The world is fixed! (Ideas on multiculturalism/immigration)
I replied to a thread on multiculturalism, but I thought instead of just criticising things, I'd offer the barest bones of a solution. To get upto speed on where I'm coming from, I'll post my reply from the other thread here, and then put out a proposal. I'm interested in others thoughts.
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There aren't enough jobs to go around, there aren't enough/affordable homes to go around, there is a lack of financial stability for a majority, college fees are increasing, automation is on the way, HSE is held together with string, law enforcement numbers are decreasing, there are strikes left right and center all vying for more and more from a pot of less and less.......
...so in the context of the above (and that's just a few things off the top of my head), what are the apparent pros of multiculturalism/immigration?
1) Different perspectives...BUT in the age of the internet, if someone really wants to learn from different perspectives, they can just look at a website. If they aren't bothered to learn anything new, then plonking a non-irish person in front of them is hardly gonna change anything, is it?
2) Lovely food.....BUT again, the internet is all you need. And if that isn't good enough, whats wrong with a competent irish person cooking foreign food?
3) They are filling skill-gaps in our workforce....then how about upskilling programmes for irish people in the medium term, so as we don't have that gap forever. When a plumber comes over to your house, you don't invite them to live there forever!
4) Foreign language gaps....again, why not institute programmes where irish people are encouraged to learn language. Why try to improve your job prospects by learning a language when a company can simply hire an import on the cheap? A catch-22 of "irish people don't speak anything other than English", and around and around she goes.
5) Diversity.....that word, in my opinion, is vacuous. It means nothing. I go into a spar shop, some foreign person serves me at the counter and....what? What have I gained from that experience?
6) Increased level of tolerance....this general idea is another big question mark to me. If there are no lions living in my neighbourhood, I don't need to be tolerant of them, its literally a non-issue. If you start introducing lions into my neighbourhood, the excuse is that I should see EVEN more lions in order to tolerate more lions. Its intellectually vapid. Just replace the word "lion" in this silly analogy with Indians, islam, racism-in-general, etc....bonkers.
7) Its a nice idea to be welcoming.....it is. Not any way practical considering the increasing severity of issues our country is facing, but nice!
8) Treat others as you would like to be treated.....again, a nice sentiment. But I cant see it happening! Trot over to Saudi Arabia and see how far they'll bend over backwards to accommodate your culture and ideas. Try to get a job in Pakistan and see how your quality of life turns out, raise your irish family there. Try to integrate into the banlieus of france, it'll be a riot of a time! Hop in a truck and arrive in America, see how quick they'll put you on a waiting list to become an American citizen.
I do not blame immigrants for any of this. If I could go to a different country and vastly improve my life, I'd definitely try within reason. But that doesn't make immigration/multiculturalism a good idea for the host country! Theres a reason all of this is one-way traffic.
Long story short: There is everything to gain for an immigrant coming here. There is nothing to gain for Ireland or Irish people.
Immigration is bad for everyone in the long run anyway. The best/most mobile (not always the same thing!) of a population leave their own country because there is better elsewhere. That means that the problems of said country are not going to be fixed, and in all likelihood will become worse. That means more will want to leave....ever increasing problem.
Host countrys infrastructure suffers and buckles under increasing immigration until it too is no longer suitable for its own people. That leads to EMIgration to yet another country. No problems will be fixed here either.
Locusts! Until we learn to bite the bullet and fix OUR problems OURselves, until we teach others that they have to do the same with their own countries.....this is going to get worse and worse for every single person on the planet.
Forced integration is the absolute wrong direction. Voluntary cooperation with mutual benefit is the way to fix the worlds problems. In the meantime, lets get ready for the very, very painful period of change. Rant over!
As you'll see, I have the opinion that immigration is horde-like, locust-like. Not a great idea, in other words!
Lets take a timescale of 50 years.
1) I think immigration should be basically stopped, at least in the terms of it being a permanent move.
2) There should be free movement of people but only for limited amounts of time. Lets put a number of 2 years maximum. That lends itself to "getting to know one another", it can impart some wisdom perhaps, immigrants get to experience different cultures without actually having a downward effect on infrastructure. And its interesting! I cant think of anything more bland than visiting or working in different countries only to see the exact same **** EVERYWHERE! If I go to France, I want to see how FRENCH people live, the FRENCH way of life, FRENCH ideas, FRENCH fashion etc etc. Same for Japan, same for Russia etc.
3) The payoff in decreased permanent movement means that people WILL go home armed with innovation and skills that will help their own country. This improves their own country to the eventual point that people don't feel forced to emigrate.
4) For very disparate economies (lets take Ireland and Nigeria), there should be a programme of voluntary cooperation. Lets flesh this idea out a little, lets use a hospital as an example. We send the engineers and construction people that are NEEDED to help build a high quality hospital. Nigeria pays those people as best as they can, the rest is subsidised by our government. In exchange they can send their ALREADY qualified doctors and nurses to Ireland that they can afford to do without. This is short term mutualism.
Next, we should establish a school of education in Ireland where Nigerian people can come to study. Once they are qualified, they HAVE to go back to Nigeria (remember the two year rule!). In 50 years, I think we'd have a good situation going!
Easy to pick this apart because its a super simple idea, lots of detail missing. BUT....you can see how this is mutually beneficial. And in the short term it would probably benefit Nigeria more than Ireland. Long term, however, its best for EVERYONE, equally.
Consider the typical situation as it stands right now. Nigerian dude emigrates to Ireland, gets the education, stays here. End of story. Nigeria does not benefit from this. The irish doctor who's pushed to go abroad due to increased competition does not benefit from this!
5) ????
6) We all live happily ever after!
As said already, its a brutally simple idea on a message board. Theres no need to start looking for financial breakdowns, or asking others to "prove it!"....what do people think of this general idea? Any other vague-in-practice, sound-in-principle example? How should language learning be handled, for example?
One thing is for sure though, you cant have a permanent movement system like we have right now AND have limited immigration. They just don't work together.
Either that, or we need to start gearing up for world war 3 and massive population "culling"!
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