alt Hacker NewsI'm afraid you might have misunderstood the point I was making about immigrants. I am a legal immigrant myself and do not propose kicking out (legal) immigrants.
Restricting immigration to those with skills the country requires at the time is sensible policy. Allowing millions into the country in an orgy of performative empathy with no plan for integration or converting them into productive members of society isn't.
My point is that there is a cost associated with this, and the EU is paying it in spades. The money spent addressing these issues comes at the expense of investment in things that make the country more innovative (education, trades, streamlined regulatory structures...), or have a stronger defensive posture.
Self-evidently, life isn't exclusively about WHO has the money. Having options, however, IS exclusively the result of who has the money. When the EU have restricted their options through these voluntary and unwise choices, they have to depend on someone else's help. That someone is going to want their pound of flesh.
"Fascist" seems a little over the top to describe these views.
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> “Fascist" seems a little over the top to describe these views.
You’re committing a fallacy of association and then attributing that fallacy to the parent comment. Not great.
“Fascists blame everything on immigrants...” is the logical equivalent of what they said.
This is what I mean. There has been no policy of "allowing millions into the country in an orgy of performative empathy". It is quite hard for someone from outside the EU to obtain residency. There are some exceptions like former colonies being allowed easier migration which is only fair.
There has been one incident during the Syrian war where Angela Merkel said "wir schaffen das" but there was no coordinated grant of immigration rights in any way. And these were mostly legitimate refugees from the Syrian war.
Europe hasn't forgotten that many of us once were refugees not too long ago.
It's a problem because the right-wing keep blowing it out of proportion, but it's only based on racist underbelly feelings.