James Cameron is leaving the United States for good. He is the guy who made that movie about the big blue people and that other movie about the big boat that hit an ice cube. He is finally tired of us. He says we are all at each other’s throats. He is moving to New Zealand forever. He says he will soon be a citizen there. He claims he wants to live in a place where the people are sane. That must be nice. Being sane sounds like a luxury you can only afford when you have a billion dollars in the bank and no real problems.

Cameron looks at the United States and sees a car crash. He says he has been watching it over and over. He blames the last few years for the mess. That is a very simple way to look at it. It is exactly how a rich guy looks at the world. He thinks one or two people caused the whole disaster. He does not see that the car was already on fire decades ago. He does not see that both sides of the aisle are currently trying to drive the car into a brick wall. The Left thinks they are the doctors coming to save us. The Right thinks they are the mechanics coming to fix us. In reality, they are both just kids in the back seat hitting each other with heavy toys while the engine melts.

Now, Cameron is heading to New Zealand. He stayed there during the pandemic. He liked how they handled the virus. They shut everything down and stayed quiet. For a guy who makes movies where things explode every five minutes, he sure seems to love peace and quiet when it comes to his own life. He says New Zealanders are sane. What does that even mean? It probably just means they do not yell at him when he goes to buy milk. It means they do not care about the culture wars that keep Americans awake at night. It is easy to be sane when you live on a giant rock in the middle of the ocean where nothing ever happens.

Must be nice to just pick a new country when you get bored of the old one. Most people are stuck. If you live in a town where the grocery store is closing and everyone is angry at their neighbors, you cannot just move to a private island. You cannot just decide you want to live with sane people. You are stuck with the people you have. But James Cameron is different. He is the King of the World. He said that once at an awards show. He actually believes it. When the world he lives in gets too loud or too annoying, he just buys a new one.

The people in the United States are indeed at each other’s throats. We spend all day on our phones being mad at people we have never even met. We hate our neighbors because they have the wrong sign in their yard. The Right thinks the Left is trying to ruin the world. The Left thinks the Right is a bunch of monsters. They are both right. And they are both wrong. They are both just part of the same screaming match that never ends. It is a big, stupid movie. And Cameron is finally tired of the script he helped write by feeding us big, loud fantasies for forty years.

But let’s look at New Zealand for a second. Is it really a magical land of sanity? Or is it just a place where the ultra-rich go to hide from the apocalypse? It is a giant gated community for the elite. If you have enough money, you can find sanity anywhere. You can find it in a hole in the ground or on a private jet. Sanity is a product. It is something you buy when you are done making money off the insane people. Cameron made his billions from the US. He made his money from the car crash. Now he wants to watch the wreck from a safe distance through a pair of expensive binoculars.

The Left will say he is brave for leaving. They will say he is right about the US being a total mess. But they will not follow him. They cannot afford the plane ticket. They have to stay here and keep screaming at the other side. The Right will say he is a quitter or a traitor. They will tell him to stay out and never come back. They are both playing their parts in the movie. They are both giving him exactly what he wants: more attention and a reason to feel superior.

Cameron is becoming a citizen of New Zealand very soon. He shot his big movies there. He lived there when the world was sick. He thinks he found the answer to the world's problems. The answer is to have enough money to leave when things get ugly. It is the ultimate move for the global elite. If you do not like the neighbors, move to a different hemisphere. If you do not like the politics, buy a new passport and a farm in the mountains.

We are left here in the car crash. We are still hitting each other in the back seat. We are still yelling at the driver even though the driver jumped out miles ago. The engine is still smoking and the tires are gone. And the guy who made a billion dollars filming the wreck is waving goodbye from his private boat. He thinks he is better than us because he found a quieter place to sit. He isn't better. He is just richer. Enjoy the silence, James. We will stay here and keep being a car crash. It is what we are good at. It is what you taught us to love at the theater. Now you are just mad that the movie won't end and you can't find the remote.