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[Sheb]

That's why I go to all those protests, and sign those petitions and have those arguments and one of the reasons I keep voting green.

I'm sure that as the world get richer and more integrated people will be less and less afraid of immigrants and the problem will be solved, like slavery of segregation eventually was solved. But how many lives will be ruined until then? How many family broken?

[alexandertnt]

Alot of people I have talked to about it have tried to characterise them as criminals. "They have illegally entered our waters" etc etc. If you can convince yourself they are "just" criminals you can dehumanise them and justify the terrable conditions they go through. After all, they are just criminals.

I think people are just using this as a way to justify petty prejudice. "Im not racist, they are criminals!".

[Sheb]

Which is of course untrue as they have the right to apply for asylum under UN charter. But yeah it's a funny thing, how people can despise "criminal" even when they didn't actually hurt anyone.

[Jimmy]

Us vs. Them mentality inhibits empathy. You remove the Us vs. Them, you remove one of the major inhibitions to people being aware of the emotional condition of others.
The problem is there's a fuckload of ways to establish Us vs. Them. They're a different race, they have a different culture, they practice a different religion, they're from a different country, they speak a different language, they're from another province/state, they're from a different neighborhood, they have different political/philosophical/should-I-go-to-the-grocery-store-today beliefs, they tie their shoes differently.
You just have to keep saying "Yeah, maybe so, but they are still human beings." It's really too bad that "Yeah, but what if it was you?" doesn't really work anymore.

I for one support Us vs. Them. I support Mine vs. Yours. I reserve the right to draw a line and say "You can't have this." I choose to break the world into People I Care About and People I Don't.

The vast majority of the world lives in worse conditions than me thanks to my luck of being born in a wealthy country. I'm not about to sell all my possessions, throw open the doors of my home and give away everything I have to make that better. I have Nietzschean will to power; a desire for achievement, ambition, to strive to reach the highest possible position in life.

I have no argument with those that choose to spend their life trying to make the world a better place. I also have no intent to support them in any way. Like Orwell said, 'if you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever.'

[Sheb]

But would you make other people's life miserable for your personal benefit?

[Max White]

More to the point, would you make other peoples lives better to make your own better?
Business leaders are saying we need to increase our migrant intake, so taking people in provides a little economic strength, while locking people up in indefinite detention is a very costly exercise that provides literally no benefit. Roads provide economic benefit. Schools provide economic benefit. This does not. We recently bought 3.6 billion dollars worth of spy planes to monitor the oceans, and all that from tax payer dollars. Imagine the economic benefits of spending that on education or health, or at very least tax cuts.

[Jimmy]

I already make other's lives miserable for my benefit. Every dollar that I earn could have gone towards someone else. Every meal I eat could have fed another person. I am quite happy to allow the wholesale slaughter of innumerable animals so I can enjoy a variety of meats on demand at my local supermarket. I freely use pharmaceuticals that are developed using animal testing methods designed to cause the creature's death. If you want to talk about pain and suffering don't just include the barbaric treatment of humans as our only source of sin.

Humans are an apex species, and we've climbed over every other form of life on this planet, including our own, to get there. Morality is an ethical framework designed to prevent mutual destruction by equal powers, not an absolute and unshakable Truth. We define our morality by our circumstances and constantly change it to suit our needs.

A lack of compassion is not a crime. Indeed, it's a core aspect of our primal survival instincts. It's tempered by our instinctual herd mentality that wills us to value certain people around us for the protection and skills they can provide towards our mutual survival. That line between the Us of our group and the Them outside it create everything from our families to our nations.

Suggesting we increase our migrant intake is well and good, but who? We want the maximum return for investment. The people most likely to have marketable skills and financial security. In other words, the 'plane people.' We get to cherry pick the best in that scenario. Is it right to do this? From a purely economic and primitive survival aspect, absolutely. From a moral perspective? That depends on the definition of morality by the national herd, as shown in the results of the election.

[Descan]

What investment? Where's the cost in not sending asylum seekers to prison-camps?

It'd be -nice- if the Aussie government also helped asylum seekers to get situated in Australia and start a new life, but right now, I think most people interested in this would be happy if the Aussie gov. just stopped being assholes? Wasting money in treating people like criminals for the Aussie gov.'s own breaking of international law.

This isn't so much about a "lack of compassion", but a "surplus of malice". Actively harming people, treating them like scum, and wasting money in the process. Completely the opposite of any decent view.

[Sheb]

Fuck I hate sociopaths.

[t. fortsorter]

Business leaders will always push for more migrants. ^^ They can be employed for less which increases profit margins~ Thinking they care about the social repercussions is wishful thinking, really!
It is my opinion that Australia should withdraw its signature from the refugee treaty in the first place! If the government is going to do such silly things as it is now, what purpose is there to claiming involvement? Such cruel, cruel lies...
You could, of course, overthrow your current government and install me as your ruler. (⌒.−)≡★
I promise you nothing~!

[Darvi]

I wouldn't make a good hat, I can promise that.

[Sheb]

Still almost every single study I've seen show positive economic repercussions from immigration. Hardly surprising, immigrants are mostly young adults, so you basically get a productive, taxpaying worker without having to pay for 18 years of education and healthcare first.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Even if the economic repercussions weren't great, immigrants are also a major source of cultural enrichment. So really, good all around.

[Sheb]

They can makes you healthier too! Thanks to large-scale Moroccan immigration in Belgium, Dürüm have supplanted french fries as the traditional snack food. So we at least get some vegs and stuff.

And in what I consider a wonderful exemple of multiculturalism, dürüms in Belgium come with french fries in it and any of the 20-odds different sauce any respectable french-fries maker would offer.

[Darvi]

Kinda sad when your national dish has a different country in its name.