http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=6731925
"The number of U.S. citizens visiting Canada's main immigration Web site has shot up six-fold as Americans flirt with the idea of abandoning their homeland after President Bush's election win this week."
On the one hand I'm tempted to welcome them with arms open wide. Hey, we'd be getting more of the same stripe, and a lot of the intelligencia. Spread the love.
On the other, I'm also tempted to break out in cold sweat and send them back. If they leave in droves, I'm not sure I'd like what the US will turn into. Fundamentalist Christian loonies who believe in the Rapture Index with the world's largest military machine? Nobody to question the media? The very idea is terrifying.
It almost certainly won't happen, but it's definitely an interesting mental toy.
Well there was a brain drain out of the USSR when the Wall went down. Not sure if it affected Russia much.
When HongKong was given back to the Chinese, a lot of people flew away. How is H-K now? Not as good as shape, but still functional.
That's true. The interesting point here is that it seems (someone comment on this?) that many people in the bible-belt are fairly intolerant.
Now, consider if there really was a mass-exodus of liberals, lefties, intellectuals, etc. Eventually the religious right, or those using their support, will acquire a critical mass of power. Their will becomes law. Then what?
But as I said before, it's an interesting mental toy and quite unlikely to happen. Imagine entire city populations, like those in New York, uprooting and going North - not going to happen.
One could say that the Amish are intolerant to modern civilisation. They live in their own world and it works fine.
What could happen if the religious right as you call them would have their own world? Probably nothing much. They would teach creation instead of evolution. Then they would ban most of the sciences because those make the bible wrong (according to their leaders' thinking, that is). They would live happily in their world, waiting for the second coming/rapture/etc.
The Amish live as they do only thanks to the protection and/or disinterest of the society around them. Under different circumstances, their way of life would be impossible. Say, if resources were scarce or arable land limited.
This is maybe not relevant to the discussion, but the Amish are still very much a special case.
Reminds me of Switzerland in a way (special case).
There's also something to be said about Amish: they're not belligerent. While I'm unqualified to comment, it appears that a fair portion of citizens in the central states are not so inclined.
The Swiss haven't had a war for 200 years. I wonder if this is the reason why they speak so slowly. ;)
Well, I don't feel too bad about many American's packing their bags.
My reason is that many people in the USA like to bitch all the time, but if you ask them why they don't want to leave, they just get really pissed off.
At least I can see that some people will actually do something instead of bitch.
I'm also thinking that since the Religious Right has problems with science, then that will screw up further development of their doomsday weapons.
That will leave them with empty labs, and the only power the religious right will get out of them is a prayer huddle. And people with their heads out their ass will understand that a prayer huddle is not going to impact anybody but the fucktards that make it.
Xtianity is based off Questionable Cause and Effect, Paranoid Schizophrenia, the Placebo effect, mind games, and flawed logic.
> My reason is that many people in the USA like to bitch all the time, but if you ask them why they don't want to leave, they just get really pissed off.
It's how they say:
A: We elected Bush?! Again!? Man, I really hate living in the US sometimes. It's not really fun living here anymore.
B: Then why don't you just leave and move somewhere else?
A: What, and fall victim to our foreign policy?
>>8
Dunno. It's freaky visiting Zurich. For a few moments I thought they were speaking some alien language.
Love and Peace?
"Swiss teenagers are Europe's top joint smokers"
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=107&sid=5350222
"Swiss teenagers smoke more cannabis than their peers in more than 30 other European countries, according to a survey."
Reminds me somewhat of the joke: "Cocaine is Nature's way of telling you that you have too much money."
No shit Sherlock. >.>;