7 ms·

This article suggests that its not "more welcoming to immigrants than any other place in the world by far" if a single private IM can get a guy banned for life.

• atemerev 7y ago
  They are not wrong. I am Russian living in Europe, occasionally visiting the US. Here in Switzerland, and to a lesser extent in the rest of the western Europe, I will always feel like an immigrant. It is cultural, there is always a divide of those who lived here before and those two came after. Perhaps only my children or their children will be able to fully integrate here. In the US it is different. There are a lot of hurdles to overcome to get there, including very insensitive TSA employees who have arbitrary powers over you, but when I come out of the airport building — I am an American. A Russian American, yes, but still there are nearly no differences in the attitude compared to everybody else. People are friendly and helpful, no matter if I speak with some strange accent or don’t look like a local. This is amazing, it is something that Americans take for granted, but it is a very big deal.
  • bloak 7y ago
    It's probably not possible to have both these things together in the long term: * A strong distinctive local culture. * Treating immigrants just like locals. Immigrants aren't going to learn the local dialect of Schwyzerdütsch unless you give them some kind of incentive, are they?
    • deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    • n4r9 7y ago
      The way I see it based on atemerev's comment, the American treatment of immigrants is part of their strong local culture.
• cannonedhamster 7y ago
  A phone without data is just as likely to raise suspicion. It's come up before.