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AIBU?

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Original poster

to think that the Calais migrants are economic migrants and should not be given asylum?

558 replies

cabbagesouppirate · 30/07/2015 08:57

All of the Calais migrants are young men. If they were true asylum seekers seeking safety from persecution they could have claimed asylum in a number of safe countries Western countries already, including France which is hardly a dangerous place. Instead they camp out in Calais, causing a nuisance, a mess, costing the UK and France a lot of money, making the lives of lorry drivers and tourists hell and the situation is becoming increasingly dangerous. I sincerely hope these people are not given asylum in the UK and any that have managed to reach the UK should be fast tracked out of the country and given economic assistance whilst they are here.

OP posts:
Coffeemarkone · 30/07/2015 13:17

look tenhieht just stop using the word 'swarm' it is dehumanising and is the language of pest controllers, infestations, and so on.
I am not 'tying myself in knots' just objecting to a certain word that is being used to incite racial hatred.
No I am not 'naive' thank you, far from it.

Waterwitch1 · 30/07/2015 13:19

The Downing Street Fraud:

"I accept that, because you have got a swarm of people ...seeking a better life, wanting to come to Britain because Britain has got jobs, it's got a growing economy, it's an incredible place to live,"

The tw*t's making a party political broadcast whilst we're being invaded. Shut your mouth Dave and do your duty.

IceBeing · 30/07/2015 13:19

ten words matter. When you stop think of people as people first, that is when genocide etc start to look like genuine options.

Referring to people as 'migrants' is enough of a dehumanisation for me. Going to insect, swarms, cockroaches is totally disgusting.

It isn't cockroaches, or even migrants drowning in the Med. it is men, women, children, mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, babies.

I wonder how many babies and toddlers have drowned so far this year? I don't know because oddly the news never reports the deaths in those terms.

Moreshabbythanchic · 30/07/2015 13:23

Coffee it would seem that all your sympathies lie with these migrants who are causing so much upheaval to ordinary, law abiding people. What about all the lorry drivers stuck in traffic for days on both sides of the channel, the people who live in Kent and are unable to leave their houses, the people like Beyond who are suffering on a daily basis by people who wont adapt to life in the UK, the holiday makers who have worked hard all year to be able to take their children for a treat, the police who are trying their best to control these migrants.....I could go on and on, but you carry on with your sympathy and while you're doing that can I respectfully suggest you spare a thought for all the ones who are suffering because of a group of people who have no regard for anyone else.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 30/07/2015 13:26

tenieht I started to go through your post statement by statement. Then I realised there was no point. A person who writes a post like that demonstrates both an ignorance about the situation worthy of any DM reader, and a breathtaking lack of empathy.

The language used and the assumptions made also indicate a thoroughly unpleasant view of the world, and other people in it.

GraysAnalogy · 30/07/2015 13:27

You'd think they'd be happy getting to the next safe place. But they aren't, they want to get to the place where they will be given the most opportunities. I don't blame them, but this does make them economic migrants.

TwistInMySobriety · 30/07/2015 13:28

I wonder how many babies and toddlers have drowned so far this year? I don't know because oddly the news never reports the deaths in those terms

Maybe they should claim to be lions. Most of MN would be up in arms to defend them then. only partly tongue in cheek

Coffeemarkone · 30/07/2015 13:28

" ordinary, law abiding people. "

oh please, can you spare me the DM cliches please?

As for Beyond 'suffering on a daily basis' well that is what living on a council estate is like, have been there myself.

Could you show me people 'suffering' from 'these migrants' then?

Does the thought of Blair and Bush destroying their societies not even bother you a teeny bit?

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 30/07/2015 13:28

it would seem that all your sympathies lie with these migrants who are causing so much upheaval to ordinary, law abiding people. What about all the lorry drivers stuck in traffic for days on both sides of the channel, the people who live in Kent and are unable to leave their houses, the people like Beyond who are suffering on a daily basis by people who wont adapt to life in the UK, the holiday makers who have worked hard all year to be able to take their children for a treat, the police who are trying their best to control these migrants.

Lorry drivers, inhabitants of Kent, holiday makers and the police are not being absolutely vilified by sections of the media/Mumsnet.

JassyRadlett · 30/07/2015 13:32

In addition, I think the UK should be looking at immigration laws in Australia and copying their model. We are currently pretty much an open ticket and whilst I respect all ethnicities and welcome a diverse UK, it's isn't fair to just let migrants, even if they are skilled, keep coming to a geographically small island that doesn't have the housing/education and health infrastructure to support its own people, let alone tens of thousands of migrants.

What changes would you make to the non-EU system to make it more like Australia's, out of interest?

Moreshabbythanchic · 30/07/2015 13:33

Sorry, I didn't mean to include you in the 'ordinary' category, obviously you are a cut above with your gentile and caring nature. Maybe when you come back to the real world, amongst us ordinary people you will open your eyes and see what's going on in this country.

Now I must be off, haven't had the time to peruse the Daily Mail yet. Toodlepip.

IceBeing · 30/07/2015 13:34

I will freely admit that I have no idea the realities of living on a council estate.

I would assume, terrible though it may be, that it compares favourably with living in a war torn country where, for instance, you would be in daily danger of being killed or raped and where clean water cannot be relied on etc.

So yes my sympathy is more with the migrants than with lorry drivers, holiday makers, or even people who live on council estates.

FriendofBill · 30/07/2015 13:36

It's not about who has our sympathies/loyalties. One life is not worth more than another.

People are equal whether they are driving the van or trying to conceal themselves beneath it.

If you have a chance to do something better, that will increase your chances of health and wellbeing wouldn't you?
For some it is life and death.

The world is so unequal stuff like this is bound to happen. So much injustice.

Coffeemarkone · 30/07/2015 13:38

" Sorry, I didn't mean to include you in the 'ordinary' category, obviously you are a cut above with your gentile and caring nature "

See that is the problem with people like you, you are not capable of having a normal exchange. When someone says something you dont agree with, instead of continuing the discussion, you resort to silly insults and saying 'toodle pip'.

Oh well if you are representative of that view, we dont have too much to worry about I suppose.

Coffeemarkone · 30/07/2015 13:39

oh and by the way it is 'gentle' not 'gentile'. Yes I am a gentile, cannot change that.

shovetheholly · 30/07/2015 13:39

Well said FriendofBill. Add to that the fact that the UK played a major role in creating the kind of political instability (and climate change) that is causing so many people to flee their homes. We actually owe something to these people, because of stupid decisions taken in our (collective) name.

Supervet · 30/07/2015 13:42

There was a Sikh lady with two children on the news. The human traffickers had put them in a sealed container, her husband suffocated, she is blind . of course I feel dreadfully sorry for them but we are a small island and the army needs to be there now.

OnlyLovers · 30/07/2015 13:47

use of the word 'swarm' is as far as I am concerned no better than inciting racial hatred. They are not insects, they are people.

Totally agree. David Cameron ought to be ashamed of himself.

CatthiefKeith · 30/07/2015 13:47

What on earth has happened to Mumsnet? Sad

Coffeemarkone · 30/07/2015 13:49

" There was a Sikh lady with two children on the news "

Maybe she came to repossess her country's stolen goods fromthe British Museum and Crown VAults. Koh i noor diamond anyone?

JassyRadlett · 30/07/2015 13:53

of course I feel dreadfully sorry for them but we are a small island and the army needs to be there now.

Doing...?

And how would whatever it is be a good use of the taxpayers' money we are apparently so desperately short of?

shovetheholly · 30/07/2015 13:53

Catthie - I think it's a sign of how far being completely selfish has been legitimated! I find it truly terrifying.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 30/07/2015 13:54

The human traffickers had put them in a sealed container, her husband suffocated, she is blind . of course I feel dreadfully sorry for them

but we are a small island and the army needs to be there now.

Bloody hell. The disconnect between the two halves of that sentence...

CatthiefKeith · 30/07/2015 13:57

If Dh and I lived in a war torn country, where rape and murder were every day occurances and there was another, safer country, where dd could get an education, and grow up healthy and free, where we could already make ourselves understood in the mother tongue and already had friends and/or family and you bet your arses we'd be trying to get there.

Blame the system that opened the borders wide (I'm looking at you Tony), blame the EU who decide the rules on what aslyum seekers and economic migrants can claim, blame the British Empire for making English so widely spoken that most of the world can speak at least a few words of it, but for Christs sake you can hardly blame the people that want to get here.

Good job the Germans were a bit more welcoming in the late 1970's and early 1980's when the British building industry went tits up for a couple of years - otherwise the Right to Buy Scheme probably wouldn't have been half so successful!

^That last bit is ironic, in case you missed it^

IceBeing · 30/07/2015 13:57

Indeed - it is like people don't see the moral problem in saying:

Of course I feel for people suffering and dying in shipping containers, or being raped, mutilated in their own countries...but if they come here then it might affect the house prices!