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This is awesome. I live in SF, and have a base in Istanbul, which is from what I heard, similar to Lisbon in many aspects — but I would be hesitant to recommend
by rolleiflex 8y ago
This is awesome. I live in SF, and have a base in Istanbul, which is from what I heard, similar to Lisbon in many aspects — but I would be hesitant to recommend it without at least a willingness to learn Turkish. There are some digital nomads here in HN based in Istanbul, though.
Nevertheless - my point was, you’re living my dream and I’ll definitely give a visit when my life allows for a Portugal trip. Never been yet.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- isostatic 8y agoIstanbul (and all of Turkey, obv.) is run by a dictator who tortures detainees, and arbitarilly arrests journalists and human rights workers https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/europe-and-central-asia/turkey/report-turkey/ https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/europe-and-central-asia...
- cies 8y agoIt's okay to mention this, but not fair to omit comparison with the US while the two were originally compared. The scale may be different, but the situation in the US is not to good either on these topics, and has been deteriorating lately.
- jjeaff 8y agoI'm not aware of any journalists or political opponents being arrested or tortured in the US.
- BurnGpuBurn 8y agoJust leaving this here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Hastings_(journalist)#Death https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Hastings_(journalist)#...
- dagw 8y agoPlease don't do that. If you have a point to make or something to add, please do so. Having actually read the wikipedia page you linked to I'm still not entirely sure exactly which point you're trying to make.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- i_am_nomad 8y agoYou are wrong about White House press access; the current President has been far more open and accessible than his predecessor.
- scrollaway 8y agohttps://apnews.com/f29a23df19214466b226e2cbdec78cbd https://apnews.com/f29a23df19214466b226e2cbdec78cbd - AP (As neutral as it gets) - White House press conferences grow rare https://apnews.com/0a029f0bf678452aa89facb6dfba5f25 https://apnews.com/0a029f0bf678452aa89facb6dfba5f25 - AP - WH restricts AP, Reuters, Bloomberg for KJU summit http://time.com/5270968/donald-trump-reporters-credentials-media/ http://time.com/5270968/donald-trump-reporters-credentials-m... - TIME, Donald Trump threatens taking away reporter credentials https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/may/09/donald-trump-take-away-press-credentials-tweet-fake-news https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/may/09/donald-trump... - The Guardian - White House won't rule out banning press for 'negative' coverage Just a couple of examples of what white house press feels like under the Trump era. Talk to me more about "his predecessor". Edit: Today's bonus article on freedom of speech, press, and assembly: https://outline.com/3TKY5M https://outline.com/3TKY5M - CNN - DOJ demands Facebook information from 'anti-administration activists'. There's like one of these every day at least. So, you know, I don't believe you.
- wrs 8y agoTo be fair, thanks to Twitter we do have much more access than before to his unfiltered stream of consciousness at 3AM.
- scrollaway 8y agoFor what it's worth, I think that is one of the very, very, very few good things that will come out of that presidency. We'll see what future presidents make of it, but I have hope that in the long run it leads to increased transparency. Of course, other checks are being removed left and right, so I don't think it evens out in the case of the Trump admin.
- DoreenMichele 8y ago6 more journalists arrested in Ferguson protests A total of 11 journalists have been arrested during the protests in Ferguson Most were only held briefly, not charged German reporter says he's never been treated so badly by police https://www-m.cnn.com/2014/08/19/us/ferguson-journalists-arrested/index.html?r=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bing.com%2F https://www-m.cnn.com/2014/08/19/us/ferguson-journalists-arr... I saw something once that credibly argued that the treatment of Chelsea Manning in prison amounted to torture. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Manning https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Manning The current president of the US has called for his political opponent to be jailed. Not readily finding actual instances of actually jailing political opponents in the US, but I'm not trying that hard either. https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2018/1/2/1729104/-Donald-Trump-kicks-off-2018-by-calling-for-his-political-opponents-to-be-jailed https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2018/1/2/1729104/-Donald-Trum... We also generally treat Blacks and Natives terribly and generally have crazy high rates of incarceration.
- def_true_false 8y agoThe scale is hardly comparable to the recent purges, arrests, etc in Turkey.
- DoreenMichele 8y agoI didn't claim it was. But the comment I replied to unequivocally suggests this happens at a rate of Zero in the US, which is not accurate. Yet most folks are happy to act like it is accurate while my very mild and data backed comment gets push back of various sorts.
- jjeaff 8y agoYes, people have been arrested, who happen to be journalists. But no one in the US has been arrested for being a journalist or reporting things that are uncomfortable for leaders. You are making a false equivalency. Ferguson protests were dangerous and riotous at times. Sure, some people were arrested that shouldn't have been, but they were released. This isn't even comparable to the kinds of journalist arrests and murders we are talking about.
- kragen 8y agoYou may have heard of Aaron Swartz, "Lock Her Up", Barrett Brown, and https://lawandcrime.com/crazy/doj-seeking-info-on-6000-people-who-liked-anti-trump-facebook-page/ https://lawandcrime.com/crazy/doj-seeking-info-on-6000-peopl..., Mumia Abu-Jamal, etc., but presumably you have forgotten. The situation in the US is not as bad as in Turkey, but it is bad and getting worse.
- Chris_Chambers 8y agoOrange man bad.
- afroboy 8y agoIsn't US do the same shady things? but they justify them so you can live in your own bubble believing that you are better than everyone else?
- buboard 8y ago> the same shady things In one word, no
- isostatic 8y agoIndeed. The U.S. has tons of problems - more than most western countries, and I wouldn't live there, but it's nowhere near the problems of Turkey, which is down towards places like China and Khazakstan on the repressive regime list https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2018 https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-... is a good starting point
- afroboy 8y agoTo other nations which they were mush worst. and more evil.
- jjeaff 8y agoArresting and torturing journalists and human rights workers? Nope, I don't think so.
- alphakappa 8y agoIf you define that to be the particular metric, then no. Others may define different parameters to judge the badness of what a country has done. If you feel that the US has had saintly behavior towards its own citizens or the rest of the world, pick up a history book.
- afroboy 8y agoDidn't US torture people at all? did you know what fucked up shit done by CIA? didn't they kill millions of innocents in stupid wars? oh i forget something you guys think your government is good because it put their people in bubble of safety while killing and torturing non Americans and supporting terrorists nations. and that all matter i live in peace but fuck everyone else.
- alphakappa 8y agoThe country is more than its government. If you’ve been to Istanbul, you would know that it’s a wonderful place. Should we shun the country and its people because they have been burdened with a bad ruler? We should look in a mirror first before passing such harsh judgment.
- distances 8y ago> Should we shun the country and its people because they have been burdened with a bad ruler? You don't need to shun the people even if you shun the country. I feel it's already very widespread to avoid any visits to Turkey and Russia (among others obviously), though it's hard to say how much of it is because of the political situation, and how much because of perceived instability. Personally, I would like to see Hagia Sophia but I'm unlikely to visit as long as Turkey stays in the current dictatorial road.
- alphakappa 8y agoYou should absolutely visit and see Hagia Sofia. It’s too good to miss out in this limited lifetime of ours.
- distances 8y agoI hopefully still have plenty of time left, and there are lots of other things to see in this world meanwhile. At some point, I'm sure!
- xyproto 8y agoThis was in the context of having "an intellectual atmosphere", though.
- fauigerzigerk 8y agoIf you're doing business in a country then rule of law is extremely important. Your life and freedom may depend on it. No matter where your customers are, you are subject to (at the very least) tax and social security regulations of the country you live in. Rather than looking in the mirror I would suggest looking at: https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/corruption-rank https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/corruption-rank http://www.doingbusiness.org/en/doingbusiness http://www.doingbusiness.org/en/doingbusiness As a foreigner you cannot do as the locals do when it comes to corruption (even if you wanted to) or you're going to have a target on your back.
- andrepd 8y agoHave you been to instanbul? I agree with everything you said, but a country and its people are more than their ruler.
- isostatic 8y agoYes, and the people are lovely. I've also been to Russia, Egypt and Gaza, on many occasions, and the people are lovely there too. At least to me as a straight white man. I imagine if I was a gay woman I wouldn't feel the same. I wouldn't move to any of those places though, partly because I don't want to support people like Hamas or Erdogan, and with the justice systems in these countries, that's what you're doing. Same if you set up shop in Colombia or Venezuela. However it's also because of corrupt governments means I as a westerner am particularly vulnerable. Canada, New Zealand, Finland, Portugal, Japan, Argentina, sure, you'll be fine (ok maybe not Brits in Argentina). If all you're doing is a backpacking gap year, and you're willing to get out of these fast, you're probably OK, but look at how quickly Istanbul turned during the attempted coup. Things can get very ugly, very quickly, or they can get very ugly in a boiling frog basis and you won't notice until it's too late. Neither is good.
- dang 8y agoPlease keep nationalistic and political flamewar off HN. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- rb666 8y agoAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahaa Istanbul a good intellectual atmosphere? A country run by a lying, corrupt, refuge-bombing despot. Why on EARTH would you invite anyone over.
- batuhanicoz 8y agoDisclaimer: I am Turkish and I live in Istanbul. Well, you could say that the United States is run by a similar person. That does mean all of the U.S. is like that? Istanbul does have a good intellectual atmosphere. Izmir too. I'm not going to say it's all fine over here, but it's perfect for a digital nomad. Istanbul, especially places like Besiktas and Kadikoy are perfect.
- ciguy 8y agoI lived for a few months in Istanbul and can confirm this. I was surprised by the quality of engineering talent in Istanbul though they are getting hit by brain drain hard these days.
- rolleiflex 8y agoBrain drain is real. I left almost a decade ago, and in the intervening decade most my friends also left - Turkish people of this sort generally do very well in Silicon Valley, New York, London, Berlin, and in others. Not that this is a bad thing. I don't see any reason for the great design & engineering talent in Istanbul to stay there, while the ruling government treats anybody who's not a part of their clientele (conservative, xenophobic, nationalist, authoritarian) like cockroaches. Considering they're only getting 51% even with the massive, massive practical broadcast power the ruling governments get, that's a lot of people. So we vote. In the best way. With our feet. Funnily enough, even Erdogan is realising that Turkey is losing a massive amount of talent on a month-to-month basis, in that it's been in a few of his speeches imploring people to come back lately. Apparently he realised when we're all gone, and when the construction / inflated real estate boom stops (which it did a few months ago, and the economy is in free fall right now), the only people who actually produce value are the people he did his best to alienate and scare out of the country. I believe his literal words in a national speech were: "Like, or leave" ("Ya sev, ya terket"). So we did, and I'm now paying my tax bill to the Internal Revenue Service of the United States, instead of Vergi Idaresi, and you know what? USA treats me with a lot more dignity and respect than Turkey ever did. Turkey is going to starve (hopefully only figuratively) before it gets better, and I don't have a big problem with that. There's no teacher for authoritarians like it.