NYT Questions
annaserene noticed two focus group discussions in the NYT recently, this one featuring Asian Americans and this one featuring trans people. The three main questions are interesting and i wanted to answer them too. I'm interested to see what sorts of answers come up for those of us living in different countries.
Since i don't really have a home country, i will answer for Taiwan (where i live) and Canada (where i hold citizenship). It's very difficult to only choose one answer, because there are some things i hold to be very important in every country (notably migrants rights and freedom of movement in general).
What's the most important political issue to you right now?
In Canada:
Urban planning. Specifically: housing inaffordability, food deserts, poor walkability and environmentally/socially destructive car-first development.
In Taiwan:
Cross-strait issues. There is a constant pressure coming from China that prevents Taiwan from being able to contribute as an equal in global organizations like the UN. I realize that most Taiwanese people do not seek a change to the status quo because they know that any change is most likely to end up in China making things tougher than it already is, but as an immigrant, and an internationalist, it infuriates me that this country has to expend so much of its political and economic capital dealing with unnecessary hurdles imposed by its much larger and richer neighbor.
In a word, describe your biggest concern about the country.
In Canada: poor urban planning.
In Taiwan: Chinese meddling.
Are America's best days ahead of us, behind us or happening now?
I don't think it's helpful to generalize across entire countries on this question, because often the experience differs a lot between different groups inside the country.
I am generally an optimist when it comes to humanity and believe that on average pretty much everything is better everywhere today than it used to be. People all over the world have access to more information than ever before, better medicine than ever before, more nutritious food than ever before... I would take a life in 2023 a million times over a life in 1923 or 1823 or 1723, anywhere in the world, hands down. And i think unless there is an existential catastrophe like a supervolcano or asteroid strike, it will be better still in 2123. Even if half the world's species are extinct, even if large portions of the planet are unlivable due to climate change, i still believe that whatever remains of humanity will have longer lives, better education and more conveniences than we do today.
I would happily live in 2123 over 2023, if i could. I don't think humanity as a whole is on the verge of some kind of civilizational collapse. We've proven pretty resilient on the scale of thousands of years, so i would only be worried about the one in hundred thousand or one in million event.
Since i don't really have a home country, i will answer for Taiwan (where i live) and Canada (where i hold citizenship). It's very difficult to only choose one answer, because there are some things i hold to be very important in every country (notably migrants rights and freedom of movement in general).
What's the most important political issue to you right now?
In Canada:
Urban planning. Specifically: housing inaffordability, food deserts, poor walkability and environmentally/socially destructive car-first development.
In Taiwan:
Cross-strait issues. There is a constant pressure coming from China that prevents Taiwan from being able to contribute as an equal in global organizations like the UN. I realize that most Taiwanese people do not seek a change to the status quo because they know that any change is most likely to end up in China making things tougher than it already is, but as an immigrant, and an internationalist, it infuriates me that this country has to expend so much of its political and economic capital dealing with unnecessary hurdles imposed by its much larger and richer neighbor.
In a word, describe your biggest concern about the country.
In Canada: poor urban planning.
In Taiwan: Chinese meddling.
Are America's best days ahead of us, behind us or happening now?
I don't think it's helpful to generalize across entire countries on this question, because often the experience differs a lot between different groups inside the country.
I am generally an optimist when it comes to humanity and believe that on average pretty much everything is better everywhere today than it used to be. People all over the world have access to more information than ever before, better medicine than ever before, more nutritious food than ever before... I would take a life in 2023 a million times over a life in 1923 or 1823 or 1723, anywhere in the world, hands down. And i think unless there is an existential catastrophe like a supervolcano or asteroid strike, it will be better still in 2123. Even if half the world's species are extinct, even if large portions of the planet are unlivable due to climate change, i still believe that whatever remains of humanity will have longer lives, better education and more conveniences than we do today.
I would happily live in 2123 over 2023, if i could. I don't think humanity as a whole is on the verge of some kind of civilizational collapse. We've proven pretty resilient on the scale of thousands of years, so i would only be worried about the one in hundred thousand or one in million event.