God, that person is such a fucking shithead.

[conuly]

Why would people want to immigrate en mass from Norway to the USA? Putting aside the enormous fucking racist implications of that statement, people immigrate to improve their situation. The USA isn't that great compared to other developed nations, and also we have a demagogue in the White House who is bound and determined to make things worse. So, uh, no?

Comments

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

This is called Living in the Past.

You know, when the USA was the biggest hucksters on the planet convincing people to sell their featherbeds and come to be cheap labor.

[conuly]

When all those other countries weren't any better off than we were, and often much worse off?

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

When the wretched, tired and poor were welcome because someone had to work six day weeks on dangerous machines. Farmers clinging to scraps of land owners had pushed them onto because they still needed their labor on the other land. People making soup from oil.

Not that America was always that welcoming when confronted with the immigrants, so very poor. A few generations straightened that up, because they came and came in droves. And we're stronger for their contributions.

[conuly]

America's never been welcoming to immigrants. We just occasionally put on a good face.

[selenak]

No kidding. Norway has universal health care, a good education system and a sane head of government.

[conuly]

Of course, Norwegians also have a lot less sun in the winter, and that's a consideration, but not a strong enough one to move here, that's for sure.

[orcofnewyork]

Honestly, I think it's about taxes. Scandinavia is famous for its high taxes, which of course maintains the high standard of living for their general population, but that's abhorrent to the sociopathic oligarchs of the US. The minute he (and others like him) hear about those high taxes that even the rich have to pay is the instant they think "why don't their rich people come here?"

Seriously, if I didn't have friends and family tying me to the US I would consider relocating to Norway or Sweden. But then again I'm a social progressive who believes in government welfare programs and high taxes - not a very stable genius like others.

[thewayne]

There was a person on Slashdot who had a message signature that read "I like paying my taxes. With them I buy civilization."

Which is what precisely bothers me about the T.E.A. Party.

[acelightning]

Well, once upon a time, a fair number of Norwegians did come to the US from Norway, and settled in places like what is now Minnesota (where, presumably, the climate reminded them of Norway). That was back when people all over the world would risk everything for a chance to come to America, "Land of Opportunity", to make a better life for themselves and their families. Nowadays, of course, people in Norway have it better than most Americans...

But that same era of immigration, epitomized by Emma Lazarus' stirring poem on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty (do read the beginning of the poem, before the famous line "Give me your tired, your poor..."!), saw an awful lot of people coming here from, yes, "shithole countries". Most countries were shitholes at some time in their own history, or they contained regions that were pretty shitty, and the "wretched refuse" could see the Lady's torch inviting them from everywhere on the planet.

I daresay almost everyone reading this had ancestors who came here from one shithole or another...

[moem]

Some of us aren't 'here', we're 'there'. Except to us, it's 'here' and you are 'there'.
And I wouldn't go to the US right now for any reason (barring life or death). You couldn't possibly pay me enough. Not even Don the Con could.

[acelightning]

Oh, I'm sorry! I was more or less addressing conuly, who appears to be in the US. Right now I'm not terribly fond of my own country, but that can, and will, change. (I'd like to see a lot of the sociopolitical things that make Scandinavia and the Netherlands so much more humane put into effect here, but I'm not sure that's ever going to happen.)

[moem]

Okay, that makes sense!
On this side of the ocean, many of us are anxiously peering over to the other shore, and worry about all y'all. We know full well that most of you did not vote for #45, and we feel for you.

[acelightning]

I have a number of friends in other countries (mostly Australia, the UK, and Canada) who frequently express dismay at the current political situation in the US. I do what I can - I vote in every election, I sign online petitions, I phone and/or email my elected officials - but I often feel as if what I'm doing isn't enough to make the changes we need to make. But I keep trying, because I know that there are millions of other Americans doing the best they can, too, and eventually it will add up.

[conuly]

Technically, I'm in NYC, which many people insist isn't "really" like the rest of America. Which is why they're trying to punish us with the new tax law, fucking assholes.

[acelightning]

I have lived and worked in the NY metropolitan area all my life, either with the city "just over the horizon", or in the city itself. Currently I live in New Jersey, near Sandy Hook, and when the weather is clear I can see the skyline of lower Manhattan from the end of my street.

NYC is the capital of Planet Earth - you can find things from just about every place in the world in NY (e.g., a Tibetan restaurant, a Uyghur newspaper, Kenyan kitenge fabric, the Peruvian corn beverage chicha, etc.). When the Galactic Confederation finally contacts Earth, NYC is where they'll establish their embassy.

[moem]

*coughs*
You'll have to excuse my uncharacteristic bout of national pride (which is something we are generally not big on) but for some reason it feels wrong to me to have the capital of Planet Earth in such a young country... and my first though was, of course it should really be Amsterdam.
I'd certainly raise at least one eyebrow, signifying outmost surprise, if you could not find those things there, as well.

It's funny because NY is, of course, New Amsterdam. And be assured that none of this is meant seriously. I can add a smiley if that helps... nah. You'll get it.

[conuly]

NYers have never forgotten our Dutch heritage... although technically the Walloons were here before the Dutch and of course, Peter Minuit was Walloon.

[acelightning]

I've never been to Amsterdam (yet), but I've been to a few fairly major cities (e.g., Toronto and Melbourne), and so far, nothing compares to New York for sheer diversity. That's why I call it the capital of the planet - it represents everything our world has to offer. And that is partly because it's so young by global standards... and partly because this country was, for so much of its brief history, the place people wanted to come to when they couldn't live in their original homelands. (And New York's splendid natural harbor was the place where many of them entered - see userpic.)

(I self-identify as "a New Yorker at heart", but I don't really self-identify as an American. I thought of myself as a "citizen of the world" for a while, but eventually I realized that even that was too parochial...)

[chickenfeet]

I can see the neo-Pagan neo-Nazi fake Viking nutcases liking the idea of a new life in Trumpistan. And it's easier to slaughter large numbers of people.

[acelightning]

There's a fair amount of reclaimed pre-Christian Norse religious practice in Scandinavia today, but the people doing it are hardly "neo-Nazi fake Viking nutcases" - most of those are already in the US, and they were here before anybody had ever heard of Donald Trump. Adding to the confusion is that not all neo-Nazis are wannabe Vikings (some of them call themselves Christians), and not all Norse Neopagans are neo-Nazis (I've met a couple of Black Asatruar - the rationale is that since the Vikings traveled even as far as the Mediterranean, and probably encountered Africans, some Vikings might have brought home African thralls, who decided it would be prudent to worship the local gods).

[zesty_pinto]

The folks that I have heard of who want to move from there are usually those who are greedy. The financial disparity is really small so they likely assume that overachievement is tamped down. Perception versus reality, etc.

It's not a large majority, as you can tell. America's media corp being so big often presses a nice, healthy reminder that we have some big losers among the winners. Still doesn't mean that I don't deal with a Canadian or two who thinks that they have it worse up there, though because of things like this.

[oracleofdoom]

I have a friend who lives there who has told me there are a lot of really right-wing, white supremacist Trump enthusiast types out there. So, it's not totally surprising.

[conuly]

Well, they can just drop dead for all I care.

[mummimamma]

Actually last year 502 Norwegians emigrated to the US, which is down 59 from the year before.
Personally I'd like all the right wing liberals who likes Trump (yes, they do exist) to be the next 500 to go, but that's just me.

That said, back in the days, when Norway was a marginal, dirt poor country, quite a lot if Norwegians did emigrate to the US. As it is now, I happily pay my taxes for the welfare state we have.

[conuly]

500 is about the number I'd expect, to be honest - it doesn't count as "en masse" in my estimation. My guess is some of them are married or otherwise have family here, though...?

[mummimamma]

Probably some people marries, some people get a job, and of course to become famous actors/musicians.

[archersangel]

that's pretty much what i thought. who is going to want to come here from norway? unless it's for school or something.

[chanter1944]

He really *is* a racist/white supremacist fellow traveler, isn't he? Gag me with about six spoons.

This latest shameful idiocy makes me, frankly, want to go and find Haitian and Salvadoran artists/writers/businesspeople in my local community and show them all the love, both because they deserve it and because that would be at least something of a small righteous comeback.

[andrewducker]

Interesting bit of history:
http://www.norwegianamerican.com/featured/why-bestemor-never-taught-you-norwegian/

[conuly]

Thanks.

[silver-chipmunk.livejournal.com]

Yeah, only in the mind of the Orange Pussy-Grabber does that make any sense.