Paris Mayhem

[Dick Whitman]

So what's your reply, if you do reply?

I haven't formed an opinion on this issue yet.

 

[MisterCreosote]

I'm genuinely curious. For the ones who post a lot on this and other threads like it, do you guys/gals talk this much politics in your everyday lives face-to-face with people? With your co-workers, buddies at the bar, significant others?

No snark. Honestly curious.

Only as much as someone who has a reasonable stake in the direction of this country would.

 

[MisterCreosote]

They really don't need to come here. We're really far away. We have a very different culture, which might not be a good fit for them. And, if they come here, they will likely never go home.

This doesn't sound like something the world's beacon of hope and freedom would say.

 

[Big Circus]

God no.

I'm willing to discuss politics if someone is wants to, but I don't go around initiating political conversations.

I'll talk horserace politics with one of my best friends who used to work in high level Dem jobs -- both campaigns and in government -- but we don't argue, or try to change each other's minds. If anything, we want to hear what the other side thinks. Have literally never argued politics with him, as many times as we've discussed it.

And, I never post about politics on facebook. I have no interest in debating politics with someone I went to grade school with, but haven't seen in 30 years.

YF, change the part about the best friend to "GOP congressional staffer mother-in-law" and I could have written this.

 

[Rainman]

Guess what, the five Syrians were not refugees: they were attempting to enter the U. S. according to legal passport procedures (if they had done a better job of forging/falsifying them they would have succeeded). And the allegedly-utterly-incompetent government screening system caught them.

Yeah, not the point. The point is they are coming. Some are already here. It's naive to think they can't also come in as refugees.

 

[amraeder]

I haven't formed an opinion on this issue yet.

Fair.
I think the basic answer to the question is:
"It's logistically impossible for any one country or a few countries to shoulder the entire burden of this." (though even that is a simplistic answer since it views "Muslim" as a homogenous group without taking into consideration Sunni/Shia divides.).
There's over 12 million refugees. The population of Jordan is under 6.5 million. (And they currently have over 600K refugees already. That's 10% of their population! Think of the logistical and economic nightmare that has to be!)
The UAE population is 9 million, so again, taking in 900K people would be 10% of their population. The equivalent of the US taking in 31 million refugees.
Saudi Arabia's population is 28 million. Much bigger than the other two, finally. So, it's probably fair to ask if they're doing their part. But again, the problem's big enough that it's unreasonable for them to take on the majority of it).

Then of course there's the economic considerations.
Saudia Arabia comes of OK here as well. They've got a roughly equivalent GDP per capita to the US (based on 2014 IMF figures) US is 10th and SA is 11th.
UAE's strong here, too. They're actually 6th.
Jordan...not so much (and remember, they've got somewhere around 10% of their population in refugees already! Let's remember how crazy that figure is). Jordan's 91st by such economic powerhouses as Mongolia and Grenada.

And this of course ignores internal stability. I have a hunch that SA's government has a more precarious hold on their legitimacy to rule than the US government does, though I can't really find metrics on it, so it's hard to say for sure.

My basic take is "There's a heck of a lot of refugees. More than any handful of countries can absorb. Everyone has to do their part according to their ability. And we have more ability than most, simply because of the size of our economy." (We also likely have a better in-place infrastructure to handle this kind of thing, which probably matters a lot, but I can't find reasonable measures of that, so that's more speculation than something I'm willing to say as hard and fast fact right now).

 

[cranberry]

Yeah, not the point. The point is they are coming. Some are already here. It's naive to think they can't also come in as refugees.

Do you have a gun? I think it's going to be every man for himself.

 

[doctorquant]

I'm genuinely curious. For the ones who post a lot on this and other threads like it, do you guys/gals talk this much politics in your everyday lives face-to-face with people? With your co-workers, buddies at the bar, significant others?

I don't. This is my "safe space" to talk about (really to work through what I think about) these things.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I don't. This is my "safe space" to talk about (really to work through what I think about) these things.

For all the people who think I act like, "the smartest guy in the room" here, this is what I largely use this place for, too. A sounding board. I'm dismissive of some people's thoughts on something, but quite often someone's viewpoint helps shape mine.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Re: Middle Eastern nations taking in refugees

Saudi Arabia has allegedly taken 500,000 through a Visa program.

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/vie...-camp-in-Saudi-Arabia-They-want-a-future.html

Lebanon has allegedly taken in more than 1 million. Jordan has taken more than 600,000.

 

[doctorquant]

The Samaritan helping a Jew is sort of the reverse of what's happening now. Jews are targets of radical Islam.

To see a Muslim protect a Jew today would be a nice story.

Coupla things ... in the parable, we know not whether the waylaid man is a Jew.

Secondly, in the time of the parable's telling, Jews despised Samaritans (and Samaritans likewise despised Jews).

To get a sense of how this parable played, imagine Iran's Khamenei telling a version of it in which two Muslims, one a Shiite, pass by the waylaid man, while an Israeli solider is the hero. Or imagine
Bernie Sanders speaking at a campaign rally and pointing admirably to the charitable works of the Koch brothers. The reaction they'd get -- the cognitive dissonance such a speech would sow among their listeners -- would be similar to that Jesus' audience had.

 

[YankeeFan]

It's not explicit that the traveler is a Jew, but it's sort of understood, isn't it?