>
>> please do not read my message as confrontational. being from another
>> place, i have often faced accusations of being "anti-american" when
>> i have critiqued the actions of the US govt or popular sentiment
>> here. but when a person on the "left" such as you or dabashi use the
>> term, i am curious about how you define it.
>
> God knows the U.S. deserves massive heaps of criticism, so I don't
> perceive what you say as confrontational (in the bad sense). What I
> think is necessary is some acknowledgment that the U.S., like capitalism
> itself, is full of contradictions, and global condemnations are just as
> unearned as global admiration.
>
> I'm curious, though. You're from someone else, and are here. Other folks
> on this list who are full of criticism of the U.S. were born elsewhere
> and are here. Why? Mainly for economic reasons? Family reasons? School
> reasons? Or is there something else that attracts you (plural) about
> U.S. society?
>
i dont think you imply it, but i will mention anyway that i am not full of criticism of the US. that said, on to the more interesting question of why i am here: i think its a valid question. unfortunately, the answer in my case is rather pedestrian. i came here to study (and thats because the education system is excellent in the US), and in a way started my adult life here, so i continue to stick around. there are also economic reasons: i can make good money here and send money back home etc. U.S society is also part of the reason: i admire what the enlightenment ideal seems to have achieved here, as justin might say, including giving me the opportunity to criticize it (which i do loudly if inconclusively - when i get a few seconds to collect my thoughts, i want to respond to justin's post on the thread about berlin and the critique of reason). also, i get to do some cool stuff with computer technology here... boring reasons!
i probably wont be here much longer as my work and stay permits run out... i will post then from wherever i am with whatever contrasts i see!
--ravi
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- man is said to be a rational animal. i do not know why he has not been defined as an affective or feeling animal. more often i have seen a cat reason than laugh or weep. perhaps it weeps or laughs inwardly - but then perhaps, also inwardly, the crab resolves equations of the 2nd degree. -- alasdair macintyre.