When I, an international student in the US, began writing dispatches from the protests at Columbia last year I felt as though good things were once again possible.
The rise of fascist tendencies in the US is appalling and deportation is an overreaction here but I find your arguments bizarre. I am an immigrant to the UK. My family dissented from communism for generations, for example, having a different view for how their country should be governed and how they want to live. Political dissent requires citizenship. The goal is to restore your share of influence over the system that’s been taken away by the authorities. So non-citizen dissent is an oxymoron. You don’t have any part-ownership of the system. You (and me) are guests, even on a permanent visa. Thus non-citizen “dissent” is leaving.
The constitution applies to everyone on US soil, regardless of whether they are citizens. Your argument implies that countries policies don't affect other countries. Given the hegemonic role the US plays in the world, I don't think anyone needs citizenship here to have a problem with our policies, and if they are here, they should have the right to say so without being molested by state actors.
Political dissent does not require citizenship. What people are arguing for are Human Rights, including the right to free speech and to peacefully protest. All that is required for dissent is humanity.
The only country in the world more full of entitled whinging Karens and bad sports than Australia is the United States. I hope you keep enjoying your country, as it doesn’t seem like anyone else does anymore. As for NZ. Fuck that, we don’t want him here either.
Excellent. Much the same as here. Aussies are renowned in NZ as being very poor sports who will sledge and cheat at every opportunity. The author doesn’t look like athlete though.
Somehow I doubt he's ever lifted anything heavier than a cellphone, The Karens of America are the darlings of the media but are wildly unrepresentative of the bulk of the people here regardless of what the N.Y. Times, etc., might lead you to believe. I think I'll leave the rest to your imagination. I understand that Australians like the righteous Mr. Kitchen last about a year in New Zealand and then leave because they are expected to work too hard. LOL
Watch me be wrong, but I bet the guy has a $1,200 iPhone and $200 skinny jeans, as opposed to my $65 Motorola stupid phone and $30 Wranglers here in flyover country. You can cut his entitlement with a chainsaw.
Trust me, the Alastair Kitchens are in trouble because the federal gravy train is contracting fast, and the non-profits are laying people off. That Columbia University degree qualifies him to stand behind a counter at Wal-Mart.
Guys like him are in for a gigantic shock of status anxiety when they realize how many of their "jobs" will be automated. He should have studied to be a roofer or an electrician or a septic tank cleaner. People who can fix things will have jobs, not those who publish Substacks.
Going to be rough. He's better off whining down under. He doesn't know it yet, but being excluded from Evil America did him a favor.
Lol. I love my 2k iphone and skinny jeans. NZ peso is about 0.60 usd. This type of guy typically ends up working as some kind of bureaucrat shaping public policy for politicians. Massive virtue signaller. Yeah man AI is coming for us all.
I have to wonder why you wanted to come here in the first place. Were you planning on taking part in anti-ICE demonstrations in New York, like you took part in pro-Hamas demonstrations at Columbia? Were you aware of the rioting in L.A., and the "mostly peaceful" demonstrations elsewhere? You might as well say so, because you will never again step foot in America. Ever. Once you get on that list, they do not exactly take you off. So candor can't hurt you any more grievously than you've already been hurt. Did you shoot a man in Reno, just to watch him die? Every time you hear that whistle blow, do you hang your head and cry? Come on, little fella, spit it out. You'll feel better. Incidentally, did you manage to get around the U.S. while you were "studying" here? They didn't call the song "America the Beautiful" by mistake, so I hope you at least have memories that go beyond airports and a single college campus in mid-town Manhattan.
I have a lifetime of advocacy of free expression, and indulge in it myself with gleefully sarcastic wise-assery at every turn. Last year, I compared and contrasted Archie Bunker Trump, the Rodeo Clown from Queens with Cleopatra "Drunken Word Salad" Harris. Which is to say that I fart in both directions. And proudly so, like Benjamin Franklin did 200 and something years ago. But I do this as an American citizen, not as a visitor. Oh, and last July I predicted that Trump would win. I cast a write-in vote myself, but the numbers are the numbers. There's a formula that has predicted the winner of all but two presidential elections since WW II, and last year it favored Trump. I won $100 on a bet with a Democrat who paid up and then "unfriended" me. Dang. Liberals have such thin skins and a high, almost desperate, need for affirmation. Maybe you can tell me what that's about.
I can see your case from both sides. I go far on the free expression front and don't like to see it eroded even for fools like you. In fact, one signal virtue of free exercise is that it unmasks fools for all to see. Yet, in your case I can understand why the U.S. customs and immigration authorities denied you entry to my county. Yes, my country. Not yours. Remember that. By the way, denial of entry is different from deportation, even if both involve an airplane ride outta here. I'd expect an Ivy League "student" to grasp the distinction, but Columbia really ain't quite what it used to be, is it? It seems that they'll let just about any furriner in these days. Anyway, now is probably not the time to have a track record of supporting sit-ins and camp-ins on behalf of terrorists in Gaza. Wow, who knew?
So, for now, I guess you'll have to confine your overwrought and actually somewhat amusing self-righteousness to your home turf. Who knows, maybe next time you can try Canada. Good luck. You never know. They appreciate sanctimony. If you do that, make sure to go in our summer, Canada's unofficial motto being "nine months of winter and three months of bad ice skating." In the meantime, will New Zealand let you in? I don't recommend flying to Mexico and trying to walk across the border. If the drug traffickers don't get you, the heat, the scorpions, and the rattlesnakes will. And the Border Patrol. Don't forget about them.
Wow! Was it lack of your mother’s love that produced a less than full man Dripping in self righteous hate ? Your constant proclamations of your belief in free speech are belied by your support for it only if your an American . Even the Chinese tolerate more from visiting Americans . As someone who grew up overseas, we were always at the forefront of supporting the U.S. because we are fiercely patriotic . Image our complete disgust at finding out that our country is full of people who hate what makes America Great - we can criticize the government all we want. We even fight for the rights of Nazis to peacefully march with their swatikas and jodhpurs . We even allow AIPAC to spend a half million dollars EVERY DAY smearing their perceived enemies and influencing US policy . You hate America as a concept and your patriotism is skin deep. I will fight for your right to be a self righteous America hater , despite my belief that your severe myopia means you will never see the forest for the trees .
So tell us: When was the last time that visiting Americans joined pro-Tibet protests at Chinese universities? On that score, when was the last time that Richard Gere made an issue of it, and if so, when did the legacy media in the United States serve as the magaphone?
Thank you, Alistair, for exercising conscience with this writing and the article at The New Yorker which brought me here. Here's a recent contribution - calling into account how silence within the psychiatric establishment has allowed dangerousness to proliferate.
I don't mean to pretend that I know much about the inner workings of USCBP, but historically they retaliate forcefully against the lightest criticism if it comes from someone who they have power over. I would guess that it was the fact that you mentioned them that got their attention. Also I'm very sorry for what happened to you.
So tell us about your experience with them. My guess is little or none. By the way, if you can't retaliate forcefully against someone who you have power over, dang it, then who CAN you retaliate forcefully against? Just saying. In fact, there's even a song along those lines.
The rise of fascist tendencies in the US is appalling and deportation is an overreaction here but I find your arguments bizarre. I am an immigrant to the UK. My family dissented from communism for generations, for example, having a different view for how their country should be governed and how they want to live. Political dissent requires citizenship. The goal is to restore your share of influence over the system that’s been taken away by the authorities. So non-citizen dissent is an oxymoron. You don’t have any part-ownership of the system. You (and me) are guests, even on a permanent visa. Thus non-citizen “dissent” is leaving.
The constitution applies to everyone on US soil, regardless of whether they are citizens. Your argument implies that countries policies don't affect other countries. Given the hegemonic role the US plays in the world, I don't think anyone needs citizenship here to have a problem with our policies, and if they are here, they should have the right to say so without being molested by state actors.
Political dissent does not require citizenship. What people are arguing for are Human Rights, including the right to free speech and to peacefully protest. All that is required for dissent is humanity.
The only country in the world more full of entitled whinging Karens and bad sports than Australia is the United States. I hope you keep enjoying your country, as it doesn’t seem like anyone else does anymore. As for NZ. Fuck that, we don’t want him here either.
where did all these russian trolls come from in the comments?
Russian trolls, said the sad "progressive."
Only half of us are whining Karens. The other half of us laugh at them.
Excellent. Much the same as here. Aussies are renowned in NZ as being very poor sports who will sledge and cheat at every opportunity. The author doesn’t look like athlete though.
Somehow I doubt he's ever lifted anything heavier than a cellphone, The Karens of America are the darlings of the media but are wildly unrepresentative of the bulk of the people here regardless of what the N.Y. Times, etc., might lead you to believe. I think I'll leave the rest to your imagination. I understand that Australians like the righteous Mr. Kitchen last about a year in New Zealand and then leave because they are expected to work too hard. LOL
Yeah most folks are just busy working to pay the bills. Its the same here.
Watch me be wrong, but I bet the guy has a $1,200 iPhone and $200 skinny jeans, as opposed to my $65 Motorola stupid phone and $30 Wranglers here in flyover country. You can cut his entitlement with a chainsaw.
Trust me, the Alastair Kitchens are in trouble because the federal gravy train is contracting fast, and the non-profits are laying people off. That Columbia University degree qualifies him to stand behind a counter at Wal-Mart.
Guys like him are in for a gigantic shock of status anxiety when they realize how many of their "jobs" will be automated. He should have studied to be a roofer or an electrician or a septic tank cleaner. People who can fix things will have jobs, not those who publish Substacks.
Going to be rough. He's better off whining down under. He doesn't know it yet, but being excluded from Evil America did him a favor.
Lol. I love my 2k iphone and skinny jeans. NZ peso is about 0.60 usd. This type of guy typically ends up working as some kind of bureaucrat shaping public policy for politicians. Massive virtue signaller. Yeah man AI is coming for us all.
I have to wonder why you wanted to come here in the first place. Were you planning on taking part in anti-ICE demonstrations in New York, like you took part in pro-Hamas demonstrations at Columbia? Were you aware of the rioting in L.A., and the "mostly peaceful" demonstrations elsewhere? You might as well say so, because you will never again step foot in America. Ever. Once you get on that list, they do not exactly take you off. So candor can't hurt you any more grievously than you've already been hurt. Did you shoot a man in Reno, just to watch him die? Every time you hear that whistle blow, do you hang your head and cry? Come on, little fella, spit it out. You'll feel better. Incidentally, did you manage to get around the U.S. while you were "studying" here? They didn't call the song "America the Beautiful" by mistake, so I hope you at least have memories that go beyond airports and a single college campus in mid-town Manhattan.
I have a lifetime of advocacy of free expression, and indulge in it myself with gleefully sarcastic wise-assery at every turn. Last year, I compared and contrasted Archie Bunker Trump, the Rodeo Clown from Queens with Cleopatra "Drunken Word Salad" Harris. Which is to say that I fart in both directions. And proudly so, like Benjamin Franklin did 200 and something years ago. But I do this as an American citizen, not as a visitor. Oh, and last July I predicted that Trump would win. I cast a write-in vote myself, but the numbers are the numbers. There's a formula that has predicted the winner of all but two presidential elections since WW II, and last year it favored Trump. I won $100 on a bet with a Democrat who paid up and then "unfriended" me. Dang. Liberals have such thin skins and a high, almost desperate, need for affirmation. Maybe you can tell me what that's about.
I can see your case from both sides. I go far on the free expression front and don't like to see it eroded even for fools like you. In fact, one signal virtue of free exercise is that it unmasks fools for all to see. Yet, in your case I can understand why the U.S. customs and immigration authorities denied you entry to my county. Yes, my country. Not yours. Remember that. By the way, denial of entry is different from deportation, even if both involve an airplane ride outta here. I'd expect an Ivy League "student" to grasp the distinction, but Columbia really ain't quite what it used to be, is it? It seems that they'll let just about any furriner in these days. Anyway, now is probably not the time to have a track record of supporting sit-ins and camp-ins on behalf of terrorists in Gaza. Wow, who knew?
So, for now, I guess you'll have to confine your overwrought and actually somewhat amusing self-righteousness to your home turf. Who knows, maybe next time you can try Canada. Good luck. You never know. They appreciate sanctimony. If you do that, make sure to go in our summer, Canada's unofficial motto being "nine months of winter and three months of bad ice skating." In the meantime, will New Zealand let you in? I don't recommend flying to Mexico and trying to walk across the border. If the drug traffickers don't get you, the heat, the scorpions, and the rattlesnakes will. And the Border Patrol. Don't forget about them.
You should be writing a Substack! Dang, I’d pay for your commentary. You are hilarious and spot on.
Thanks! It's not a bad idea, but I'd rather be emperor.
Wouldn’t we all? I’d make a fine Nero.
Now that we have penicillin, I was thinking of something more along the lines of a Caligula.
You are going for the bad boy big guns!
Yes. By the way, I am a gun owner. I scare the Australians. Grrrrr. What the hell happened to Australia anyway?
Wow! Was it lack of your mother’s love that produced a less than full man Dripping in self righteous hate ? Your constant proclamations of your belief in free speech are belied by your support for it only if your an American . Even the Chinese tolerate more from visiting Americans . As someone who grew up overseas, we were always at the forefront of supporting the U.S. because we are fiercely patriotic . Image our complete disgust at finding out that our country is full of people who hate what makes America Great - we can criticize the government all we want. We even fight for the rights of Nazis to peacefully march with their swatikas and jodhpurs . We even allow AIPAC to spend a half million dollars EVERY DAY smearing their perceived enemies and influencing US policy . You hate America as a concept and your patriotism is skin deep. I will fight for your right to be a self righteous America hater , despite my belief that your severe myopia means you will never see the forest for the trees .
So tell us: When was the last time that visiting Americans joined pro-Tibet protests at Chinese universities? On that score, when was the last time that Richard Gere made an issue of it, and if so, when did the legacy media in the United States serve as the magaphone?
Thank you, Alistair, for exercising conscience with this writing and the article at The New Yorker which brought me here. Here's a recent contribution - calling into account how silence within the psychiatric establishment has allowed dangerousness to proliferate.
MOSF 20.5: Trump and Musk’s First 70 Days: Attempting Technofascist Knockout of Democracy, Empathy, Reality, and Sanity. (And Guess What? Hamilton Saw This Coming.) https://eastwindezine.com/mosf-20-5-trump-and-musks-first-70-days-attempting-technofascist-knockout-of-democracy-empathy-reality-and-sanity/
and here are some of my Substack offerings:
Psychological Constitutional #1
https://sunmoonlight.substack.com/p/psychological-constitutional-1
Democracy Summer Week 1!
https://sunmoonlight.substack.com/p/democracy-summer-week-1
https://open.substack.com/live-stream/37063?r=9vojh&utm_medium=ios
“The habits of solidarity required for concerted action are gone” I’m glad I came to read your article.
I don't mean to pretend that I know much about the inner workings of USCBP, but historically they retaliate forcefully against the lightest criticism if it comes from someone who they have power over. I would guess that it was the fact that you mentioned them that got their attention. Also I'm very sorry for what happened to you.
All state power enforcers in the USA act this way - police, prison guards, border patrol, etc. It's just part of the culture of (abuse of) power here.
So tell us about your experience with them. My guess is little or none. By the way, if you can't retaliate forcefully against someone who you have power over, dang it, then who CAN you retaliate forcefully against? Just saying. In fact, there's even a song along those lines.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znDgBy2mHbc