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Things may look a bit different from a (West) European perspective. I know enough people who used to live in the US but left, partly because they did not want t
by jltsiren 5y ago
Things may look a bit different from a (West) European perspective. I know enough people who used to live in the US but left, partly because they did not want to inflict US citizenship upon their children. Among all wealthy countries, US citizenship is probably the least desirable one if you don't plan to live there permanently.
In any case, the expat/immigrant situation is familiar to many Europeans as well. The real difference is that most European countries are nation states, while the US is a land of immigrants and their descendants. "American" is an adopted identity. You become American if you have lived in the US long enough and consider yourself American. In contrast, "German" is an assigned identity. You are German if other Germans generally see you as German. You cannot become fully integrated into a nation state as long as other people pay attention to your origins.
- kazen44 5y agothis is a major factor to consider. Also, the 20th century saw massive changes in where people lived compared to "their country". prior to world war 1, this was a far more mixed affair (see, the austrian-hungarian empire and the greeks in anatolia).
- jeofken 5y agoSome Americans I know make a big difference between being a settler nation, like those who came to where there was no civilisation but hunters/gatherers, vs immigrants who move into the blooming civilisation
- IggleSniggle 5y agoAh, yes, the “Daughters of the American Revolution” types.
- whatshisface 5y agoThat's like, the difference between one ship full of Pilgrims and every subsequent ship, or between one wagon train and every subsequent wagon train, or between the people on the Mayflower and their kids (who showed up in a society that already existed).
- jeofken 5y agoYou are correct in that this difference between settler and immigrant is a gradient, but outside of programming few things are simply yes/no
- whatshisface 5y agoIt's more than a gradient, it's like counting up ones to make 1,000,000. Which one is showing up to a small number and making it big, and which ones are showing up to a big number and hanging around?
- themolecularman 5y agoThe people who draw the distinction generally don't like the pilgrims settlers because of what they did when they got here. In contrast to immigrants, who did not "settle" anyone or any land. You can see a lot of this in today's politics as well.
- 8note 5y agoThe land is still being settled today; eg. Trump allowing previously unsettled land to be destroyed for oil and gas extraction
- 8note 5y agosomewhere that you claim is hunters/gatherers* Just because the farming and ranching looks different, doesn't make it not farming or ranching