question. I don't have time to respond to it just now, but, believe me, I'll be thinking about it!

[susan]

Forgive me for posing such a huge question in a blog comment, as if you could give me the answer in 25 words or less. (And shouldn't that be "fewer", btw? Unless we allow those 25 words to be treated as a bulk quantity in this expression, rather than as a set of individual entities. But, I digress.)
I should try to gather a few thoughts on the subject myself.

[Rana]

Oooph. I'll try. (Though y'all know how wordy I am!)

-- Pick your battles.
-- Get educated.
-- Research/develop channels of change.
-- Gather with like-minded people.
-- Take small steps.
-- Remember the big picture.
-- Don't give up hope.

(Bam: 25)

But I think it could be summed up in one sentence: Believe in your own ability to make a difference.

Oh, and: Actually get off your butt and _do_ something. (This is the one I have the most trouble with, personally.)

Anybody else want to take a whac k at it?

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[Michelle]

I think "get off your butt and do something" says a lot. But that's the idealistic part of me. The realistic part of me says: give up and move to Canada. Maybe Canada is the new mountain... nah, too far north. I have nothing of value to contribute to this conversation. I think it's a lost cause.

[Rana]

I guess I'm an idealist -- I have a hard time believing both that the cause is lost and that we can do nothing for it. (You're bright and funny and passionate, Michelle -- those seem like valuable contributions to me, fwiw.)

Problem is, I'm also a practical idealist, which means that I can't just stick to imagining the ideal; I get bogged down in the nit-picking details that underpin the fantasy. (Analogy: believing in castles in the air, but feeling intimidated by the training needed to work out the physics behind making a large building fly.)
)

[wolfangel]

Canada is a good place, except for the problematic 1-party system (all the other parties effectively committed suicide). I'll move to Canada. Where there are mountains and oceans. And there are deserts. Those northern icy ones, but deserts.

It's funny: I call my father right-wing, and he is, but not for the US.

[The Other Michelle]

Hmm, a couple of thoughts on these comments:

Um, have any of you ever actually been to Canada, or are you using us as the equivalent of "this place sucks, maybe I'll join a convent"? We have four full seasons, which means that we have hot deserts part of the year, plus we have BC, which is one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Okay, I'm past the knee-jerk, "Don't bash my country, at least we don't have Bush!" reaction. I try to live by an ideal that if you don't love "it" (where you are, what you're doing, whatever), then leave it *or* work to make it better. The issue is if you think that there's at least a part of the "it" that's worth the effort, worth the time and worth the passion. If you don't think so, then you probably *would* be better off without "it", and if you do, then you should be fighting to make it into something that you can and do love.

Okay, I'm finished with my rambling of the moment, hope I haven't offended anyone!

Michelle

[Michelle]

Well, did you see what Clancy posted about one of the Dakota states banning abortion? It is enough to make one want to flee. I'm not a pacifist. It makes me want to bang someone aside the head.

[Rana]

Perhaps I should clarify what I meant by having a hard time leaving the ecosystems of my home country -- it is not that other places do not have similar ones -- as I noted, a lot of Australia was rather congenial. But it is NOT the _same_ ecosystem -- I defy y'all to find ocotillo, cactus wrens, California quail, creosote bush, fan palms, Joshua trees, and so on elsewhere.

(I was only partly kidding about the "move to Canada" thing -- you're right, it is a common phrase around here standing in for "I want to live in a place like America only better," and Canada's the closest example most Americans think of. But Canada would be pretty interesting to live in; I've been to BC a couple of times, and found it pleasant, in a Pacific Northwest kinda way. F or me, Australia would be more desirable, in terms of familiarity and climate, but they have a wicked set of immigration requirements!)

The question of whether being able to continue calling these places "home" is worth fighting for remains -- I think ye s, but agree with Michelle of Phlebas that the cultural trends developing do not give one a lot of hope about the outcome of such a struggle. It's freaking hard feeling like one's views and beliefs are not only in the minority, but the undesirable minority!