A lot of governments are getting pretty deportation happy, even if not as dramatically as the US government has operated recently. However, the fight against foreigners by various nationalist agendas always has me asking the question as to what is the value of an individual. If it is possible to enumerate it for foreigners, how many national citizens meet the criteria?
For instance, back in 2015 when there was a "migrant crisis" due to the war in Syria, there were vigilante groups patrolling the suburbs to protect Finnish women from foreign men. These groups dressed in mostly black and with shaved heads, were made up of many convicted rapists and perpetrators of domestic violence. The irony. And when it comes to the argument of living off of social services, the same group of "protectors" were largely unemployed by choice - living off the government.
I think this makes for an interesting discussion around what is valuable, and whether social value is inherent in a person based just on their nationality. In Finland at least where a lot of the education is free and pretty much level through to the end of year 12, it could be said that all of the people have had close the same education. And even beyond that, university is free for Finns. Yet, there are large groups of people who despite what would be enviable opportunity in many other countries, have chosen to squander it, yet still expect to be looked after by the state, and blame foreigners for their various problems.
And no, immigrants are not innocent in this either, because unfortunately, there are far too many that don't act well either, and don't add value to the community. Some of it might stem from systemic and structural biases, but at the end of the day, we have to take responsibility for our own actions and there are a lot of people acting like dickheads.
Stupidity afflicts all nationalities without discrimination.
So much of whether immigration is seen as good or bad depends on the current economic climate. When things are going well, most is quiet, but as soon as there is some kind of downturn, it becomes the foreigners that have caused it, as they come in and steal jobs. Yet, just remember, while people are suffering economically, the corporations, banks and investors are making record profits.
What are causing the economic downturns again?
From a societal perspective though, put aside whether a person is a national or an immigrant and consider what the value of an individual actually is. What is your answer? Is someone automatically valuable because they hold the same passport as you? If they speak the same language as you? If they have the same skin colour as you? I don't know what your particular answer is, but perhaps everyone should visit their local drug den, find someone there who shares the same nationality and skin colour, and even religion - and see how similar you actually are.
Do you both add the same value to society?
I was writing yesterday how it seems so hard for many people to do the right thing and it seems that this is because we are evolved to protect ourselves, including from our own poor behaviours. We justify our actions, no matter how bad we behave, giving excuses for why it is okay for us, even if we know it is wrong.
Doing the right thing only happens when convenient.
What is "right" might have some variation between people, groups and cultures, but if even a little bit of thought is put into it, there must be some baseline level that we could all agree to. Yet, even then that baseline isn't met by individuals who would agree, because at times it is in their often mistaken best interest to do the wrong thing instead. Most people would agree that society and community has degraded significantly, but how many are taking actions to do anything about it? After all, this is where "acting locally" is the only way to make a change.
Do you know your neighbours?
Are you holding grudges against family?
You are likely part of the problem too. We all probably are.
For tens of thousands of years we have evolved to move to where conditions are better for us, and we have populated every corner of the earth. But it has only really been in the last few hundred years that immigration has been used as a political tool to divide and conquer populations. And in the last hundred years, it has escalated to become a dominating conversation globally.
I get it, people want to protect what they know and what they are comfortable with, but the unfortunate fact is, this is impossible. Everything changes. All languages, all nationalities, all borders, all of it. This doesn't mean that things shouldn't be preserved, but we should be smart enough by now to recognise that change doesn't mean death, it is just change. We can keep what works well, and replace what doesn't, and over time get better and better, creating new cultures that constantly improve. This doesn't mean replacing everything with a pre-existing imported culture, and immigrants should also change their habits too.
We need to stop believing that what we know and do is the best there can be.
And be better.
Do you think you add net value to your community?
Or are you a net cost?
Taraz
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