chosing the country you live in

[Fury-Genesis]

"My country this, and your country that!"

Jesus

Why hasn't anybody yet brought up what a bullshit concept 'Patriotism' is?...

I agree. I tend to find patriotism to be quite unsettling, due to it's many similarities to religious extremism.

I just find it strange how one may not be prejudiced against race, sexuality or religious views, but it seems to be perfectly fine to proclaim oneself superior to others based on something that amounts to little more than lines drawn on a piece of paper.

In practice, nationalism comes off every bit as bigoted and prejudiced as racism.

 

[Eyclonus]

I'm surprised this hasn't descended into a flame war yet....

Anyway, I live in Australia, and I wouldn't mind going some where else for two years.
And yes we are a massive desert, but only 10% of the population live there at most.
Almost everyone is crammed between the Great Dividing Range and the Pacific coast.
To quote the leaflet handed out by Whitehouse officials to American reporters following Bush's 23 hour stay:
"Crime: Think big, wide, open spaces, You have a better chance of lightning strikes than being mugged"

Which is probably the best way to describe Canberra, a capital city founded on the basis that Melbourne and Sydney were threatening to go to war over who hosts the parliament.

Thailand seems like a good place to go, I've always wanted to see a Muay Thai match.

I would consider Japan but going there as a tourist is way different from staying there a long time. I have various friends who go there as part of studies or work and in one case as an intern in the diplomatic corps, they say its not bad but Westerners living and working there face severe discrimination in a lot of places.

 

[Sib]

So you wish the world to know that you were born in England rather than.... Wales? Get over yourself. It is ONE ISLAND! That is like distinguishing betweenThe Dominican Republic and Haiti! Who cares? It is a tropical island! So you live on an island in the North Atlantic, one of the few remaining legitimate empires, and you want to complain about that? You sir, have no sense of Glorious History. Take at least two History classes in your University....

You are fully aware that the countries that make up the United Kingdom tend to keep a fierce nationality separate from eachother, right? By that I mean the Celts (Welsh, Scottish + Irish) hate the English, and I imagine the English hold us with similar disdain (note: we don't hate English people just the country more from an ancestral thing than anything), and I for one get slightly pissed off when someone tries to group us all together as one thing.

 

[Cousin_IT]

It just occured to me that there is one place id like to be. Under the sea; in an Octopus' garden, in a cave

Need convincing? Ill let Sebastien [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPpNNpzldbg&feature=related] tell you more

 

[cleverlymadeup]

There are some good things about it, too. It has the lowest post-secondary education fees in North America, plus some of the best labour laws in that same region.

canada in general has good labour laws, the issue is most ppl don't know them. i'm lucky and have a mother who works in hr doing labour law stuff so i know a lot of the laws.

and university fees are another issue and mostly suck everywhere, tho in scandinavia it's free

 

[sma_warrior]

The USA purely because of their college sporting programs and such. Australia just doesn't have enough emphasis on sports development, except for AFL.

Other then that Australia is awesome.

So I take it you have never heard of Rugby League or Cricket? Or the Australian Institute of Sport for that matter.... lol

I live in Australia. I wouldn't wanna move anywhere else. Yes, I lucked out being born here

 

[iamnotincompliance]

My apologies to all offended. Have a cookie. I wore my typing fingers to the bone making them myself, so all typing errors here are because my keyboard was not meant for writing with one's nose.

Anyway, I've come to a decision: Venus. I figure once I get past the sulphuric atmosphere and 800 degree days, it'll be just peachy. I figure anywhere I go I'm going to have issues with the place (don't get me started on where I am now), but challenges like those instead of mere issues, I may just be up for trying it.

 

[Copter400]

Scotland! They deep-fry everything there! I'd open up a restaurant, and it would be completely deep-fried! Even the menus would be battered!

Seriously, I'd go to Finland. Free university and health care, and you don't have to pay a cent. Well, that's not true, there's about 30% taxes there, but in Australia we pay for a lot of this crap and we have still pay 47% taxes.

 

[Cousin_IT]

Lots of things dont directly help you in later life, doesnt mean they should be abandoned in favour of the few things that might. Sport is -wait for it- fun for alot of people. Dont like contact sports? thats your perogative. But in most schools you'll find more students wanting to play sport than computer science. Simularly, some schools specialise in sports, because with limited resources some schools choose to focus on being really good at a limited selection of curricular & extra-curricular activites. It sounds like you went to one (or at least complain like you did).

As for complaining about a rugby day once a month, big deal. I had to play rugby/hockey/cricket 2-4hours a day 3-4days a week at school as an "extra curricular" activity. But it was fun & theres more to it than just the sport itself. Theres the physical excersie, the social & teambuilding aspects etc. Your right you may end up just bagging groceries for some sport averse snob; but if you do computer science you may end up just fixing the PC of a premier league footballer; or do music then spend ur life tuning pianos.

 

[Le' Moog]

and just for Darth Mobius i DO have a sense of our glorious history! you see, we sir, are responsible for deciding what time it is everywhere else in the world. this is mostly because we only want the germans sitting down for their lunch when WE say it's 1 o'clock.

we decide this for the same reason we are twice undefeated world war champions of earth and thats because ENGLAND is so great that it unified itself with those other 'countys' of our wonderful little island that mascarade as countries (you know who you are), took over a 3rd of the world, got bored and gave it back again so we could have another crack sometime in the future - that and we wanted our own olympics

I smell thy lord and master Al Murray here ^_^ he's funny

just for the record, I'm scottish, and i'd like to go to New zealand. 28 hours of connecting flights to end back at square 1, only with some added australian accents

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

If I could truly live anywhere....probably England. Though that's more likely because I have more English blood in me than anything else.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

In practice, nationalism comes off every bit as bigoted and prejudiced as racism.

As does Pride...

I smell thy lord and master Al Murray here ^_^ he's funny

Now I think a lot of people don't get The Pub Landlord, in the same way they don't get Jeremy Clarkson. Yes, he's playing a total out and out chauvinist: original meaning; but he has the ability to combine it with the sheer idiocy of what he's saying, the true belief in the spirit and achievements we have made; and an understanding of the other cultures involved. Few Anglocentric characters have a full understanding of how French/German people actually talk; but he manages to poke fun without actually being nasty to them.

I know a lot of people won't see him because he's racist, but it's an English characteristic that we understand and ridicule our own prejudices. I've yet to see a Parisian or Berlin character take on both the racists and their own internal racism as well as the 'Goodness Gracious Me' team, Dara O'Brien(Irish), Chris Rock(American), Richard Pryor(American), Omid Djalili(Iranian) or Al Murray.

And in the words of Avenue Q, "Everyone's a little bit racist."

There's a whole world of difference between calling a Jewish guy "Big Nose" and actual antisemitism though. Jim Davidson/Bernand Manning fell right into the latter category.

 

[Gooble]

I currently live in England-wouldn't bother me staying here, not as bad as the media make everything out to be. Though it does seem to kind of just drifting along, not really progressing in anything.

If I were to live anywhere else, then I'd probably pick Cuba-fair enough it's pretty poor, but people actually seem to enjoy life, despite the hardships. Plus they only have about 50 days a year of rain

 

[Le' Moog]

I smell thy lord and master Al Murray here ^_^ he's funny

Now I think a lot of people don't get The Pub Landlord, in the same way they don't get Jeremy Clarkson. Yes, he's playing a total out and out chauvinist: original meaning; but he has the ability to combine it with the sheer idiocy of what he's saying, the true belief in the spirit and achievements we have made; and an understanding of the other cultures involved. Few Anglocentric characters have a full understanding of how French/German people actually talk; but he manages to poke fun without actually being nasty to them.
I know a lot of people won't see him because he's racist, but it's an English characteristic that we understand and ridicule our own prejudices. I've yet to see a Parisian or Berlin character take on both the racists and their own internal racism as well as the 'Goodness Gracious Me' team, Dara O'Brien(Irish), Chris Rock(American), Richard Pryor(American), Omid Djalili(Iranian) or Al Murray.

And in the words of Avenue Q, "Everyone's a little bit racist."

There's a whole world of difference between calling a Jewish guy "Big Nose" and actual antisemitism though. Jim Davidson/Bernand Manning fell right into the latter category.

I agree, there's a difference between poking fun at the welsh and hating them with a passion. Never seen any bernard manning material, but Jim Davidson's, just.. .well.. not funny

 

[stompy]

Australia is so much better the NZ. They do thing over there... with sheep.

I never get why we Aussies bag out the Kiwis 'bout their sheep love.

Anyways, I suppose I'd live in the States somewhere. Maybe Canada. You guys get your electronics cheaper and quicker, and have some awesome places there.