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Post by flatandy on Feb 17, 2021 20:56:22 GMT
Mrs. B and I were just chuckling about the in-laws and their very fixed and certain opinions about current affairs and the public mood in UK. It's quite astonishing to hear some of the positions that they adopt which largely reflect their own interests and those of whoever they got chatting to at the brocante. Of course, they "never talk to the English" at these things. Whatevs. It is fascinating how out of touch people get, and how their prejudices and biases get reinforced by the few people they still interact with from wherever home was. I noticed it really strongly with South Africans in Britain. They all chose to leave South Africa, often in the 90s. Maybe not consciously aware that they were fleeing a world where apartheid had ended, but always defining it by being about violence and crime. So they choose to only hear reports of crime - every time there was a white farmer who got shot the story was shared around their networks and reinforced all their prejudices. You’d talk to them about SA and it would be a place that was idyllic in the 80s, but now was an uninhabitable crime-hole. Yet all the South Africans I knew who still lived in SA had an entirely different experience. I’m sure that Brits in Canada or France or the US have their own versions of this - they spend their internet time with right-wing douches who are convinced that the country is going to hell in a handcart until the miracle of Brexit, and they’ll get the impression that pre-2016 Britain was an unmitigated disaster zone, but once the referendum was had, and particularly this year once Britain was completely free from the shackles, it is all nothing but sunlit uplands and happy fish. |
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mids
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Post by mids on Feb 17, 2021 20:56:55 GMT
We've got millions of expats from all over the world. Insist on hanging around with their mates from the old country, don't bother to learn the language, eat their weird food, murder people etc etc.
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Post by perrykneeham on Feb 17, 2021 21:24:16 GMT
Mrs. B and I were just chuckling about the in-laws and their very fixed and certain opinions about current affairs and the public mood in UK. It's quite astonishing to hear some of the positions that they adopt which largely reflect their own interests and those of whoever they got chatting to at the brocante. Of course, they "never talk to the English" at these things. Whatevs. I’m sure that Brits in Canada or France or the US have their own versions of this - they spend their internet time with right-wing douches who are convinced that the country is going to hell in a handcart until the miracle of Brexit, and they’ll get the impression that pre-2016 Britain was an unmitigated disaster zone, but once the referendum was had, and particularly this year once Britain was completely free from the shackles, it is all nothing but sunlit uplands and happy fish. Sadly, that's not quite right. It tends to be smug, comfortable baby boomer folk of limited education and outlook who are locked in a solo of selfish self-interest who rail against the mild and largely imaginary inconveniences of Brexit and seem to think that everyone in UK must agree with them. It's odd, there's always a slight suggestion that because they've managed to buy a nice house (for very little money, which is why they've been able to) in a sunny (and cheap) bit of Europe that they have somehow made it and are superior to people who have chosen to remain in UK and can afford to do so. |
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Post by Repat Van on Feb 17, 2021 22:27:49 GMT
It is quite interesting to see just how out of whack the ex-pat perspective can be. I am sure OneofThe is capable of reading articles on this. It’s not like merely living in the UK will slow you to know what is going on with all families that live in the UK. |
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Post by Repat Van on Feb 17, 2021 22:31:01 GMT
Anyone who thinks of themselves as an expat generally has a weird outlook on life. They’re still defining themselves by where they’ve moved from. Even worse are ex-pats who are members of ex-pat clubs and have mostly ex-pat friends who end up trying to recreate Blighty in somewhere that has its own - entirely separate - charms. It’s a version of the 19th century Brits in India having their forced garden parties dressed up to the nines outdoors in the f**k**g height of summer with the monsoon humidity beginning. I don’t think this is accurate. I think it’s permanence. If I lived in Dubai I would be an ex-pay because it is not possible for me to ever be Emirati. So of course you have to define yourself by where you have moved from. Also she plays a part. If you migrate as an adult especially an older adult then your home country will have had a greater impact on your character than your new country. In Oz I just see myself as an immie. I do agree that sometimes “ex-pat” can be white people speak for “immigrant” (only with regards white people from wealthy countries of of course. Except Eastern European ones for some reason. I am a member of a British ex-pat social club and see no issue with that. Fastest way of meeting people and making friends in a new country / city. Although I only joined one in Brisbane after I had been in Oz for a few years. (I am also a member of an Irish, Black women and French social club too so make of that what you will.) |
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Post by Repat Van on Feb 17, 2021 22:32:33 GMT
I avoid ex-pat Brits where ever possible Literally impossible in Australia. Impossible. This is the first time I have had a job where my team was not dominated by English people. |
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Post by flatandy on Feb 17, 2021 23:05:02 GMT
If I was working in Dubai I’d be someone who was temporarily working in Dubai. I wouldn’t be an “ex-pat”. I’d be someone who lived in the UAE for a while.
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voice
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Post by voice on Feb 17, 2021 23:17:49 GMT
I've lived all over and never once called myself an ex-pat tbh
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Post by Repat Van on Feb 18, 2021 0:22:46 GMT
If I was working in Dubai I’d be someone who was temporarily working in Dubai. I wouldn’t be an “ex-pat”. I’d be someone who lived in the UAE for a while. “Somebody temporarily working in Dubai”. So, an ex-pat. |
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Post by Repat Van on Feb 18, 2021 0:23:42 GMT
I've lived all over and never once called myself an ex-pat tbh I haven’t but then I have never lived in an ex-pat location. If I ever lived in Hong Kong, the Middle East, Singapore etc then I would do so. |
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Post by flatandy on Feb 18, 2021 0:31:06 GMT
If I was working in Dubai I’d be someone who was temporarily working in Dubai. I wouldn’t be an “ex-pat”. I’d be someone who lived in the UAE for a while. “Somebody temporarily working in Dubai”. So, an ex-pat. No. I mean, if you choose to define ex-pats as literally every foreigner working abroad, then yes. But that’s a way broad definition. Most of the foreigners working in the UAE aren’t expats in the way that most people think of ex-pats. Even the few who aren’t slave-prisoners imported from India or the Philippines. |
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Post by flatandy on Feb 18, 2021 0:35:36 GMT
The kind of people who’re ex-pats in the Emirates or Singapore are almost the worst kind. I think they’re even more obnoxious than the ones who go to shout “Rah!” at the telly in the English pubs in LA when the rugby is on.
Look at our special club where we’re different from the local scum and get to live a parodic BBC America version of our previous lives, but without all the normal stuff and only a super-ersatz version of Britishness, all tea parties and sandwiches with the crusts cut off and pretending to care about football and drinking nothing but gin and tonics..
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Post by Repat Van on Feb 18, 2021 0:37:30 GMT
“Somebody temporarily working in Dubai”. So, an ex-pat. No. I mean, if you choose to define ex-pats as literally every foreigner working abroad, then yes. But that’s a way broad definition. Most of the foreigners working in the UAE aren’t expats in the way that most people think of ex-pats. Even the few who aren’t slave-prisoners imported from India or the Philippines. A temporary worker in a place where they are not a citizen (and can never be so) is definitely an ex-pat. Personally so limit it to countries where you can never ever integrate into the local community and will forever be part of an ex-pat community. (Places such as Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, living within ex-pat compounds in Nigeria, Algeria etc.) And that applies to everybody. Indians, Britons, Filipinos, Yanks - they’re all ex-pats. |
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Post by Repat Van on Feb 18, 2021 0:40:18 GMT
The kind of people who’re ex-pats in the Emirates or Singapore are almost the worst kind. I think they’re even more obnoxious than the ones who go to shout “Rah!” at the telly in the English pubs in LA when the rugby is on. Look at our special club where we’re different from the local scum and get to live a parodic BBC America version of our previous lives, but without all the normal stuff and only a super-ersatz version of Britishness, all tea parties and sandwiches with the crusts cut off and pretending to care about football and drinking nothing but gin and tonics.. They are different though. They’re forced to think that way because the local culture makes them think that way. I recall being in Qatar on business. All the ex-pats socialise together, work together, and have to live in expat compounds (where locals aren’t allowed to live.) I recall a lot of the bars/ clubs associated with hotels would have signs prohibiting entry to Qatari women. If you are segregated away from the local populace you will of course see yourself as “different”. There is nothing bad about it though. You know you will be there temporarily and have to head home at some point. |
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voice
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Post by voice on Feb 18, 2021 2:31:30 GMT
I lived for a year in Abu Dhabi, never associated with the ex-pats, was taken to a party by the bloke i took over from, it was exactly as Fandy described. Its easy to socialize with non Brits if you choose to do so, sure not the locals, but its easy to avoid those as it is the ex-pats. I palled around with Indians, Philapinoes, a smattering of other Euro types.
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Post by Repat Van on Feb 18, 2021 4:01:12 GMT
I lived for a year in Abu Dhabi, never associated with the ex-pats, was taken to a party by the bloke i took over from, it was exactly as Fandy described. Its easy to socialize with non Brits if you choose to do so, sure not the locals, but its easy to avoid those as it is the ex-pats. I palled around with Indians, Philapinoes, a smattering of other Euro types. I am not talking about non Brits but embedding yourself with locals. (I thought I had made that quite clear. I don’t think “ex-pat” and “Brits” are synonyms. In certain places the local community is very small and embedding yourself into the local community is nigh on impossible. In Qatar being a woman that would be impossible. Impossible. Ultimately when you have to live a life segregated from the locals of course you will see yourself as different and you identify yourself as an ex-pat. |
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Post by perrykneeham on Feb 18, 2021 8:18:57 GMT
I avoid ex-pat Brits where ever possible Literally impossible in Australia. Impossible. This is the first time I have had a job where my team was not dominated by English people. Scots are quite good with money too. |
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Post by perrykneeham on Feb 18, 2021 8:25:04 GMT
It is quite interesting to see just how out of whack the ex-pat perspective can be. I am sure OneofThe is capable of reading articles on this. It’s not like merely living in the UK will slow you to know what is going on with all families that live in the UK. Silly girl. My ILs read articles, but they don't get the full picture. Indeed they manage to read Brexity newspapers and still repeat Project Fear tripe because those are articles of faith amongst the ex-pat sunseeking goodlifers, who may have been mildly inconvenienced. |
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Post by perrykneeham on Feb 18, 2021 8:27:00 GMT
Hark at the ex-pats, writhing in their insecurity.
OOTLG is the only one who seems comfortable in his own skin, maybe because he moved to a very different culture and not some ersatz version of one he left behind.
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ootlg
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Post by ootlg on Feb 18, 2021 8:40:20 GMT
Ooh thank you. You've made me come over all funny.
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