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(Author here :-) It's difficult to argue about the merit of subjective experiences, but I think that two things are worth emphasizing. First of all, my experi

by f- 11y ago

(Author here :-) It's difficult to argue about the merit of subjective experiences, but I think that two things are worth emphasizing. First of all, my experiences are colored by growing up in relative poverty in the 80s and 90s; I explicitly acknowledge that the Poland I left behind many years ago is not the Poland of today. I think that you are painting a rather rosy picture by implying purchasing power parity between Poland and the US - but I don't think I would be unhappy still living there. Secondly, the appeal to some sort of a patriotic duty to stay in your country of birth is an interesting conversation that I had with several folks before. In essence, my take on this is that the allegiance you have to your children is much stronger than that to your ancestors and the historical circumstances of the place where you were born. It's a complex topic, but I think there are many equally defensible views. Finally, as for your comment about "not considering criticism" - I think you may be reading too much into this sentence; some of the social critiques of the US that are prevalent in Europe are quite valid; many others are based on smug oversimplifications. The only thing I'm saying in the quoted sentence is that I wanted to find out for myself =) Anyway, we won't have a very meaningful discussion on HN, but if you'd like to chat, please do drop me a mail :-) I think our views are probably more aligned than it may seem.

jwr 11y ago
Oh, I was definitely planning on having a discussion with you — it's just that other things intervened. Now the post made it to HN (again, I think), which is why I responded here. I posted a reply, because I wanted people to see that there is another viewpoint — and one quite different from yours. I will only pick up two things to discuss here: * "Purchasing power parity" is something everybody understands differently. Even reading the reples in this thread, people talk of things like "weaker economy". Economy doesn't matter. What matters is how you (the reader, personally) will be able to live. And most people reading HN would be able to live here very well indeed. It is not very likely that you'll become a millionaire by founding a startup (though it's not unheard of), but it is quite likely that you will live in a nice, clean and safe city with lots of green around you, you will be able to afford good education for your kids, if you have a medical problem it will be taken care of without you going bankrupt, and that you'll be able to work on interesting problems. * I specifically avoided mentioning the word "patriotism", but yes, that does play a part. And I do agree about the allegiance to your children. But even if you only think about the children — will you be raising them as Americans or Poles? Will you try to teach them Polish? I'm not saying you should, just pointing out that these are things to carefully consider. I certainly did. I am looking forward to discussing this in the future — for now, Dear Deaders, please just remember that opinions are quite different on the subject!

by f- 11y ago

jwr 11y ago

Oh, I was definitely planning on having a discussion with you — it's just that other things intervened. Now the post made it to HN (again, I think), which is why I responded here. I posted a reply, because I wanted people to see that there is another viewpoint — and one quite different from yours. I will only pick up two things to discuss here: * "Purchasing power parity" is something everybody understands differently. Even reading the reples in this thread, people talk of things like "weaker economy". Economy doesn't matter. What matters is how you (the reader, personally) will be able to live. And most people reading HN would be able to live here very well indeed. It is not very likely that you'll become a millionaire by founding a startup (though it's not unheard of), but it is quite likely that you will live in a nice, clean and safe city with lots of green around you, you will be able to afford good education for your kids, if you have a medical problem it will be taken care of without you going bankrupt, and that you'll be able to work on interesting problems. * I specifically avoided mentioning the word "patriotism", but yes, that does play a part. And I do agree about the allegiance to your children. But even if you only think about the children — will you be raising them as Americans or Poles? Will you try to teach them Polish? I'm not saying you should, just pointing out that these are things to carefully consider. I certainly did. I am looking forward to discussing this in the future — for now, Dear Deaders, please just remember that opinions are quite different on the subject!