Monday, February 21, 2011

More Politics?

There are a couple of times I try to avoid discussing religion and politics.
  • Around people I don't know
  • In this blog
Cross
Not a popular conversation topic
Photo by Glen Van Etten
The latter might seem ridiculous as this post rather puts the lie to that, but for those who know me, it makes sense. I blog relentlessly about politics (and sometimes religion) because it's an important topic to me. However, I deliberately tried to avoid topics like this in this blog because this is more of a "how to", but as I've mentioned before, my wife has pointed out to me that people will want to know why they want to move somewhere as much as they want to know how. Thus, without some discussion of culture, this blog would be rather limited. Plus, I like religion and politics, so there you go. From now on, I'll be dipping my toes into the political waters a bit more often. You've been warned.

As mentioned, I try to avoid discussion religion and politics around people I don't know simply because I don't want to offend and — unlike the computer enthusiast who assumes random stranger X is going to be fascinated by a particular bash script said enthusiast wrote — I don't assume people have my interests (sadly, this often leaves me in a position with little to say). However, lunch at my workplace is fascinating. Last I heard, we have over 90 nationalities working there and with just over 2,000 employees, that's a remarkable number. It also leads to fascinating conversations at work — well, when people of different languages don't split off to their own groups as sometimes happens. Thus, when the topic turned to Catholicism, my internal voice said "danger, Will Robinson!", but I was astonished at the response. Several people there were Catholic. All of them stated they were ashamed of their church.

I actually have more to say on this topic, but my daughter woke up and must be fed and changed and she's more important than this blog :) Thus, my discussion of Catholicism in Europe must wait for another day.

3 comments:

  1. The religious and political environments of an area, a country, have a major affect on liveability.

    Discussion of them or at the least provide pointers to discussions is as important as information about jobs and work permits.

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  2. @Michael: thanks. I've been concerned that I'll put readers off. I already know of a couple who have disliked some of the political/economic discussion here. However, I suspect that if someone can't handle discussion of differences of opinion or belief, I suspect they can't handle living in another country :)

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  3. I think the discussion (rather than the opinion of) religion is a very valid reason as to why someone may or may not want to relocate to a certain country/region. For me, the Catholic junta in Latin America, frankly, is a bit scary to me. I haven't looked much into Mexico or much of Latin America because I feel that not being Catholic may be a problem there. I speak Spanish, so the language isn't an issue. It is intolerance of 'others' that may be an issue.

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