91–100 of 108 posts
If the whole planet was a little more conscious - and able - to sort themselves into a fitting situation, the ‘system’ as a whole would churn out awesome results.
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>but I couldn't possibly rip my daughter away from her friends and the school she loves I wouldn't be so sure. My parents made two significant moves during my school years which meant a new school and new friends. If you had asked me whether I wanted to move I would have said absolutely not. Looking back as an adult, being taken out of my comfort zone and forced to make a whole new set of friends and being given the…
it depends on the age of the child. ages 5-12 will probably be fine, but if you do this to a high school kid, there will be hell to pay. it will not end well.
Moving around was never something I gave much thought - it was just how it was. And I really appreciate the perspective on cultures and life it has given me.
I can imagine it being much more traumatic in your teen years - when you start becoming more entrenched with friends / relationships etc.
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Right, but none of the author's reasons seemed to revolve around anything but his own desire to focus and work on his products. In the context of raising a family, that's hard to justify.
I don't aim to be thorough when blogging. They're just succinct little tidbits. Of course there's more to the story, and of course it was a whole-family decision. In fact my wife kinda led the decision even more than me. We hope to move back to Singapore when our kid is a bit older, but he's still just a baby, so I really want him to grow up outside surrounded by nature, not inside shopping malls.
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US citizens are taxed on world-wide income, so the benefits of the low-tax environment aren't so much of a factor, since you owe the IRS on whatever you earn anywhere on earth (but for a ~$80k exemption). Most other countries tax based on where you earn (i.e. earn money while resident abroad => don't have to remit tax on those earnings to your birth-country). AFAIK, Sivers (smartly) had a lot of his exit proceeds put…
Sivers also did surrender his US citizenship: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2012/04/30/2012-102...
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> As for military conscription, that only applies to citizens, so if your children take US citizenship instead of Singaporean citizenship (US practices Jus Sanguinis, so I think this is possible), they wouldn't have to worry about military service (I'm not Singaporean or an immigration lawyer, so don't take my word on that). If you (like afaik, Sivers) surrender the US citizenship, is there any basis for children tak…
> I guess if I had to pin it down, what bugs me is the way many Westernerns move and settle in countries without regards to their culture and ways of living -- out of purely material and practical concerns. And what do you think of clans of Indians who move to the U.S. for purely material and practical concerns, live cocooned in communities (especially in the South Bay) ?
Do Indians like to be around other Indians? Yes. Do Indians like be be around people from their state/linguistic background? YES! But that doesn't make them "clans".
A South Bay residing Indian is more likely to be a college-educated, white collar worker. There is no need for them to "ghetto" themselves.
I enjoyed the post, but I find it to be such a vast departure from the way I think and feel, mostly because I have a family. Sure, I would love to sit on a balcony in New Zealand, coding and listening to the birds, but I couldn't possibly rip my daughter away from her friends and the school she loves. Again, I appreciate the spirit of the post, but reality for most of us precludes this level of whimsy, and I don't ne…
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> I guess if I had to pin it down, what bugs me is the way many Westernerns move and settle in countries without regards to their culture and ways of living -- out of purely material and practical concerns. And what do you think of clans of Indians who move to the U.S. for purely material and practical concerns, live cocooned in communities (especially in the South Bay) ?
1) I don't think they live "cocooned". I've lived in South Bay myself for 18 years and honestly haven't seen this. Quite frankly your statement struck me as odd (I earlier wrote racist, but on a second read, I don't think this qualifies) and reactionary ("clans"?). Maintaining ethnic stores, restauraunts, and community events is very different from being "cocooned". They obey US laws (assuming all burdens and respons…
Right, this might just be a matter of personal opinion. I spent a few months in Mountain View, I found it oppressively close to being similar to living in India. It was personally a negative thing because I felt like I (being ethnically of Indian origin but not really culturally one) was expected to behave similar to norms in India. Hell, I had a co-worker accuse (tease?) me of being gay because I was wearing fucking Happy Socks [1]. Now, I must emphasize that I am not saying that everyone who is culturally Indian is conservative or homophobic or whatever. However, the norms in that society of what is acceptable behavior are distinctly different from the norms in this society. A huge cluster of people living together just makes it easier for them to bring their societal norms.
[1] http://www.happysocks.com/us/
> but on a second read, I don't think this qualifies) and reactionary ("clans"?).
The word "clan" was used in the sense of people of a certain kinship living together. This may not be immediately apparent to an outsider but I have lived in India and people from different states are drastically different. This self congregation is apparent in neighborhoods there. At least to me.
2)
> The delta in material situation between India and US is far higher than the delta between US and and Singapore. Westerners moving to Singapore aren't escaping grinding poverty.
Sorry. Most of the new Indians that you see are not escaping grinding poverty. If you have enough money to pay for a Master's degree and then work on an H1B, you are clearly not part of the teeming masses of the poor people, you are ultimately an expat.
3)
> There's a large Indian community in Singapore (indeed the very name of the country is in an Indian language) and if you're going to compare Indians moving to the US to another group moving to Singapore (well, perhaps not moving -- they've been there for a long time), this is probably the right comparison to make. I don't see a problem with multi-ethnic states, as long as everyone lives by the same basic laws.
Actually, I think Singapore is a drastically different case when it comes to Indian immigration. For one, immigration laws are diverse enough that you get both classes of Indians, the white collar professionals and the people escaping soul crushing poverty.
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> I guess if I had to pin it down, what bugs me is the way many Westernerns move and settle in countries without regards to their culture and ways of living -- out of purely material and practical concerns. And what do you think of clans of Indians who move to the U.S. for purely material and practical concerns, live cocooned in communities (especially in the South Bay) ?
for a guy who has lived in India the use of word "Clan" to describe South Bay residing Indians is ..mm.. weird.. Do Indians like to be around other Indians? Yes. Do Indians like be be around people from their state/linguistic background? YES! But that doesn't make them "clans". A South Bay residing Indian is more likely to be a college-educated, white collar worker. There is no need for them to "ghetto" themselves.
The word clan was not used in a pejorative way. I merely meant a group of people.
> A South Bay residing Indian is more likely to be a college-educated, white collar worker. There is no need for them to "ghetto" themselves.
Not sure how this relates to my point at all. The OP had an issue with westerners moving and settling in a country "without regards to their culture and ways of living -- out of purely material and practical concerns." I asked him/her what their thoughts were on other minorities doing that? My only intention is to figure out if there is some sort of differing racial standard being applied here.