Re: [tlug] [WAY-OT] US politics: Dog bites man [1]

[jep200404 <jep200404@example.com>]

"Daniel A. Ramaley" wrote:

> I realize the US has a very long arm[*], but it strikes me as 
> odd that the *Tokyo* LUG so often focuses on *US* politics.

Maybe you have heard talk in ther US media, especially around the 
2004 elections, of folks so upset with US politics, that they say 
they will move to Canada. Maybe you've heard such talk in person. 
Most of them are just blowing off steam, but some do leave the US. 
Some go to Japan. 

Amongst the reasons for living outside one's country, 
is unhappiness with it. Moving to a foreign country, 
(leaving one's family and friends behind, struggling with a 
different language), is a big change, one not taken lightly. 
Expatriation is a filter. Folks who feel strongly enough to 
move abroad, are likely to keep talking about their reasons for 
moving. Expat communities are likely to have a higher 
concentration of such folks than the home country. 

So that an English language forum in a foreign country has 
folks discussing the politics of their English language home 
country is not only not surprising, but to be expected, 
especially if it's about not being happy with the politics back home. 
The US so dominates the population of native English speakers [2], 
so that one can expect many of such discussions to be about 
US politics. 

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_bites_dog_(journalism)
[2] http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:English_dialects1997.svg
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language#Geographical_distribution