Of course they are. When the dominant narrative is that America is a racist hellscape, built on oppression and plunder then things like patriotism and civic spirit seem absurd, quaint notions, ripe for ridicule.
This line of argumentation is always so strange to me because it supposes a strange sort of emotional fragility in the rich that I can't quite square with the exceptionalism we allllll know they possess.
You think the dominant narrative is that America is a racist hellscape? No, no; America is the greatest country on the planet. I heard it on the news. Surely the increasingly consolidated media, owned by the emotionally-fragile rich, could address the dominance of that narrative? Failure to come together to address such a horrifying distortion of reality, after all, would be extremely dangerous to our democracy[0].
In seriousness, I think that your conclusion that the rich are leaving because of culture-war issues is unsupported by the assertion that the dominant narrative is that Murica sucks. The dominant narrative is that America is the land of the free, dude. Unpleasant realities like Trump profiting from the Secret Service having to stay at his hotels, or the dynastic nature of Presidential politics, or how the IRS goes after the poor for lack of the funding that hitting the big-time cheats would require, or how three of the most recent dynasties had ties to an infamous pedophile, or how that pedophile "killed himself" while in high-profile protective custody -- it's all unimportant. Propaganda both subtle and gross smooths things over. The Pledge of Allegiance seems very, very strange to many other cultures, especially Western ones.
I think it's far more likely that they're striking out, as their ancestors once did, to seek a better life. If I were in the habit of cluttering my environment with effluent ponds of various negative externalities, I too would probably want to up and move somewhere with more of a pleasant aspect. Especially if I got to keep all the proceeds of my previous exploitations.
I think you misunderstand me. I am not saying the rich are leaving because of culture war issues. I am saying that the incessant claims that America is just the worse erodes the social fabric for everyone, including the rich, and one manifestation
of such erosion is that it becomes morally acceptable to cheat the system. After all it is a corrupt, racist, oppressive, hypocriptical imperialistic system, so why pay into it?
The problem with your supposition here is that America's rich have been already acting like "corrupt, racist, oppressive, hypocriptical imperialists" for at least 120 years. United Fruit Company[0], the Business Plot[1], etc. For the rich, it has always been morally acceptable to cheat the system. The 20th century saw the establishment of pensions, then they were raided barely a generation afterwards.
I think what you're complaining about is that the historical propaganda (not to mention historical material abundance for the plebes) which smoothed over the bad stuff doesn't work as well in the modern age. There's cellphone cameras, whistleblowers, shrinkflation, and planned obsolescence these days. What investment and fellow-feeling should the little people feel for The System?
Many, if not most, of American's rich are self-made, most obviously in tech, where the amount of wealth accrued to Gen X's and Millennial boggles the mind. Does your indictment extent to those people was well, or is reserved for people whose parents were rich?
You're trying to muddy the waters by bringing up "high" tech salaries, given that we're both tech people. But we don't really make society-shaping decisions by bribing politicians (well, I don't). The sort of people who do, and the sort of people I'm referring to, and the sort of entitled cheating of The System that I object to, is well illustrated by this: https://www.propublica.org/article/secret-irs-files-reveal-h...
Turning a $20 million donation into a $500 million tax break is both enriching oneself and starving everyone else. My "indictment" is a mere recognizance of what's in front of me. What does this look like to you?
That’s not the “dominant narrative”, it’s historical fact. Slavery, segregation and genocide of Native Americans aren’t fabricated stories, they actually happened.
Patriotism is for fools. Civil spirit starts with not rejecting citizenship for tax reasons.
The US had segregation until 1964. It's pretty much done non-stop military adventurism since it's inception. Yes, most countries are unethical and morally repulsive, but the US is at the very top of the heap and it has been for a long time.
My life experiences have made me incapable of empathizing with this view. My fellow citizens have never had my back, and I disagree with most everything they hold dear, as they disagree with most everything about me.
I don't hate America or its people, I'm just not that into them.
Patriotic people love to tell others "If you don't love America, leave it". Well, as my patriotic act to those great patriotic Americans .. I left.
But enjoy singing some bad national anthem and crying while waving a flag or maybe killing someone who disrespects your flag, or whatever it is the patriotic kids do today.
We really have no country or stable home right now. Once we get to Spain we will love being there, but we will still hold no sense of patriotism.
I'm not willing to fight, murder, or die for a nation. Some people are wired that way, violent ideation of being a hero, dying for god and country or whatever, but it ain't me.
That level of detachment is only affordable to you because of the generations of people that fought, murdered and died for the nations on which you now can so comfortably live. Perhaps you think that work is done. Maybe you are right, at this moment, but if history is any guide, it could all change in an instant and you could need people who are willing to fight for your way of live.
