white boy abroad

WHITE BOY ABROAD
Before I start dazzling you with my brilliance and charm, the standard disclaimer to futilely ward off the legions of idiotic and politically correct brainwashed zombies into answering with remarks about what a cracker racist honky mo-fo I am. If I was a white supremist, my marriages to two Mexicans would have been cause for getting kicked out of the kluckers. I don't view skin color as anything other than a environmental mutation ( even if that theory has certain flaws to it, it is close enough for government work ) and race is nothing more than a tribal marker. Even though that is about as plain as you can get, I'm sure some moron is going to pipe up with something stupid. So let me just warn you now. That will end badly for you, your membership in the loyal minions possibly being canceled. At the very least, the board of directors will review your file and decide if your blog subscription cost should be raised.
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Before, when questions of escaping abroad were raised, I wrote that it was a very bad idea. I still feel that way. But because some new guy joins up and won't read the last seven hundred thousand words of my wisdom and memorize it, I have to cover the subject again ( okay, you got me. I would have repeated the subject again anyway when I ran out of other topics ). First off, going abroad is financially risky. If you are retired, you will see your Social Security dry up and then you are stranded in a foreign area with no way to earn money. You were tolerated, not because the farmers liked pasty white old guys in sandals and black socks hanging around drooling over five cent tacos but because you infused the local economy with mucho dinaro ( pardon the spelling, my Spanish is largely confined to cussing and food ). Without that large check from Uncle Sugar, you will quickly find yourself stealing eggs from the neighbors chickens and scampering off into the jungle to eat it raw ( assuming you can get away while on a walker ). I wouldn't even be surprised to see overseas retirees being the first one to have their benefits canceled. When the government goes broke, no one is safe. At the very least, your dollars buy less and less until you find Zimbabwean dollars buy more than American dollars. And if you have a job overseas, how long will that remain a safe bet?
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I don't know exactly how a collapse will unfold. Overseas jobs could be safer than domestic ones. But I also think it would be silly not to plan for the worse case scenario. If your American dollars are interrupted, would you be able to survive overseas? Perhaps you have a pretty good gig going. Perhaps you work as security at Saudi oil refineries. In that case, this article doesn't apply to you. I'm talking about otherwise useless people. If the current system crashes, and you become worthless, can you survive where you are? Obviously, old people on government checks become useless. Don't get your wrinkles out of shape. I know with my skills, I'm pretty worthless in a crashing money economy. I'm not much more than a minimum wage clerk/flunky. Do you have the skills to survive without American sent money? A businessman working overseas has very little value outside the money economy. And we all know the retirement system is in big trouble. Even a writer, say, living overseas will be in big trouble. In a functioning economy, yes, he has value. But in a crashing economy? I hope you get the picture. Outside of economics, there is the culture/language issue. You will be a stranger in a strange land.
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And of course, let's not forget our favorite subject of guns. In a lot of ways, owning guns is sort of a chicken/egg problem. What comes first, owning a gun for protection or owning a gun for protection because everyone else owns a gun. Yes, in polite society being armed makes everyone play nice. In a collapse, it is just more idiots being armed. I'm not saying you shouldn't be armed, or that going to a country that prohibits civilian ownership is a good idea. I'm mearly saying that here in this country, so many guns does mean self defense does become a bigger issue. Not because you won't be a target, but because so many more people will try to make you a target. Anyway, if you go overseas, more often than not you can't stay overly paranoid and heavily armed. Too many restruictions. At the very least, it will be like living in California. Every aspect of gun ownership will be taxed, regulated or prohibited. In the event of trouble, your guns will be taken quickly.
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So, many strikes against moving. No matter how bad things get here, you can still be armed, there are plenty of places to escape to, and you know the lay of the land. And you don't stick out amongst the natives. A few lucky ones can escape to former English colonies. Most of the rest of us will be white boys living with well tanned natives. You will stick out like the proverbial sore thumb. And, you will be hated. Way back in the day when I was in the military, I went to Hawaii. Yes, I know, be jealous. Another reason to envy me. My first duty station was Hawaii. And not the crap hole Scoffield where I would have to do real work in an infantry battalion ( that, unfortunately, came later in Korea ) but right next door at an Inscom unit. Field Station Kunia, if any of you are familiar with it. My first duty station was in paradise while the rest of my training unit got shipped off to nuke sites in Germany. Suckers. I quickly found out that all was not well in paradise however. Being a white boy, the natives didn't care for me much. And didn't try to hide their feelings. My squad leader was Japanese and had no problems assimilating into the local culture, so it wasn't a backlash at the military in general. I can't remember if I've shared that with you before. My apologies if I have. I do forget what I've blathered about before.
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Race marks your tribe. In a resource scarce time, tribes clash in a fight for resources. Simple. Not only will you be the odd white man out, you will also be from a country that somehow seems to be on everyone's crap list. Imagine that. Invading countries just like the Soviets did and we don't stay popular. All in all, I think staying put on your junk land in a beater trailer surrounded by dollar store crap is much better than running off to a foreign country where no one likes you and you can't earn a living, speak the language or hide very well.
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