Precious angel, you believe me when I say,
What God has given to us no man can take away.
We are covered in blood girl, you know both our forefathers were slaves.
Let us hope they’ve found mercy in their bone-filled graves.
Bob Dylan
Petros, a visible Asian minority whose grandparents fled Japanese oppression of Korea, asked Recalcitrant Expat, a visible African minority whose ancestors suffered as slaves in the United States, to discuss the legitimacy of making comparisons between the plight of U.S. expats today with past atrocities. This is in the aftermath of the posting of a Hitler spoof video which compared FATCA’s rounding up of U.S. citizens for taxation and FBAR fines to how Hitler rounded up the Jews for extermination in camps. This post is a result of their common reflexions.
But by conflating one of the most heinous crimes against humanity with any agenda found disagreeable, those who use the analogy are exploiting a tragedy. They are taking vile advantage of the victimization of others for political profit.
So says Ilana Yurkiewicz, who in a blog article for the Scientific America tackles what has become a touchy area in writing and logic, the proper use of “analogy, metaphor, simile, comparison”, particularly as it applies to the Holocaust. In recent weeks the Isaac Brock Society has hotly debated questions like these:
- When and how is it legitimate to compare a contemporary situation with heinous events in history?
- When it comes to making comparisons of issues today with past movements that we abhor, who has the right to decide whether or not such a comparison is legitimate?
- Does the right of comparison belong only to the victims of the atrocity or does human history belong to us all?
- Is it possible for two heirs of a tragedy to have different views as to how that tragedy may be compared to a contemporary problem, and if so, to which of these heirs do we listen?
These are just some of the questions. But can we solve this problem to the satisfaction of all participants? Probably not, but it might help to consider the fundamental issue of whether or not comparisons are legitimate and helpful. Petros has lamented that without making such comparisons people remain indifferent, but that when you do make them, people become outraged, not at the U.S. government, but at the one making the comparison. So one commenter has written:
To impress people with the seriousness of our problem, I don’t use comparisons to anything. I send on the actual stories of what this US policy is doing to the lives of real people, right now, plain and simple. People seem pretty shocked to learn of it, so I’ve found it to be a pretty effective means of consciousness raising.
In our opinion, this approach is unfortunately inadequate. Explaining our situation without making comparisons leads to people looking at you like you’ve gone insane. At best they feign surprise and shock, but then they go on calmly with their lives as if nothing ever happened. Who cares about expats when unemployment is high and one out of every seven people is on food stamps? In our opinion, it is actually better to face outrage than indifference on the part of the public. Furthermore, how does anyone know how outrageous this crisis is if they have nothing to compare it to? Since the authors believe that comparisons are necessary, we will first go through some of the stated or implied reasons as to why a comparison with the Holocaust or other such atrocities is unwarranted.
Arguments against the legitimacy of comparisons
(1) Those who would forbid any comparison of citizenship based taxation with past atrocities, such as the Holocaust or slavery, seem to have a strong belief in the sacredness of the victims suffering. For they would argue that the legitimacy of drawing an analogy their argument rests on finding more than enough dissimilarities between these two issues as to say that any comparison between them trivializes the Holocaust. But this is a matter of perspective. The counterargument is that one honors the Holocaust victims by remembering their suffering to the point of avoiding a repetition of similar events in the future. But to do that, it is necessary to be vigilant, to notice the earliest signs of trouble, and not to wait until it is too late to do anything.
(2) A second obvious reason that certain folks have denied the legitimacy of comparison is that they insist on a one to one correspondence between the earlier atrocity and our present crisis. They would insist, wrongly in our view, that the legitimacy of comparison rests on an absolute one to one correspondence between the things that are being compared. No one, to our knowledge, has been hauled off to internment camps, or gassed and had their bodies thrown in to mass ovens. But human learning itself would be impossible if we had to rely upon exact replication of attributes when applying knowledge gained in one area to developing an understanding of another. Such a requirement would make human intuition useless; for intuition makes use of similarities and inductive reasoning as opposed to relying on exact duplication. Thus, we must insist on the legitimacy of comparing historical events with our contemporary dilemma, and it is not valid to argue that it must match in all the details.
Dominique, a Central African friend, told Petros that lizard tastes like snake. Lizard was on the menu for Petros’ forthcoming visit to Dominque’s home. “That could well be,” said Petros in return. “But since I’ve tasted neither lizard nor snake, it’s not helpful. It is more helpful if you say it tastes like chicken.” Later, back in Canada, Petros replayed this conversation for Moussa, a Cameroonian. Moussa then proceeded in the conference he was teaching to use an analogy of how termites after the rain seek the light which people use to lure and catch them for a nice tasty treat. “It tastes like chicken!” he exclaimed with a twinkle. Whether true or not, at least his audience knew what chicken tastes like. At least he didn’t say, “It tastes like chenilles” (butterfly larvae). Analogy is an indispensable tool because one of the most important pedagogical methods is to move from the known to the unknown. The question is not whether saying termites tasting like chicken inspires in the hearer a notion of the taste and texture of termites. The question is really whether or not termites really taste like chicken–whether the analogy is apt–if it is, it helps a person who has never eaten termites to know what they are really like. None of the people who actually have gone into Swiss bank after Swiss bank, asking to open an account, objected to the FATCA Star post, since for them, that is what this experience really feels like; they feel it is similar to the Jews being singled out for special treatment under Hitler’s pogrom.
(3) A third argument against the comparison is the charge of insensitivity towards those minority groups that suffered, i.e., the political correctness argument. However, this argument is totally belied by the simple and obvious fact that a it was a Jew whose relatives died in the Holocaust who first made the Hitler analogy, Joe Smith commented in his defense:
As a Jew who had relatives who died in Europe, and is under threat of having himself thrown in jail and my family made destitute by the US government, I think the Hitler comparison is rather appropriate.
When I first became aware of all this around 2004-2005 from the website escapeartist.com, I did some reading of the Congressional Record of the debates around the Foreign Tax Exclusion, and expatriates in general. What was different then was that the most rabid statements were coming from Southern Republicans. What has changed is that they have been joined by so-called ‘liberal democrats.’ Listen to what they say. Listen to what they imply. It is indeed frightening. And it is getting worse.
Who dares tell a Jew that he cannot compare his current dilemma to the suffering of his own relatives in the Holocaust? To whom is he being insensitive if not to himself? Recalcitrant Expat, one of the authors of the present post, says that U.S. expatriation tax is comparable to slavery under which his own ancestors suffered in the United States. Shouldn’t people become irate with him because he’s being insensitive to African Americans? Didn’t 9-15 million African slaves die during the slave trade, on their way to be sold in a America? Petros too has compared the US to Japan insisting that his grandparents, who were economic refugees to Hawaii in 1905, that these little Korean slaves must continue to pay tribute to Japan–except that Japan never did do that, for it would have been patently ridiculous if they had tried. Bringing up this analogy, however, made Al Lewis reconsider his position and decide to do an article featuring Petros’ renunciation of citizenship.
So folks, we would like to encourage you all to get over this political correctness. As Dr. Walter E. Williams says, we forgive you of your white guilt for committing heinous crimes against minorities: Now stop acting like damn fools.
(4) A charge of antisemitism is leveled against those who would compare the suffering of expats today with the suffering of the Jews in the Holocaust. So the commenter “Annoyed” argued. But when Petros countered that he himself opposed antisemitic acts by of the U.S. government which is going after the money of Jews like Denise Rich and Eduardo Saverin, after the Swiss accounts of heirs of the Holocaust (funds that escaped Hitler), and the bank accounts of Jews who had moved out the U.S., like Joe Smith, who resides in Canada, Annoyed retorted (sic):
You make it sound like the US government is ONLY going after people in Canada that are Jewish. They are going after everyone in Canada and other foreign countires who have foreign bank accounts, not just Jewish people. Antisemitism is defined as the suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. So no I dont believe that counts, if the US Government was only going after Jewish people, sure I’d give you that one.
So Annoyed is saying its ok for the U.S. to persecute Jews, provided that other people like African Americans, whites and Koreans are also persecuted. This is twisted logic at its worse. Shouldn’t the response have been: “We should avoid going after anyone in order to protect the rights of Jews and to avoid being antisemitic.” But instead, Annoyed makes the U.S. into an equal opportunity hater and persecutor and that somehow exonerates them of the charges of antisemitism because it is persecuting Jew and non-Jew alike.
Arguments for the legitimacy of Comparisons
In this light, Ms. Yurkiewicz, whose grandparents were Holocaust survivors, continues (boldface ours):
Is it ever appropriate to invoke the Holocaust? Absolutely. The most egregious horrors bring with them a moral force. To learn nothing from them, to have the brutalities ignored, dismissed, or forgotten, would be just as insulting to the victims. …
The critical components of pointing to the Holocaust in contemporary ethical discussions are understanding how to make a proper analogy and harboring appropriate motivations. The Holocaust comprised so many diverse crimes on such an enormous scale that invoking it broadly does not say much. Rather, if it is to be used to productively and respectfully advance a discussion, it would be better to point out a specific aspect, compare to something specific today, and then explain why the analogy holds.
It is in this area of “similarities” where the comparisons become legitimate. For those who believe that it is legitimate to draw a comparison between the Holocaust or slavery and citizenship based taxation the legitimacy of the comparison rest in the similarities that they believe the two issues share. So what are some of those similarities?
- Deprivation of property: Citizenship-based taxation with all of its reporting rules and associated penalties deprives U.S. citizens of their non-U.S. property; not least of these is the threat of 383% FBAR penalties which could easily exceed even the total net worth of the individual. One may argue that the IRS has only threatened expats with destitution and poverty–but those who have entered the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Programs may have a different view.
- Deprivation of financial accounts: U.S. citizens are having their non-U.S. accounts closed because non-U.S. financial institutions do not want to run the risks of incurring IRS fines that are levied on accounts of U.S. persons because they have not been properly reported nor do these same financial institutions want to have their U.S. source payments penalized by withholding.
- Denial of the right to work: U.S. persons who live abroad are now being discriminated against because their U.S. status puts a reporting and remuneration burden on their non-U.S. employers that makes them uncompetitive with residents of the same country who are NOT U.S. persons.
- Discrimination: Because of FATCA non-resident U.S. persons are now specifically being segregated from the rest of the population of the country in which they reside. Those who were not born in the U.S. now have lineage problems that are as much of an obstacle to them as is skin color, religious affiliation, sexual orientation etc.
Restrictions on movement: Citizenship-based taxation greatly diminishes the right of U.S. persons to determine where they will live and pay taxes. The U.S. treats U.S. persons as slaves who have no right to move away from U.S. jurisdiction and therefore its taxation. The U.S. government denial of any comparison of slavery and citizenship-based taxation, conveniently forgets that taxation without representation is a form of tax slavery against which the founders of the country led a rebellion. If the US government understood taxation the way the founding Fathers did, they would forbid extra-territorial taxation on the grounds of the 13th-15th amendment which emancipated slaves and gave them equal rights to non-slaves in America. To continue to tax Americans who live outside the country and who have chosen to do this as a lifestyle choice and on a permanent basis, is to indenture them into perpetual slavery to a government which being afar off cares not one whit for them, provides them no services and no protection. Citizenship-based taxation is a medieval relic in which the people born on the lord’s fief owe perpetual allegiance to a sovereign who neglects them except at tax time. Furthermore, this restriction on emigration is becoming more draconian with new measures to prevent the renewal of passports if the person has an alleged debt to the IRS. It should frighten us when a government places such restrictions on movement, like the soldiers of a certain German national socialist movement who, in the movie Casablanca, refused permission to depart if the person failed to produce the correct papers. The film depicts the fear in the people’s faces, and these kinds of restrictions in movement should make us afraid, as it is a warning to us all: Any government that restricts movement draws dangerously close to being a totalitarian state.
After having looked at the two different perspectives on whether or not a given historical atrocity can be compared to a seemingly currently equally heinous case of government misconduct we are still left with the question of which side to choose. The authors of this post do not believe that this question can be answered by looking only at the contradictory claims of the opponents. For there is actually a much more crucial issue at hand here; that is this: To whom does the right to interpret and apply history belong?
In pre-literate human cultures the question of the ownership of history was a much easier one to answer. This is because pre-literate cultures are composed of small groups of those who were genetically related, i.e. the tribe. In these small pre-literate cultures the responsibility for keeping an “accurate” historical record of it genetically related members was most often entrusted to one individual or a small group of individuals. Since these individuals were responsible for holding the collective memory of the group they and the memories which they held became surrounded with an aura of “sacredness” and were therefore not open to criticism from other members of the group. Literate societies though do not have the same dynamic around their collective history because memories record on paper are open to the examination of all readers.
In literate societies history is something that is accessible to not just all members of the group but also to those who are outside of the immediate group with whom the historical incident is concerned. In other words literacy democratized human history. Which means therefore that we all have a right to examine and apply it as we see fit. The fact that historical incidents can be misapplied is a reality that we as a society have to deal with but we should not attempt to deal with this danger by reverting back to a pre-literate handling of history. What instead we have to do is to have open debate about our differing applications. But never should we attempt to appoint gatekeepers of history or to allow others to appoint themselves as the protectors of the sacred.
by Recalcitrant Expat, Petros
“American militarism abroad and extension of its taxation powers is no different than Nazi expansionism in Europe. “
Like, Blitzkrieg over Poland, siege of Stalingrad? Uh huh.
If this group wants to gain a political voice in this struggle, if it wants this blog to be taken seriously in the mainstream, this is the exact sort of exaggeration that goes against that purpose.
Say what you want about the ‘mainstream’ – but that is where the levers of power are. That is where the public attention is located. And that is the forum where this will all be decided.
@Bankei, the comparison of the ethnocentric attitude of Americans and other forms of the same is not wrong because it has not yet led to the forcible annexation of another country’s territory (except, excuse me, Mexico [Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico], Hawaii, and the botched attempt at annexing Canada in 1812–but that is past history, sorry for bringing up such grievances).
I am not sure that the “mainstream” is even worthy of our conversation. Let me see, what was the latest thing that was preoccupying them? Was it Tom and Katie break up? Lolo Jones crying about the New York Times article about her? The problem isn’t us. The problem is the lack of seriousness of the US news media, which in the words of the Neil Postman, consists of teasers to get the audience to watch the commercials.
*Very nice and well done! I couldn’t agree more.
@tiger: you express almost exactly my experiences with my 5 siblings and my parents. They may cluck and say “oh thats terrible” but in the end it they really have no idea of what that means.
@ Patrick Hale
“It leads actually to a 4th irony which is this: The lowest 50% of taxpayers contribute only 9% of the total revenue to the Treasury (these are IRS numbers; check at http://www.irs.gov), leaving the upper 50% paying 91% of all taxes. So we have a case where the 50% of taxpayers who pay nothing complaining about how the 50% who pay everything aren’t paying their “fair share”. Just how does that happen?”
Wait a minute please! Those lower 50% may not pay income tax but there isn’t any other tax they don’t pay and I would include inflation in that because it is a form of taxation too. The income tax they don’t pay is spent, often every penny of it in a frantic effort to simply survive, and that spending helps to fill the pockets of the upper 50%, not to mention the whole debt slavery scheme which has trapped so many of the lower 50% and enriched some among the upper 50%. However, I’d say both groups are paying more than their fair share in one form or another because a huge percentage of government spending is on wasteful, destructive, hegemonic wars. Time to convert the military industrial complex (add to that the ever growing surveillance complex) into “plough shares” and get down to the business of advancing peacefully instead of oh-so-very painfully, especially for the unfortunate targets of the weapons which America and others diabolically create and produce in the pursuit of power and profit.
@bankei- your response reminds me of the old politician adage which is:
“never respond to the question that you are asked but rather respond to the one that you would have preferred was asked”
No one is talking about the Blitzkrieg or the seige of Poland. What is being talked about is American hegemony and it is real.
American exceptionalism is the same thing as Aryan superiority but sanitized of the genetic elements. Ask the Iraqis if they don’t believe they are the victims of American military expansionism. Ask them if they don’t right now have to endure an American occupation force in their country. Did you know that the largest American “embassy” in the world is now in the little country of Iraq? Do you think that the Americans will just leave if they are politely asked to do so?
Did the Afghans ask America to come in and wage a war with their people. America’s venture into Afghanistan is proving to be as much of a failure for it as it was for the Russians and British. American hubris has led them into another no win situation while costing the lives of thousands of civilian Afghan citizens and millions of dollars to the American tax payer. Not to mention the needless loss of U.S. lives. More people have been killed in the Iraq/Afghanistan conflict then died on 9/11. What kind of logic is there to that other than the logic of a twisted mind?
America is the only country in the world that has a military presence in every geographical area of the earth or some 150 countries. Militarism is a dangerous thing no matter whose hands it is in.
Far from making the world more stable the American military machine is the world’s greatest source of instability because it is in the hands of people who believe strongly in the nation’s privilige or sense of entitlement. And didn’t the Nazis also believe in German entitlement? Didn’t Whites believe in the superiority of the White race over their Black slaves? What about the Japanese sense of superiority over their White prisoners of war and their conquered Chinese population.
In the end character flaws are character flaws. They don’t become virtues just because they are held by those who are self assured and vain.
@Bankei:
“Say what you want about the ‘mainstream’ – but that is where the levers
of power are. That is where the public attention is located. And that is
the forum where this will all be decided.”
No, this is where the circus is to distract the masses. The forum where this is decided is perhaps Bilderberg, Davos or somewhere else. Certainly not CNN, Fox and MSNBC.
“I wonder how America’s belief in its “exceptionalism” differs in any way from the Nazi belief in the superiority of the Aryan race?”
Uhh, seems easy enough to make the comparison? The US encourages and accepts immigrants to come here, move here, and become American, while the Nazi’s believed only the Aryan race was worthy of living. That seems to me to be quite a huge Grand Canyon sized difference. You couldn’t become an Aryan, while it is quite easy and happens all the time that people become American.
@recalcitrantexpat
Well put. The bottom line remains the same – as long as the U.S. believes it ‘is the greatest country in the world’, nothing will change. Whatever they do will always be the correct thing to do. Never mind, the damage caused to others – they are right because they are ‘the greatest country in the world’.
@ recalcitrant
Awesome comment and I absolutely agree. To America’s government and its collaborators it is “humanitarian intervention” or “fighting for democracy” or whatever euphemistic jingoism they care to use at the time but for the victims of their “good intentions” it is quite simply death and destruction by the hands and monstrous military machinery of invading foreigners. I have no trouble calling it genocide or holocaust (no “the”, no capital “h”) or whatever term will engage and enrage people to the point where empathy can finally enter the picture.
@WhoaIt’sSteve, As long as you go to America, and the powers that be can exploit you as a voter block (say, the Latino vote or the black vote), sure they are happy to have you. Go the other way, become a non-American, and this is what they call you (I’ve heard all these names): traitor, treasonous, whack job, tax cheat, greedy, extremist, someone who hates American and wishes it ill, etc. Do you need more examples of this kind of language?
It’s funny that American exceptionalism would lead to ethnocentric hatred for those who make the decision to expatriate.
As I’ve said before, the United State is no doubt the greatest country in the world. But being the country with the biggest guns does not make you the most moral or even the most free country in the world.
@WhoaIt’sSteve- so that is the saving grace of American Exceptionalism, that I can aspire to become a member of the superior group? How does that have any bearing on the shared error of an ill conceived belief in one’s national superiority? I thought that notions of privilige were part of what America rejected when it tossed off the British aristocracy and ended slavery?
But maybe more importantly it should be noted that behind the over throw of institutions of privilige is the notion that no one is above the law.
However the fact that America embraces American Exceptionalism, which is an argument for a position of privilige, means that America no longer believes in the sanctity of the law but has instead become a law unto itself.
I have heard this said so many times in the American media and right now the presidential campaign is basically reducible to which candidate can trumpet his belief in American Exceptionalism the loudest.
Now let us not even ask the question of how this belief is going to be proved or how it will put people back to work. All that seems to matter to the press and the political establishment is whether or not the candidate believes and what can he say to convince the electorate that his belief in America is stronger than that of his rival.
@Petros No I understand, and I have to fight the urge when I read your and the rest of the authors compilations, contributions, and articles to instinctually just write you all off as tax evading, traitors. I’m not quite sure the analogy is exact, but I can see the strategy you all are using trying to compare the present day United States with National Socialist era Germany.
When your taught, ingrained, and have impressed upon you everyday from birth that this is greatest country ever not just on Earth lol. It is extreme cognitive dissonance to learn of people who don’t want to come here, live here, or choose to disassociate themselves with us. Were I in your or any of the other’s shoes I’d probably wash my hands of the US too, and just say to hell with us.
@Recalcitrant, One could also buy Roman citizenship. The Romans killed four million victims in the Coliseum alone.
@Whoait’sSteve Thanks for understanding our situation. I too was a proud American living in Canada. I realized only two years ago that I needed Canadian citizenship because the US sees me as lion saw the zebra in the film Madagascar, as a steak, but in this case, the US cannot resist the urge to feed.
@whoaitssteve
As a loyal American, what would you suggest those faced with the situation we are faced with do? Bear in mind that I would appreciate any or all suggestions to actually be effective in ending the persecution of USP’s abroad.
*I’ve usually been a (un)proud American. In high school, I used to wear a shirt with all the world flags on which I put a big X over the US flag to protest the gulf war. I even wore the same shirt when I went to a recruiter to join the US military, yet I also proudly wore many other shirts with US flags. Being American means being critical of the government, yet that doesn’t mean that one opposes everything about America, even if one burns the flag. Criticism/protest is necessary to make America better and if I renounce I’ll do so to protest for America’s benefit. People can hate me, condemn me or refuse to let me return to America, but America won’t benefit from such.
*bubblebustin, the most important thing is oneself, the ego or one’s immediate family. We have to live with ourselves and thus we must do everything possible to be happy with who we are. If this means moving forwards without US citizenship, then so be it. There is no point in being miserable simply because one fears that one might be hated by someone for wanting to be happy.
@WhoaIt’sSteve, Until 1870, only white people could become naturalized citizens of the United States. Until 1952, only whites and blacks could (Asians were excluded). There were many court cases to decide which people were white for the purpose of naturalization. Only since 1952 race is not used in any immigration or nationality law in the US.
http://www.modelminority.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=284:how-the-us-courts-established-the-white-race-&catid=42:law&Itemid=56
Nazis believed that their Aryan race was better than all other races in the world. American exceptionalism is the idea that the United States is better than all other countries in the world. People in many countries also think that their country is the best. This is all highly subjective.
By the way, this game of commparing the US and Nazi Germany is getting old. I think it would make more sense to compare the US with the other countries that have or had citizenship-based taxation: Eritrea (current), Myanmar (before 2012), Vietnam (before 2009), Philippines (before 1998), Soviet Union (before 1991), Mexico (before 1981). Besides Mexico and the Philippines, these countries are (or were at the time) communist, military dictatorships or supporters of terrorism. And with the exception of Eritrea, they all eventually abolished citizenship-based taxation.
@Shadow Raider, the purpose of this particular blog post was really to determine if we even have the right to make comparisons at all. I’m all in favor of making fair analogies, and I am quite open to examining the similarities between the United States to tinpot, communist and terrorist dictatorships. Thanks for the suggestion.
Although not very relevant to the discussion, I would like to add that before World War II, the idea that certain races are superior to others was generally accepted in the western world. Nazism was the extreme form of this concept.
@Petros, there are also two other cases of countries that tax their citizens abroad, in limited situations. Both are western democracies:
France taxes its citizens who reside in Monaco, due to a treaty. Recently, a French court ruled that French citizens who were born and always lived in Monaco are not subject to the treaty and do not have to pay income tax to France. The French government did not like this idea and decided to apply the ruling only to those who are also citizens of another country, other than France and Monaco (such cases are rare). The French citizens born in Monaco have been suing the French government and have been successful, some even received their tax money back. Their arguments are very similar to those of Americans abroad. For those who can read French, I recommend the following website: http://www.impots-francais-de-monaco.com.
Spain taxes its citizens who move from Spain to a country considered a tax haven, for the first five years after moving there. This is temporary and only applies to Spanish citizens who were previously residing in Spain. The most common case was Spanish citizens living in Andorra, but Andorra was removed from the Spanish list of tax havens in 2011, following a treaty.
Regarding Eritrea: the United Nations, Canada, Sweden, Norway and Saudi Arabia condemn the diaspora tax.
My conclusion is that the last remains of citizenship-based taxation have been disappearing all over the world. I hope the US is next.
Bankei says –
Thus the key issues here are well within the civil arena, and a great
deal of freedom is available to redress, flee, full ostrich, fight,
whatever. Victims of genocide do not have these choices.
Non sequitur or red herring or some such frippery. How do we account for potential victims of genocide who flee or fight or at least subvert? Obviously there are such. Right on that the actual victims do not have these choices — because they are dead. Cheekiness is quintessential to resistance, and resistance is a prerequisite of survival, and without survival there are no further choices. “Freedom is available”! At the nearest big box store? “Civil arena”! The nearest sports stadium? Freedom must be exercised, like a muscle.
*Shadow Raider, I fear that US spending and the US national debt is far to high for most Americans to not demand that Americans abroad “pay their ‘fair’ share”. Many stateside Americans generally seem to view me as being a mega wealthy corporate exec who lives for the purpose of evading taxes. When I then explain to them that I’m just an average middle class Joe who is having problems opening up a bank account due to my national origin, they respond with shock or silence, often not believing a word I said. The current situation is near hopeless, but one can always believe in miracles.
“Potential victims of genocide” ? Wow. A new class of victim that includes 6.8 billion. Congratulations on escaping all logic completely.
We are talking of home mortgages and bank accounts. Not being machine gunned in pits in front of your own children.
Equating these two is absurd.