WASHINGTON (AFP) - Some 700 million people worldwide, or more than all the adults of North and South America combined, think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence and want to permanently move to another country, a poll showed Tuesday. The most popular destination was the United States, where nearly a quarter of the 700 million -- around 165 million people -- said they would like to settle.
Link.
Not that this surprises me any.
Rambling ensues:
Do some people out there still think of America as a perfect sort of golden place where everyone's dreams come true? Apparently so.
I went to a lecture the other day (because I'm addicted to free lectures) where this woman who'd lived in Kenya talked about how people in Africa view Europe and the United States, and she us about this conversation she had with a Kenyan worker.
Her: "Do you like it in Kenya?"
Him: "No, I would like to go to your country, the United States someday."
Her: "Why's that?"
Him: "I would have everything I need and I might be rich someday."
Her: "Not everyone in America is rich. We have poverty and hunger and violence there too."
Him: "In America? Not in America."
And he just couldn't believe that there was poverty in America, because all he'd ever seen of it was what was in the international media and through Hollywood.
On the one hand, it gives me kind of a happy feeling that the American Dream that brought my ancestors here still appears to be alive, but then again, that shred of happiness comes crashing down again when I think about how much of a let-down this country must be for people like him who actually do make it. And also, as it was for my ancestors, who were fairly well-off in Europe but became dirt poor in America.
Or maybe I'm just being negative.
And I was wondering whether I would want to move to America if I didn't live here already.
It also makes me wonder just how much people in other countries (especially non-western countries) actually know about America other than what they see in movies. I know a lot about other countries, so I guess I tend to assume that other people do too, even when it's not actually the case.
Shut up I've been researching immigration for like a week straight and my mind is stuck there.:P
Post edited at 10:52 pm on Nov. 5, 2009 by airemaye
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And while the seagulls are crying,
We fall but our souls are flying.
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