Being a Canadian in America(ericmigi.com)
ericmigi.com
Being a Canadian in America
https://ericmigi.com/blog/on-being-a-canadian-in-america-in-2026/
16 comments
It's good to know that at least some people in the US tech industry have integrity.
Of course it’s a Canadian, with a list of things I thought were just “basics” but are apparently extreme asks for some Americans.
How embarrassing and very sad.
How embarrassing and very sad.
Eric, I just learned you didn't just study in The Netherlands; you got Dutch roots as well! (Berends being a Dutch last name.) Why don't you come back to The Netherlands? Move Pebble, Inc. to a suitable country. Mozilla, Inc. may follow, and a plethora of other neat companies with decent core values. I foresee it will be good on your sales, since you'd fit the 'buy European' lists. The USA is becoming a fascist country, and I believe you can do more good from here, allowing us to avoid big tech with your company. Because sooner or later, you're going to have to comply with the authorities with your company, and as human being. In such situation, you're better off on the good side of the pool, and yes: it is a privilege to do so, but that doesn't make it wrong.
It is concerning that half of their beliefs are fundamentally anti-American.
>people should be free to move and pursue opportunity anywhere they’d like
This taken to its natural consequence is that nation states should not exist. A country can't decide who comes into their country? Why? A nation state is a state of its people, and if those people decide that they want zero immigration, or only 5000 immigrants a year, then that is prerogative. This is also a view born of extreme privilege. They are obviously not in the position where they ever had to worry that an immigrant would go and out compete them for their job. Or that a large influx of poor, low education immigrants would degrade the quality of their child's schools.
> free speech is a great thing, but I am not an absolutist
The enlightenment happened, those ideas were good. The United States is founded upon the principles of the Enlightenment, this is why we have the bill of rights and a democratic government. Free Speech is a great thing... when its within the acceptable bounds that I have determined.
> I don’t love the idea of people being able to make split second decisions/mistakes that could end someone else’s life (eg guns, texting while driving, nuclear weapons)
I can pick up a rock and kill someone. The second amendment, and guns, means that is easier to defend myself and my family. Or that a smaller, weaker person can defend themselves and their property against a larger stronger person. They are the great equalizer.
Anyone living in the United States should be forced to read the Federalist Papers, The Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the writings of Locke, Rousseau, Voltaire, Montesquieu, Paine, Hume, Aristotle and Cicero until it sets in what they are opting into.
>people should be free to move and pursue opportunity anywhere they’d like
This taken to its natural consequence is that nation states should not exist. A country can't decide who comes into their country? Why? A nation state is a state of its people, and if those people decide that they want zero immigration, or only 5000 immigrants a year, then that is prerogative. This is also a view born of extreme privilege. They are obviously not in the position where they ever had to worry that an immigrant would go and out compete them for their job. Or that a large influx of poor, low education immigrants would degrade the quality of their child's schools.
> free speech is a great thing, but I am not an absolutist
The enlightenment happened, those ideas were good. The United States is founded upon the principles of the Enlightenment, this is why we have the bill of rights and a democratic government. Free Speech is a great thing... when its within the acceptable bounds that I have determined.
> I don’t love the idea of people being able to make split second decisions/mistakes that could end someone else’s life (eg guns, texting while driving, nuclear weapons)
I can pick up a rock and kill someone. The second amendment, and guns, means that is easier to defend myself and my family. Or that a smaller, weaker person can defend themselves and their property against a larger stronger person. They are the great equalizer.
Anyone living in the United States should be forced to read the Federalist Papers, The Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the writings of Locke, Rousseau, Voltaire, Montesquieu, Paine, Hume, Aristotle and Cicero until it sets in what they are opting into.
> A country can't decide who comes into their country?
Reading someone else's mind but I think the author could've phrased it better: The ongoing deportation is concerning not because of the legitimacy or not of nation states. It's the abrupt voiding of existing policies (people being deported under conditions that should not have applied to them) & its normalization, and the possible damages to be inflicted upon American citizens in the process, e.g. if you require all aliens to carry their papers all the time and can be searched for any reason, in practice how could this be made distinguishable from racial profiling and prevented from individual abuses?
Anti-American is such a curious word. In authoritarian regimes political dissidents are never prosecuted as such, they are labeled as anti-$homeland. I've never thought the Americans have a taste for using it.
> The second amendment, and guns, means that is easier to defend myself and my family.
I thought the second amendment was meant to let citizens retain means to rebel a tyrannical government when the time comes, not to defend themselves from average armed robbery,
> Or that a smaller, weaker person can defend themselves and their property against a larger stronger person. They are the great equalizer.
What do you think modern policing and the whole institution around it is for?
Reading someone else's mind but I think the author could've phrased it better: The ongoing deportation is concerning not because of the legitimacy or not of nation states. It's the abrupt voiding of existing policies (people being deported under conditions that should not have applied to them) & its normalization, and the possible damages to be inflicted upon American citizens in the process, e.g. if you require all aliens to carry their papers all the time and can be searched for any reason, in practice how could this be made distinguishable from racial profiling and prevented from individual abuses?
Anti-American is such a curious word. In authoritarian regimes political dissidents are never prosecuted as such, they are labeled as anti-$homeland. I've never thought the Americans have a taste for using it.
> The second amendment, and guns, means that is easier to defend myself and my family.
I thought the second amendment was meant to let citizens retain means to rebel a tyrannical government when the time comes, not to defend themselves from average armed robbery,
> Or that a smaller, weaker person can defend themselves and their property against a larger stronger person. They are the great equalizer.
What do you think modern policing and the whole institution around it is for?
> In authoritarian regimes political dissidents are never prosecuted as such
Huh?
Huh?
> opting into
What about those who never opted in, and are beholden to a system devised by slaveholders a quarter millennium ago?
What about those who never opted in, and are beholden to a system devised by slaveholders a quarter millennium ago?
Neither time nor slave holder status changes the fundamental principles or their correctness.
I've lived my whole life in America and I've read the Federalist papers, the Constitution, Locke, Voltaire, Paine, and Aristotle. I basically agree with all of the opinions you quoted from the article. If anything, your opposition to pluralistic viewpoints strikes me as more fundamentally anti-American than any of the viewpoints you cite from them.
Complaining about immigrants being not sufficiently American might be a long-standing American tradition, but so is immigrants coming despite that and integrating perfectly fine every time in the long term despite the fear-mongering about jobs and schools. Perfectly agreeing with every single law is not and should not a requirement for people to live in this country, whether they were born here or not.
Complaining about immigrants being not sufficiently American might be a long-standing American tradition, but so is immigrants coming despite that and integrating perfectly fine every time in the long term despite the fear-mongering about jobs and schools. Perfectly agreeing with every single law is not and should not a requirement for people to live in this country, whether they were born here or not.
Eric is an American. He was born in Canada. That makes him American, and there's nothing inherently anti-American about anything in his post.
>Eric is an American. He was born in Canada. That makes him American
This is false. Did you even bother to RTFA? The author states that he "can’t vote (not a US citizen)." He is not an American.
This is false. Did you even bother to RTFA? The author states that he "can’t vote (not a US citizen)." He is not an American.
Maybe they're being pedantic about "North American" which really isn't a thing that I've seen.
[deleted]
Agreed
I'm sorry, but this comes across to me (obviously, from my first two words, also a Canadian) as saying, "I don't want the inconvenience of doing anything, but I'll pay some money to assuage my guilt".
You may not be able to vote, but as a resident you can write (on paper!) to your representatives to express your concerns.
You can get in touch with grassroots movements that are doing things (not just protesting!) to resist the rise of fascism.
You can look at ways to harness your clearly exceptional business/technical talents. Improve communications privacy for the public? Crowdsource information about ICE/CBP movements and activities? Expose people or corporations who are collaborating with undemocratic practices?
From your vantage point, you would have a much better idea what options are available.
Yes, there are personal risks and costs, but you have chosen to live in a society that has been creeping slowly but visibly towards authoritarianism. You have benefitted handsomely from your position, maybe it's time to pay back the people who clean your offices and pick your produce for (often less than) minimum wage.
You may not be able to vote, but as a resident you can write (on paper!) to your representatives to express your concerns.
You can get in touch with grassroots movements that are doing things (not just protesting!) to resist the rise of fascism.
You can look at ways to harness your clearly exceptional business/technical talents. Improve communications privacy for the public? Crowdsource information about ICE/CBP movements and activities? Expose people or corporations who are collaborating with undemocratic practices?
From your vantage point, you would have a much better idea what options are available.
Yes, there are personal risks and costs, but you have chosen to live in a society that has been creeping slowly but visibly towards authoritarianism. You have benefitted handsomely from your position, maybe it's time to pay back the people who clean your offices and pick your produce for (often less than) minimum wage.