Comment by Voultapher
15 hours ago
> Then, in April 1996 - by which time I’d expatriated to the Kingdom of Tonga
It annoys me every time I read the word expat and its derivatives. You became an immigrant, by emigrating to the Kingdom of Tonga. Only because you are white and rich doesn't change the concept of emigration to warrant a word with less stigma.
Immigration is a tricky subject with many nuances, pretending otherwise i.e. driving the immigration = bad line and calling immigration that affects ourselves or that we don't find objectionable expatriation is disingenuous and hinders good quality discourse about the topic.
Oh man, who said the author was white? And why would this even matter for this post? I can't believe how some people manage to bring up the race issue in any possible context, regardless if it's relevant or not.
For me it's not a race issue, it's an observation that I've only ever seen white people call themselves expats. I had guessed given the silicon valley, wealth background and posting on HN, that the author was white, and a quick image search confirms my assumption.
Since I don't want to derail the discussion I'll leave it at this and here this food for thought if you haven't confronted the topic give it a chance. A compelling definition of privilege is "Not having to think about X". Not having to think about the price of groceries is or more clearly the inverse of having to is symptomatic of poverty. Similarly, not having to think about one's skin color is a form of privilege. That's why many find it offensive to bring up, because normally they aren't confronted with it. How many times did we get suspicious looks because we are white? s/white/black and hopefully you see the point.
If he was writing to the people of the Kingdom of Tonga, it might make sense to describe himself as an immigrant. If his audience is largely American, though, the story is much more clear with "expat".
Yep.
"Goodbye, USA friend, I am emigrating to Tonga so I won't see you again."
"Hello my new Tongan neighbor! I am an immigrant to your beautiful country."
"Hey, buddies at my high school reunion, I'm doing great thanks! I am an expat living in Tonga these days."
"Emigrant" exists but almost unused (perhaps other than in specialist policy writing.) "Expat" is the common agent noun for "Emigrate."