Why I hate the Progressive Democrats... (1 Viewer)

[Space]

johnnystress I thought you were a yank too non?

Edit: I'll him answer for himself but

 

[therealjohnny]

johnnystress I thought you were a yank too non?

well begob, surent amnt i as irish as a smiling gypsy drinking black sweet tea on the back of a cart ? begorrah

scurrilous lies

 

[therealjohnny]

Edit: I'll him answer for himself but

LIES

 

[Space]

LIES

So are you American or not?

 

[therealjohnny]

So are you American or not?

I'm not sure I understand the question. It's complex.

 

[Space]

I'm not sure I understand the question. It's complex.

I'm programming a chatbot and that reply sounds very like the default reply. are you a chatbot?

 

[therealjohnny]

what is this , a witch-hunt?

moderator, ban moose!


and Scientician

 

[Space]

what is this , a witch-hunt?

moderator, ban moose!


and Scientician

Pete's on Holidays

 

[therealjohnny]

may god have mercy on us all

 

[ratmonkey]

may god have mercy on us all

 

[egg_]

You can get a list of professions eligible for it on the OASIS website, I think. If yer lady falls into one of those categories, she's got a much better chance.

Can you not lie about your profession? Forge some documentation etc. Obviously it's not fixing the system, but it might work for you Jane ...

 

[jane]

Can you not lie about your profession? Forge some documentation etc. Obviously it's not fixing the system, but it might work for you Jane ...

Well, the thing is, I don't want to do things illegally because that sort of things come back on you. And I also don't like the idea of the only way to stay being to break the law. To be honest, if it came down to breaking the law or packing up and heading back to the US, I think I'd just head off. I'm totally up for taking advantage of the few loopholes that are left, and cleverly working around the nonexistent system, which is essentially the only way to do it, but those are legal ways, and thus the only ones I'm willing to pursue. The problem is, you can't count on those ways being there when you get to a point where you can take advantage of them. They change the rules for the worse without warning, and seemingly without any forethought. There's no way to tell what my options will be like six months from now, let alone three years from now. They could change the rules again, maybe in ten years, when I'm like a day away from getting citizenship, and it'd all be gone.

Also, since I'm trying to get out of academia and leaning toward a bit more of a media thing, it'd be pretty dumb of me to think I wouldn't get caught. I'm lame and believe that if you don't like a law, you should do what you can to change it, rather than knowingly break it and ignore the potential consequences. To me, it's just not worth it. I really want to be able to stay, but there's a line I just won't cross, where anything beyond it would not be a worthwhile risk. Any time I go back to the US, I am reminded that if it came down to it, even if I'd have to start over from scratch, I'd be okay. In fact, I'd probably end up doing pretty well for myself. But my life is here, and I like the life I've made for myself here. I like my friends lots, I like lots of things about living in Ireland (much as I bitch and moan about it), and I've got a lot to stay for. I guess in a way, I haven't had a very easy time here, and I've worked really hard to get where I am (wherever that is), and that even though so much of what I have done in the last five years was damage control, things are turning out better than I'd hoped, but I'd really be pretty devastated if all that investment came to nothing.

I wouldn't really blame anyone else for doing it because I know how hard it is, but I wouldn't do it myself. I'd never really be able to get comfortable here if I knew it was all founded on a lie. I'm sure I'm not the only one, but it seems to me it's a lot harder to get comfortable enough to feel like a full participant in a society or a community when you had to lie to get there. That's how it would feel to me, anyway. Already I feel like I'm constantly having to explain myself, and the "Why haven't you finished your PhD?" question is becoming increasingly upsetting to answer, and impossible to answer without actually letting on some of the stuff that's happened. In other words, I've put as much energy into fighting to stay in the country legally as I have into everything else I'm doing, and it's absolutely fucking exhausting. If I can't sit back and relax about it within the next couple of years, it's going to start taking a toll on my health again (and I've already ended up in the hospital once), and it's just not worth it. I could have a nice life in the US, sure, but I want it to be my choice, and I'm not ready to give up on the one I have here.

But again, the problem is, I can't do it myself. That's the problem. Foreigners can't stay off their own backs, they have to be indebted to an Irish sponsor of some kind. So ultimately, it's going to have to be someone else who does it for me, and that's a hard thing to ask in a country where people's attitudes tend to be, "It was your choice to come here, so don't you dare ask us for anything."

I'll tell you more next time I see you in person. I'd be putting myself in serious jeopardy if I said anything specific on the internet.

I do think people are sympathetic to a point, they just don't realise that this is something that has to be done by Irish people, and that it's not enough to stand around and protest about deportations (even though that's important). The problems with the immigration system affect real people with real lives, and that's not going to go away on its own. Foreign immigrants are here, and we're not going to go away (even if I go away, there will be a New Jane to replace me, I'm sure), so people need to start voting and lobbying in ways that will ease integration, not keep foreigners' options as limited as possible and then blame them for not integrating. It will get better when the children of dual nationality families reach voting age, but I don't have ten years to wait for an immigration policy.

Frankly, I'm a little mortified that people didn't seem to know about the identity cards. It's just a 'registration card' in their eyes, but it's essentially the identity cards everyone's worried about. I don't see the difference.

 

[snakybus]

you immigrants should all have a microchip embedded on the back of yer neck so we can track your movements like they do with migrating geese and stuff

 

[therealjohnny]

nothing so drastic


a striped uniform with perhaps some sort of identifying symbol on the breast would suffice.

How about a star? Everyone likes stars.

 

[Diddles]

Mary Harney's neck is full of gravy.

 

[snakybus]

nothing so drastic


a striped uniform with perhaps some sort of identifying symbol on the breast would suffice.

How about a star? Everyone likes stars.

yeah stars are good

they should all be made live in one particular area as well, and not allowed to own or run their own businesses

I dunno, it's a novel idea but it makes sense

 

[therealjohnny]

Exactly!

I'm not racist but people from other cultures are a threat to our very way of lie and life and must be treated with both suspicion and revulsion and ultimately seperated form decent hard working Irish people.

And they're taking our jobs.