Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Comments

A few days ago I wrote on here that I had asked the visa lady how to change my citizenship. Several people reacted to that sentence, so I figure I'll clear that up now.

I'm not going to change my citizenship, at least not in the conceivable future. I was just angry with the lady for denying me a visa longer than 30 days and making me sign my "reason for visit" as "tourist", when I'm clearly not a tourist. So I set out to ask her a question that would ① make her understand my seriousness about staying in China long-term, and ② frustrate her because she would not know the answer.

As for the reasoning behind a theoretical changing my citizenship, well, here are some reasons that I might think differently and arrive at a different conclusion from you on the need for a change:

  • I have a more fluid view of citizenship, statehood and culture: I grew up abroad and travelled alot, and I'm young. I'm not so attached to a patria as blue-blooded patriots might be.
  • I don't think the US is da bomb: Yeah, representative democracy is cool and all, but if you look at the reality of it the US is sorta on a downhill slide. And since I don't see myself going into politics for many reasons, I could see changing as a way of following my personal convictions.
  • I think Jesus would have been a socialist: self-sacrificing, forgiving, commanding. Doesn't sound like an every-man-for-himself, Republican democracy to me. So if I ever get crackin' about religion, the USA doesn't look so good anymore.

Considerations like convenience of travel or tax load just don't seem material to me in comparison to the arguments I made above. Maybe I'm just an idealist.

I mean, the ideal would be to be stateless so that I don't have the crimes of any government weighing on my back, and I would only be responsible for the actions of myself and my family. But that's not practicable, really.

Or maybe I'll be Italian; I always did like pasta...

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