The fallacy of "If you don't like this country, then move!"

I see a major problem with this argument. How many of us get up at 6:00 each day, shower, eat breakfast, and drive to a job we absolutely hate? Sure, the job might suck, but the money pays the bills.

That's how I feel about people who supposedly don't like America - they might think the country sucks, but hey, the benefits of living here are irreplaceable.

People around the United States think nothing of milking their companies for money doing jobs they hate. Why should those who don't like America face a much meaner reaction?

Additionally, does anyone realize how difficult it is to actually move overseas? You'd have to hate America a whole lot to actually motivate yourself to do an intercontinental move.

 

[Adul]

there is always canada

 

[Eli]

:thumbsup:

 

[guyver01]

Originally posted by: Adul
there is always canada

isn't that when you tell people to go to hell?

 

Yes, telling someone to get out because they disagree is about as unamerican as it gets.

 

[Atomicus]

Originally posted by: jumpr
I see a major problem with this argument. How many of us get up at 6:00 each day, shower, eat breakfast, and drive to a job we absolutely hate? Sure, the job might suck, but the money pays the bills.

That's how I feel about people who supposedly don't like America - they might think the country sucks, but hey, the benefits of living here are irreplaceable.

People around the United States think nothing of milking their companies for money doing jobs they hate. Why should those who don't like America face a much meaner reaction?

Additionally, does anyone realize how difficult it is to actually move overseas? You'd have to hate America a whole lot to actually motivate yourself to do an intercontinental move.

Well, if the person who hates America is too shallow to realize that the benefits of living in the USA is far greater than most other nations, then I'd say move them. I'm tired of hearing&seeing people complain about the falling economy, replacement of American labor with cheap foreign assets, and whatnot. If you can earn/receive the hard American dollar living here, in my opinion that is one heck of a deal.

One of my previous roommates is a homosexual&vegan&anti-capitalist/rebel. He rarely shaves, his jaw seems to have grew bigger than his skull (which I still want to deck), makes vegan desserts just to try and persuade others to eat vega, and his manners are utterly atrocious. I'll even give you his name! Hugh Drumgoole. Me and my other friends would sometimes overhear him and his friends talking about "oh America is so stupid" etc etc.

So lets just keep harboring people with the "America is a POS POV". Why are we kidding ourselves? The chances of me becoming an unpatriotic and unappreciative f@9 will be the day Ralph Nader wins the 2004 elections, or any other future presidential election for that matter.

 

[Zugzwang152]

Originally posted by: Atomicus

Originally posted by: jumpr
I see a major problem with this argument. How many of us get up at 6:00 each day, shower, eat breakfast, and drive to a job we absolutely hate? Sure, the job might suck, but the money pays the bills.

That's how I feel about people who supposedly don't like America - they might think the country sucks, but hey, the benefits of living here are irreplaceable.

People around the United States think nothing of milking their companies for money doing jobs they hate. Why should those who don't like America face a much meaner reaction?

Additionally, does anyone realize how difficult it is to actually move overseas? You'd have to hate America a whole lot to actually motivate yourself to do an intercontinental move.

Well, if the person who hates America is too shallow to realize that the benefits of living in the USA is far greater than most other nations, then I'd say move them. I'm tired of hearing&seeing people complain about the falling economy, replacement of American labor with cheap foreign assets, and whatnot. If you can earn/receive the hard American dollar living here, in my opinion that is one heck of a deal.

One of my previous roommates is a homosexual&vegan&anti-capitalist/rebel. He rarely shaves, his jaw seems to have grew bigger than his skull (which I still want to deck), makes vegan desserts just to try and persuade others to eat vega, and his manners are utterly atrocious. I'll even give you his name! Hugh Drumgoole. Me and my other friends would sometimes overhear him and his friends talking about "oh America is so stupid" etc etc.

So lets just keep harboring people with the "America is a POS POV". Why are we kidding ourselves? The chances of me becoming an unpatriotic and unappreciative f@9 will be the day Ralph Nader wins the 2004 elections, or any other future presidential election for that matter.

shoulda sent that guy to the old Iraq and let him tell Saddam that his country was a POS.

 

[StageLeft]

Well it depends. If it's your country there is no problem wanting to make it better and you've every much a right to do it as somebody who sleeps in a flag as a blanket.

 

[jjones]

Originally posted by: jumpr
I see a major problem with this argument. How many of us get up at 6:00 each day, shower, eat breakfast, and drive to a job we absolutely hate? Sure, the job might suck, but the money pays the bills.

That's how I feel about people who supposedly don't like America - they might think the country sucks, but hey, the benefits of living here are irreplaceable.

People around the United States think nothing of milking their companies for money doing jobs they hate. Why should those who don't like America face a much meaner reaction?

Additionally, does anyone realize how difficult it is to actually move overseas? You'd have to hate America a whole lot to actually motivate yourself to do an intercontinental move.

1) I think most people that live in the US and say they hate the US do so out of frustration and a lack of knowing what it's like to live in other countries.

2) Those that do have that knowledge yet still say the hate the US, should move. They are idiots to stay in living conditions that they hate.

The same goes for people that hate their job. Why stay at a job if you hate it? You spend the majority of your waking life at your job and it must really suck to hate it so much. Also, some people just say they hate things because that's the way they are and usually, they don't even like themselves.

I left the US not because I hate it but because a lot of what transpires in daily life there annoys me. I found a place to live that's less annoying and actually quite enjoyable for me.

 

[jyates]

Is anyone going to move or not?

 

[Red Dawn]

What do they mean when the say "Love America"? Do they mean the government, the economic system, the people or the land mass itself? It's possible to love the economic system, the people and the Land Mass yet hate out current government. Do you have to love everything to actually be a Patriot?

Only Knuckle Dragging Mental Mongoloids go around spouting "America, Love it or Leave it"

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: SampSon
Yes, telling someone to get out because they disagree is about as unamerican as it gets.

And the ones who do disagree are the ones that are truly exercising some of their most fundamental rights as Americans.

The country was founded by dissenters and those people made it legal, even encouraged people to dissent and provided mechanisms to try and change things if they don't like it.

Next time you want to use this argument, perhaps you should try it in front of a mirror first.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Anyone who thinks 'America sucks' really hates themselves and not America. Either that or they've never left the country and seen what other countries are like. I'll be honest, the only other 'countries' I've been to are Caribbean islands. But let me tell you... the poverty I saw there is NOTHING compared to what happens here. A bum on the street here can at least scrounge enough money to get a $2.99 McDonald's value meal. Those people were living by the family in little dingy $hitholes that I seriously think were HOLES IN THE GROUND.

No, America rules.

 

[lozina]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn
Do you have to love everything to actually be a Patriot?

Good point.

You can love the American ideology and feel a particular administration is acting against it.

 

[Saulbadguy]

I despise our President, I despise our administration, and I have problems with many of our laws and beliefs. I don't like many of the beliefs upheld by our age old constitution, and I don't even care for our current voting system. I will not fly an American flag. I will not support the current war effort in Iraq. I will not be "Patriotic".

The fact that I can do all these things and still be a productive citizen and free citizen of the USA, makes the country great.

 

[halik]

Originally posted by: SampSon
Yes, telling someone to get out because they disagree is about as unamerican as it gets.

excellence thru simplicity... ^ is all that needs to be said

:beer: for ya!

 

[sillymofo]

See, most of us don't hate America, the reasons that most of us come to America is because we like the idea of being free, and the many oportunities it affords us. Here, we can hate our jobs, and CAN do something about it; if you don't like certain things, you can voice your opinion and not having to worry about repercussion (well, not too much anyway)

I think most people that say "I don't like this country", what they really mean is "I don't like the many idiots in this country, or the idiots that's running it". The great thing about this country is, these people can actually do something, and try to change that. You can try to educate the puplic, you can vote, you can do many things, or nothing.

When you say the "fallacy", I thought that you were against the saying, because, after all fallacy = a false notion.

We've already moved once because we don't like the countries that we've previously lived in. Now, giving up on the problem never solves anything, so instead of us having to move, why don't we try to fix it? Yeah, I wake up a 5 in the morning every day, drive through traffic, just like most other people on the freeway with me, and I do say that I don't like the way America is right now. But, doesn't mean I'll move, or I deserve a harsh punishment because I don't like how things are. The very fact that many other people are up even before me going to work shows that they're working towards something, perhaps a better America, building better lives, better economy, who knows)....

So fcuk no, I won't move, and I think the idiots that keep saying "If you don't like this country, then move!" are just that, idiots.

 

[halik]

Originally posted by: Saulbadguy
I despise our President, I despise our administration, and I have problems with many of our laws and beliefs. I don't like many of the beliefs upheld by our age old constitution, and I don't even care for our current voting system. I will not fly an American flag. I will not support the current war effort in Iraq. I will not be "Patriotic".

The fact that I can do all these things and still be a productive citizen and free citizen of the USA, makes the country great.

actually,
you're doing more than that.

You are being a tru patriot, not pseudo "look i have a flag sticker on the back of my SUV" american. If you think the administration doesn't reflect the values and principles this country was founded on, you have a DUTY to stand up and voice your opinion. That's the core democratic process at work and that's what makes you a TRUE partiot.

 

[dderidex]

Originally posted by: halik

Originally posted by: Saulbadguy
I despise our President, I despise our administration, and I have problems with many of our laws and beliefs. I don't like many of the beliefs upheld by our age old constitution, and I don't even care for our current voting system. I will not fly an American flag. I will not support the current war effort in Iraq. I will not be "Patriotic".

The fact that I can do all these things and still be a productive citizen and free citizen of the USA, makes the country great.

actually,
you're doing more than that.

You are being a tru patriot, not pseudo "look i have a flag sticker on the back of my SUV" american. If you think the administration doesn't reflect the values and principles this country was founded on, you have a DUTY to stand up and voice your opinion. That's the core democratic process at work and that's what makes you a TRUE partiot.

Yeah, I was going to say.

Saying "I don't like something about this country" doesn't mean I want to LEAVE it. I like it - overall - just fine!

But, only a fool would claim it's "perfect". So wanting to deport everyone who finds fault with it is the height of idiocy!

 

[DJFuji]

On the other hand, i do agree with the statement:

"If a man is not inclined to risk his life for his country, he should look elsewhere 'till he finds a country he will risk his life for."
-- Admiral Raymond Spruance

Of course, I might be a little biased...

 

[paulpaul]

Anyone who thinks 'America sucks' really hates themselves and not America. Either that or they've never left the country and seen what other countries are like. I'll be honest, the only other 'countries' I've been to are Caribbean islands. But let me tell you... the poverty I saw there is NOTHING compared to what happens here. A bum on the street here can at least scrounge enough money to get a $2.99 McDonald's value meal. Those people were living by the family in little dingy $hitholes that I seriously think were HOLES IN THE GROUND.

Well, I lived in Europe for 8 years, and the quality of life there is really amazing. Family values, interesting people, little or no street violence, I could go on and on. Poverty? I didn't see it, and it wasn't because I wasn't looking. If you wanted lots of money, you got an education and work your ass off. If you want a good life with time for your friends, you worked 35-50 hours a week.

BTW I lived in Prague, Krakow, and Split. Formerly behind the Iron Curtain.

Why did I come back? Hell I'd be in Split right now but my folks need me here now (old people get sick).

 

[jpeyton]

Remember the sheer number of f-tards on Anandtech over a year ago, before the war began. You guys know who you are. The ones that kept posting "move to France".

Good thing the whole WMD argument held up...........err, wait.......nevermind, it didn't.

 

[notfred]

A much better thing to say would be, "If you don't like this country, change it!"

 

[Horus]

Not being an American, I can't say much. But, I can tell you, I have never, EVER heard someone say,

"Oh, I hate Canada, it's such a sh!thole!"

I like the U.S. People seem rather friendly down there. Curious about us Canadians, living in our igloos, but meh.

 

[Isshinryu]

Americans don't know how good they have it. I'd like someone to spend a week over in my old neighborhood in Belfast, and then complain about America. I moved here for a reason(s).