Exit this Roman shell

[imomus]

For those of you thinking of leaving America today -- and there are many, I'm sure -- I'd say just do it. Walk away. Leaving Britain is the best thing I ever did. I lived for years there feeling like a political and cultural exile, trying to fight back with satire and a thousand subtle forms of stubbornness and resistance. But being an 'internal exile' is not good for the soul. My struggle with attitudes which seemed toxic to me started making me as hard, cynical and corrupt as the people and the attitudes I was fighting.

Soon I realised that British people were not going to change. At least not in my short lifetime. My contribution was never going to be accepted in that country. It was much easier to get up and go. You can change the world around you by simply getting on a plane and going to the place where they think like you, even if they don't speak the same language you speak. So I went to live in France. In Germany. In Japan. I became a world citizen.

I started to think in terms of cities, and even districts of cities, rather than nations. I made my own cut and paste environment, a place where I felt comfortable and valued. I selected its elements from the internet and the parts of the cities I loved and went to live in. I count the moment I left my incorrigible homeland as the moment my adult life really began. I am now a much happier and better adjusted person.

So just leave. America doesn't deserve you. Walk away. America doesn't need your talent, your creativity and your intelligence. Or rather, it needs them desperately, but it will never acknowledge that. It's too stupid to understand that. If it calls for you, it will call for you for the wrong reasons. It will call you up as a soldier. It will call for you as canon-fodder in some spurious and unnecessary war that serves the interests of 1% of its population and an even smaller percentage of the world's population. Even if it lets you live in relative peace as a mere civilian, it will force you to live in ways that destroy the world's weather systems and its environment. It will use your tax to fund pre-emptive wars of aggressive imperialism against impoverished nations with energy resources.

Leave while you still can. Leave as a civilian, not a soldier. Leave and lead the life you were born to lead. Your absence will hurt America economically, but it deserves that. And it doesn't deserve you.

Get a passport, get a visa. Work a job, save some money. Come to Europe, come to Japan. Life is more civilised here. Come as you are, come to work, come to play, come to stay. Make love to foreigners, not Americans. Make non-American babies. Make your children world citizens, as you make yourself one.

Then you know in your brain
Leave the capitol!
Exit this roman shell!
Then you know you must leave the capitol

Leave the capitol!
Exit this roman shell!

It will not drag me down
I will leave this ten times town
I will leave this fucking dump
One room, one room

(The Fall, 'Leave The Capitol')

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

The Bush win, while catastrophic, is actually less upsetting to me than the overwhelming anti-gay marriage stance the country has taken. It seriously pains me to see that 11/11 states voted for this amendment.

As a Young American, this election is seriously disheartening and disillusioning. I went to a small southern town Baptist church to vote for Kerry, knowing full well that he wasn't going to win there, but keeping my spirits up and letting my voice be heard in any case.

I looked at the county-by-county vote in Georgia and all the areas with real cities, education, and a cosmopolitan makeup went for Kerry. But it was hopeless, dots of blue in the midst of rural decay backwash, like soft tears staining the harsh red mess of conservatism and backwards thinking.

Ever since Clinton left, it feels like the divide between the red and blue spots has widened at a sickening pace. The USA feels like 2 radically different countries; one educated, globalist, forward-thinking, the other a cult of inbred machismo prejudice. I'd like to move to New England before it seceeds.

Moving to another country, yes, may be a way to go. I will certainly look into schools in Europe this winter and all that. But I am afraid of leaving many things behind, things that are still a part of this country and will always bring me joy. It's a sad, torn day for this nation.

America is a land of hatred.

Adam

[(Anonymous)]

yes, the seemingly unanimous support of amendments barring gay marriage would be disheartening enough, even if kerry had won. its the fucking cherry on the cake... its like, ok its bad enough over half the nation cares so little about the fate of the world that they'll re-elect the king of dolts, but on top of that the population of 11 of 11 states almost unanimously express open bigotry toward gay and lesbian couples? just add it to the many factors that spell out a completely dire situation in the country that is pretty much unrecoverable through any means of protest or activism we've seen before. indeed it feels like two countries. i can't remember the last time i've felt so alienated.

and the fact that bush was re-elected after doing such utterly quantifiable and irreperable damage to the world is the main indication that there is absolutely no reasoning with the constituent that elected him. with all the horrible blunders surrounding bush, one would have thought the sheer idiocy factor would be WAAAY more than enough to lose him the election. you'd think fucking satan could have run and defeated him just based on the fact that he represented an alternative choice.

america absolutely does not deserve our energy. these differences in the population are by a large margin unreconcilable. people aren't divided over specific issues anymore. its not like we're trying to free the slaves here. maybe a bush supporter will say they went for bush based on issues of national security, or the war on terror, but more likely they swing that way due to those slippery and intangible 'moral values' im always hearing so much about. somehow they just feel warm and fuzzy voting for bush. it makes them feel closer to god or something. and the more opposition they hear--the more foreign nations oppose our policies--the more rhetorical and fundamentalist they become. and there can be no arguement with fundamentalists.

i only wish foreign nations would start accepting american refugees

-shane

[stacy.livejournal.com]

I live in New York City, but grew up in a very small town in Arkansas. When I was six years old, my grandfather asked me what I was going to be when I grew up, and I said, "An artist in New York City." I don't know where that came from except that I was born knowing it. I was born knowing this was my home. When I was finally able to save up enough money to get myself here, and my feet hit the sidewalk in the East Village for the first time, I knew I was right. Six years later, I'm still here, and every day I am more certain I did the right thing. It's hard to live in NYC, but you can get yourself here and you can survive. People live here just like anywhere else.

Now I am considering leaving the USA, even though I feel very deeply that New York is my home. But there are other cities I've visited that call out like homes as well -- Barcelona, primarily. I'm considering going back. I just renewed my passport. Sometimes running away is the answer. Sometimes you ARE too good. Sometimes they DON'T deserve you.

My boyfriend likes to remind me that, "Most people are average. That's why they call it average." Those of us who are above average -- above average curiosity, intelligence, ability to love, ability to feel and express joy -- have the responsibility of saving the world. In order to save the world, we have to see it. You're absolutely right: just leave. If you are meant to be a citizen of the universe, the universe will take care of you. Don't worry. Just go where you need to be and the rest will take care of itself.

[transient-poet.livejournal.com]

Thank you for that. May I look you up in Germany.

[(Anonymous)]

I live in California, where the certainty of the electoral vote gives us freedom to vote cthulu, micky mouse, or even...
http://sonic.net/dfine/votemomus.jpg

it just doesn't make a difference.

tons of people i know are leaving, i wonder how many actually will...

leaving America

[(Anonymous)]

I totally understand your feelings and those of many Americans at this moment. I felt the same when a thief and mobster took over my home country (Brazil) after the 1992 elections there. He was impeached few years later, before finishing his term, but then I was already living abroad - in Japan. I don’t regret what I did and my life in Japan, as my life now (in Canada) has taught me a lot about cultural differences, tolerance and respect. But I have to agree with someone here who said that Japan is NOT a paradise and that they also have their issues when it comes to discrimination of women and a latent violence that emerges from time to time (just look at the many cases of murders among school children that have happened lately there).That said, I also consider myself a citizen of the world and I can say that I have good friends of very different cultural backgrounds and I’m proud of that. If for nothing else, leaving their home country (for those considering it), even if only for 4 years, will make Americans see the world for what it really is: some much broader, much richer, much more interesting and important than they ever imaged! But the sad thing is: those who need the most such a “cultural eye-opener” are the ones who voted for Bush and therefore, the one who are NOT interested in the rest of the world at all…

[augstone.livejournal.com]

ah, well i am leaving in january. the thought of "making non-american babies", or at least trying to, is the one thing that made me smile today.

have you ever read "the good soldier svejk" by jaroslav hasek?

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I've just heard a radio production of Brecht's dramatisation of it. Brecht loved the Schweikian 'cunning peasant' persona so much that he adopted it himself.

[kineticfactory.livejournal.com]

What's the copyright status of it? Is there an ebook that I could download to my Palm?

[(Anonymous)]

Running away from one's problems is not the way to solve them.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

But surely we all have the right to choose our problems? Why should a bunch of redneck red state fundamentalists who hate homosexuals and a woman's right to choose become one's problem when something like writing the Great American Novel -- in exile -- could be one's problem instead? Unless you tell me that the Great American Novel would also have to be about those red state rednecks? They really get to set every agenda, don't they!

Wisdom

[sonjaaa.livejournal.com]

Nick, I feel exactly the same way as you. You can't change the world and the masses, but you can still live out your life and position yourself around progressive, open-minded or intelligent people to find harmony and peace.

I think this is why I have always found much fun in the Esperanto-speaking community, travelling around the world, always with intercultural connections, like an international maffia.

Highly intelligent, creative and adaptable people are agents of change. The revolution begins on the personal level.

Anyway, thanks for the inspiration and reinforcing how I feel.

<3 <3 <3

i'm good, thanks

[montauk-boy.livejournal.com]

I dig the sentiment, Momes, but is it really that big a deal that Skull won the whatnot vs. Bones? Yea, America as a whole is rather buggered, but, then, so is the rest of the globe once the gung-ho designer viruses hit the shit. Meantime, who'll take the battle to the Nazis, Dracos and mind-file wonks here on Long Island if not P Nizzle Nichols and his bad Bizoys? The MIV cruises the astral plane's lanes, yo, and requires no $10/gallon refilling, i.e. my arse is parked. We've all got parts/hands to play, Momes, in every wretched niche on the shit, and, with a little help from friends in high places, freedom & radness may well yet prevail. Make your children lower fourth dimensional vibrational citizens, as you make yourself one. Speaking of, I'm going to make myself a hotdog, i.e. one with everything, and a nice Long Island iced tea. Prost!

[tick-tick.livejournal.com]

As a silent member of your list [though a frequent reader] I just wanted to say thank you for writing this.
I have never felt so frustrated nor so powerless in my life. I spent today as a zombie, completely lost and devastated.
My first reaction to your entry was it's not that simple. This is far too idealistic.
But it's really that simple. Things are not going well here. Things to do not look to be shaping up anytime soon [the soon to be appointed Conservative Supreme Court Justices, for example]
I am tired of feeling sickened by my fellow countrymen. I feel as though I cannot call my country my own, because I just don't belong here. Not when I don't agree with a single decision being made.
I apologize for taking up space. I just want to say thank you again, and how comforting I find this small pocket of rational intellectualism fostered by your writing and the people who read and comment.

[(Anonymous)]

As a 26 year old semi conservative black man living in the midwest, I feel that the best way to make any kind of a difference is to stay and fight. I mean, one thing I learned when I was young was this-children run away from their problems, adults stay the course and work to solve them, no matter what it takes. I mean, what if every Negro decided to just up and leave this country during the civil rights movement?..Just what would we have accomplished? Would our quality of life be any better than it is now?.....What we need is to stick to our guns and fight by living fearlessly and intelligently and not backing down from our beliefs no matter what they are. What we need is to divert our intellectual and spiritual energies towards a change at home first before we can hope to influence the world. Just because you run doesn't mean the problem or the enemy is going to go away...And believe me when I say this, the grass isnt always greener on the other side.....

[visceral-.livejournal.com]

I would like to add you. Not only for the content of this post, but so many of the others I enjoy reading & end up coming back to.

ps I took a listen to the clips on your site. Sometimes I wake up w/ Spooky Kabuki in my head. :)

[rogue-explorer.livejournal.com]

Sage advice. Unfortunately, as a minor, I can't leave. My parents said that they won't (they're just starting to get settled down in life) and we don't have the money anyway.

Thanks for finally saying something sane about this whole ordeal.

So just leave. America doesn't deserve you

[spoombung.livejournal.com]

Oh no, not another BRAIN DRAIN!

I wondered where all our UK NHS doctors, humanist atheists and social-minded GM scientists went. You've probably dragged 'em all away, saying 'don't bother with that lot, they're a waste of time!"

"My contribution was never going to be accepted in that country" Surely, you can't be referring to your music? This reminds me of dear old Rhodri Marsden asking his readers to feel sorry for him because he's a musician!!

Really, Mr Momus. You're offering very poor advice, but it's nice to see you're still using satire as a secret weapon.

;-))

[brosch.livejournal.com]

my easiest way out is to apply for a british passport; my father is scottish.
however, i intend to use it for a move to germany.
thank you very much for this post.

[loveskull.livejournal.com]

Fellow international transatlantic pioneers, do not bother with a migratory flight to australia.
Just before the bush election we had an election, and the person that cheated best supports everything that bush does.
So don't step foot here unless it's for a coffee break between a oneway singapore to auckland.

[turkishb.livejournal.com]

First off, I appreciate this topic quite a bit. However I've already exhausted my own frustration with the election in my own journal. So I'm going to put this post in the realm of completely irrelevant.

Have you heard the work of Jack Fancy? His interpretive song of Supervert's book Extraterrestrial Sex Fetish is on-line for free download. I rather enjoy it and his sensibility reminded me of yours. I've been exchanging e-mails with Jack and he is very generous about sending wma files for free. I hope to see him perform when he tours London this spring.

I posted a link to his music download and also the copy of the lyrics (which I had to email him for) here: http://www.fifthace.net/revenge.htm I am linking you to that rather than the original download site because I think reading the lyrics lends to the song quite a bit.

Should you have the chance to check it out I'd like to know what you think.

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

Don't blame me--I voted for Whimsy.

[alchemist-jesus.livejournal.com]

good plan.

[hakujinjoe.livejournal.com]

i recieved a job offer in Tokyo Japan today. No hesitation when the contract arrived.

[(Anonymous)]

...i'm not trying to be flippant at all, but what a tremendous song by basically the best smart-bile band ever.

sd

Yes one of my favorite Smith numbahs but how does an American move to Europe?

[(Anonymous)]

I've been trying to move to Berlin but can't find a job or girl to marry. How Are others so effortlessly mobile?????