Refugees....

I'm putting this in AP because I think it should be here, ABOVE politics. Why are the refugees here in the first place? Because there's problems where they live. AND we might have had a little to do with that as western nations. That is moot as I don't see Western intervention stopping any time soon. I'm talking about the past.

We welcomed many Lebanese into our country in the 70's and 80's. They enriched our culture, and palate may I add. There was fear then as well. Turned out that the inclusion was more beneficial than the fear. M0ar inclusion? One of America's best comedians(He's Nebraskan but his folks are Nigerian):



Many, many more examples of people coming here for a better life AND they WANT to contribute.

Fear and bigotry at the time was accepted(IDK why) and overcome. Why make the same mistakes again?

Never could understand why the Arab refugees don't seem to be welcome in other Arab nations?

Or maybe some of that empty land in Saudi Arabia could be used to start a new country?

All in all however, the U.N. is at fault for most of the problems we are witnessing imo.

The U.N. cleverly "ran out of money" for the Syrian refugee efforts last year I think.

originally posted by: xuenchen
Never could understand why the Arab refugees don't seem to be welcome in other Arab nations?

You have a problem with someone living their life as they would? Isn't that how American became great?

All in all however, the U.N. is at fault for most of the problems we are witnessing imo.

The U.N. cleverly "ran out of money" for the Syrian refugee efforts last year I think.

Who ignores that entity when it wants and doesn't care what it says the rest of the time?

originally posted by: xuenchen
Never could understand why the Arab refugees don't seem to be welcome in other Arab nations?

originally posted by: intrepid
You have a problem with someone living their life as they would? Isn't that how American became great?

Not understanding your response to my statement.

a reply to: xuenchen

That is not a surprise. It requires thought.

originally posted by: intrepid
a reply to: xuenchen

That is not a surprise. It requires thought.

Might help if you put in simple terms.

a reply to: intrepid

Many, many more examples of people coming here for a better life AND they WANT to contribute.

Fear and bigotry at the time was accepted(IDK why) and overcome. Why make the same mistakes again?

I understand your sentiment and I appreciate your desire for people of all walks of life to get along. I will also acknowledge up front that yes, there are absolutely people that are flat out racists towards certain groups and people that have absolutely irrational fears not about individuals, but about entire groups of people. These things are absolutely true.

That being said, not everyone that is against certain immigration or refugee policies are simple minded bigots. While it is true that (at least its my belief that) in almost any group of people you want to talk about, the vast majority would like to get along and contribute. However, there is always the opposite side of the coin.

I know the following comes up a LOT (or did for a while) but the ol' New Years Eve mass sexual assault fiasco and the subsequent problems of middle-eastern-men-vs-European-women that Europe is having with some (even if the percentage is small) of the recent refugees/migrants IS an actual thing. I'm not saying it's as bad as the Alex Joneses of the world would make it out to be, but it's also not a sparkly clean as, say, some editorialists of the Huffington Post would make it out to be. The point being that not all fears are based on nothing and not everyone concerned is a bigot.

I want to reiterate that while there are full force racists/bigots in this world, it should not be the case that they should disqualify EVERYONE's concerns.

a reply to: intrepid

Don't you see a current incompatibility between Islamic culture in the Middle East and Western culture?

originally posted by: xuenchen

originally posted by: intrepid
a reply to: xuenchen

That is not a surprise. It requires thought.

Might help if you put in simple terms.

OK. People not white do good for white man... Can you be more obtuse? Really? This is 9 out of 10. You can do better.

a reply to: intrepid

Sorry still missing your point to my first post.

I said nothing about race, but I may have been suggesting similar cultures are not making the refugees welcome.

Won't be responding further.

originally posted by: xuenchen
I said nothing about race, but I may have been suggesting similar cultures are not making the refugees welcome.

Suggestion? Do you ever say ANYTHING? You didn't. I did.

Won't be responding further.

There's a frickin surprise. Can't derail a thread? Bail.

a reply to: xuenchen

Never could understand why the Arab refugees don't seem to be welcome in other Arab nations?

I guess what I've been wondering from time to time is even forget about the Arab part.... why is it that stabilized nations much closer than Europe haven't been taking in these refugees?

As best I can tell, in general, refugees are refugees because they were essentially living their lives, minding their own business when war came to their front doorstep and they realized it's time to get outta Dodge.... with the intent/hopes of returning to their homes once the conflict is resolved. I'm not sure I understand how (in the case of the United States) bringing thousands upon thousands of people half-way around the world into a (probably) strange land, essentially FOREVER the most compassionate thing to do?

OR, as I have long suspected, is this not so much about refugees fleeing a physical war....?
(Sorry for the drift there).

a reply to: xuenchen

Figures from 2015. Lebanon took 1.1 million. Jordan took 629,266. Egypt took 132,375. Other Arabic countries have contributed with humanitarian aid including the gulf states.

LATimes

Is everyone missing the point? These "refugees" made our culture better. Are future ones going to be different?

a reply to: intrepid

Is Europe being culturally enriched by these refugees right now?

originally posted by: Thetan
a reply to: intrepid

Is Europe being culturally enriched by these refugees right now?

a reply to: UnBreakable

I'm afraid I don't understand your post.

originally posted by: xuenchen
Never could understand why the Arab refugees don't seem to be welcome in other Arab nations?

Or maybe some of that empty land in Saudi Arabia could be used to start a new country?

All in all however, the U.N. is at fault for most of the problems we are witnessing imo.

The U.N. cleverly "ran out of money" for the Syrian refugee efforts last year I think.

People used to come to America to be American and start a new life and that's the case for a good many immigrants still today. However, people now come here to start a new life, but not to assimilate. More and more come to get a free ride and suck the govt's teet and really want nothing to do with America or Americans. America is an immigrant based country. Many Americans are children of immigrants. It's part of our identity and I'm talking about LEGAL immigration of course. I live in NY, aka the Melting Pot, and I grew up in a very diverse environment. The problem is that people don't want to melt anymore.

Muslims have no allegiance to a country, but to a religion. That's why you see droves and droves fleeing to non Islamic countries. You would think they'd scatter to neighboring Muslim countries, but instead get stuck in Turkey on their way to Europe or die in boats from the coast of Libya.

Libya was entirely the Obama administration's fault. They allowed for the deposing of Ghaddafi without any plan for the after effects and Obama recently admitted to this. It was already established that Ghadaffi controlled Islamic immigration from Libya and was making deals with Europe to do so. Without him, the floodgates were opened. It was a short sighted and careless foreign policy blunder that caused a world wide humanitarian disaster. He should hand in is Nobel Peace Prize to clear his conscience.

There is also the myth that all immigrants are victims of xenophobic natives. More and more evidence proves the contrary. Take England for example. The Muslim population is there to 'take over' England. If you listen to many imams, it's their religious duty to conquer other nations. Isn't that what's happening in Europe? It's a far cry from assimilation and more like a hostile takeover. Sure some are peace loving people, but that is a male dominated submission based religion where women and children have absolutely no power.

Where do we draw the line between an invasion and refugee immigration?

originally posted by: intrepid
Is everyone missing the point? These "refugees" made our culture better. Are future ones going to be different?

I'm not exactly what your point is, to be candid.

Is your point a one way street, blanket statement that ALL refugees are good and EVERYONE should ignore the problems associated with a sudden influx of people from culture A into a nation that historically is of culture B?

originally posted by: eluryh22

originally posted by: intrepid
Is everyone missing the point? These "refugees" made our culture better. Are future ones going to be different?

I'm not exactly what your point is, to be candid.

Is your point a one way street, blanket statement that ALL refugees are good and EVERYONE should ignore the problems associated with a sudden influx of people from culture A into a nation that historically is of culture B?

Well, I'm Canadian. I'm not afraid of the brown person next door. Hell, I've had that food. AWESOME. Guess what? They BBQ too.