Returning to USA after many years
I have spent the past 14 years living not in USA despite the fact that I am a USA citizen. I did this by choice years ago for a reason that wasn't terribly romantic or informed. I moved to the developing world because I enjoyed the notion of a simplistic life that I had seen was the life of expats that I met while traveling in South-East Asia.
The friends i made while traveling were all involved in the dive industry and when I moved there, this is precisely what I ended up doing. I had grand dreams of owning my own boat and living near a beach like the one pictured above and having a simple bungalow with the cool breeze blowing in etc.
of course just like everyone else I accomplished none of those things because they are impractical and insecure. Not to mention the fact that beachfront land costs just as much in Asia as it does in Florida, so yeah, it isn't gonna happen. What ends up happening is that you can live kind of close to the beach in a cement rectangle of sorts.
something like this
While not as exotic as I had hoped, I did have the simple life and while certain parts of it end up being mundane (like any life, anywhere, it depends on what you make of it, right?) for the most part I felt life was better in the developing country that in USA - or much of the western world.
I am back in the USA now and I have to say that the aspects of society that I didn't really care for have kind of gotten worse over here. I want to state that I mean no offense to anyone that is American or western for that matter, but I believe there are some terrible deficiencies in society over here that I will never be a fan of.
it is increasingly a nanny state
It seems that each time i return here there are more cameras, more rules, and more enforcers of those rules. I was stunned to find that my cozy little town of 40,000 people or so has cameras everywhere. The bar that i went to in the afternoon with an old friend had massive curtains drawn across all th windows and I asked why. The bartender told me that the police used to watch the customers inside and follow them to give tickets. Drink driving isn't cool. I know that, but police setups... are worse.
consumerism is out of control
I can't believe that amount of stuff (crap) that people have. I had made an article before about how i don't like these Allegra or Google machines that people are talking to in their house. They pay hundreds of dollars for a machine that keeps them stupid. Why bother knowing anything when i can ask the machine the answer to anything I encounter?
Advertising has gotten extremely intelligent and I think it is only a matter of time before the advertising that appears in Blade Runner becomes part of our lives.
I know advertising is everywhere but here is an example of how much more of it we are subjected to in the west.... Youtube. Since arriving in the USA I use Youtube just like anyone else, but in USA i am subjected to I would say at least 3 times the amount of advertising that I would be forced to watch in South-East Asia. I know I can block this stuff and I do, but i let it through for comparison.
It is working too, because it seems that western people are far more likely to "need" the latest stuff and boy do they ever get it. It is very difficult for me to find a car not owned by a member of my family that is more than 5 years old. People are convinced of their need to remain in debt to always have the latest and greatest while having virtually no savings. I had lunch with a friend who has 10 acres of land, 4 cars (despite only having 2 drivers in the family,) 60 inch smart TV, the latest Apple computer, and no money to go to lunch with me.
This is terrible
the need for designer names
Just having a nice shirt isn't enough in USA. Just being clean and having some fashion sense is not enough. We need to have labels. This is particularly evident in big cities where I guess the level of advertising hysteria has reached an apex. I was recently given a shirt from a wealthy NYC friend. The shirt was over $300 and it was just a regular shirt. It wasn't made of diamonds nor did it come with an 8-ball of coke. It was just a cotton shirt with a designer name on the label. Basically it looked like something you could get a 3-pack of at Wal-Mart for about 15 bucks.
If you cant' look at this and see the insanity in it, I don't think we would have much in common.
It would have been nice if the shirt had this sense of irony, but alas, it did not
Again, I am not trying to say anything bad about USA or the west but I will say this. I do not want this life and therefore don't feel as though I can ever move back to America. More than half of my immediate family lives at least most of the time, outside of the US and I think it will remain that way.
I could type a lot more, but this is already too long.
Man.. This is a lot like how I felt after returning to the States after living in Oaxaca, Mexico for a couple years. You don't even realize just how nuts it is here until you leave. Everything is a trap to get you to spend money, from holidays to even grocery shopping. Everyone is so entitled and caught up in their own selves to the point where you can feel really lonely in a crowd of millions.
As for the cops hanging around bars, yeah I've had that experience here in LA in Hermosa Beach. Just after I watched a cop ticket a guy for "drunk while walking in public" ( he had just left a bar to walk home - not bothering anyone), I walked toward my car to see cops coming out of every alley and street simultaneously to harass people just as they left their parking spots. All people who had come out of the bars.
Apparently, they do this every weekend. They hide until the bars close, and then come out all and once and pull over every can that they can without provocation. It was a shock to me, after being in a town in Mexico where the closest cop was a 1.5 hour drive.
I think i prefer the cops being far away. Same in Thailand. It took the cops so long to get to my bar to handle a belligerent customer that we just decided to handle it ourselves.
Pretty much the same way where I was at. It was a bizarre scene down there, though. Full grown men would have rock fights in the street. I was trying to drag this dude out of my girlfriend's business who was totally drunk. He left and came back with a beer bottle to attack me. I took the bottle away from him and then he started trying to throw rocks at me!
The guy was like 40 or something, and I was 22 at the time. I finally chased him off, and thought it was a one off kind of thing. Then I noticed people rock fighting all the time to settle disputes. But it usually ended without anyone really getting hurt.
Very nice article @gooddream
It’s similar in India as well. Getting westernised.
Everything is commercialised and materialised.
Sorry you have this feeling and bravo for speaking your heart out.
Good news is world is big enough
indeed it is. TIme to explore more of it ! :)
Have you ever thought about traveling to Latin countries such as Mexico or Colombia? unfortunately greater security less privacy that is everywhere. I'm from Mexico and tourists abound in these dates.
one of my relatives lives there. I was considering heading that direction as soon as i can wrap up my affairs in SE Asia. wish I had studied Spanish!
So those of us who live outside the United States, who live near the beach, who drink our cold beer sitting on the sand and eat garlic shrimp with our hands, believe in the American dream and want to emigrate. What you say, you hear it, but you can't perceive the problem because we surely think it's an exaggeration! Already in 1984 and in A Happy World we were told how we were going to be watched and consumed. We thought it was science fiction. There must be something good to come back! Go back to the country where you were born. Maybe not all is lost! Greetings
there certainly are benefits to living in a prosperous nation. I am sure many people like it. However, i don't like the idea of the government being involved in everything i do, even if it is "for my benefit" :)
The shirt part was hilarious. Funny developing countries are trying to attain these heights you condemned. I am from Nigeria in Africa. Even though you have some points from where you are coming from, some of these things do have advantages.
Leaving your hime country for 14 years is not an easy job I guess, and it got worse when you dont have any choice.
Here in India also the plots mear beaches are very costly and only rich people and hotel owners can have them. I am also from Asia and I pretty much know the costs here.
Also, I hope that the 300$ shirt is looking nice on you..but In here India, with 300$ in pocket, I can live like a kimg for week ! Hahaha !
stay healthy and keep posting mate!
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That's amazing that you listened to your heart and lived where your taste resembles. very few can do it. keep flourishing.