From: altheimm@nextnet.csus.edu (Murray Altheim)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: Bailing Out (rant) (was: Re: Freedom of Religion as well as everything else)
Keywords: Civil Rights, Pagan
Date: 28 Aug 92 18:25:20 GMT
Organization: California State University Sacramento

[a discussion on the merits/demerits of leaving a sinking ship...]

In article <2A9DB781.12556@orion.oac.uci.edu> cortese@skid.ps.uci.edu (Janis Maria Cortese) writes:
>
>Since when is it my responsibility to play mommy to an entire country?
>I have advantages, and I will use them.  I am not taking anything away
>from anyone else by exploiting my ability to make myself attractive to
>another country. 
[...]
>... If Albert Einstein had stayed in Germany in the 1's and
>1940's, he would have died in a death camp.  There's a time to talk the
>other person into dropping the gun, and there's a time to turn around
>and get the hell out.  This is a judgement call.
>
>When a country gets out of hand, no amount of reasoned talking by
>reaosning people can stop it.  It will get out of hand and recover, like
>a ball rolling downhill.
[...]
>Blessings,
>Janis 

To deliberately reference a less interesting thread, GOD GAVE ME A BRAIN
and I plan to use it. The exodus of intellectuals from any country is 
hardly unusual. As Janis said, it's a judgement call for each of us. At the
point you feel fighting the system won't work, or you just can't deal with
it any more and still lead a productive, healthy life, there's nothing 
selfish about leaving one country for another. Blind nationalism is blind
nationalism. I doubt any intelligent person believes any country is a utopia.
Canada is hardly a utopia, nor New Zealand. But being a Canadian citizen,
if I choose to leave the United States because the system here has become
ungovernable and unlivable, I do it for me and for my (prospective) family.

I live in Northern California, which is not much less violent than SCal. I
would not raise my children here. Crime and lack of access to quality 
education, as well as other problems would not go away if I moved back to
Canada, but they would be substantially lessened.

Einstein and Henry Miller (to cover the sciences and literature) could not
have survived so they left. Miller was finally able to return to the US and
publish here, but years later. If you are whitebread Amurikan, have a
"I support Desert Storm" bumper sticker on your car, and follow the party
line in terms of your actions and behaviour, you'll do fine here even if
we become a completely fascist country. Just like in Germany in the 30's and
40's. If you fit into the system, aOK. If you are part of Dan Quayle's 
definition of "alternative lifestyle" (Black, gay, a woman with a brain, 
a liberal, have long hair and an earring, a non-Christian, etc.) you have
the choice to "fight" or to leave.

Fighting the religious right may one day be the same as fighting the Nazis.
For some people, it already is. If you are single, it's easy to criticize
those who choose to leave. As I said, I don't have a family of my own, but
if I did I probably would go back to Canada post haste. Leaving my friends and
job here would be difficult (I've been in the States since '73), but at some
point necessary for my health, safety and sanity. And I DO work for social
justice in many ways. 

But emotionally I can't survive in this environment forever. I hear and feel
Janis' anger and empathise. This is hardly the only livable country on the
planet. In fact, look at the ratings. We rank something like 13th in terms of
access to health care, 20th in terms of education, etc. (I've got the numbers
wrong, but we are not in the top ten in most areas.) While trying to find a
job in a foreign country is difficult, it is my only ticket. Technical 
positions are probably not much easier to land, as the field is flooded with
layoffs from all the major players like Apple, IBM. I just hope that I can
find one before the situation here or "there" gets too impossible.

I'm generally a Tigger-like person, and it has become increasingly difficult
to keep my "bounce". I've always been politically/socially motivated, and
am tired of getting depressed every time I hear of a Supreme Court decision
or George Bush speak. I can deal with a great deal, and try to "put on a
happy face", but the well (and the Will) is not inexhaustable. I encourage
anyone to leave an untenable situation, whether an abusive husband or an
abusive government.

Blessings,

Murray

-- 
Murray M. Altheim      "Ils ont l'orteil de Bouc, & d'un Chevreil l'oreille,
Instructional Consultant    La corne d'un Chamois, & la face vermeille
CSU, Sacramento          Comme un rouge Croissant: & dancent toute nuict
altheimm@csus.edu       Dedans un carrefour, ou pres d'une eau qui bruict."