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AIBU?

To be in tears over the news today?

190 replies

KnockMeDown · 28/08/2015 18:16

71 migrants suffocated in a truck. Countless scores drowning in the Med. There doesn't seem to be an answer - they will keep coming, searching for a better life, wanting just the basics for their families.

I've kept it at bay up to now, but that truck... What were they thinking at the end Sad

I don't know what to say, or think, or do, but I am incredibly upset over it.

OP posts:
Katedotness1963 · 28/08/2015 18:19

It is just horrific...Sad Sad

Rollermum · 28/08/2015 18:20

It's horrible. I feel the same. So sad for parents and their children, I can't imagine what it is like to see your children suffer in this way.

confusedandemployed · 28/08/2015 18:23

I was too. It's one of the most horrific things I've ever read.

KnockMeDown · 28/08/2015 18:27

I'm thinking about the things that I've been stressing about, and it's all just so insignificant compared to what these people are dealing with.

OP posts:
bettyboo1984 · 28/08/2015 18:28

Agreed. I was in tears today. Kept thinking about the baby girl and how her parents would have just wanted a better life for her...

KnockMeDown · 28/08/2015 18:36

What I also found incredibly moving was the dignity and care with which the authorities were treating the bodies. And the fact that we will probably never even know their names.

OP posts:
treaclesoda · 28/08/2015 18:37

I've been trying to avoid the details because it is so awful.

The desperation that these people must feel to even attempt such a journey. And for it to end up like that. Sad

And to think that if they were some of the lucky ones, they'd quite possibly end up living somewhere overcrowded and awful, with people hating them as they are not wanted in the countries they are arriving in. It is a tragedy.

MrsBalustradeLanyard · 28/08/2015 18:40

I know. I keep wondering what they were thinking as they got in the truck. Did they think this was the start of a new life, or did they know something wasn't right? Just can't imagine how bad your life would have to be to make that choice. We are so lucky in this country, we really are.

Supermanspants · 28/08/2015 18:42

I'm trying to work out why there has been such a migrant crisis this year in particular. You have to wonder what those bastard traffickers are promising them.

bigsnugglebunny · 28/08/2015 18:45

I am with you 100% OP - absolutely horrific.

SurlyCue · 28/08/2015 18:48

Totally agree OP. It is hearbreaking. It is only pure luck that i was born in this country and havent ever felt so unsafe that i need to leave. How desperate those people must be. It isnt fair or right that they are paying thousands to die like this. I dont know the answer either. Does anyone?

ChampagneTastes · 28/08/2015 18:53

It is horrific. I am struggling to deal with how awful the world is at the moment. Then I discovered that there are some wonderful people doing their bit to try to help some of these people. Go on facebook and search for Calais Aid and you'll find opportunities to help out. It won't help those poor people in the trucks but it will bring a little relief to those camped out in France.

LilyTucker · 28/08/2015 19:15

Totally agree. I find it all upsetting,every boat but that truck just really just got to me today.Why isn't anybody doing anything,surely they need to be thinking of ways to help these poor people. It just feels as if they're all just turning a blind eye.

The utter desperation they must be feeling to get in a dinghy or a truck with their kids in the care of unknown people knowing it was extremely risky and they may well not make it. The fear and hideous lives they are leaving which pushes them into it is just so awful to think about. What gets me is the way they are all just dismissed as scrounging immigrants but every single one of us would do the same in that situation. War, Syrian terror,famine- I'd be on the first truck out of there in order protect my children.

turtletea · 28/08/2015 19:18

This is starting to look like a second holocaust.

LuluJakey1 · 28/08/2015 19:19

It is awful, heartbreaking but I don't know what the solution is.

The Middle East has always been unstable and extreme in many ways.
Eastern Europe is still recovering from decades of Communism and civil war.
Northern Africa has had many decades of problems- infrastrucures poor, corrupt government, poor education, war and massacre.

Western Europe must look wonderful to them.

The truth is no country in Western Europe really wants them. Many people feel threatened by massive i migration and feel like their own culture and lifestyles and economic and financial security are under threat- especially during a massive world wide recession. There has been a move to the right evident across much of Western Europe in attitudes towards migration.

What do other people think are solutions?

Every country opens its borders and people can go where they wish - Britain and Germany would be the main destinations of choice.

The wealthiest countries take them between them - Britain, Germany, France????

Everyone takes a shared out number - up to what point?

They are stopped leaving their countries or sent back?

Britain refuses to take any? This makes me uncomfortable.

I thought the immigraion data from yesterday was fascinating. It was something like 350,000 immigrants to Britain last year, and only 26,000 actual asylum seekers. Presumably the rest are economic migrants or leaving countries where they no longer wish to live for another reason.

It is very upsetting to see at times, especially the children, but I have no idea what the solution is. What do others think?

noblegiraffe · 28/08/2015 19:19

I remember learning about the coffin ships taking the Irish to America and wondering how desperate you would have to be to embark on a journey with such a high chance of death en-route.

And yet we still have them. Coffin boats. Coffin lorries.

londonrach · 28/08/2015 19:19

Whats the answer?

coffeeisnectar · 28/08/2015 19:25

It's awful and they will keep coming while Isis continues its destruction and murder, none of the countries in that region are safe. So while they might not be asylum seekers now, many are leaving while they can. Poor Greece is dealing with a lot and they need support from the rest of Europe.

I have no idea what the answer is. I wish I did. I wish the likes of Syria and Afghanistan could return to some sort of stable living without fear, that Pakistan and India weren't so dangerous for women and girls.

UncertainSmile · 28/08/2015 19:42

This is starting to look like a second holocaust.

Don't be so fucking ridiculous

honeyroar · 28/08/2015 19:43

Yes it's horrific. And to think some trafficker will have made a fortune out of each of them before packing them off and not giving a stuff.

It's purely pot luck where you're born and what you're born into. Life is unfair.

beardsrock · 28/08/2015 19:44

I feel exactly the same. Especially for the kids.

The thing is: what are we going to do?

Like honestly, what?

TeaisNiceToo · 28/08/2015 19:45

Not at all unreasonable.
I've spent the entire day feeling like shit - blue, blue, blue - all because of the rubbish news (not just about the immigrants - today has been a corker for horrible news both on the radio and social media. Had to deactivate my Facebook account after one animal cruelty story too far)

You're human. I'd worry if you weren't affected.

beardsrock · 28/08/2015 19:48

I'm getting to the point where I dread reading the news: migrants, forced rapes, ISIS. Especially bad, as usual, if you are a woman.

We are living in terrible times.

LilyTucker · 28/08/2015 19:59

We've recently visited the Anne a Frank museum and I and a few others of different nationalities felt there were every similarities. Anne's father tried to get into the U.S. but they and Britain wouldn't raise their immigration quotas so like many others they had to go into hiding with disastrous consequences. If they had been allowed entry Anne would probably have been alive today and campaigning for people struggling to get a life without fear and danger.

The Emma Thompson speech in the museum made me so sad. "All her would haves are our real possibilities." Seems not. You just wonder what lessons we've learnt,clearly very few.

Andrewofgg · 28/08/2015 20:01

It makes me think of the trains to Auschwitz.

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