‘We Told You So’

Mixing these two peoples together, with such radically different world views and experiences, is undoubtedly going to create conflict. Europeans and migrants are fundamentally different people.

It becomes fairly obvious when a foreign policy decision has deteriorated into catastrophe when the original proponents start to back out. In order to quell her country’s fears after the New Year’s sexual assault spree in Cologne, Merkel re-assured Germany that most of the migrants would return to their original homes after ISIS had been taken care of.

Ah yes. Just like how all the Irish went back to Ireland after the potato famine ended. I imagine any migrant would want to leave a modern, stable, Germany and return to their war torn homelands where electricity and flowing water are a blessing.

But the fact of the matter was that the threat was and is real.

But that’s beside the point. What is more amazing, in my opinion, is the near prophetic abilities of those who spoke out against accepting millions of migrants into Europe. Those who were hesitant to shame Hungry for closing their borders were scoffed at the for proposing a potential slew of sexual assault, poverty, and welfare abuse resulting from accepting these dispossessed migrants. And yet, here we are. In a world where these radical racist Republicans’ wildest nightmares have come to life.

In any case, this disaster is a dish best served as a historical precedent. In a world where the fear of being perceived as being intolerant is growing to be a greater concern than intolerance itself, it is all too easy to be swept up in the idea of universal acceptance. Of this I speak to the idea that there should not be, in a just world, any sort of predispositions imposed upon a person based on their culture. And when push came to shove, subscribers to this ideology gladly welcomed in these refugees, speaking of helping their fellow man. They harbored no fears of these new comers, for the tolerant knew that any concerns were just the propagation of stereotypes by the intolerant.

But the fact of the matter was that the threat was and is real. Not because of the refugees skin color, but rather their background. These were people running from death, born and raised in a culture that is infamous for its intolerance. A culture that has been known to make use of capital punishment on those who commit apostasy, where women have only recently gained the right to vote and many of whom still cannot drive. It is a world that is deeply conservative and religious, a stark juxtaposition of the modern Europe where boarding up churches and expanding social programs is the norm.

Mixing these two peoples together, with such radically different world views and experiences, is undoubtedly going to create conflict. Europeans and migrants are fundamentally different people. There will be a time in the future where the world will be asked this very same question of migration again, and I can only hope that Europe can look back upon domestic policy failure and understand why the answer has to be no.

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