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Shouldn’t Be Hard

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Clarissa

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That I’m diabetic doesn’t mean I want everybody to develop Type 2 diabetes. To the contrary, I want fewer people to develop diabetes.

Similarly, that I’m an immigrant doesn’t mean I want more people to become immigrants. I wouldn’t want my child ever to be an immigrant.

Why is this so hard to understand?

This post is inspired by a conversation with a non-immigrant colleague earlier today who doesn’t understand how I can be opposed to mass migration if I’m an immigrant myself.

I don’t need to see myself reflected in other people to feel comforted. Even I’m not that neoliberal.

9 responses to “Shouldn’t Be Hard”

  1. oldcowboy3 Avatar
    oldcowboy3

    What was your colleague’s reasoning or justification for mass migration?

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      If people want to come here for a better life, it’s immoral to prevent them.

      The standard neoliberal twill about “choices”, in short.

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      1. Avatar
        Anonymous

        It could be worse. I saw a clip yesterday of a foreign girl going up to Charley Kirk at one of his events on various college campuses.

        Her reasoning why she and all the people of her country should be allowed into America was, and I kid you not. Because the water is not clean in her country. I facepalmed when I heard her say that.

        It never crossed her mind that the reason the water in Western countries is generally clean is because our people cleaned it over years and decades until it was and is clean.

        She simply could not comprehend that it was due to work being done by past generations to benefit their children and grandchildren. She basically was accusing the West in general and America in particular of causing the water in her country to be unclean and unfit to drink.

        • – W

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          With this sort of brain power it’s not surprising why people in her country can’t figure out how to maintain a clean water supply.

          Trump thinks that “they are not sending their best” but maybe this is what their best are like.

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          1. methylethyl Avatar
            methylethyl

            Sadly, foreign countries do not have a monopoly on this sort of idiocy.

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      2. oldcowboy3 Avatar
        oldcowboy3

        LOL, assuming moral superiority does somewhat limit further discussion ;-D

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      3. PaulS Avatar
        PaulS

        The “immoral” consideration could also be considered favoring idealism over realism.

        https://dailyfriend.co.za/2025/08/04/understanding-trump/

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  2. ShadowsCollide Avatar
    ShadowsCollide

    My mother feels the same way about immigration, she’s an immigrant who wants less immigration. Our families moved to America to escape a Communist regime and wanted to be around Americans, not be around a bunch of Spanish speaking peasants.

    She dislikes a lot of Hispanic immigrants since many of them are ignorant peasants who see the US as a piggy bank, her generation of immigrants wanted to learn English and be around Americans. By that standard, I should be upset that more people drink vodka like I do, I do drink a lot of vodka but that’s of my own personal preference. I don’t mind if people are teetotalers or prefer other drinks since not everyone is the same, immigrants who want to fit in and be around Americans are rightfully upset at migrants who just want to make money and live in a bubble before going home

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  3. Stringer Bell Avatar
    Stringer Bell

    I’ve had people ask me this, too. And my answer is that even after becoming an American if your sympathies lie with the well-being of foreigners than with your countrymen, there is something deeply wrong with you. At this point even economists have stopped making a financial case for mass immigration. It is clear it hurts citizens in every way (housing, education, healthcare, crime, jobs, your fucking car insurance, you name it) which is why the rhetoric has pivoted to moral appeals like “it is the compassionate thing to do” or accusations of racism for anyone who questions it.

    So if mass immigration is indeed a zero sum game then supporting it is literally an act of betrayal of the people you’re supposed to stand with.

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A conservative literary critic and college professor

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