The Refugee Crisis - a crisis of conscience - The Something Awful Forums

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > The Refugee Crisis - a crisis of conscience

SMILLENNIALSMILLEN: Jun 26, 2009

Canine Blues Arooo posted:

Yes, the logistics of moving literally hundreds of thousands of people across the world is 'that simple'. Pack it up boys, we've solved it here!

That's not what you said though. Your post was talking about once people were in a new country. On that topic, why can't they just be given jobs and made productive tax paying citizens?

Mandy Thompson posted:

The media has this weird habit of using the term "migrant" instead of "refugee" which is what the overwhelming majority of these folks are.

.

This really shits me. I've seen news reports that use migrant, refugee and asylum seeker interchangeably.

SMILLENNIALSMILLEN fucked around with this message at 04:08 on Sep 4, 2015

# ¿ Sep 4, 2015 04:06

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 04:41

SMILLENNIALSMILLEN: Jun 26, 2009

Kaal posted:

The facile recommendations by some folks to simply open up the borders and see what happens is a recipe for failure, and not only is a disservice to the actual refugees but also all the people who are trying to help them now and in the future. Make an actual plan for social services, for funding, for housing, for education, for employment, for law enforcement, etc. Acting as if a massive refugee population doesn't incur costs and special needs is foolish, and implies a certain degree of nihilism about the folks who will fall through the cracks and/or be targeted by anti-immigration groups and predatory actors.

Is anybody suggesting to actually "open up the borders and see what happens" though?

# ¿ Sep 4, 2015 06:30

SMILLENNIALSMILLEN: Jun 26, 2009

Kaal posted:

Well none of the people fleeing Syria are refugees since that's a specifically designated status bestowed by the UNHCR, which they haven't had time to be assigned. Which I suppose is rather the point. If you are casually comparing numbers without context or appreciation for what those numbers mean, then quibbling over details that you're going to ignore anyway doesn't make much of a difference. What I'm saying is actually look at the issue. If you did, you'd see that these sorts of numbers change quite a bit year to year, as refugee populations are quickly converted from asylum seekers, into refugees, then into residents/citizens or returned to the origin country. So a Somali that the US took in as a refugee, then gained a permanent residency, would no longer be represented as an American refugee despite continuing to live in the United States. Since you don't seem that concerned about the specific details of the status, nor comparing the overall yearly trend or immigrant population rather than a per capita, there's really no point in making hay over the specifics of the designations since you're ignoring them.

loving lol at this post.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2015 08:37

SMILLENNIALSMILLEN: Jun 26, 2009

Do this, everywhere.

quote:

Refugee resettlement has created 70 full-time jobs and added $40 million to a struggling rural Victorian town's economy, a new study shows.

Since early 2010, about 170 Karen refugees from Myanmar (Burma) have resettled at Nhill in western Victoria's wheatbelt, with the majority taking up work with poultry producer Luv-a-Duck which has been able to expand its operations.

A study by Deloitte Access Economics has found the refugees have been a social and economic boon for Nhill which had been grappling with an aging and declining population.

CEO of the Hindmarsh Shire Council Tony Doyle told SBS that Nhill's Karen population had boosted its economy, slowed its steady population decline and culturally enriched the community.

"That’s created exposure and awareness of a culture completely different to what people from Nhill may have seen before," he said.

Mr Doyle said the Karen were kind and hardworking people who "valued community strongly."

He said that while most of the Karen people inNhill had come to work for Luv-a-Duck, many had since branched out in to the community to work in other areas. Mr Doyle expected many more Karen people would move to Nhill in coming years.

He said Nhill was a positive example of refugee resettlement.

"I think Nhill is an extraordinary example of what can be achieved by a small rural community."

The Deloitte study was conducted through consultation with Karen families and community leaders in the area as well as local businesses and service providers.

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/04/23/refugee-resettlement-adds-40m-struggling-victorian-towns-economy

# ¿ Sep 4, 2015 08:52

SMILLENNIALSMILLEN: Jun 26, 2009

XMNN posted:

He's right kids have been dying every day in the same way for months but because there weren't photos plastered everywhere people could just push it to the back of their minds. He probably intends it in a "So we shouldn't care" way, rather than "We are disgusting for not caring before" way, though.

Literally the only reason David Cameron cares about this is because it is absolutely awful publicity for him. In the morning he was all ready to stick to his "gently caress 'em" line, but as it became readily apparent over the course of yesterday that even other Tories thought he was being a heartless bastard and it was not playing well his hand was forced and he had to agree to take more refugees. Which is a good thing, but it's really bad that that is what it took for him to pretend to be a human being.

Which people didn't care before now? Kaal is assuming people posting in this thread didn't care until now because it suits them. David Cameron might only care because of polls but David Cameron isn't posting in this thread.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2015 09:27

SMILLENNIALSMILLEN: Jun 26, 2009

XMNN posted:

Yeah, the Australian system is really disgusting, maybe you could enlighten people on why we shouldn't be looking at prison islands as something to aspire to.

# ¿ Sep 5, 2015 01:43

SMILLENNIALSMILLEN: Jun 26, 2009

Ignoring the problem wont make it go away.
You can't lock up that many people.
Cruelty doesn't work as a deterrent to other asylum seekers.
You can't bomb the problem away, so what can you do?

# ¿ Sep 6, 2015 11:00

SMILLENNIALSMILLEN: Jun 26, 2009

Hob_Gadling posted:

One side will continue to be against all changes in policy, other will continue to be naive. Certainly we could do better than that?

e: or to write it out more clearly, I thought the post was a good insight into the current divide we have. One side is against letting people come at all, one is willing to do the humane thing but seems so very blue-eyed about it. I don't think these two groups are willing to budge from their trenches, though.

I think you are wrong. I feel like the current argument is between "ignore/kill them all" and "this requires a humanitarian response" with no room left over for minutiae at the moment.

# ¿ Sep 7, 2015 04:34

SMILLENNIALSMILLEN: Jun 26, 2009

PerpetualSelf posted:

Do you believe in overpopulation?

As an abstract concept or as a thing that is about to happen because of immigration?

# ¿ Sep 11, 2015 02:38

SMILLENNIALSMILLEN: Jun 26, 2009

doodlebugs posted:

Australia has already taken in 3000 Syrian refugees over the past few years and is about to accept another 12000.

A tiny number even when compared only to what other countries have done. It's also been subtracted from Australia's already agreed on refugee intake for this year. They haven't really done anything.

# ¿ Sep 16, 2015 05:53

SMILLENNIALSMILLEN: Jun 26, 2009

doodlebugs posted:

it hasn't been subtracted at all .

You are correct I had outdated information.

# ¿ Sep 16, 2015 14:12

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 04:41

SMILLENNIALSMILLEN: Jun 26, 2009

SaltyJesus posted:

Hey, uhh, Cracked.com actually sent two guys to the Serbia-Hungaria border to talk with the refugees and made a non-terrible article out of it.

http://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-1916-we-met-syrias-war-refugees-7-awful-things-they-told-us.html

Thanks that was a cool read.

# ¿ Sep 20, 2015 10:32

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