German Crowd Cheers Migrant Shelter Fire

[ChillDoubt]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35625595

I'm guessing the herrenvolk are getting sick of the refugee situation.....

[naomi24]

ag, // how the hell is this malaise going to be treated?//

Certainly not, as some on this thread are doing, by failing to recognise, or by wilfully ignoring, the extent of the concern that many people in Europe are feeling. If Europe doesn't call the plumbers now, it will, before it finally realises what's happening, drown.

[agchristie]

Naomi, most definitely. The 'plumbers' at the helm don't seem to have the right tools. It's a finger in the dyke job....

[Hypognosis]

Surely the key to integration and acceptance is to put one migrant family into each of 20,000 settlements (*), not 300 individuals, all under the same roof? Isn't that the very definition of a 'ghetto'.

If you fear immigrants banding together in some para-military fashion (if only at the sticks and stones level) then facilitating the formation of mini-communities is only going to help those fears being played out. 300 votes could sway a local council member and, before long, they'll be requesting things be built for their benefit. Geographical dispersal diminishes such powers of electoral influence but with the side benefit of increasing daily visual/verbal contact and mutual understanding.

(* by way of thrashing out my meaning, how many houses constitute a hamlet, or successive categories of village?)

[agchristie]

Hypo, good points.

It cannot be said 'safety in numbers' as ghettoising makes them more vulnerable too. [Just don't paint any front doors red!]

[jourdain2]

Re. the red front doors agchristie. A friend living up Middlesborough way says that all doors owned by that housing association ae painted red. Not a question of migrants being singled out.

[agchristie]

Yes jourdain, the migrants there complained though that they were more vulnerable to racism, vandalism as their homes were more likely to be singled out. Pretty sure they were all going to be repainted in a two week timescale.

[Jackdaw33]

The thought of people seeking a better life settling in Middlesbrough really tickles me.

[agchristie]

Jackdaw, fairly sure that it is the only place in the UK where the guidline of not more than 1:200 of the local population is a migrant has failed.

[Hypognosis]

The inherent flaw in my dispersal suggestion - which no one spotted - is that you cant plant a family in a small village without every local knowing exactly which house they're in. Big cities have the benefit of lending some degree of anonymity for new arrivals and incuriousness on the part of existing residents. People rub along by not looking at each other much. In the smalltown environment, there only needs to be one racist in the locality for the new arrivals to have a rough experience.

As for the guideline breach in Middlesborough, I can only guess at the effect on job availability. The shiftless will just have to get a shift on before all the juicier jobs are snapped up!

They can't be placed in London or the DM will be moaning about free million pound homes again, so out to the far-flung towns they go.

In one of the other threads, divebuddy (I think) linked to a 2010 story about Merkel, decrying "multukulti", at the time. It made a point about city dwellers already wanting their own countrymen stopped from migrating from rural areas to the big cities; so it is not entirely racism, it is just human greed and competitiveness.

We can't tolerate people the same colour as us getting a slice of our pie, thank you very much. So heaven help folk from far, far away.

[vetuste_ennemi]

Do you concede the possibility that two cultures may be incompatible, Hypognosis?

[Hypognosis]

Odd turn of phrase, you used, vetuste. I can concede defeat, during a game or match; I can concede that I've got something wrong. I am unable to concede [contention X] when I have not yet asserted X, nor even its opposite.

So, in plain speech, is it possible the two cultures are incompatible?

I don't like to think that they're incompatible but don't ask me how to go about making them compatible, if they are basically not.

In any event, it is not about the culture clash, it is about sheer competition for survival space, educational opportunities and life chances.