If Not America, Then Where?

Wellington Grey asks: "Often during our heated political discussions on slashdot, several people will mention their desire to leave the country. As an American living in England, which sees much the same problems as the US, I often wonder where these Americans would go. So, I pose two questions for the restless: 1) Where would you live, if not in America and 2) What's stopping you from going?"

Hell......

[Anonymous Coward]

1) Hell
2) Hell :-)

Obvious

[eclectro]

Warm beach with girls. Money.

This thread is now closed. Please submit next Slashdot story.

Moon

[NosTROLLdamus]

Van Allen Radiation Belt

Come to the World Next Door

[Bieeanda]

Living just to the north of much of the United States, I often offer Stateside friends crash space in my basement in the event that things go completely pear-shaped where they live. Sure, we could be violently annexed in a depressingly short amount of time (and our supplies of uranium, oil, fresh water and lumber might make us a delectable target), but it's a relatively short trip. Besides, beyond Canadian Bacon [imdb.com], there hasn't really been any real effort to add us to the Axis of Evil.

Canada is Full! Go home!

[Goalie_Ca]

To immigrate to canada you must speak french, eat poutine and KD, and watch HNIC. It snows all year long and sorry we're full!

Obvious really.

[Frogbert]

Amsterdam and you know damn well why.

Re:Canada is Full! Go home!

[farrellj]

So, what's the problem?

ttyl
          Farrell

Re:Obvious

[cooley]

Related to parent:

Although I love living in the USA and have no plans to leave any time soon, I've always thought that the city of Merida (the capital of the Yucatan state in Mexico) would be an excellent place to retire. Cheap, lovely weather, p nice people, pretty girls, low crime, I could go on and on....

As much as I hate to say it though, anyplace I move has to have one thing for sure: BANDWIDTH, and plenty of it.

Re:I know, it's old fashioned and out of date

[thegamerformelyknown]

I've lived in Canada all my life, and I've seen many good things, with near 100% of the bad things coming from or influenced by the US. It's a great place to live, and things can only get better from here :)

Mars

[Kingrames]

Mars.

it will take your breath away.

(No, seriously, that's the reason why NOT to go)

Re:Hell......

[Anonymous Coward]

So you want to stay in Texas then?

Re:Moon

[Anonymous Coward]

1.Moon
2.Overly long commute for a cyclist.

Re:Come to the World Next Door

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude, that's just a cartoon. Everyone knows that Canada isn't real.

Re:Don't come to Australia

[MikShapi]

Shush you idiot! Don't you understand what parent post is doing?
Don't bloody tell everyone on /. the truth! They'll start coming here en-masse!

Re:Don't come to Australia

[riprjak]

And, frankly, we would rather have a pom who loves the country than the whinger who rekons life here is soooooo bad. Frankly, this is the side of the fence where the grass is greener.

Come to Australia, we have plenty of land; though we could stand some more water. But, please, only if you dont plan to sit around on your fat arse and whinge about everything. Cant stand bloody whingers. We all have to vote here, so any problem you have with your own reality is entirely your problem.

If you dont like it, fix it, if you cant fix it, deal with it, if you cant deal with it, piss off :)

err!
jak.

Re:Obvious

[MikeFM]

Girls that date for money? Heck, can get all that in Mexico and be within a short drive of the US. I think a tropical island with a secret volcano lair is more my thing tho.

Re:Obvious really.

[A-Rex]

I know. The tulips smell great!

I'm not telling

[Heir Of The Mess]

Because I don't want a bunch of Americans following me, and I'm leaving just a soon as I tidy up a few personal things. Adios Amigos. But hey, you could always try Australia.

Please, come to Germany.

[Analein]

It's been sixty years since we stopped invading foreign countries. Professional help needed.

Re:Hows about...

[Anonymous Coward]

Then how about Germany?

Greece

[Anonymous Coward]

I mean like, how cool is a country that made their language and alphabet using all those math symbols!!!

Re:I'm not telling

[antifoidulus]

Taiwan with your Taiwanese wife Jasmine. You put on your web page which you advertised on slashdot.

I guess America will be heartbroken to lose someone with your logic skills.

Re:Aotearoa

[htnprm]

Stay away! Don't come to New Zealand! It sucks! The people are mean! The education system is awful! Health care is a joke! The environment is rubbish! The pay is crap! The quality of living is substandard! Everyone hates us, and we're at war with the world! Stay away! *please*...:-)

Definitely NOT New Zealand

[GreatDrok]

Seriously, stay out. New Zealand doesn't need Americans. You wouldn't fit in! Believe me, the best place for Americans is America. Nowhere else is as suitable for you so just stay put.

(for the humour impared *JOKE*!)

Re:... where would I move? Not Finland!

[bananaendian]

Finland Sucks!

Don't come to Finland

It's an ice desert here where polar bears have fled from because it was too cold. In fact its so cold that people write things like Linux just to get out of the country or invent mobile phones so that they can heat their brains with the radiation.

If you think your foreign policy sucks, well we don't have a foreign policy - we just agree with everybody. Our press and media is free in away - free to be utterly boring. And our country's economy and social well being are so strong that nobody really cares one way or the other anymore.

If only the Russians would attack us again so we could beat the hell out of somebody - sometimes its very therapeutic to have a fight...

PS: go to Sweden instead - they are very 'friendly' there...

Sorry, there is nowhere for you to go...

[droopycom]

I'm sorry, but look around what your choices are:

1) Americanized countries (eg: England, Australia) : Same crap, different accent = Might as well live in the USA
2) Countries which hate America (eg: Middle East, France and most of Europe, Brazil, even Canada....). They dont want you, and will make your life miserable.
3) Third world countries (Africa, part of Asia, ...) : Bye bye Slashdot.
4) Developed Asian countries (Japan, Taiwan, HK...) : You cant take the cultural change...
5) Sealand : Good luck getting a visa.
6) Tropical paradise: You dont have enough money to retire there...

Re:Don't come to Australia

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, and our president doesn't do things because God told him to.

No, your president does things because our president told him to.

That moral high ground you're occupying is a slippery place indeed. Enjoy your censored Internet access and your lack of anything resembling a right to self-defense.

New York City

[opencity]

We have less to do with the rest of the US than with Europe and Asia. All the worlds cusines cheap and delivered. Don't need a car so take that off your balance sheet. My part of town is covered with hot European expatriate chicks and all the cool kids from fly over country. Plus we still get to use the Constitution and Bill of Rights! (sort of-insert Bush joke) 24 hour subways so take that, London. Cheapish beer and taxis. More live music than is doable. Tall buildings and not too many crackhead bums.

Actually Rome probably has better food but that's just me. And Beijing is cool but there are always visa problems.

Beware of Canuckistani Beavers and Flying Pucks

[Cordath]

In Soviet Canuckistan the Beavers eat *you*! Seriously, watchout for the little bastards. They'll smack you with their tails until you fall over and then gnaw off your limbs. You do have to be pretty drunk for them to catch you, so the real danger is when you're new to the country and only just getting used to Canadian beer, which is about 3 times stronger than kentucky bourbon. (Don't even touch Canadian whiskey. Canuckistani airlines sometimes uses the stuff as aviation fuel even though it's murder on the fuel lines.)

You'll also have to get used to keeping a continual guard up against flying hockey pucks. This skill comes naturally to native Canuckistani's who grow up dodging pucks from an early age, but newcomers to the country often suffer a few concusions before they pick up the knack of knowing when 170 grams of vulcanized rubber is rocketing towards the back of their heads at upwards of 150kph. You should also realize that global warming may soon cause a massive housing shortage in Soviet Canuckistan as temperatures rise too high for igloos to survive the summer. Truly, the country is going to become a madhouse when people's 3000sq foot 4 level split igloos with attached garages melt into ponds.

If you do still decide to emmigrate to Canada, be sure to talk to Phil from Vancouver. He can get you set up with your government issue starter snow-shovel and official toque with genuine saskatchewan sealskin bindings and special patriotic pom-pom. (very important) Be sure the pom-pom is firmly attached. If you lose it, rest assured that a mountie will spot it. (Don't even try to run. They always get their man.) Losing your pom-pom will get you exiled to newfieland, which is a fate many consdier worse than death by poutine!

Re:The Netherlands

[SeaFox]

There's a chance that it will improve again, but currently there's a (grassroots/astroturf?) fear campaign against foreigners, mostly focussed on islamic cultured or coloured people, but americans as well (your current president isn't helping your reputation!).

We know, we said we were sorry [sorryeverybody.com] for that.

Re:Don't come to Australia

[Tonik, the]

Hey but you guys drive on the left, WTF?

Re:... where would I move? Finland has it all!

[CrazyJim1]

Finland, Finland, Finland,
The country where I want to be,
Pony trekking or camping,
Or just watching TV.
Finland, Finland, Finland.
It's the country for me.

You're so near to Russia,
So far from Japan,
Quite a long way from Cairo,
Lots of miles from Vietnam.

Finland, Finland, Finland,
The country where I want to be,
Eating breakfast or dinner,
Or snack lunch in the hall.
Finland, Finland, Finland.
Finland has it all.
You're so sadly neglected
And often ignored,
A poor second to Belgium,
When going abroad.

Finland, Finland, Finland,
The country where I quite want to be,
Your mountains so lofty,
Your treetops so tall.
Finland, Finland, Finland.
Finland has it all.
Finland, Finland, Finland,
The country where I quite want to be,
Your mountains so lofty,
Your treetops so tall.
Finland, Finland, Finland.
Finland has it all.

Finland has it all.

Re:The Netherlands

[cerberusss]

How about gambling? Seems pretty addictive for some people

I'll bet you ten-to-one that this thread will devolve into a flamewar!

Re:The Netherlands

[ErroneousBee]

Yeah? Well, it clearly has not, moron, so hand over the money.

WoW

[Mikya]

Play WoW for ten years, and it's entirely likely at the end of it you'll be able to put it down at the end of it and never touch it again.

You had me up until then.

Re:Sorrier than you can imagine

[Anonymous Coward]

WHAT!?! It's 2008 already? Fucking Warcraft...

Re:The Netherlands

[jne_oioioi]

but if you thought everyone and his sister was an addict, you're wrong.

I thought everyone was a pusher and their sister a whore.

Re:Robots don't pay taxes.

['nother poster]

But I bet they are adicted to that electricity they abuse. Damned robots always jacking in.

ALERT !

[Ihlosi]

Really? So if we let A be cigarette smoking and B be lung cancer, then the existence of lung cancer in people who do not smoke implies that it is not the case that cigarette smoking causes cancer?

*BZZZZZZT*

Your geek license has been temporarily suspended.

Please review the truth table for logical implication.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_implication [wikipedia.org]

Re:Too cold

[Abcd1234]

Dude, seriously, stop dispelling these myths! If people suddenly realize Canada isn't actually a subarctic wasteland, and that all the stories of people waiting years for operations are overblown or outdated, we'll never be able to keep people out!

I love the USA

[J05H]

But really the old USA that never quite existed. If it was all Liberty, this place would be great. I'm going to put my fist in the face of the next "love it or leave it" twit I hear, they're the ones turning this beautiful land into the New Soviet.

With what's been going on the last while, yes, moving crosses my mind. The place I'd go would be to one of several South Pacific or equatorial islands: Kiribati, Palau, Tuvalu, etc. The reasons I haven't left include friends, family, finances, and that I haven't assembled my ninja army to take one of those islands over. No, I'm not talking about being an American ex-pat who smokes and does the local hotties, I'm talking about going someplace and conquering it to live out my libertarian-anarchist fantasies. Anyone know where I can get a crate of AK-47s and a cheap hydrofoil?

Josh

Re:WoW

[kbielefe]

I don't know. I still play Oregon Trail four hours a day. Do you think I need help?

Tejas

[jamesmcfadyen]

If I left the United States of America I would move to the independent and progressive country known as Texas..

Re:Canada is Full! Go home!

[LordEd]

But you have no mooses in Eu.

Wi nøt trei a høliday in Sweden this yer?

See the løveli lakes

The wonderful telephøne system

And mani interesting furry animals

  Including the majestic møøse

    A Møøse once bit my sister ...

    No realli! She was Karving her initials on the møøse
    with the sharpened end of an interspace tøøthbrush given
    her by Svenge - her brother-in-law - an Oslo dentist and
    star of many Norwegian møvies: "The Høt Hands of an Oslo
    Dentist", "Fillings of Passion", "The Huge Mølars of Horst
    Nordfink".

    We apologise for the fault in the
    posting. Those responsible have been
    sacked.

Re:I moving to central america in ten years

[greenguy]

I lived in Nicaragua for five years. The people are wonderful there - engaged, genuine, passionate, warm. They're also dirt poor, and many (not all) treat you more as a resource than a person.

The government is a rag doll for the US to play with, and petty corruption is rampant among cops and bureaucrats.

Would I go back there to live? Definitely maybe. For now, I'm going to throw myself into undoing the damage done by the W regime, but it remains a fallback option. You know, when things get really bad, and they start doing things like repealing habeas corpus or something.

Re:The Netherlands

[Gilmoure]

Online gambling is not allowed in the U.S.

india

[Anonymous Coward]

15 official languages, >700 dialects, all religions, tasty food, cheap, beautiful climate, awesome culture. whats keeping me here? breathing space.

Re:Perspective of a Muslim

[Hognoxious]

As a Muslim, I would definitely prefer to live in a Shari'a country.

As a non Muslim, I'd prefer it if you did too. Would you like some help packing your bags?

Re:Obvious

[Anonymous Coward]

As much as I hate to say it though, anyplace I move has to have one thing for sure: BANDWIDTH, and plenty of it.

Indeed. I plan to retire to World of Warcraft.

Re:Quebec

[TheLink]

"Now, a 40 hour work day is a good idea "

40 hour work day?

I strongly disagree. I would recommend working smarter and not harder ;).

Re:Robots don't pay taxes.

['nother poster]

Kiss my shiny metal ass, meatsack!