I don't know that much about German immigration, but many European countries are harder to get residence in than the US. Also, most people in HK speak at least some English but hardly anybody speaks German. I doubt it would be much of an "easier go" except for people working in high paid jobs in desirable fields (who would probably go to the US or Canada).
It's not that special of a case. For as much as people in the US complain about their government, most of the world is much worse.
Edit: To be perfectly clear, I mean no disrespect to anyone who teaches at a community college. It is valuable and important work.
But I think it’s fair to say that people going into a Phd program, and dedicating 6-10 years of their life to working themselves ragged as the OP describes, are not doing so with the hope that they may one day teach at a community college. So, holding that up and saying “See, they had a perfectly fine outcome from getting a PhD, they got to teach at a community college!” is just disingenuous.
Community college? Come on, be serious. I mean jobs in which people can have an actual academic career, i.e. be published and have an impact on their discipline.
So, I’m very skeptical of “secret Nazi dog whistle” nonsense.
If something is incorrect, it sufficient to say that it’s incorrect, and explain why. Claiming something is a secret dog whistle for Nazis just means that you don’t have any credible refutation about its correctness.
Just so you know, most of that “nazi dog whistle” stuff (like the ok sign) was fabricated by trolls on 4chan. So maybe think for yourself a little before you go accusing people of things based on Internet hearsay.
Just so you know, I have no interest in or affiliation with any sort of nazism. What does 88 have to do with anything?
For the record, I originally made this throwaway to criticize the CCP’s oppression of Hong Kong (hence “hk”). 8 is a lucky number in Chinese.
As for throwaways, maybe look at the fact that any questioning of the currently predominant racism leads to accusations of nazism, and see if that explains why people might want to make their objections anonymously.
You may not be aware of this, but university professors tend to hold their jobs for a very long time, often 30, 40, or even 50 years. So if you look at a department now, that means that the people there were hired possibly decades ago and do not reflect current hiring practices
You should instead look at recent hires. Or have a look at the recent MacArthur Grant awardees in the humanities.
Not mentioned here, but if you want an academic job in the humanities, in the US, don't be white. Universities have adopted explicitly racist hiring policies for the time being.
The difference is that the UK government does not round up citizens who criticize it and send them to re-education/torture camps. So, people are a little less upset about being under UK rule.
The CCP isn't going to stop with Hong Kong. The US needs to get its act together, stop flagellating itself about race, and present a viable opposition before it's too late.
It's not that special of a case. For as much as people in the US complain about their government, most of the world is much worse.