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> At worst there's people fighting against that change, preventing it from happening in the first place. Who exactly? People from the country of the passport h

by sgift 8y ago

> At worst there's people fighting against that change, preventing it from happening in the first place. Who exactly? People from the country of the passport holder? People from other countries? I try to get to the root issue here. Yes, it will take time. Yes, it can take many, many years and maybe won't be relevant for you anymore (but maybe for your children), but that is not "powerless" - that is "it takes time" and "it is stressful". So, is powerless a shorthand for those things or is there something else?

oblio 8y ago
People from the country of the passport holder. If you're in North Korea and the like, maybe even people from other countries. For you it's easy to say that it's not "powerless", but how many things have you personally sacrificed knowing that the outcome will be a few decades from when you started? And if you did sacrifice a ton, keep in mind and most people aren't like that and you're an outlier. So most people _will_ feel powerless when they try to change something and that thing doesn't budge for decades even.
close04 8y ago
The very simplified answer is that the "destination" country sets the rules and is usually looking for something specific in order to lift restrictions on the "source" country. That something can be political, economical, military, or social. But whatever it is most times it either takes too long to achieve, or is unreasonable. And in the end there's still no guarantee since the decision is with the "destination". Just look at all the agreements the US signed and how a single president chose to simply ignore. There's the other option that you're part of a certain alliance that precludes you from being to nice to people in "the other" alliance. Enemies. You might not realize it but most countries get a privilege like this because they have some negotiating power. They have something to offer. If you have nothing to offer you're SOL. All this means that for all intents and purposes some countries and peoples are powerless as it goes.

by sgift 8y ago

oblio 8y ago

People from the country of the passport holder. If you're in North Korea and the like, maybe even people from other countries. For you it's easy to say that it's not "powerless", but how many things have you personally sacrificed knowing that the outcome will be a few decades from when you started? And if you did sacrifice a ton, keep in mind and most people aren't like that and you're an outlier. So most people _will_ feel powerless when they try to change something and that thing doesn't budge for decades even.

close04 8y ago

The very simplified answer is that the "destination" country sets the rules and is usually looking for something specific in order to lift restrictions on the "source" country. That something can be political, economical, military, or social. But whatever it is most times it either takes too long to achieve, or is unreasonable. And in the end there's still no guarantee since the decision is with the "destination". Just look at all the agreements the US signed and how a single president chose to simply ignore. There's the other option that you're part of a certain alliance that precludes you from being to nice to people in "the other" alliance. Enemies. You might not realize it but most countries get a privilege like this because they have some negotiating power. They have something to offer. If you have nothing to offer you're SOL. All this means that for all intents and purposes some countries and peoples are powerless as it goes.