Tuesday, March 30, 2004

Refugees

I am sure it's some kind or a cultural difference between the US and Finland, or even more likely between the US and Europe, but I really don't understand the attitude to the refugee problem here. It seems that the people, or at least the media, have a weird need to demand that all refugees be allowed to stay, and also to demand that those who are not allowed to stay be somehow labeled as fake refugees.

What's the problem in admitting that there are lots and lots of refugees in the world, that it is a good idea to help as many as we can, that we can't help everybody and that this fact does not make those who we can't help somehow fake? (This is, BTW, not to say that fake refugees do not exist.)

And what's the point in letting refugees stay even when they commit serious crime? Imagine that Shitholia is a country of 25 million, of which 5 million are some persecuted minority. Finland cannot accept all 5 million for the obvious reason, so Finland decides to accept, say, 2 thousand. If one of the 2 thousand commits serious violent crimes in Finland he or she is not likely to be sent back, because of the likelihood of persecution. Why does the fact that that person will be persecuted bother anyone, when there are 4998000 potential refugees remaining in Shitholia, any of whom could be admitted to Finland instead of the criminal and any of whom is also likely to be persecuted if they remain in Shitholia? Put the damn criminal back and replace him/her with a law-abiding person, or at least a person who has not yet been shown to be a criminal.


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