You can’t post or say anything without fear of being targeted by the Trump administration. The legal student protester got abducted, and Trump stops funding universities because of protesting students. The cabinet is full of dishonorable fascists.
Man I knew this election was going to turn into Americans coming to Canada en mass and us having to deal with more fucking Americans.
Yeah, the people coming to Canada aren’t the ones you have to worry about.
Nah, I don’t want any of them here honestly. The democrats have done some heinous shit too and seeing how hard a lot of the supposed “good” Americans defend them makes me not want any of them here. Not to mention we already have a housing crisis without that bullshit.
People downvoting you are failing to recognize that while we are a colony of the English throne and have germanic overlords on our money, the current colonization process by the USA is through capitalism, entertainment, and geopolitics.
Much of canadian resentment comes from the wearing away of our differences by sheer bulk of exposure exacerbated by the typical lack of awareness by colonizers of their own personal role in this damaging process and its effects, interpersonally.
Colonizers often deny their association with the process.
Oh maybe some visitors or US migrants understand intellectually. But culture is not very conscious behaviour, and the heroic individualism and assumptions of cultural supremacy that they bring will rankle most Canadians at some point.
Also take off yer fukan shoes in my house, eh!
This is just anti-immigrant sentiment disguised as anti-colonization rhetoric.
That said, I am curious about your thoughts. What if one thinks culture itself is just window dressing and don’t care? People who identify as part of an in-group and hate the out-groups are insufferable, and being attached to a regional culture is just a form of that, cultivating hatred for the ‘other’.
Admittedly, I dislike the very region of the US I live in and think the culture here is a combination of intellectually vacuous, sexually puritanical/traditionalist, and generally boring nonsense. I view the individuals who attach themselves to my local culture as kind of pathetic. My feelings towards them somewhat mirror Emil Cioran’s negative view of his own countrymen. I have no desire to spread this culture, I’d like to escape it: I’m functionally culture-less as one can be.
I’ve just been chronically too broke to escape. The election has lowered the bar for what I’m willing to put up with in my escape, but unfortunately so have my resources been somewhat lowered, slowing me down.
Your response is just a colonial perspective.
You are taking the discussion very personally. It’s an individualist complaint. You might be an awesome person and a great benefit to Canadian society. So if you immigrate here and overcome the baggage of being a colonizer citizen and cultural perspectives that are probably invisible to you, fukan a, congrats and welcome. You will be rare as a gem. Your response tells me you have a ways to go before decolonizing your mind. First you must acknowledge your inadvertent participation in the bullshit.
I keep seeing “don’t blame me” posts from USA folks who don’t want to take any responsibility for the society they live in… and they want to bring that attitude here!
As a Canadian I would not move to Bolivia, because our mining companies are neocolonial blights on their economy… unless I could be clearly employed mitigating that colonialism.
I apologize for the late response, I only use this account during breaks/lunch at work and I couldn’t help wanting to continue the conversation.
Your response tells me you have a ways to go before decolonizing your mind. First you must acknowledge your inadvertent participation in the bullshit.
I’m going to try some extra effort to internally translate what you probably mean and respond to that from both a personal and meta perspective starting with the personal if only to hear your thoughts on both and sate my curiosity:
On a personal level: I’d be willing to listen to any counter arguments of any ideological belief I hold. I thrive on challenging my own and other’s belief systems through discourse. Its a major reason why I spend time on Lemmy (and used to spend time on Reddit writing novelas in response to other novela sized posts). If one’s argument is compelling enough, I will change my views (and have had my views changed in the past via this very method.)
On a meta level: What I think would be unreasonable to expect of anyone is to tell them they must believe in anything in order to live somewhere outside of some very basic things. On a systemic level it would be authoritarian and draconian otherwise.
That said, if I were to interpret your words here less charitably, it sounds like almost like you are asking people to repent for the sin of having been born and raised in the US regardless in order to take refuge by going through a re-education program or something.
I keep seeing “don’t blame me” posts from USA folks who don’t want to take any responsibility for the society they live in… and they want to bring that attitude here!
Individuals are not responsible for the society they are born in and are raised in, regardless of context. People don’t even choose to be born in the first place, let alone where.
As a Canadian I would not move to Bolivia, because our mining companies are neocolonial blights on their economy… unless I could be clearly employed mitigating that colonialism.
Are you as a Canadian, directly responsible for the neocolonial blights in Bolivia because you are a Canadian citizen?
Are you as a Canadian, directly responsible for the neocolonial blights in Bolivia because you are a Canadian citizen?
More than 1/40,000,000th responsible, yes. Directly, I don’t think so, I’m not aware of investments in Canadian mining. My spouse’s pension plan may be investing there, because even though they have some ethical oversight, money, uh, finds a way.
“Direct” is a bit of a false dichotomy however. I benefit from those atrocities in various ways. I pay taxes, I use government services, and the CA government enables this neocolonialism. I work for clients who have done I-don’t-know-what, I use products that are cheap because of this exploitation, and I fail to track many details of the supply chain that would help me avoid participating.
More, I have not donated to miningwatch.ca for years, I haven’t written any letters to officials about it in decades, and I haven’t even been tracking news about the problem lately.
Given that those are all choices I have made, whether active or passive, I bear a little extra responsibility above the basic citizenship share, yes. It’s a lot less responsibility than the choice I made to have children, let’s say, but it is each individual’s to some degree. My life is full of such things. It’s not a burden! It’s the bitter irony of awareness, which is a blessing.
It’s also the basis for a civic mindset that will get us through the great filter.
TL;DR: you leave a wake as you pass through life, those ripples wash up somewhere
Ah, nice that you took the time.
I think you believe I and other Canadians are saying no USA citizens should move to Canada. I have heard a few people mention this but it’s fringe.
Refugees in particular, and that has been mentioned in this thread, well we’re readying up for that like we always have. Active dinner table discussions about how to handle an influx of trans folk and other victims of fascism, beds available, resources for support, secrecy protocols, etc.
What has changed, though? A declaration of war, and yes it isn’t official but it feels surreal and inevitable at this point. I can’t stress this enough: Canada is on fucking edge and the threat is a complete elimination of identity, mass death and suffering, and generations of oppression and resistance.
You know, colonialism.
What I think would be unreasonable to expect of anyone is to tell them they must believe in anything in order to live somewhere outside of some very basic things. On a systemic level it would be authoritarian and draconian otherwise.
Oh, basic things like being in favour of a colonial outcome? So it sounds like you are suggesting we should welcome those who hold us in contempt by hiding behind ideology. “Oh you’re just overreacting” say the US centrists.
So yes, perhaps we should be screening immigrants for their position on our pending invasion. I’m not asserting that, but I wouldn’t be surprised if security protocols are enacted at borders.
What I am talking about is reception. How any US citizen moving here will have to deal with the social reality. After 100+ years of low level colonialism from the south, we have some attitudes that you will have to deal with.
it sounds like almost like you are asking people to repent for the sin of having been born and raised in the US regardless in order to take refuge by going through a re-education program or something.
lol well statistically a large number of US immigrants do believe in original sin. However I am pointing out that it will be difficult for someone who was raised in a highly individualistic culture to take responsibility for the society they come from, and for the beliefs they carry forward. So yeah, if you come to Canada, and pretend we are just as individualistic as the USA, you’re going to feel like a hero around all these meek and diminished folk. And that has been happening my whole life, “americans” who move here and talk down while acting convivial and take over all the little ponds they swim in. It’s a type. Usually professional or middle class. Often they are “fleeing” the States… but not really. I grew up with an influx of draft dodgers, and yeah, they were welcomed, but there were problems, and here’s the thing: they are often oblivious to the fundamental cultural differences.
So when I refer to ‘decolonize your mind’ that is something we are actively trying to do as average residents of Canada, as we draw a long running genocide to conclusion. It’s a common enough phrase that you can research it yourself, cf. Freire, Pedagogy of the Opressed and related ideas.
The sharp point of colonialism wielded in our direction from the south means we’ve had to put up with a lot of bullshit.
So, to clarify, if you move here as a refugee because you object to your government, but aren’t a direct victim yet, and call yourself a refugee, expect doubt. Expect irony as your privilege is obvious. Expect to prove you aren’t the enemy in spirit, and expect to do some work shedding the things that made your country the enemy.
This includes culture and attitudes that you aren’t aware of.
Individuals are not responsible for the society they are born in and are raised in, regardless of context. People don’t even choose to be born in the first place, let alone where.
That is just a bizarre conservative attitude that works well for neo-aristocracy goals. It’s destructive to other societies and we wish you wouldn’t export that unwelcome shit in your media and migrants.
So fucking tiring. The world is not black and white, yes we carry collective responsibility. It’s a matter of degrees, culture doesn’t just magically happen and society springs forth from culture. If Assata Shakur can take responsibility so can you.
I can understand wanting to study fascism from a distance.
distance? He’s right in it
fleeing US to work in Canada
He’ll soon be controlled by America anyway, eh?
I can read, and I do mean in Canada
There’s enough material for him to study there, past and present
