I’m looking over my options in fleeing for safety as things get worse down here. I am considering joining friends in Oregon but that might not safe enough. I’m gay, atheist, have a college degree (not in anything useful, however), and am everything the nazi’s down here hate.
I need to get out.
I know you guys are justifiably pissed at us Americans right now, but if I were to try and move to Canada (and I have no idea how I could possibly do such a thing in time) would I be welcomed there? Would I be safe? Or would I be seen as an aggressor or threat of some sort?
I need to get out of here but if it means going somewhere everyone will hate me I might not be any better off.
Personally, I have no use for any American anymore. Stay the fuck out is my only thought.
Where have I seen this rhetoric before?
Oh, the US government.
But I get it.
Try and apply as a refugee.
I suggest going to Southeast Asia instead. tickets are a couple hundred, everybody is really cool about genders and pretty much everything else there, everything is cheap, you can live indefinitely on tourist visas and if you need money you can always teach English.
aside from being a native English speaker, you don’t need any.
The school will provide the curriculum, training, you’ll get to shadow a teacher for a few days and you’ll have an assistant in class to wrangle the students, so all you have to do is speak English in a native accent for 20 minutes at a time.
you can also watch any number of YouTube videos to learn what teaching English is like, or you can choose from hundreds of other remote jobs If you don’t want to teach.
as long as you make a few hundred a month, you can survive comfortably in Southeast Asia.
hostels are $100 a month, 200 a month for food is enough.
If you’re making 500 usd a month, you can get a private place for $250 or $300, and keep the same food budget.
This is not entirely true. Malaysia and other countries have very conservative laws and social policies. Also, the English teaching industry is not what it was in the early 2000s. Most countries now have enough of their own English speaking population, and the.standards for foreign teachers have increased as a result. Even Vietnam requires a TESL diploma, which requires a degree to take. Any school that would employ someone illegally is not an employer to seek out as they (unsurprisingly) do illegal things in their workplace. Risk of deportation, the school being shut down, not getting paid, etc, is very high. Do not work illegally in another country.
“This is not entirely true.”
I’ll check.
“Malaysia…English teaching industry…Most countries…standards…VIetnam requires…employ illegally…risk…very high”
yea, solid disclaimer, most of that looks less than entirely true. Honestly, a lot of that is barely half true.
real quick: ESL is still booming in April 2025 with thousands of currently available ESL positions, pay rates are higher than ever, outpacing inflation significantly, the requirements are about the same as they were 15 years ago; native english fluency, college degree or TEFL certificate sometimes required based on the position and location for 25 hours of teaching a week, not including the breaktimes each class.
Most countries certainly do not have enough of an english speaking population to have affected the ESL market, hence the thousands of currently available ESL postings and dozens of platforms for teaching online.
Vietnam does not require “TESL diplomas” to teach English.
Coming from a trans person in Oregon who got my passport changed last year out of paranoia, I wonder if you’re overreacting. I think Oregon and other states like Washington, California, and northeastern states are friendly to lgbt folk, and it will be a hard fight if Trump wants to stop us from having rights. Portland is a metro area friendly to lgbt, and if you have no income, you can get on the Oregon health plan for free healthcare. I’m worried about you saying that you don’t want to get on meds because you are afraid of the withdrawals. Of course you should make the decision you think is best, but isn’t it better to have good mental health now rather than have bad MH in the hopes of avoiding your fear sometime in the future? Take care of yourself, remember that there is no certainty in life, there are risks in exposing yourself as mentally unhealthy, but there are also risks in not getting the help you need.
The exposure is deliberate. If you keep secrets they can be used to blackmail or discredit you later. If everybody already knows something it’s more difficult to weaponize against you.
The illusion of a fine upstanding pretty perfect little muusemuuse is unimportant to me. I need to be safe, not to impress people.
Getting mental health help now works against me in multiple ways. First, it creates a dependency on a support structure that can’t travel. Therapists are in short supply and high demand. Psych medications can be taken away at any time and their sudden absence would effectively paralyze me. I’m actually at a rather strange advantage having finally adjusted to their absence. I’m miserable, I’m scared, but I haven’t lost touch with reality. I understand what’s real and what isn’t. I don’t hear voices or hallucinate. I don’t have violent tendencies. There’s just no compelling reason to put myself in greater danger by getting mental health help in red state USA in 2025.
Making things public like this also limits me. I’m more likely to be guided toward a better outcome. The majority of people are still good. They still want to help eachother. Even on the Internet there’s enough good there to help me. And if I should deteriorate significantly further, this acts as a failsafe for that too. People won’t notice a gradual decline but something sudden will raise alarms.
My friends and family are incredibly worried about me but right now is that’s what I need.
Strength is in connections. It seems like you have some friends in Ohio. Rely on them while you’re there. It looks like from some of your posts that you are thinking of moving to Oregon. If you do, find a good community and get connected. Like I said, Oregon is less likely to fall to Trump than other states. I think OHP is less risky, and I would advise using the free healthcare and taking meds if they help you. Most meds can also be titrated down instead of quitting cold turkey. Plus have you researched grey market meds online? There aren’t enough therapists, it’s true, but at least here in Oregon, you can go to a county run mental health outpatient facility and get a therapist with maybe a month of waiting time. I know this because I am a therapist myself, or will be when I finish school.
The point behind the meds is I can’t always predict when I won’t be able to get them and I can keep going on and off psych meds. Medication treatment only makes sense for people in stable environments. I’m not in one.
My friends here are bummed by my being a downer lately to the point that some now avoid me. So I can’t rely on them being around either. I’m going to have to improve myself and survive however I can.
The path to fascism is lined with people telling others to stop overreacting
Also portland has a very strong leftist community so, if you want to find community, it’s got lots of opportunity to not be alone.
I think OHP requires residency, no? Is it 6mo?
I’m in Oregon. Applying and being accepted to be Canadian will take a long time, my friend. You are welcome in Oregon in the meantime. We are a bastion at the moment but just like the rest of the decent states, we are going to have our rights eroded by the dick-tator and muskrat.
Now if only Canada would offer to take the PNW off the orange cancer’s hands. Pretend like your doing him a favor lol
