This week I’ve seen a number of posts in my feed explaining why immigrants are an economic or demographic net positive for a country.
I think people are missing the fact that most of the pushback against immigrants is not really about practical or pragmatic issues (although people pretend it is) - it’s about skin color and “culture”.
It’s about people wanting their country to stay white.
** Update to detail what *I* believe (from comments):
in general, I believe in a clean, clear and efficient path for immigrants that boasts a generous serving of empathy and recognition for our shared humanity.
I do NOT believe in the political narrative that pits “us” against “them” and pretends that crime, poverty or joblessness is the fault of the minority people (whoever they may be).
As for preserving culture: all culture is evolving all the time (in large part due to interactions with other cultures - either through direct contact or media). Therefore concepts like holding onto old cultural norms for the sake of tradition (a right-wing trope) or “cultural appropriation” (a left-wing freak out) are mostly distractions. The only time when this becomes a problem is in extreme cases when large groups of refugees flood in without a chance to assimilate or when people rip others off in a craven way (respectively).
That being said, almost by definition, refugees tend to undergo mass migrations only in cases of great strife in their homeland. It’s not by choice. But instead of solving the root cause (the strife in the foreign land), Politicians tend to focus on “othering” the desperate people to win cheap political points.
Finally: we’ve seen this play out countless times in the US. From the Irish to the Jews and now to the Muslims. Historic patterns are useful to keep in mind.
