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AIBU?

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Original poster

Lily Allen in Calais

310 replies

parrots · 12/10/2016 19:43

Couldn't find another thread on this. The situation in Calais is awful, but AIBU to see Lily Allen's overtures as slightly virtue signalling and self-indulgent?

OP posts:
scaryteacher · 13/10/2016 09:35

Milk You say these kids are orphans, but who then paid for their journey? Have their parents subsequently died? I wonder if there were to be a rule change as a PP explained as per Sweden that there was no automatic right for a family to follow if we would see a decrease in lone children?

Owllady · 13/10/2016 09:40

We need to look after our own first, say people who would never help anyone
Dailymash

MuseumOfCurry · 13/10/2016 09:41

You foster a British child as you're so passionate about it.

Wow.

Oh, stop. Milk has already explained that even if the fate of a British child in the care system isn't so great, it is giant fuckloads better than that of a child in the Jungle or worse yet, Aleppo. We can't turn a blind eye to this crisis on the basis that we can't sort our own shit out - there's no excuse. Britain is a wealthy, first-world country.

It is a global disgrace.

sportinguista · 13/10/2016 09:45

Milk just curious, but you mean you can turn multiple children away who may have great need until you are offered a refugee child of the nationality you are wanting to foster? Surely the local authority might wonder why you are turning down children who need the service repeatedly?

Or do you register as only offering very specific services in that context?

I've not fostered but have known people who do and they are often asked to take children in emergencies that may not be specifically of the 'fit' they may usually take. Would in that situation you still be allowed to say no unless there was a security/safeguarding risk say?

forkhandles4candles · 13/10/2016 09:45

I love the way shouting Godwin's Law is meant to shut down historical comparisons. Yeah great. Truly scary to see how vicious some people are.

CockacidalManiac · 13/10/2016 09:47

I love the way shouting Godwin's Law is meant to shut down historical comparisons. Yeah great. Truly scary to see how vicious some people are.

Because your hysterical historical comparisons are fatuous. The Nazis fed children into ovens. They didn't voice mild objections to taking refugees.

PigletWasPoohsFriend · 13/10/2016 09:48

I love the way shouting Godwin's Law is meant to shut down historical comparisons. Yeah great. Truly scary to see how vicious some people are

Oh delightful.

ginghamstarfish · 13/10/2016 09:49

Never get an answer to this, but why aren't these refugees/economic migrants flocking to other Muslim countries? Why aren't wealthy Arab nations not opening their borders? Why do we hear NOTHING about this in the news, ever?

MuseumOfCurry · 13/10/2016 09:54

The neighbouring countries have taken huge numbers of displaced Syrians. Lebanon and Jordan are now like Syrian (and Palestinian) satellite states.

specialsubject · 13/10/2016 09:55

Back to the point - what I find annoying is that Lily Allen, waster of her privileged English education, ( because in england you get free education and girls dont get shot for it) issuer of nasty comments about other celebs and champagne socialist, takes it on herself to apologise for England. Because it is all totally the fault of England.

Where is the jungle? Who is bombing Syria? Which group made the pressure plate that took the legs from my English friend who was trying to prevent Afghan civilians losing theirs?

But it is all so simple for Lily.

If she were really bothered she would DO, not blub. Plenty on here have actually done something.

sportinguista · 13/10/2016 10:02

Most people are all for helping people in the camps around the middle East and for putting pressure on the parties involved to resolve the situation in Syria. The Afghan situation is complex and has been going on for far longer than anybody realises indeed there has been foreign involvement in that region to try and resolve various conflicts since the 19th century. Part of the reasons why this may not have happened is because there is a very specific culture there. Of course we could just leave them to it and the Taliban and various other groupings would fight for control. The problem is half the time we are damned if we do, damned if we don't. If we and the US stopped selling weapons abroad (which I think we should personally) China and Russia would not discontinue also, they would even step it up. As with all wars Syria included the main losers are the local population that are not involved militarily (if you read history this is a feature of all wars going back centuries).

So what is the best course of action? You can't actually look for direct comparisons with past conflicts as they will have different social, military, political and geographical drivers which will determine what happens. You have to look at the situation and think what will happen once conflict is resolved (you also have to press for conflict resolution - could Lily Allen have pressed for Russia to stop it's bombardment?). How is the country going to be rebuilt? What sort of people will you need to repopulate and rebuild? (the young, the brightest and best) Will they be at hand?

This could be the reason to make conditions for the Syrians on the border better, to make sure children are educated there, that healthcare is available. And if certain children in those camps have ties to UK directly that they are able to apply from there and not make the journey to Calais at all.

Do we really want to encourage and put money in the hands of the people smugglers who really are criminals and the lowest of the low?

BastardGoDarkly · 13/10/2016 10:02

The blubbing was fake, the whole thing was a forced cringe fest.

But it's brought the desperate situation those people are in to light again, so for that I guess it was worth it.

specialsubject · 13/10/2016 10:03

Now she has. Tweeted a link to donate to the charity Help Refugees, who are working all across Europe and with partner organisations doing a lot of useful stuff.

And for once the online donation system they use does not seem to take a cut.

BastardGoDarkly · 13/10/2016 10:04

Heard on the news today, Allepo will be completely destroyed by Christmas. Every footage I see from there breaks my heart, I wish there was something I could do.

specialsubject · 13/10/2016 10:04

Sorry - 'now she has done something'.

MuseumOfCurry · 13/10/2016 10:08

The fact that Assad remains alive and kicking, in my estimation, means that all the elite special forces across the free world are useless.

CockacidalManiac · 13/10/2016 10:17

Lily Allen is a renowned Coke-head. I'm not taking lectures on human rights abuses from someone who uses Cocaine. Has she ever given a minute's thought to how many people died and suffered to get her drug of choice?

MuseumOfCurry · 13/10/2016 10:22

Lily Allen is an idiot but that's a bit tenuous Cockacidal.

CockacidalManiac · 13/10/2016 10:25

Not really; celebs will attach themselves to 'trendy' causes. Perhaps she'd like to go to a cocaine factory and have a little cry there at the human misery on show too?

CockacidalManiac · 13/10/2016 10:26

You're either consistent in your protection of human rights, or you aren't. Picking at causes to revive your moribund career, that's just a bit cynical.

CockacidalManiac · 13/10/2016 10:28

Cocaine production causes refugee issues too. Not on such a huge scale, but Central America is a little further away than Calais.

MuseumOfCurry · 13/10/2016 10:32

It's tenuous because

  1. you don't know for certain that she actually does coke
  2. because it's illegal she doesn't have the option to buy 'fair-trade' coke.
sportinguista · 13/10/2016 10:38

There is the situation in Venezuela too, I saw pictures of children who are just as starved as the ones in Aleppo but I've not seen anybody really coming out on their behalf.

I also saw that the mother of two who is accused of blasphemy merely for offering a woman of another faith a drink of water is likely to be hanged before Christmas also. She has 2 girls, one of which has learning difficulties. Her family have to be in hiding.

There are so many injustices in the world.

And yes cocaine production causes a huge amount of misery. Have you heard about the mothers of the girls who disappeared in Mexico, kidnapped, raped and killed by the cartels and so it goes on.

As for Assad, Russia has great interest in keeping him in power to keep their interests alive in that region. To honest the Syrian war has a lot of outside interests and that is part of what is keeping the conflict fed.

CockacidalManiac · 13/10/2016 10:39

She's admitted to using cocaine, and has defended its use. She has had choices in the past to make about using it or not; she chose to use it. I'm actually sympathetic to taking far more refugees than we do now; I just don't fancy being lectured by a hypocrite.

KittyWindbag · 13/10/2016 10:41

People are leaping on her choice of words which has rubbed some up the wrong way. But the point is she was merely having a very human reaction to an awful situation and it's a shame that people care more about a popstar's choice of words than they do about the appalling conditions of the refugee camps and the whole sorry situation.