Leaving America... Ideas?

[the makeout hobo]

So I'm working on a series of stories right now that I've tentatively labeled "yankeetown". The concept is that for whatever reason, Americans are forced to emigrate our country en mass, setting up immigrant communities in a variety of different countries. I got the idea when I went to San Francisco a few weeks ago, and ended up visiting Chinatown and Japantown.

Now I have a few ideas for various stories, but I can't think of a good reason why large numbers of Americans would emigrate. It's really not in our nature; America is where you go, not where you leave. I mean, for all their bluster, was there really any sort of actual immigration to Canada? Not really. We may move around our country, but we don't leave it. So I need a good catalyst for emigration for my stories. Any ideas? Also, please keep things as apolitical as possible. I'm not writing overtly political stories, and this thread isn't here to discuss Obama, Bush, the Dems, the GOP, or anything. I'll ignore any overtly political post here.

Thank you.

 

[americanwoman]

zombies?

....

 

[the makeout hobo]

zombies?

....

:mrgreen:
Zombies are awesome, don't get me wrong, but that'd be a slightly different sort of story. One with lots of explosions, last stands, and oh so many weapons.

 

[Kalle]

you emigrate t o search for spiriitual leader.thiis i s what i would do.

 

[the makeout hobo]

you emigrate t o search for spiriitual leader.thiis i s what i would do.

First of all kalle, it's usually a good idea to proofread your texts. It makes them easier to read. Secondly, that wouldn't lead to the mass emigration I need.

Some ideas I've thrown around are huge disasters like Yellowstone erupting or nuclear attacks, or complete economic breakdown... but both have their problems. We're just too big of a country...

 

[bub]

So I'm working on a series of stories right now that I've tentatively labeled "yankeetown". The concept is that for whatever reason, Americans are forced to emigrate our country en mass, setting up immigrant communities in a variety of different countries. I got the idea when I went to San Francisco a few weeks ago, and ended up visiting Chinatown and Japantown.

Now I have a few ideas for various stories, but I can't think of a good reason why large numbers of Americans would emigrate. It's really not in our nature; America is where you go, not where you leave. I mean, for all their bluster, was there really any sort of actual immigration to Canada? Not really. We may move around our country, but we don't leave it. So I need a good catalyst for emigration for my stories. Any ideas? Also, please keep things as apolitical as possible. I'm not writing overtly political stories, and this thread isn't here to discuss Obama, Bush, the Dems, the GOP, or anything. I'll ignore any overtly political post here.

Thank you.

illness, supervolcano, tsunami, tornadoes, civil war, religious war...

civil war could be cool

 

[Caine]

First of all kalle, it's usually a good idea to proofread your texts. It makes them easier to read. Secondly, that wouldn't lead to the mass emigration I need.

Some ideas I've thrown around are huge disasters like Yellowstone erupting or nuclear attacks, or complete economic breakdown... but both have their problems. We're just too big of a country...

I think you've found your answer.

The jobs keep leaving here, so it would make sense that people eventually start leaving here, like with Mexico.

P.S. its kind of political, but you brought it up, and its one of the better ways of starting your emigration that doesn't lead to your story being about some disaster rather than just people leaving and setting up a new in a different place.

 

[the makeout hobo]

I think you've found your answer.

The jobs keep leaving here, so it would make sense that people eventually start leaving here, like with Mexico.

P.S. its kind of political, but you brought it up, and its one of the better ways of starting your emigration that doesn't lead to your story being about some disaster rather than just people leaving and setting up a new in a different place.

I know, I guess I just have to find a good way for my story to have an economic breakdown without indicating any one side or ideology.

 

[bub]

First of all kalle, it's usually a good idea to proofread your texts.

Maybe she's drunk

About your emigration...you should think about why people fled from various other countries and arrived in the USA

-> religious persecution => unlikely to happen

-> economic reasons => why not? Some economies have totally collapsed in history, like Germany in 1920's. But as you said, it's not very likely neither

-> civil war => why would there be a new war?

 

[Caine]

I know, I guess I just have to find a good way for my story to have an economic breakdown without indicating any one side or ideology.

Jobs.

Its been going on for a while now and its not based on a particular political ideology, just how things are going.

 

[Caine]

-> civil war => why would there be a new war?

The south will rise again. :mrgreen:

 

[the makeout hobo]

Maybe some sort of natural disaster hits at the wrong time, leading to economic breakdown. Hits the country when the economy is at its weakest, like in late 2008... I think a big enough disaster then, like a Katrina-size hurricane hitting NYC, could lead to full break-down.

 

[bub]

Maybe some sort of natural disaster hits at the wrong time, leading to economic breakdown. Hits the country when the economy is at its weakest, like in late 2008... I think a big enough disaster then, like a Katrina-size hurricane hitting NYC, could lead to full break-down.

I read once that one of the canary island is an old volcano, and that if it collapsed there would be a giand tsunami that would destroy the east coast. That could be good!

 

[the makeout hobo]

I read once that one of the canary island is an old volcano, and that if it collapsed there would be a giand tsunami that would destroy the east coast. That could be good!

Ooh, I'd forgotten about that. Another big one is that the super-volcano under Yellowstone could erupt, which would be equally bad. I think I'm getting a good feel on how to do things...

 

[Coronado]

Maybe some sort of natural disaster hits at the wrong time, leading to economic breakdown. Hits the country when the economy is at its weakest, like in late 2008... I think a big enough disaster then, like a Katrina-size hurricane hitting NYC, could lead to full break-down.

Maybe you could have a series of smaller disasters hit simultaneously. Crop failure caused by drought in the Great Plains, two major hurricanes hit the Gulf Coast, The Big One hits California, the New Madrid fault goes off again, a really bad winter in the Northeast, and so on. I would say that is more believable than one mega disaster.

There's also plenty of man-made disasters that are apolitical. Let's say the Wolf Creek Generating Station in Kansas goes critical and shoots nuclear ash into the jet stream. That could contaminate land for hundreds of miles. Or perhaps the Ogallala Aquifer becomes somehow polluted and unusable.

Just brainstorming a bit here.

 

[bub]

Ooh, I'd forgotten about that. Another big one is that the super-volcano under Yellowstone could erupt, which would be equally bad. I think I'm getting a good feel on how to do things...

the problem with the super volcano is that it would have consequences worldwide...the whole worlds economy would be ruined, as the giant cloud would prevent the sun light from entering the atmosphere.

On the contrary, the tsunami would destroy most of Manhattan and hit all the US coastal cities (= the most important ones), that would cost billions etc...but that would not hit the European or Asian coasts

 

[bub]

Or also a major nuclear accident...could be a nuclear plant exploding near NYC and killing a few millions of people, or also a nuclear bomb dropped accidentally over Washington (that has already happened over Groenland), or a nuclear bomber crashing (that has already happened off Spain) etc...

 

[Voidwar]

Very neat idea makeout hobo. . . and also . . . High Five !

If I might join the brainstorm . . .

Natural disaster in Hawaii could cause mass exodus, and a large chunk of the local ethnically japanese population might move together to Japan for story based or social reasons, as a group. American Japanese creating Joekyo ?

 

[Catz Part Deux]

So I'm working on a series of stories right now that I've tentatively labeled "yankeetown". The concept is that for whatever reason, Americans are forced to emigrate our country en mass, setting up immigrant communities in a variety of different countries. I got the idea when I went to San Francisco a few weeks ago, and ended up visiting Chinatown and Japantown.

Now I have a few ideas for various stories, but I can't think of a good reason why large numbers of Americans would emigrate. It's really not in our nature; America is where you go, not where you leave. I mean, for all their bluster, was there really any sort of actual immigration to Canada? Not really. We may move around our country, but we don't leave it. So I need a good catalyst for emigration for my stories. Any ideas? Also, please keep things as apolitical as possible. I'm not writing overtly political stories, and this thread isn't here to discuss Obama, Bush, the Dems, the GOP, or anything. I'll ignore any overtly political post here.

Thank you.

Actually, large numbers of Americans are currently immigrating to Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean to retire, because it is so much cheaper there than here. There are little settlements of retirees on the Mexican coast (particularly on the gulf coast), the Honduras, Costa Rica, and other Central American nations.

 

[Catz Part Deux]

The south will rise again. :mrgreen:

The south is already kicking the the ass of the north, economically speaking.

 

[OxymoronP]

In the year 1980 a child was born to in a poor family in a Navajo reservation. At the age of 8 he had already read the combined works of Sun Tzu, Clausewitz and Machievelli. Because of his exceptional smarts he got a scholarship from Yale, finishing top of his class. After 9/11 he joined the military, but was soon disenfranchised by what he saw as White imperialism and the indiscriminate killing of the brown man. When he came back a hardened war veteran he started planning his revenge. Slowly he organized the Native tribes, arming themselves without increasing suspicion. This was done with an Alliance with the Mexican Mafia. After they finalized the plans with Minister Farakan, the Race war had begun. On August 25 2009 a wide urban offensive was begun, taking out the Congress as it was in session, the Supreme court, and many other Goverment ministeries, the President taken hostage. The Pentagon was hit by multiple Mortar shells, but managed to hold of the assault. In majour cities across the US, the uprising was succeful and the so called "Red Dawn" being led by Sitting Pork was now in control.

 

[Oftencold]

Genetically modified beans.

They taste like grilled steak, but have all the other unfortunate problems associated with large-scale cunsumption of ordinary beans. People then flee the country for fresh air.

 

[the makeout hobo]

In the year 1980 a child was born to in a poor family in a Navajo reservation. At the age of 8 he had already read the combined works of Sun Tzu, Clausewitz and Machievelli. Because of his exceptional smarts he got a scholarship from Yale, finishing top of his class. After 9/11 he joined the military, but was soon disenfranchised by what he saw as White imperialism and the indiscriminate killing of the brown man. When he came back a hardened war veteran he started planning his revenge. Slowly he organized the Native tribes, arming themselves without increasing suspicion. This was done with an Alliance with the Mexican Mafia. After they finalized the plans with Minister Farakan, the Race war had begun. On August 25 2009 a wide urban offensive was begun, taking out the Congress as it was in session, the Supreme court, and many other Goverment ministeries, the President taken hostage. The Pentagon was hit by multiple Mortar shells, but managed to hold of the assault. In majour cities across the US, the uprising was succeful and the so called "Red Dawn" being led by Sitting Pork was now in control.

Ummm.... No. Take your race fears somewhere else.



This is what I've come up with so far, that I think I'm going to start working from. We're in the middle of a bad economic downturn, like we're in now. After a few years of bad weather, harvests and water are low. Then, we have a horrible hurricane season like we had a few years back. This culminates in Hurricane Jerome, a level 5 hurricane that hits New York City, flooding Manhattan and devastating much of the city. Our economy pretty much buckles and collapses under the weight of all this. To make this worse, a new virus (to be determined), is able to proliferate in the run down conditions that this lead to, and since the economy is in shambles, only the lucky or the rich are able to get any sort of real treatment for it at all. This emergence of pestilence, a "third-world" problem, is what finally sparks off mass emigration.

 

[OxymoronP]

Ummm.... No. Take your race fears somewhere else.

Ever hear of fiction writing? Or do you suppose Steven King is a crazed psycho killer?

This is what I've come up with so far, that I think I'm going to start working from. We're in the middle of a bad economic downturn, like we're in now. After a few years of bad weather, harvests and water are low. Then, we have a horrible hurricane season like we had a few years back. This culminates in Hurricane Jerome, a level 5 hurricane that hits New York City, flooding Manhattan and devastating much of the city. Our economy pretty much buckles and collapses under the weight of all this. To make this worse, a new virus (to be determined), is able to proliferate in the run down conditions that this lead to, and since the economy is in shambles, only the lucky or the rich are able to get any sort of real treatment for it at all. This emergence of pestilence, a "third-world" problem, is what finally sparks off mass emigratio

Hurrican Jerome? Now who is race baiting :lol:

 

[the makeout hobo]

Ever hear of fiction writing? Or do you suppose Steven King is a crazed psycho killer?

Either way, that'd turn it into a civil war story, not the diaspora story I want to tell.

Hurrican Jerome? Now who is race baiting :lol:

Against who? The british?