Racism and Xenophobia makes you less safe.
The rush to control borders and stop migration by excessive rhetoric and measures is non productive at best and generally counter productive.
You have Trump in the US we have Marine LePen over here, the let's hide behind walls brigade as it were. It's as if we can somehow cut ourselves off from the world in general, even if our governments have caused a lot of the problems in the first place.
Close the borders and then turn inwards and target those communities with rhetoric, it is how you breed extremists, isolation and hate; ghettoization.
I've never been a fan of borders nor the very idea of country and the associated patriotism. When taken to extreme we end up with the cover all excuse of exceptionalism. I have seen the effect of borders drawn by a cartographer using a ruler as a dividing marker, let alone a geographical feature.
The splits in humanity are artificially generated, colour of the skin is the easiest one to base some form of distinction upon, religion another, look past those and there is little difference if any at all. So the distinction is voluntary and not genetic.
I must admit my arguments are getting more difficult to make in these current times, but I see no solution nor end to chaos from those that propose hiding behind weapons and walls. I see further danger from Climate Change when peoples will be forced to coexist by something we are doing to ourselves. Treating the world as a whole rather than a collective of parts seems to be a logical solution, a solution at this time we are getting further away from.
This is a ramble, I'm sorry for that, we will eventually have to learn to live together and denying that seems to be at the heart of the problem.
Anyway
Just my thoughts as I struggle to come to terms with a lot of the hatred on display.
Comments
Not to mention that they are the tools of the 1%
designed and deployed to divide the 99%. That's precisely what's happening now on both sides of the aisle. Trump has effectively scapegoated immigrants and people of color, particularly Muslims and Mexicans, convincing his base that they are the cause of America's problems. Meanwhile, Hillary has weaponized identity politics and her supporters are going after Trump for his overt racism, while ignoring the entrenched neoliberal institutions, like the private prison industry, that enable racism and do irreparable harm to all people of color.
The irony is that supporters of both politicians are using racism and xenophobia in different ways to justify their actions and protect their chosen candidate, the representative of the 1%. They've effectively demonized the other side's supporters to the point where there can never be reconciliation (after all, who would want to work with a racist?), despite shared concerns and anxieties, resulting in a divided populace that is both unwilling and unable to rise up collectively and fight back.
Eh
Let them have their walls. We know a wall will be meaningless, but at least there'll be some jobs created during the construction. And what then will they do once it's finished? What excuses shall they hide behind when their realities aren't suddenly better, when their living situations remain unchanged? Some may then find a new excuse to hide behind, while others may face their realities for a change.
Walls? On the southern border?
Does anyone have any idea how many tunnels already exist?
Life is strong. I'm weak, but Life is strong.