The secret to grass-roots movements is legitimating people’s anger and pain and steering them into serious plans of action which will have a realistic chance of success.
In my post about my recent ousting from the American Expatriates Facebook Group (henceforth “AE”), I tried to be factual, rational and cerebral. I intentionally avoided incendiary or foul language; rather I tried to simply recount what happened at AE, without undue emotion. In a later post, one of the contributors at AE posted that my post was “not so nice“:
This group is a valuable resource for many and I greatly appreciate all those who work hard for all of us. However, it does not excuse the nastiness which occurred yesterday. If I played a part in the nastiness, I offer my apologies. The only excuse I have is that I was at the end of my rope with certain individuals. One of the individuals has posted a not so nice piece on the Isaac Brock Society site about this group and Keith Redmond. For me, it shows the true colors of this person and this person will do anything to ram their way of doing things down everyone’s throat. So please make sure that we can have a level of decorum which can make this group the best that it can be.
Here are some other characterizations from various commenters:
- “I missed the discussion but I totally support you, Keith Redmond. Mr. Petros is free to start his own group for whiners and America bashers.”
- “The departed whiners went way beyond US bashing. To say more about my opinion would enter into subjective judgments regarding personalty traits and would not be productive.”
- The blog poster [Petros] has the right to say what he likes, but I think he’s crossed a line using the names of the admin in his post Keith. You don’t start randomly posting hate blogs using people’s names unless you can back up what your saying, even then it’s just best to stop and think before you post. The Internet is written in ink not in pencil what is said can’t be removed. Best to really think before you post, after all this group isn’t secret or closed the whole world can see it!!!!
A hate blog? Really? I do express my disagreement with the policy of deleting comments and entire discussions. But I did not express hatred for these people. Well I do admit that the term “Homelander Abroad” is pejorative, particularly in the manner that I used it. I’ve been asking myself if this characterization is merely inflammatory. What made me think it was an appropriate to call AE administrators “Homelanders Abroad”.
So today I’d like to set out my reflexions on what characterizes Homelanders Abroad. Here is what I came up with:
Ultimate Loyalty
My friend and author David Koyzis shared an excerpt from his book:
“To be sure, we sometimes speak of the human community or the international community, but in general the more expansively a community is defined, the more abstract and less concrete it becomes. The more abstract a community becomes, the less able it is to command the loyalty of its members and to become a focus of communal identity.” We Answer to Another: Authority, Office, and the Image of God, p. 147.
Koyzis clarified further in a comment on his Facebook page:
People have multiple overlapping loyalties, and that is as it should be. The idea that national allegiance is an exclusive or highest allegiance is a dangerous notion that must be resisted. Allegiance to a “national” political community makes sense only in the context of loyalties to more proximate communities. Yves R. Simon notes that the common good is dependent on all the particular goods which ordinary people pursue on a day-to-day basis.
As for a so-called human community, it can have little if any substance. Even people who claim such loyalty are in effect showing their allegiance, not to humanity as a whole, but to a small set of cosmopolitans who just happen to claim loyalty to humanity. It is impossible to escape the us/them distinction, even if we think we have done so.
The Homelander Abroad thus is one who exemplifies less loyalty to the proximate and greater loyalty to the abstract US national community. There may be some very natural reasons for this attachment. Lack of citizenship , language and cultural barriers, or lack of family attachments in the country of residence may make one a permanent sojourner.
I have a simple test to determine ultimate loyalty: Which would you be more inclined to do if the USA invaded your country of residence? Would you help the USA to accomplish its task? Or would you defend your country of residence? If your answer is that you would be more inclined to help the USA than to defend your country against the USA, then you are likely a Homelander Abroad. This question is quite easy for me to answer. When the USA attacked my family through threats of financial ruin, I relinquished my US citizenship. And if the USA were to invade Canada a second time with troops, I would fight the attackers of my hearth and home. My ultimate loyalty is not to the abstract but to the concrete–those who are closest to me: my wife, my neighbors, and my cats.
USA-centricism
In the view of AE adminstrators, the best way to solve the FATCA crisis is to work the system–lobby the US government, discuss with bureaucrats, exploit contacts in the government and the media. On the smaller, more tolerant Facebook group, Citizenship Taxation, this view was expressed to me yesterday by a domestic Homelander: “Well I might make a suggestion. If you dont’ like a law, work within the existing system to change it.” First, I have to say that this person understands the term “law” to mean US law–in all this the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms or the body of International Law governing the relations between nations are meaningless. Secondly, he believes that the only legitimate way to address the problem is through the existing system, i.e. through Washington DC. And this is exactly the approach of the administrators of AE–one who is the President of Democrats Abroad in Sweden complained:
After spending his entire weekend making preparations Keith, along with John Fredenburger from AARO met with:Elena Virgadamo – Department of Treasury, Wendy Ryde – Chief, American Citizen Services, James Heg – Minister Counselor for Economic Affairs and Daniel Goodspeed – Minister Counselor for Consular Affairs at the American embassy in France on OUR behalf outlining all the banking difficulties. That effort was on top of the daily work Keith puts into this –week in and week out– with absolutely no compensation for it. …
Yet there isn’t a day that goes by that someone just has to post something completely irrelevant and unhelpful to the situation just to make a point. If you have the time it takes to rummage for any and every negative article you can find on the internet then perhaps you should think about putting that time to better use and do something that would actually make a difference!
Thus, the administrators are indeed industrious, and one can only hope that their efforts will bear fruit. My efforts on the other hand are nothing but America bashing. The work that Petros has done since writing his first blog post on February 25, 2010, the day I decided that I had to renounce my US citizenship, is just whining. But I maintain that my writing, for which I am not paid either, is indeed doing something–it is helping others to see that their complaints are legitimate and it has spurred them to action. My role in this battle, I said, is as a writer. But a Homelander Abroad said:
It’s easy to sit back and say your writing is lighting the fire in others, but that seems unlikely and somewhat arrogant. All you’re doing is making extreme comparisons between the U.S. and evil things in the world, you’re not contributing ideas.
But for me the system is foreign and illegitimate. I am no longer a part of that system, and it has no legal role in my life. For Homelanders Abroad, all they see is bashing and that nothing I do is helpful, because I seek no USA-centric solutions.
Parochial Paternalism
Ultimate loyalty to the USA and USA-centricism ultimately leads to reactions like we’ve seen at AE. Homelanders Abroad view my critique of their culture as disloyal bashing. They have dubbed our cries for justice as whining, and they have decided that it can no longer be permitted. Above all, they needed to silence my voice–because I insist that the objections and complaints are legitimate and necessary for any meaningful discussion of our situation. The secret to grass-roots movements is legitimating people’s anger and pain and steering them into serious plans of action which will have a realistic chance of success. To silence the complaints is the top down strategy of an oppressor. It is hardly a mistake then that the administrators of AE are party operatives in Republicans Overseas France (Keith Redmond) and Democrats Abroad Sweden (Deedee Gierow). Whether they understand it or not, the chief purpose of these political organizations is to promote their party’s agenda to expats, not to promote the concerns of expats to the political party. I.e., these political operatives are often at cross purposes of the interests of groups like the Isaac Brock Society or Maple Sandbox. By representing the interests of US political parties, these operatives at AE demonstrate that their focus and their ultimate loyalty lie along the Potomac, and not along the Seine, nor in Stockholm. Thus, they must silence those who seem disloyal to America.
Their silencing of critics, deleting their comments and posts, is parochial; it is judgment based on USA-centricism. Calling it bashing and thus illegitimate is also paternalistic. I wrote in another blog post that one of the aspects of a paternalistic leadership style is to belittle those below you:
Belittling. In a paternalistic relationship, the superior belittles the intellect, opinions and concerns of the inferior. The superiority complex in the paternalistic relationship often causes the stronger person to consider the opinions of the weaker to be nonsensical or foolish. The inferiors accept that they have a low level of competence and are in need of the greater intelligence of their superiors. The inferior will accept being treated as a child in need of guidance, unable to make decisions for himself. In the paternalistic relationship between slaves and masters, the master will often call a fully grown man, “Boy”. Also, the superior will often pretend to listen to the inferior only in an effort to trick the inferior into implementing the superior’s agenda. If the inferior party complains, the superior will begin to make accusations of disloyalty, ungratefulness, stupidity, lunacy or extremism. If that doesn’t work, the superior may use violent force to quell legitimate complaints.
I have insisted for the last five years that the United States is acting in a criminal and immoral fashion, destroying so-called US citizens abroad. The administrators and members at AE who remain, now agree (with a few bold exceptions) that I am navel lint, that my concerns are merely nonsensical and foolish “bashing” of their beloved America.
Lines are being drawn in the sand–not by me. Those who belittle our concerns resemble Vichy and not Charles de Gaulle. I, for one, do not believe that resistance is futile.
I think Petros hit the nail exactly. These laws are FOREIGN to us.
Saudi law is FOREIGN to us.
Bolivian law is FOREIGN to us.
USA Law is FOREIGN to us.
I think many brockers simply want our own countries to protect its citizens in its own law!!
In my own wanderings since this journey all began I have learned that there are indeed many Americans who are Abroad having not fully and completely assimilated in their residence countries.
I assume most at IBS have multi-nationality and/or want another nationality.
At AE or ACA how many have other nationality?
It took me decades to say “USA is not exceptional.” Its deep in the psyche.
I have to say that many will view us as attacking their core being and that is they are part of exceptional country (USA).
Admins: sorry, can you fix the paragraph in my post that starts “blockquoteThe Homelander Abroad” and ends “permanent sojourner”, there’s supposed to be blockquote tags around it but I screwed it up
Whoever these people are, they certainly don’t seem like true US ex-pats. They are US ex-pats who live abroad and only speak English (in non English speaking countries), hang out at American ex-pat bars, believe they should be filling in 1040s, FBARs, be completely beholding to the US and above all don’t criticise the US because ‘it’s the most powerful country in the world’ with crumbling falling down infrastructure. PPPPleeeeassse.
I agree with most of what you write but must disagree with your homeland abroad test. I live in Japan and PM Abe would like nothing more than to relive the glory days of the Japanese Empire. Very recently, his administration placed military officers in the Self Defence Force on equal footing with the Civilians in charge of the department. If he and subsequent governments continue on this path and the US invades again, I would not be supporting the local government. If it came to that, it is doubtful there would be any outward opposition from the locals but as 15,000 women surrounded the Diet yesterday in protest of recent bills that would change security laws indicate, there are many locals who now oppose their own governments moves on this.
If Abe decided to protect his nation’s sovereignty and stand up to the US and this in the end prompted the US to invade, I would be on the side of Abe.
I do not believe that any country is absolutely good or bad. If Japan and the US went at it again, whichever side fought for what I believe is right would get my support.
I am furious with my government and there are a few there in against whom I dream about visiting very unpleasant actions against. But I do still love my Country and hope against hope that they get their head right again while at the same time doubtful it will. I do not any longer associate myself with any political party in the States and would give up USC if I thought it would protect my family.
As I teach English here and have many students who desire to study abroad, I can no longer advise any destination in the States for them to go to. I also advise my business students to study up on this issue lest they find themselves US Persons. I advise my students to not even date an America lest nature takes over and they find themselves in the same position as my wife. I go so far as to advise them to not even go there as tourists. All this pains me greatly but I can not knowingly send my students into a potential trap that would forever label them US Persons.
Criticism against my government and especially my nation’s history and even more so the Flag I served for 6 years pains me so much. well against the government not so much. Yet, the fact that my government has caused this criticism, that those who raise these are criticism are justified by the arrogant actions of my government angers me much, much more.
And yet, I fail your homelander abroad (HA) test. I say all this not in anger. I too have nothing good to say about homelands abroad. perhaps the definition you give for HA is too broad. I wonder if defining those who believe in CBT as HA would suffice.
The problem I have with the Homeland Abroad strategy is that the attitude of the U.S. government seems to be so fixated on the economy and whether we are benefiting the U.S. economically. It doesn’t matter whether we are goodwill ambassadors. The good citizen abroad is only the U.S. citizen abroad who sells U.S. goods. So, they worry about all the Americans abroad who work for foreign employers, but I know Americans abroad who are nurses, journalists and professors. Are these people really worse citizens than the person who sells Krispy Kreme doughtnuts abroad?
Wow, Publius, working abroad for *foreign* employers and not benefiting the US economy, only working to benefit our own families’ well-being and futures. You’ve identified another example of skewed exceptionality. I and many of us have never worked for an American company in Canada (or other countries) or sold any U.S. goods while *abroad* (which I am not) — it never entered my mind that was a duty. The *while here* for many of us is not temporary as it is for Homelanders Abroad who are only working for U.S. companies and selling U.S. goods — theirs is temporary work FOR the US while abroad and that is the only reason they are abroad. Canada is the country I chose to live in and become a citizen of. I now better realize why the uglier comments I’ve garnered in the US press. I am a completely different species than the HA and so narrow in my thinking.
@The_Animal
It’s like this…..
When they deleted my post when I stated that, “If I was Canadian, my wife was American, and she demanded my financial information for the IRS, that I would divorce her fucking ass quicker than you can say, ‘alimony'”, I was livid. Livid to where I engaged in my own America bashing, too. But, it didn’t take long for them to shoot that down as well. They just don’t want to hear it. They would rather wrap themselves in the flag, and believe they’re ‘making a difference’, because only their concerns matter. Not actual expat concerns.
Much as I was interested in bashing the group over it with their hypocrisy, I just don’t believe in engaging in wasted effort. Clearly, it was run by partisans, for partisans. That was why I chose to leave, rather than share cookie recipes. Hell, someone at AE tried to accuse Petros and Walt of hijacking the group for their own ends after they were booted out. I had read that part last time I was a fly on the wall over there, but now it seems that I can’t access that group, either.
Cowards! They couldn’t say that to their faces? They had to eject them first? Really?? Who’s hijacking what again? Lying motherf—ers!
….Oh…so the famed Michael Stiso joins IBS. So is your discourse here to heckle and belittle those who have legitimate complaints or are you going to listen for once? You have entered a hornet’s nest which contains those who have little patience for your diatribes against those who have suffered and will not stand silent against those who advocate compliance and cooperation with those who would have us knuckle under the status quo. Are you willing to suffer the slings of vicious outrage at all Homelanders Abroad, because I suggest that you stay silent and listen. I will not put up with being told to “not stir the pot” and that my posts are “America-bashing”. America deserves to be bashed for its treatment of its expats.
And frankly, I am one that can’t wait for America to circle the toilet bowl and get FLUSHED!
mjh and Petros are civil compared to me, Michael Stiso. You ain’t seen “America-hating” anger yet.
And that is exactly what the AE FB forum is doing. Pot… meet Kettle.
I have also noticed that Michael Stiso is poking around here. I’m not sure that’s wise to be doing that with this group. 😉
This one is for Michael Stiso, and the merry bunch back at AE.
https://youtu.be/R2F_hGwD26g
I think he did a “post n’ run”, my friend…so I posted up at CBT…and drop-kicked both Neymar (the “don’t dilute the fight; join the discourse” freak) and Michael Stiso ( the “Everybody sit around the campfire and sing Kumbaya” idiot). Told him that his belittling crap was unwanted and that he’d be encircled by enraged hornets should he not “shut up and listen”.
@Don, “They are US ex-pats who live abroad and only speak English (in non English speaking countries), hang out at American ex-pat bars, believe they should be filling in 1040s, FBARs, be completely beholding to the US and above all don’t criticise the US because ‘it’s the most powerful country in the world’ ”
Just think in a week, these same types will be asking “Hey, watcha doing for the 4th of July?”
The answers that could be delivered are delicious……….
Unfortunately some locals will be cute and asking the same question so I get to be badwill ambassador again. 😉
~laughing my @$$ off~ Haven’t had this much fun on Facebook in a long time… Sad isn’t it? 😀
@Petros, “Which would you be more inclined to do if the USA invaded your country of residence? Would you help the USA to accomplish its task? Or would you defend your country of residence?”
With great sobriety the answer is made without any hesitation.
@The_Animal
Sad? Not really. Those AE asshats deserve it, and a lot more.
Which would you be more inclined to do if the USA invaded your country of residence? Pick up a rifle.
Would you help the USA to accomplish its task? HELL F*NG NO!!!
Or would you defend your country of residence? With my life.
@Steve
“Tricia – sorry, I did not mean to infer there was disagreement at Citizenship Taxation. What I meant was to question whether we are spreading ourselves too thin between all of these FB groups. I think we are all fighting for the same thing – relief from CBT, FATCA and FBAR.”
I’m fighting for my marriage, and for the right to have a normal life. When push really does come to shove, it will be ‘to Hell with everyone else’ when all is said and done.
This is why I will only be in solidarity with others of like interests. I won’t stand with those that have a US based partisan agenda, or those that think they can gain relief from kissing the ring of the puppet masters that perpetuate this tyranny. If that thins the ranks, then so be it. People will either be in the fight, or they will just stand in the way, and lean on their shovels.
And THIS is why I will have mjh49783’s back because like him, I’m fighting for the same thing. And I will not tolerate those who would make us be sycophantic puppets to the misguided policys of the Democrat in the White House. We’re Canadian and we’ll defend to the death our right to not be taxed under foreign rule.
Brock has been a place where US-based solutions had been posted and discussed.
Even with the hullaballoo regarding censoring at the fb site, I am assuming that Brock won’t change and that Brockers won’t be censoring or heckling out those that do.post US-based discussions.
@Mark Twain
I am no longer interested in US based solutions, as I no longer see it as a viable solution to my US citizenship problem.
However, I don’t speak for the other Brockers here. I speak for myself. Therefore, I cannot say how this forum will change in time, due to the AE brouhaha, though I’m sure that there will be at least a few of us that will now be hostile over it.
IBS readership base has been US persons. I had not previously seen that there was an antagonism shown towards US person issues as addressed in any methodology. I had not seen that the IBS site had gone about changing itself due to external influences upon individual readers or writers
mjh49783,
This forum has had its big bumps we are now experiencing. It’s reminiscent of the times that gave Isaac Brock Society its birth (thanks, Petros!).
We didn’t at that time have a feeling or description of what we now see as *Homelanders Abroad* who are so very different from those whose choice it is to be someone different and no longer (or never) American. All of us somehow deemed a US citizen, however we are described, has the consequences of US CBT. No matter how I try, I don’t understand another logical solution that will serve the very different definitions of who we are other than the way the rest of the world operates — than the more fair residence-based taxation law. RBT could, as now, pursue US tax evasion for those resident in the US who blatantly send untaxed money offshore but it would honour the human right (by the UN Declaration of Human Rights that says all people have the right to change their nationality) for those who choose to pursue their lives elsewhere.
It would serve ALL of us well to have the solution (or another I don’t know about) that provides an amnesty — US, let *your people* go. We’ll all know the rules for being or remaining a US citizen, with real choice and opportunity to OPT-OUT now (including being able to act on behalf of the well-being of those without *capacity*) or to OPT-IN going forward for those whose facts allow and who have requisite *capacity*. Those who want will be free to get on with their non-US lives and those who want to continue now know the consequences / the rules and should be fully advised in writing of any changes to them that they should know about, contrary to what has happened! We ALL need to get on with our lives, however they are changed / now defined. There have to be more valuable uses of our time / our lives.
PS: This (CBT and its life consequences) must be made a priority in any US schooling curriculum and a requirement for graduation onto life as an adult.
… now to get on with something less US in my life — Happy Father’s Day or Happy Sunday to all. Peace!
I personally have no problem with those like Keith Redmond who would seek USA-based solutions. It is a made in the USA problem and if someone succeeds in getting these stupid laws repealed, I would sigh with relief. At the same time I am not holding my breath.