Gabriele Svelto [moved]Jun 20, 2023

Wherever I look I can see news about a few very rich individuals being stranded on a submarine that was supposed to take them on a tour of the Titanic. The effort put in place to rescue them appears huge in scope.

Last week over six hundred people died in a #shripweck off the coasts of #Greece and nobody cared. Nobody even bothered to start a rescue operation until it was too late.

Stop pretending people are equal, I hate this hypocrisy.

Show threadGabriele Svelto [moved]

Also I refuse to call them immigrants. These are people, human beings.

It's like being called an expat just because you're a wealthy immigrant. I'm not an expat, I'm an immigrant myself, just one that happens to be rich enough to be accepted without a peep.

People literally hide behind the word expat because immigrant is placeholder for poor, and we live in a world that frowns upon poverty as if it were a crime, not a condition deliberately imposed on people.

Jun 20, 2023 at 12:37pmWeb
Show threadAhimsaJun 20, 2023

@gabrielesvelto I always thought "expat" meant a person living in another country temporarily (for work, for example). I didn't know it could be used for someone who moved to another country permanently.

I know a couple who did this for years -- move to another country for a job, move back to the USA, repeat. They always used the term expat (she was US citizen, he was Canadian citizen).

(forgot to add that they ended up back in the USA)

Anyway, I've learned something new!

Show threadGabriele Svelto [moved]Jun 20, 2023

@ahimsa_pdx that's the correct meaning of expat, you're not wrong. The problem is that most people who call themselves - and are generally referred to - as expats are skilled immigrants that moved into another European country for good (this is obviously my EU-centric POV).

However most of them would probably find the term "skilled immigrant" almost offensive so that's not used anywhere... except on the related government pages which are absolutely blunt about it (see screenshot).

Show threadNateJun 20, 2023
@gabrielesvelto @ahimsa_pdx 100% this, I know people who refer to themselves as future expats, not immigrants. This is a result of the rights (right wing political party in the US) war on language. I feel this is also not lost on people in other countries as they see similar results in their right wing (read authoritarian) party.
Show threadAir AdamJun 21, 2023
@gabrielesvelto @ahimsa_pdx and truth be told, plenty of them aren't even that skilled.
Show threadAndreas KJun 21, 2023

@gabrielesvelto @ahimsa_pdx
Sigh, I don't think that expat is much of a term in non-English languages at all.

And EU citizens are in a way, not really immigrants in EU countries., differently from “immigrants”, they basically come with a right to live/work/… anywhere in the EU.

It's basically a language problem, that's how we got the "3rd country" term: EU citizens are not completely like natives, but they are certainly even more different from foreigners.

Show threadKasra_mp ✅Jun 21, 2023
@gabrielesvelto @ahimsa_pdx - By that definition, I'm a skilled immigrant. But I really don't care if somebody calls me an immigrant or an expat. Behavior and attitude matter the most.
I arrived at this realization a long time ago that I neither bother nor associate myself with people who look down on me because of my country of origin, assumed religion, or skin color. In my honest opinion, such people are beyond saving and live a life of willful ignorance. Let them be happy in their own world.
Show threadOlivier MenguéJun 20, 2023
@ahimsa_pdx @gabrielesvelto The definition of expatriates I know: people (families) sent to another country receiving wages from their home country (or more).
Show threadMarg Eliz Jun 20, 2023
@ahimsa_pdx @gabrielesvelto My family and I were expats for 5 years in the ‘70s when my father’s work transferred him from the US to London, England. Before and after, we were just regular folks. 😊
Show threadMarg Eliz Jun 20, 2023
@ahimsa_pdx @gabrielesvelto Actually we were just regular folks while we were ex-pats in England. 🤣
Show threadCassandrichJun 21, 2023
@ahimsa_pdx @gabrielesvelto An expat is simply an immigrant whose country of origin is deemed "more desirable" by society than the place they're living and working, rather than less - and who is presumed thereby to only be living/working there temporarily or as a fun adventure.
Show threadRuby JonesJun 21, 2023
@ahimsa_pdx @gabrielesvelto It's commonly someone living in another country who never really stopped thinking of themselves in terms of the country of origin. Eg Brits in Spain who never think of themselves as Spanish, never engage with the local culture etc, even if they've lived there 20 years. They're just British people taking advantage of another country's better weather. Thinking of themselves as ex pats instead of immigrants is part of maintaining the distance.
Show threadSemi Sentient AI Cooling WaterJun 20, 2023
@gabrielesvelto Poverty is not a character flaw. Unmitigated greed is.
Show threadStressed Out Maikel 🇪🇺Jun 20, 2023
@gabrielesvelto whenever anyone uses the word expat to define themselves my first thought of them is "wow, what a xenophobic c**t I've just met"
Show threadamnesiacrobatJun 20, 2023
@gabrielesvelto I’d always assumed that renouncing citizenship in your home country was part of being an expatriate. But I searched the definition and it’s not a part of it at all. Not sure of how I came to that misunderstanding, but glad to know I was wrong so I can correct that.
Show threadmaiamaiaJun 21, 2023
@gabrielesvelto refugees, like they were called before Thatcher's tories barred the media from using the word, no idea how I was a child, just remember it happening
Show threadmaiamaiaJun 21, 2023
@gabrielesvelto I disagree. Words have histories & meaning clusters. Expat is an empire word. You go abroad to a posh job & mean to retire home. Implies you are a rich person going to a poor country. When I was young 1980s poor britons often worked abroad doing manual labour we did in uk to fund it but seasonal eg grape harvest not factory work like at home. That's not an expat. If I got a factory job abroad, I'm not an expat. If I commit to live there forever, I'm not an expat. Ambassadors? Yes