I have the impression that the average American views Americans living abroad as somehow bad and lacking in patriotism. Here’s what got me thinking about this: several years ago, I was around some American college students who were discussing the American kid in Singapore who (I think) vandalized some cars and was sentenced to being caned/whipped/something similar. The discussion was whether the US should intervene; the consensus was “no,” and one reason given was that the kid and his parents were expats anyhow and so to hell with them. This comment was greeted by nods of the head, with no apparent dissent. Is this characteristic of how Americans view American expats?
Frankly, I don’t think that the average American thinks about expats much at all. They’re mostly out of sight & mind.
I’ve been an expatriate and I never ran into anyone with that attitude.
I agree with the above… I’ve never lived abroad and actually find it kinda neato.
Diceman is right. I don’t think anyone gives it a thought. The attitude about the kid in Singapore was not because he was living overseas. He was a spoiled rich kid living in a country with well known draconian laws who decided to break those laws anyway.
I suspect that the college student was making a smart-assed remark and everyone sorta chimed in, but in general most people don’t resent expatriates.
I’ve been an expatriate for almost 20 years total and I’ve never encountered that attitude either. Most people who have an opinion think it’s interesting.
Interestingly enough, most of the expatriates I know here are active duty members of the US Armed Forces. I think they’d be a bit on the high side on the patriotism meter.
Check out this link (click on the appropriate speed under “Cane 'Em Good” to listen). The song’s about that dude. By the way, he wasn’t a kid; he was an adult.
Short of going to war/invading the country, the US cannot intervene in another country’s judicial process. What may happen is that the US ambassador to that country makes a request for leniency in the case (akin to “friend of the court” comments/briefs). I’m not sure, but I think such a request was made and the Singaporean judge delivered a sentence of 1/2 the usual amount of strokes.
Nope; in my humble opinion it’s how jerks with no knowledge of the world view others. Note: By “jerks,” I’m referring to those other individuals. You, of course, are not included because you are not a jerk.
By the way, I’m an expat and am former military. My oldest brother is an expat and is former military. My 2nd oldest brother is an expat and is former military. None of us, to my knowledge, is lacking in patriotism.
IIRC from the time it happened, the prevailing attitude in the US toward the kid who got caned was that he had it coming and it might do him some good. The only connection with expatriatism might even have been a touch of envy that he was in a country where that could still happen.
Speaking as an ex-expat (repat?), I agree with the above. Generally nobody thinks of it much at all, and those who do think it’s fairly cool.
If Americans weren’t outraged about the kid who got caned in Singapore, it’s because a lot of Americans would like to see DOMESTIC vandals treated the same way. If Detroit were to pass a law providing that graffiti artists would be caned in public, millions of Americans would applaud.
As for expatriates in general, well, people move overseas for a host of reasons. Almost no American would be offended or upset about…
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A friend who was offered a high-paying job with an Irish high-tech firm, moved to ireland, loved it, and decided to stay.
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A friend who fell in love with a German woman, and decided to move to Bonn to marry her.
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A friend who spent a semester in Paris during her junior year in college, loved it, and decided to stay.
There may be a few provincial yahoos here, but most Americans understand that there are many wonderful places to live around the world, and nobody objects if an American chooses to move to one of them for economic or personal reasons.
There is a certain breed of expatriate that DOES rankle, however. If you’re an American left-winger who moves overseas, and then spends the next decade regaling bored listeners with tales of how evil, backward and contemptible the USA is, well… guess what? The folks back home think you’re an asshole, and don’t miss you a bit.
Ex-Pat’s are rare enough that most people don’t feel threatened by it. It isn’t like there have ever been people flooding out of the U.S. Most people assume it is for job opportunities or maybe something exotic like criminal activity. Most people are patriotic enough to refuse to believe that anyone would want to leave the U.S. out of dissatisfaction unless they are overly liberal or communist and who wants those people anyway?
When that kid in Singapore was about to get caned, opinion polls in the U.S. showed very high support for it. We tend to take personal responsibility for criminal activity very seriously in this country. I think a lot of people do envy Singapore for being able to do things like caning.
From a distance.
I’m only going to mention this little part because so many people that I talk to seem to think that expatriate means ex-patriot. I’m not suggesting that everyone here doesn’t recognize the difference.
I’m not currently an expat, and being that I’m only out of the country for loooong periods of time for business, I probably don’t fairly qualify anyway. One day I’ll probably be a true expat, though, since the money goes a lot longer where I’m considering settling (assuming the political situation doesn’t get and stay ugly after July 2d).
The only grousing I get about being there is, “oh, so you’re helping take more American jobs away from us and down to there, huh?”
Astorian speaks for me, too, especially in his concluding two paragraphs.
I realize this is not GD, and don’t wish to hijack this thread, but given the tenor of the comments here, I do not wish for this post to go without remark. I, for one, DO want these people. And while I understand their dissatisfaction, and feel it myself painfully and acutely, they are wanted and needed here now, more than ever.
The question is about general American attitudes towards ex-pats. It isn’t about my views or yours. I believe that is the general sentiment among the great majority of Americans.
How do you think people will react when they hear that is so disgusted with America that he decided to move to France? I am sure you can anticipate the general comments as well as I can because we have heard them before.
I should the majority of Americans, including and especially those who are likely to be turned off by the idea, never have the opportunity nor reason to think about it much as they don’t meet many. Most Americans, as has been noted a number of times on these boards, for a number of reasons ranging from geogrpahy to cultural attitudes, don’t even have passports. The real option of living abroad is probably ever seriously considered or thought about in any fashion by something like 10-20% of the population. It just isn’t an issue for most people.
Shag, I think I probably misread your post and I’ll cop to a bit of knee-jerking there.
In general, I don’t have any bad vibes about expats. In fact, I feel they have the courage to pull up stakes and move to a different culture, and I don’t.
The exception to that is the expat who moves to another country so that he can freely exploit and endanger the local workers or do some land-raping project that would have been illegal in the US. Those people are amoral greedheads and scum.