EmpathyFail 101

[bellatrys]

"She lied! She lied to us!"
--Grand Moff Tarkin, Star Wars, (1977)This is something that I've been kicking around for a very long time, and which I suppose doesn't really need a good "hook" to tie it to, as the problem never seems to go away. We talk a lot about "empathy," defined in Webster's as "the action of understanding, being aware of, being

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Or even legal ones - the H1 Visa/Green Card resentment, too

[bellatrys]

In a bitterly hilarious twist, I read an article last week in which business analysts were exclaiming in horror over the prospect of a "reverse brain drain" as Asian tech students increasingly plan on going back home after they get their degrees, because they're homesick and even if they don't expect to make as *much* money as they would here, they figure they will still make *enough* money to keep them comfortably, and it was hard to tell from the article what was more distressing to these Usonian commenters - the rejection of "America's The Bestest Place In The World", or the rejection of "Money Is All That Matters," or the ostensible reason for the article, the loss of high-tech talent...

I expect it's another bit of American Exceptionalism that makes people here think that it's just a matter of deciding to move abroad, and that *of course* every other country will welcome an American with open arms and a good job - rather than the fact, which is that it's *hard* for foreigners, especially with generic skill sets, to waltz in and get a job overseas or in Canada, let alone the resentment of, same as here. (Let alone the overlooking of the fact that relocation costs money!) And always has been so. Liberals are not any better at international awareness or doing their homework, I'm afraid, overall...