This is the kind of SSP thread that keeps drawing me back. It's got the comedy...
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Originally Posted by Drybrain
Tristin Hopper especially is a right-wing contrarian propagandist disguised as a reporter.
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...and things that hit closer to home.
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Originally Posted by giallo
That's always a concern. Living in a place like Bali can offer you a great QOL, but you're not making close to what you would be back home, so any money you save won't really help you if you're planning to move back at some point.
I've met a number of older people over the years that are essentially "trapped" in countries like Thailand, Philippines, and Indonesia. They don't seem to mind, but it's all but impossible for them to move back to the US or Canada, even if they wanted to.
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During my six years in Taiwan these people were cautionary tales. They were, to a man (it was always men), embittered, dyspeptic drunks keeping expat bars in business as they railed against the host country to any and all who would listen. Or even if nobody wanted to listen.
In the 80s and 90s, teaching ESL in East Asia, what I did, was largely seen as a lark for liberal arts grads wanting to delay the transition to the responsibilities of adulthood for a few years. It wasn't considered a release valve for a younger generation facing the pressure of bad economic prospects. I don't recall any use of the word "exodus" aside from hyperbolic references to the supposed brain drain of highly qualified professionals to the US.
Regardless, Canada was always seen as a haven. Stolid, unexciting, but safe. It's undoubtedly hard to judge these narratives in our age of social media, what with its penchant for creating or amplifying real or imagined trends in the minds of the terminally online, but I can't help but find this anecdotal talk of disaffected and disenfranchised young people a bit frightening.
I also can't help but feel relief at having escaped the expat trap at the right time.