Yeah, there's a lot of perspectives I have to consider this from.
1) Boiling a frog perspective. You don't boil a frog by throwing it in a pot of boiling water; you put it in a pot of room temperature water and slowly turn up the heat. By the time the frog realizes the water is too hot, it's too late to get out. That's my biggest worry; that if I don't get out early enough, I won't be able to get out when it gets really dangerous. After all, if there's just, say, a dozen or so Americans trying to go to Canada or Australia or France or something, that's manageable, but if there's a few million of us trying to escape, there's going to be more scrutiny.
2) As dangerous as the politicians are, there are the radical, extreme, fringe groups that are getting all hyped up by the right wing media. They watch Faux News tell them how evil atheists are and they listen to Ben Shapiro and Alex Jones preach the dangers of transgenders and they read articles on Breitbart telling them how devious the left is and they get all scared and hyped at the same time. They get angry and aggressive and violent and when they let loose, the right wing media jumps to their defense, just like they did with Rittenhouse and the January 6 rioters. Just like Trump still can't seem to bring himself to say anything negative about the proud boys or the klansmen who supported him at the unite the right rally.
3) Yeah, it's already not safe. There are an alarming number of mass shootings out there and they're getting closer (This one happened just 3 miles away from me) There seem to be more every day and not only has there not been any significant push for meaningful gun control, the SCOTUS actually made it harder to implement gun control on the state, county or city level.
4) Are safe parts of America going to stay safe? California is somewhat safe, at least on the LGBT/atheist front, but how long will it stay that way? The Republicans wouldn't hesitate to switch from "let the states decide" to "federal law says all states have to make this a crime." They're already starting to work on that with abortion, with laws making it a crime to cross state lines to get an abortion after they spent the last 30 years demanding that the SCOTUS let the states decide. How long will it be before they start chipping away at LGBT rights the same way? Many states are already making it illegal for anyone to transition if they're under 18 and others are making it impossible to change your birth certificate and still others are making it more difficult to use restrooms or other facilities that match your gender. How long will they chip away at our rights before, poof, they're gone and I'm a criminal just because I exist?
For now, leaving America would be difficult. I just recently got my drivers license back after having been suspended for years (unpaid tickets). I live in a small, one bedroom apartment. My marketable skills are somewhat lacking and based on what I've seen, those play a big role in immigrating. I might talk to my parents about it, if it ever comes to that. They're also very liberal and current politics in America have they considering leaving and maybe when/if they do, they can help me move out with them? I can only hope.
1) Boiling a frog perspective. You don't boil a frog by throwing it in a pot of boiling water; you put it in a pot of room temperature water and slowly turn up the heat. By the time the frog realizes the water is too hot, it's too late to get out. That's my biggest worry; that if I don't get out early enough, I won't be able to get out when it gets really dangerous. After all, if there's just, say, a dozen or so Americans trying to go to Canada or Australia or France or something, that's manageable, but if there's a few million of us trying to escape, there's going to be more scrutiny.
2) As dangerous as the politicians are, there are the radical, extreme, fringe groups that are getting all hyped up by the right wing media. They watch Faux News tell them how evil atheists are and they listen to Ben Shapiro and Alex Jones preach the dangers of transgenders and they read articles on Breitbart telling them how devious the left is and they get all scared and hyped at the same time. They get angry and aggressive and violent and when they let loose, the right wing media jumps to their defense, just like they did with Rittenhouse and the January 6 rioters. Just like Trump still can't seem to bring himself to say anything negative about the proud boys or the klansmen who supported him at the unite the right rally.
3) Yeah, it's already not safe. There are an alarming number of mass shootings out there and they're getting closer (This one happened just 3 miles away from me) There seem to be more every day and not only has there not been any significant push for meaningful gun control, the SCOTUS actually made it harder to implement gun control on the state, county or city level.
4) Are safe parts of America going to stay safe? California is somewhat safe, at least on the LGBT/atheist front, but how long will it stay that way? The Republicans wouldn't hesitate to switch from "let the states decide" to "federal law says all states have to make this a crime." They're already starting to work on that with abortion, with laws making it a crime to cross state lines to get an abortion after they spent the last 30 years demanding that the SCOTUS let the states decide. How long will it be before they start chipping away at LGBT rights the same way? Many states are already making it illegal for anyone to transition if they're under 18 and others are making it impossible to change your birth certificate and still others are making it more difficult to use restrooms or other facilities that match your gender. How long will they chip away at our rights before, poof, they're gone and I'm a criminal just because I exist?
For now, leaving America would be difficult. I just recently got my drivers license back after having been suspended for years (unpaid tickets). I live in a small, one bedroom apartment. My marketable skills are somewhat lacking and based on what I've seen, those play a big role in immigrating. I might talk to my parents about it, if it ever comes to that. They're also very liberal and current politics in America have they considering leaving and maybe when/if they do, they can help me move out with them? I can only hope.
I live on facebook. Come see me there. http://www.facebook.com/tara.rizzatto
"If you cling to something as the absolute truth and you are caught in it, when the truth comes in person to knock on your door you will refuse to let it in." ~ Siddhartha Gautama
"If you cling to something as the absolute truth and you are caught in it, when the truth comes in person to knock on your door you will refuse to let it in." ~ Siddhartha Gautama
