Close Reading

I've grown up in suburbs all my life, when I was a kid I would play outside with other children, but I do not see this happening now with the children of this day. I too now spend almost all of my time indoors, it has become increasingly easy to live like this. My neighbors are the same way, nobody knows each others names in the neighborhood. I am very grateful for the immense comfort and privilege that my background has provided for me, but you come to realize that American culture is gross and inhuman, materialistic and plastic, very lonely. I long to see the other ways of life on this planet when I have the means to travel\n\nIn the last 15 years especially, the westerners (at least in North America) have all retreated to their caves, their eyes fixated on the shadows on the walls of the cave. Reality passes them by and they waste their life, the most they can hope for to ease the loneliness is a friendship over Discord (but in the end this only contributes to them spending more time indoors). \n\nNorth Americans are moving towards a never ending stream of escapism through consumerism. First it was TV, then video games, next is virtual reality. They will be enveloped in a 24/7 stream of hyperreality, forever overstimulated and oblivious to the real world.

Canada is what you make of it. You can arrive rich and end up poor and you can arrive poor and end up rich. In between that, you can have a great life that balances your needs. I’ve seen immigrants succeed simply because they see the opportunity in front of them . They worked hard in their own counties to stay just above the poverty line ,but when they apply that same effort here it pays off ten times greater. I feel that compared to a lot of immigrants, natural born Canadians come across as spoiled and a little lazy…we are. We haven’t had to struggle the same way someone from a poorer country might have. I’ve talked to people who’ve worked ten to twelve hours a day just to stay afloat. If you did that here you could make plenty of money to live and have some left over. As far as owning a house goes,yes it’s expensive . I feel that homeownership in any country is relatively expensive. Here is a tip; use that soaring home prices to your advantage. Houses are expensive but you can make a lot of money buying and selling. I recommend putting together a buyers group and share the house for a few years, then sell at a profit, buy a bigger house or two smaller houses.try to buy the worst house in the best neighbourhood and fix it up slowly . That house could double in value in five or six years in the Toronto market. This is nothing new of course ,the people from India and China seem to do this a lot here ,it drives up prices and profits. On the downside to this ,you are now part of the problem. As the housing prices are driven up the non wealthy can no longer afford to own a house . They are at the mercy of high rents with no rewards of ownership. They are caught in a cycle of hard work and (relative)poverty. This could also be you if you can’t keep up the house payments and are forced to rent.\nHow well you speak English is important but your native language is also useful here because Canada is half immigrants . As a Canadian that speaks only english (Irish descent)I have to say to all newcomers that I’m very impressed that you have learned a new language and that you may even speak more than two! Don’t be embarrassed about your abilities . I find that in my experience , Canadians do not look down on people just because they don’t know English. In fact ,I’ve known people that have lived here for decades and still know very little English. They are comfortable in their communities and they function just fine. Learn as much English as suits your needs and be proud of any gains you make.\nOutside of Toronto are other cities that you might consider when looking at southern Ontario.From my experience,most are generally the same, just not as big . There are large immigrant communities in London Ontario, Hamilton and just outside of Toronto where housing is just a little bit less expensive but the commute to work is probably longer. This is just my opinion but in the small towns there are less people of colour , (which is what people of no colour call everyone else . I wonder if I’m called a person of no colour in some other culture ? LoL ). That might make it harder for you to feel integrated ,if that’s what you want. I’m not saying that people from other cultures can’t make it in a small town , I’m just saying that it’s definitely not Toronto . Here, people of any nationality can feel like they have a place where they can belong . It seems that no matter where you are from ,there is a community already here that’s set up restaurants and stores and clothing shops and newcomer support systems. And if your from Portugal or China or India or Africa or the Middle East, there are large groups of your kin here that have established roots for generations and you probably know this already.\nToronto means meeting place and that becomes evident quickly. I was born here and it’s one of the things I love the most about my city. I’m not going to say that there isn’t systemic racism here ,the people of no colour still kind of keep the top position , but as we become a minority in a decade or so ,I hope that will shift to a broader spectrum. It’s certainly happening already. One good thing is that the police department tries to hire people of colour so that racialism may play a smaller role. We’re getting used to seeing our politicians more and more reflect their constituents.\nI have to talk about the weather. Because I’m from here I’m used to the extremes of minus thirty and plus thirty . Eventually you get used to it (somewhat). Dressing in the right clothes is important. Summer is easy , but winter is different. It’s trying to kill you. Spend the most that you can afford on winter cloths . If you can afford a quality parka you should get one. The hood can be drawn around the face and stay out of the wind.\nIf not ,think of layers with a outer layer that blocks the wind. We have things called long Johns that are basically full length thick cotton or nylon pants that go on under your pants and a pair of extra thick socks. Buy your boots to fit your thick socks. Try to get the best boots you can afford ,it’s something that you might spend a little extra for but never regret.\nAll in all we are a fairly organized and peaceful society. Most people are friendly and will give you a chance . We have a good social safety net here and you don’t have to be homeless or starving if you don’t want to. There are people and organizations set up to help ,that truly try to get people back on their feet. It’s a good investment that pays off in ways that matter for the quality of life in a big city. I’m not putting my American neighbours down when I say they do things differently. They have their ways ,we have ours. This is just something that we do because we’re trying to learn how to help those that society has discarded or can’t find their place. Sure we have one or two areas where the homeless have pitched tents and we have some resources for them if they want. Unfortunately The mayor recently forced a small camp to move from a very visible place to more scattered locations. There were social workers involved as well as protesters trying to protect them. I didn’t like that happening and I want to see even more resources dedicated to them ,but on the other hand ,we are trying to avoid something like what happens on the streets when it’s just ignored. When I see YouTube videos of the streets of Philadelphia I’m extremely saddened. I thank the lucky stars that I was born in Toronto Canada.\nFor all it’s pollution and expense and crowds ,I think it’s a great place to do almost anything your heart desires . For every ugly building there is a beautiful park ,for every honked horn there is a birds call , for every cold and dark day there is beautiful sunny one around the corner.

actually, having worked in real estate sales for a brief part of my life, im pretty sure the amount of racism isnt as exaggerated as portrayed. what is happening is the sales person has deemed the first customer very likely to rent the apartment, so to avoid having to reject/ conflict another customer, the later customer looking at the same apartment is quoted a slightly higher price to deter him from deciding on the apartment. also why the first customer is offered 2 apartments to look at while the 2nd customer looking for the same criteria is only offered one.

Same happening in the UK.\n\n\nDozens of illegal migrants are given coronavirus tests before being detained by immigration officers in Dover as 169 people are intercepted trying to cross the English Channel\n\nThe migrants were on six boats and they were taken to the Port of Dover today\n\nBefore being handed to immigration officers, they were tested for coronavirus \n\nNHS IS DOOMED!

The govt. should have given a thought over before providing shelters to these people.... Still the same is happening in canada... Instance is huge number of Syrians are being taken to Canada

Silly citizen people, don't you know who is really making money off of these illegals, money laundered to them from this scam that's why they only get a slap on the wrist cause they want the scam and fraud to continue so they keep getting that laundered money, same thing happening in USA. This corruption is so deep I'll never see a change in my life time. People go into Politics brook but come out Millionairs. Who do you think owns and has big shares in Prisons of course Politicians, the list goes on and on.

And I bet that the same thing is happening in usa but the government is ignoring because they have so much power they only target Hispanic people

This is not the first time this is happening. In another meeting a woman did the same, never said hes not a muslim but asked the woman to be loving and stop the hatred.

Number one she's a complete f****** liar. Number two she's using stats that are not verified by any government agency anywhere. But you didn't notice they get the same benefits as Canadian citizens. Which is all the welfare that can digest. Here in the United States they get permanent residency and citizenship right away. Once they get refugee status they never have to work a day in their life in this country they will be funded in full by the American taxpayer. Then they will sponsor all the relatives. They're five sisters which are really their wives. This is what people are not understanding what's going on. Looking what's happening in Dearborn Michigan cured in 10 years the population has quadrupled. It does not even look like an American city anymore

This is happening in Australia but we've become a soft target ,try doing the same thing in China and you'd be locked up for life if not executed .Anyone whose visited China will know that scamming is a way of life .You get into a taxi and you receive counterfeit change back , you buy 3Kg of apples and when you get home it only weighs 2.5 kg . And if you happen to get married to a Chines citizen you cannot become one and your visa has to be renewed every 3 years or revoked and you have to leave.

this is the same thing happening at our border someone told them to come here “we let you right in”... oh you dead wrong about that

Its a shame they are all going to be deported once Conservatives win same as is happening in the UK & Germany

These are the lies people are telling all of South America. The South American politicians are guilty of this also, because they want that money pouring in from the U.S and Canada. It sustains their regimes.\nI will keep stating this on every site I go to.\nFor years the U.S allowed this to happen and they fueled it. They turned a blind eye to it (Both parties) and then the Democrats (during Obama's admin) saw their way to flood the U.S with more of these card carrying socialists.\nThey started to disperse these families to states that nobody really cares about. Idaho, North Dakota to name a couple. They can turn these purple districts into Blue districts. They can start affecting the outcomes of local elections which funnel up to State Governorship and eventually Senators and Congressmen. It's the long play to turn America Socialist and it's been 20+ years and we are starting to see it in local elections.\nWhen they were trying to get the numbers of how many illegal Immigrants are in the U.S. the Democrats keep spewing numbers like less than 1 million. Well the numbers are in it's over 10 MILLION!\nWhen cases started popping up a couple of years ago about children being struck by strange diseases the news kept a very low profile. But in actuality it's happening more and more.\nHere is what you need to do. Go to your local schools to see what the makeup of the classes are if you see a cluster of South Americans there is your vector.\nhttps://www.cnn.com/2014/09/07/health/respiratory-virus-midwest/index.html\nhttps://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/mysterious-polio-illness-paralyzing-u-s-children-n658766\nIt's not a racist to point this out, these Countries have little to no healthcare for their children. The same situation happened to Soldiers who served in Iraq. They would get what they called the Iraqi funk.\nhttps://www.nap.edu/read/11765/chapter/6\nJust as Christopher Columbus brought over diseases from Europe and killed of the native Indians of the Caribbean Islands and latter to the Americas the South Americans are doing the same but it's not at Alarming levels, well at least the numbers are not high enough to warrant a spot on the evening news. By the time they report on it, it's too late.\nSocialists are rising up in the U.S. By the time the next US Presidential election comes up you will see more of these vermin infect the narrative in the U.S

Nice video, Derek. I'm gonna add something you didn't even mention. Here in the U.S., there is the Patriot Act, and a growing Police State. Our liberties and Constitutional rights are being trampled by the day. Our privacy is being lost at an alarming rate, and there are more checkpoints than ever before, tighter security measures at airports than ever before, metal detectors even at high schools for students just to attend class, and worst of all shootings of innocent people by cops (often homeless, mentally ill, etc.) than ever before. I don't know for sure, but I don't think Canada has the degree of the same problems, and if they do, they certainly aren't at the magnitude that they are happening here in the states. Those shootings are about 2,000-3,000 just in the last year!! Please be careful, especially in California, and know your U.S. Constitutional rights if/when you get stopped on the road or anywhere else.