#expat Vs #Immigrant – I respond to the common questions and generalisations about the use of the terms expat and immigrant, point out the privilege and racism behind the word expat, and explain the irony of why I still use it because of YouTube algorithms.

If you’d prefer to watch the video, click the pic below

Let’s dive straight in, my beautiful immigrants. Oh yes you are, and I’m going to tell you why you are, and why the world would be a whole lot different if we could erase the word expat from history and all be immigrants, together.

And before you leap in and say alright I’m an immigrant, but at least I’m not an illegal immigrant, watch the rest of the video and find out why ‘us against them’ is what’s caused this whole bloody mess in the first place.

Let’s start with the definition of the words. Then I’m going to ignore it completely, because the definition of these two words doesn’t even touch the surface of the way they’re used. 

If you generalise, you’re missing out on a whole load of meaning and nuance. Yes, nuance! Mmmm.

Now, if you look in various dictionaries and study where the words came from, you’ll find there’s really no difference at all between them, they both mean people who’ve moved to one country from another one. 

And no, expat doesn’t just mean people who do this temporarily for work or whatever and intend to go back to their home country eventually, that’s a meaning that’s been added and you’ll find it only gets used by some nationalities about about their own citizens. Again, it’s a case of ‘Us against them’. You’re going to hear that a lot, get used to it.

You’re also going to hear criticism of British people, not all of them though because that’s generalisation, and criticism of anyone who comes out with phrases like ’Spain’s got it in for the Brits since Brexit’, as if Spain is a person with a singular opinion and attitude. That’s both ridiculous and horribly lazy, and makes me ignore anything else you’ve got to say. 

Also, you should know I’m using Spain as an example because I live here, and I should also point out I was born British, which (quite apart from freedom of speech) gives me an extra right to rip them a new one. Taking the piss is a national pass time. I also have an Irish passport, which gives me hundreds of years of extra criticism to play with. Does that all sound like I’m acting superior to you? Because that’s exactly what I am doing, or not doing, isn’t it? I put the word irony in the title for a reason, you know. Mmmmm.

So, ignore the definition of expat and immigrant, and let’s chat about how the words are used, and by whom, because there’s a whole world of difference between that and the definition. 

For a start, it’s not just Brits that use the word expat about their fellow citizens, it’s people from the US that use it too. Make of that what you will, but all I know is that some of you have commented that it’s only a Brit thing. And it’s evidently not.

What does seem obvious in my experience, and from the experiences of people from not-Britain, is that when some Brits, possibly quite a lot of Brits, use the word expat, they only use it to mean themselves. And they only use it when they’re talking about Brits living abroad. Everyone who moves to the UK is spoken of by them as an immigrant. Expats to Brits are Brits. Us against them. 

Whether it’s conscious or unintended, it’s there, hanging in the air. And to everyone else in the world, it smacks of privilege. And whether you like it or not, it’s racist. 

Let’s have an example shall we? 

Imagine you’re a British doctor working in Spain and you call yourself an expat. 
What would you call your colleague with the same job and qualifications who moved to Spain to work? 
And what would you call him if he was from India? 
And just to add another couple of levels of subconscious us-and-them-ness to the mix, what would you call him if he was from Iran? 
And what would you call her if she was from Nigeria? 

That’s loads of isms and ists on top of each other there to make your head spin. 

The fact is, we’re all influenced by the us and them, it’s part of our ancient tribal mentality that we’ve had since way before we evolved into human beings. 

Sorry, creationists, you may as well feck off now if you’ve got this far in the article. There’s nothing for you here!

Okay so now we’ve established that we’re all racists and the word expat is weighed down with privilege, we may as well go all the way down the rabbit hole. 

Immigrants! That word has been linked in the press with the word ‘illegal’ on so many occasions, especially by the tabloid press in the UK, that the minute some Brits hear it, they don’t think of themselves, they think of millions of suspiciously dark-looking people in dingies trying to invade their shores and claim welfare payments and live in luxury hotels, while British people are starving and living on the streets. 

Literally, that has been the message in some papers and out of the mouths of politicians for many years, it informed public opinion throughout the Brexit leave campaign, it’s given birth to extreme political parties, started riots and violence, and seen people murdered on the streets for what they look like. 

With all of that going on, how can we expect the word immigrant to not be tarnished, and people that we call immigrants to not be regarded with suspicion. Us against them. Put up the barricades! Build the walls! Man the battlements!

It’s heavily ironic that a high percentage of those people shouting about immigrants and voting for parties that shout about them, are from the older generation, whose parents fought in World War II to stop an enemy that took ‘us and them’ to the absolute extreme of genocide and shouted exactly the same propaganda. It makes a mockery of ‘lest we forget’. 

Hey, let’s lighten up for a minute: here’s a joke for you. An expat and an immigrant walk into a posh restaurant, which one gets the best table?
Well, it’s the expat of course, the immigrant’s on her way to work in the kitchen. She’s probably illegal anyway.
Hey, wouldn’t it be funny if I said ‘the restaurant is actually in Barcelona, and you’re the immigrant’? Ha haaaaa! Hilarious!

‘I don’t see the problem!’ I hear you shout. And that’s the problem. ‘They’ say there’s a problem, but you don’t accept it, because why? Are you more intelligent? Do you know better? Privilege. Us and them.

Suck it up, then. Say the mantra: I’m an immigrant!

So why do I keep on putting out videos using the word expat?
Maybe I’m a hypocrite, maybe it’s irony, or maybe I’m just a slave to the YouTube algorithms. 

Did you know, there are lots of ways to get your videos seen by more people on YouTube. One of the things I do is to share the links to my videos to the people on Facebook and other social media who want the information (or bullshit) that I put out, depending on your viewpoint. There are many many pages and groups with the word expat not only in their title but generously sprinkled throughout the posts and comments, and of course there are other groups without expat in the title where you’ll find the word firmly established in the text if you do a search. The algorithms read all of this, and connect them together.

For me to get my videos listed high up in the search results so I can help as many people as possible and stay afloat in the ocean of YouTube, I have to use expat in my titles, in my video descriptions, in the tags, in the audio, everywhere. And on this website and all of my social media. I literally have no choice but to do that. I’m sorry, it’s the bane of my life, I don’t like it. There you have it. I may be capable of change, but until we all stop using the word expat for a number of years and use immigrant instead, the algorithm will keep on pointing you to expat, whether you like it or not. 

So it’s down to you, and up to you to sort it out. Are you capable of change? Change has to happen if we’re all going to live together in peace and respect each other.

Whatever you do, stop saying ‘you’re not an expat, you’re an immigrant’ under my videos. Because I know!

Peace & Love!
Peas & Fluff!
Let’s dance!

Article by Skatz