For fuck sake, I guess it's time for me to wade in on this clusterfuck.
First of all I'd like to extend my sincerest sympathies to all the refugees affected by all this drama developing in Syria. I will never begrudge them for trying to better their lives by hauling ass out of a war torn country where their lives are threatened daily; I'm quietly confident that is a shared opinion by all, regardless of where we sit on the subject of mass global migration. We are empathetic to their plight. We are heartbroken for the children. We are sympathetic to the cause.
However, I refuse to be emotionally manipulated by media propaganda. By now most of us have seen the pictures and heard the story about the small 3 year old Syrian boy who washed up on a Turkish beach after his parents decided to venture into rough seas in the middle of the night; this is where I have a problem, as this is where media controlled emotional manipulation begins. Instead of being outraged about the "refugee crisis" and lack of humanitarian assistance, consider this; the family were fleeing from Turkey. Turkey. A place where you can still book a holiday to relax in a 4 star hotel.
To elaborate and counter the imminent "dehumanising refugees" argument, let's continue by comparing the two widely differing demographic profiles:
Refugee; Someone who has been forced to abandon their home, possessions and even family/friends because they are at risk/a victim of persecution, torture and human rights violations in their native country. Refugees often flee their country with no prior planning, undertaking hazardous journeys and facing significant risks in a desperate effort to save their lives by securing protection and refuge elsewhere.
Migrant; Someone who chooses to leave their current country to secure a better standard of living elsewhere. Migrants have the opportunity to familiarise themselves with their destination country, gain an understanding of employment prospects and available benefits. Migrants can arrange comfortable travel arrangements, pack up their belongings leisurely, and leave their country safe in the knowledge they can easily return if things don't go to plan.
And this is the sticking point my friends.
The pivotal argument surrounding the decision of whether the UK should be accommodating all the Syrians currently travelling the breadth of Europe to land on our doorstep hinges on assigning them to the appropriate demographic. We should assist with any Syrian refugee, undoubtedly; if they are in danger, let them in and offer them refuge. As for Syrian migrants? Fuck no. And here is why: beside 6 other countries in the EU, it is the UK who has the highest population density, with Germany right behind us breathing down our necks. This means there are 42 other perfectly safe countries in the EU with more space to accommodate the Syrian migrants. But the migrants don't want to go anywhere else do they... no, they don't want to stay in any of the other 42 safe countries - they want to come to the UK. And the irony is, to get here, they are travelling through... surprise, surprise... loads of the other safe EU countries... where they could stay... if they chose to.
It's the equivalent of risking your life trying to break into a 5-star hotel, when you have the option to stay safely in a 3-star hotel.
It's not that I am heartless, I am however, a realist. Britain is already in dire straits. The bedroom tax was implemented to force utilisation of all available housing space because we are overpopulated already, with £17 billion a year going on housing benefits. There are over a million people annually relying on food banks because they cannot afford to survive on the breadline. The NHS has been stripped to skeleton staff and had it's funding slashed, and is now being sold off to private firms at the expense of the nations health. The education system is struggling to accommodate children with the already limited availability in primary schools. The retirement age has been raised because we cannot afford to provide state pensions from as early as we once could as the total annual figure is now £74 billion. We have zero hour employment contracts, we have a minimum wage that is maligned with living costs, we recently had 300% inflation on tuition fee costs for University students.
Despite all our own internal problems, we have still managed to support Syria by allocating £900 million in aid since 2012. Yet the UK are being publicly vilified and made out to be some horrendous, heartless monsters because we won't accept the burden on behalf of the other 49 EU countries? Get fucked.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/455330/DFID_Syria_Crisis_Response_Summary__2015.08.20_.pdf
I can tell you with unwavering certainty that the answer to improving the state of our economy does not include needlessly accommodating 250,000 Syrian migrants who could quite safely settle in any of the other 42 EU countries with a lower population density than us.
We have as much right to deny them access, as they have to demand it.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/syria-the-latest-updates-on-uk-aid#history
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First of all I'd like to extend my sincerest sympathies to all the refugees affected by all this drama developing in Syria. I will never begrudge them for trying to better their lives by hauling ass out of a war torn country where their lives are threatened daily; I'm quietly confident that is a shared opinion by all, regardless of where we sit on the subject of mass global migration. We are empathetic to their plight. We are heartbroken for the children. We are sympathetic to the cause.
However, I refuse to be emotionally manipulated by media propaganda. By now most of us have seen the pictures and heard the story about the small 3 year old Syrian boy who washed up on a Turkish beach after his parents decided to venture into rough seas in the middle of the night; this is where I have a problem, as this is where media controlled emotional manipulation begins. Instead of being outraged about the "refugee crisis" and lack of humanitarian assistance, consider this; the family were fleeing from Turkey. Turkey. A place where you can still book a holiday to relax in a 4 star hotel.
To elaborate and counter the imminent "dehumanising refugees" argument, let's continue by comparing the two widely differing demographic profiles:
Refugee; Someone who has been forced to abandon their home, possessions and even family/friends because they are at risk/a victim of persecution, torture and human rights violations in their native country. Refugees often flee their country with no prior planning, undertaking hazardous journeys and facing significant risks in a desperate effort to save their lives by securing protection and refuge elsewhere.
Migrant; Someone who chooses to leave their current country to secure a better standard of living elsewhere. Migrants have the opportunity to familiarise themselves with their destination country, gain an understanding of employment prospects and available benefits. Migrants can arrange comfortable travel arrangements, pack up their belongings leisurely, and leave their country safe in the knowledge they can easily return if things don't go to plan.
And this is the sticking point my friends.
The pivotal argument surrounding the decision of whether the UK should be accommodating all the Syrians currently travelling the breadth of Europe to land on our doorstep hinges on assigning them to the appropriate demographic. We should assist with any Syrian refugee, undoubtedly; if they are in danger, let them in and offer them refuge. As for Syrian migrants? Fuck no. And here is why: beside 6 other countries in the EU, it is the UK who has the highest population density, with Germany right behind us breathing down our necks. This means there are 42 other perfectly safe countries in the EU with more space to accommodate the Syrian migrants. But the migrants don't want to go anywhere else do they... no, they don't want to stay in any of the other 42 safe countries - they want to come to the UK. And the irony is, to get here, they are travelling through... surprise, surprise... loads of the other safe EU countries... where they could stay... if they chose to.
It's the equivalent of risking your life trying to break into a 5-star hotel, when you have the option to stay safely in a 3-star hotel.
It's not that I am heartless, I am however, a realist. Britain is already in dire straits. The bedroom tax was implemented to force utilisation of all available housing space because we are overpopulated already, with £17 billion a year going on housing benefits. There are over a million people annually relying on food banks because they cannot afford to survive on the breadline. The NHS has been stripped to skeleton staff and had it's funding slashed, and is now being sold off to private firms at the expense of the nations health. The education system is struggling to accommodate children with the already limited availability in primary schools. The retirement age has been raised because we cannot afford to provide state pensions from as early as we once could as the total annual figure is now £74 billion. We have zero hour employment contracts, we have a minimum wage that is maligned with living costs, we recently had 300% inflation on tuition fee costs for University students.
Despite all our own internal problems, we have still managed to support Syria by allocating £900 million in aid since 2012. Yet the UK are being publicly vilified and made out to be some horrendous, heartless monsters because we won't accept the burden on behalf of the other 49 EU countries? Get fucked.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/455330/DFID_Syria_Crisis_Response_Summary__2015.08.20_.pdf
I can tell you with unwavering certainty that the answer to improving the state of our economy does not include needlessly accommodating 250,000 Syrian migrants who could quite safely settle in any of the other 42 EU countries with a lower population density than us.
We have as much right to deny them access, as they have to demand it.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/syria-the-latest-updates-on-uk-aid#history
If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it with your friends on social networks using the buttons below, and please leave a comment with your thoughts;
I love hearing from my subscribers!
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