Flee The Country

by AJ/Skald

A number of articles have appeared on Common Dreams recently under the general theme of: Donít flee the country because George Bush won. These are mostly tongue-in-cheek pieces about how hard it is to emigrate to Canada or revoke citizenship.... which is all undoubtedly true.

But while it may be difficult to revoke US citizenship and become a Canadian citizen, it is DAMN EASY to get a job abroad and thus escape the country! I highly recommend this option. Living abroad gives me a broader perspective on the follies of America and Americans. Take my word for it, it looks even uglier from over here. But it has been a very good experience to undermine whatever nationalistic tendencies I may have had.

So why not join me, and Kristin, and Matt, and Todd and thousands of others-- go ahead and flee the country. I know from experience that its no fun to live in Hickville, USA surrounded by rabid Christian Taliban. Americans are, as a rule, the most willfully ignorant people on the Earth. Never have those who have had so much, known so little. Sure, the media is corrupt and the Christian Taliban are great propagandists. But at heart, Americans want to believe the lies. They make them feel good. They like to imagine that they are part of a master race that is chosen by God and can do no wrong. They like the surrogate rush of watching their military annihilate scary brown infidels. They like their obscenely large SUVs. They like their gigantic houses. They like super-size fries.

Reality, by comparison, is so unpleasant. It doesnít do much for oneís ego to admit that you are a citizen of a monstrous, murderous, lying, assassinating, torturing, pillaging corporate evil empire. Much better to wave the flag and thank Jesus that we are the freest, richest, smartest (hah), most moral, most wonderfulest country in the whole wide world.

As with all those good-citizen Nazis of Germany, I fear its gonna take a whole lot of defeat, humiliation, and hardship before the willfully stupefied masses of middle America wake up. And thatís not likely to happen in the near future. So why torture yourself. Get the hell out of there.

You could be living the easy life in Thailand..... or indulging as a vagrant scholar in Indonesia..... or at least raking in money while exploring Japan, Korea, or Taiwan. You could be teaching English in Turkey. You could be doing yoga in India. You could be drinking beer in Prague. And it really is better than the States. People elsewhere ARE more knowledgeable. Other than America and Israel, the rest of the world despises George Bush and his American Taliban. Think how nice it would be to be habitually surrounded by Bush-haters. It relieves all kinds of stress.

And you are doing good for your country too-- acting as a goodwill ambassador-- showing the world that there are intelligent freedom-loving Americans. In fact, that describes the majority of American expats. My Thai friends were bewildered when Bush won; they said that every American they knew hated Bush.

Come join us. Why not seek sanctuary from the redneck hordes? Why not take a break? Its really quite easy. Check out the job boards on www.daveseslcafe.com

In one month you could be on a plane out of the States, headed towards more enlightened people, better food, and new experiences. Go ahead, Flee!