Counter-Arguements for anti-immigrant sentiment.

[AK]

I'm not entirely sure this is the right forum but here goes.
I was texting my friend my "friend" (I'm not sure he counts as one now), he was telling me how there was a group of asians near where he was at the train station, speaking some asian language loudly. I've told him that immigrants can find it hard to become fully accustomed to whatever the predominant culture is (even though they shouldn't have to). Now he's saying that Australia would be much better of without Asians and immigrants (even though I am one, too) and that asians are "stealing our jobs". I need counter-arguements.

[Chambered Word]

If there was no incentive to hire them (i.e cheap labour) nobody would necessarily hire immigrant workers over other workers.

Does your 'friend' seriously get peeved at Asians speaking their language? Sorry, but that's really fucking neurotic. :rolleyes:

[cska]

If there was no incentive to hire them (i.e cheap labour) nobody would necessarily hire immigrant workers over other workers.

Does your 'friend' seriously get peeved at Asians speaking their language? Sorry, but that's really fucking neurotic. :rolleyes:

There are a lot of people who are neurotic.

[Belisarius]

ironically in belgium people complain about morrocans who don't have jobs :D

[The Red Next Door]

Number one tell them, no they not taking the jobs, the people who run the companies take the jobs overseas so the labor will be inhumanely cheap. number two, the last time i check just like America, the people from England came here to Australia illegally.

[AK]

Number one tell them, no they not taking the jobs, the people who run the companies take the jobs overseas so the labor will be inhumanely cheap. number two, the last time i check just like America, the people from England came here to Australia illegally.

Theres overseas labor (which is what you were talking about) and there's supposedly the immigrants taking "anglo-celtic/ethnic European's" jobs. Is there a way to combat this sentiment? Or will I once again be hearing of "those filthy asians and there bad lifestyle, we're better than them" (which I repond to with: "what's their lifestyle?" and I will hear: "they work in sweatshops, those filthy asians do"?

And today's Australians don't give a shit about this place's origins as an illegal dumping ground for prisoners. They like to think their stay here is entirely legitimate.

[sarmchain]

ask him this, what are countrys? dirt! and is not the idea that just because someone is born on a different piece of dirt they MUST stay on that dirt , and can't come on your dirt just because they were not born there stupid? and why does someone born on one piece of dirt have a right to a job over someone born on a different piece of dirt they are both human beings, they both need food, clothing and shelter so what makes it so one deserves a job over another?

[manic expression]

First, until you've tried living abroad, you shouldn't talk sh*t about people who have emigrated. It's a lot harder than it sounds, trust me. If you haven't lived in another country, tried to learn a new language from scratch, had to adjust to all the big and little things that make countries so different...you don't really know what it feels like, so don't pass judgment.

Second, immigrants don't steal jobs, it's not like they decide who gets a job and who doesn't. That's what bosses do. If your job was "stolen", your boss already decided that he didn't want to pay you anymore and so he found someone who's desperate enough to work it for less. Blame the bosses, they're the ones who screwed you over. Oh, and your boss LOVES it when you blame immigrants because your dumbass is forgetting about the person who FIRED YOUR ASS.

Third, it's not like Australians don't speak Aussie English really, really loudly when they're traveling abroad, so that's a ridiculous thing to complain about when it happens in Australia.

Fourth, if you actually think Australia would be better without Asians...have fun eating Vegemite for the rest of your life. :laugh: I swear, so many people will fork down a plate of Pad Thai (with a bottle of imported beer) one minute and then spew hatred against Thais/Indians/etc the next. They don't even realize the cultural contributions of immigrants...or how boring their life would be if all that was erased.

[Lyev]

Fourth, if you actually think Australia would be better without Asians...have fun eating Vegemite for the rest of your life. :laugh: I swear, so many people will fork down a plate of Pad Thai (with a bottle of imported beer) one minute and then spew hatred against Thais/Indians/etc the next. They don't even realize the cultural contributions of immigrants...or how boring their life would be if all that was erased.
This argument a thousand times. Anti-immigrant people seem to totally forget how a different culture (with it's foods, dress sense, culture, ideals, religion, language etc. etc.) can enrich and add to a new country positively. It seems as though so much can be gained from different peoples mixing, integrating and sharing, even though it sounds like a hippy cliche. Around my area in the UK we get a lot of Polish and eastern European immigrants. People complain in the most inane and asinine tone about how immigrants "steal" jobs* but there's a really nice Polish delicatessen that's opened recently in my area. They sell good vodka, Polish beer, herrings, Polish salami and sausages. Why do people want to turn away those that are willing to (and evidently can)contribute positively to a society?

*(for the life of my I cannot understand how someone can bloody "steal" a job; last time I checked a job went to the person who was best at doing it, not because someone was sly and actually "stole" it. At any rate, in a global economic downturn, we should be welcoming people that can come to our countries and do jobs that natives would otherwise be unwilling to do. I think the UK's unemployment population at the moment is something like 2.4 million.)

[AK]

I'm gonna revive this thread again with another point which was mentioned by that same friend recently;
"Those Asians should learn to speak English. We speak English in this country. It's our country and our language!"
His intolerance frightens me.

[Belisarius]

language is kind of a major topic here in belgium. officially our state already has three languages (Dutch, French and German) and most immigrants speak Arabic or Turk (allthough most of them also speak French). The problem is thatthere are in the Dutch north many French-speaking Belgians and immigrants. so i here a lot of those comments too. the thing is that here even shopkeepers tend to refuse to speak dutch.

i do think those people should learn Dutch, but only insofar as it constitutes "meaningfull communication". since the north is officially dutch, one should speak this language, allthough one doesn't need to have a phd in it or something like that. if for example a moroccan immigrant can fluently communicate with a dutch person where they both can understand each other, that suffices. this doesn't only count for language skills, but also for the content of this speech. if the moroccan can only talk about Allah or cricket, but about nothing else, then there can be no mutual understanding, and thus there isn't any meaningfull communication. so integration, as they call it, involves mastering the language and adapting to a minimum of the culture.

[Dooga Aetrus Blackrazor]

I'm not entirely sure this is the right forum but here goes.
I was texting my friend my "friend" (I'm not sure he counts as one now), he was telling me how there was a group of asians near where he was at the train station, speaking some asian language loudly. I've told him that immigrants can find it hard to become fully accustomed to whatever the predominant culture is (even though they shouldn't have to). Now he's saying that Australia would be much better of without Asians and immigrants (even though I am one, too) and that asians are "stealing our jobs". I need counter-arguements.

It's interesting that people don't know this. Last summer, I was amazed to have learned this fact. Immigrants actually don't steal jobs. Immigration improves the economy and allows for new jobs and economic growth. My professor at the time used the following example: John is replaced at McDonald's by an immigrant and complains. A month later, he has a new job. It's a management position in a better field, for better pay. Nobody sees the connection between his new job, which came about because the industry was able to expand, and immigration.

I wish I had a good link on hand, but right-wing morons are biasing my Google searches. I did find it fascinating that immigrants actually improve the lives of non-immigrants economically, regardless of their status within the economy.

After all, they'll higher all the immigrants they can. But when you're out of work and they need someone to manage the increasing number of immigrants, they generally want a stereotypical "white guy" to reinforce their authority and the power structure in place.

[Pisagor]

I'm not entirely sure this is the right forum but here goes.
I was texting my friend my "friend" (I'm not sure he counts as one now), he was telling me how there was a group of asians near where he was at the train station, speaking some asian language loudly. I've told him that immigrants can find it hard to become fully accustomed to whatever the predominant culture is (even though they shouldn't have to). Now he's saying that Australia would be much better of without Asians and immigrants (even though I am one, too) and that asians are "stealing our jobs". I need counter-arguements.

What you need is not a counter arguement. The silliest and most time wasting discussions ever in the universe are : 1- criticizing religions 2- criticizing racism.

For your friend; the place he was born, the language he speak and maybe the skin color he was born with makes HUGE sense to understand and analyze the entire world politics and to set his ideas. If your friend is above 18, these must be because of his weak personality.

But if you still really want to convince him, you might be able to do easily: Just tell him that Asians are economically better and more promising than Middle-eastern people and that white people like him will be able to make more money and prestige in the long term because of those Asian immigrants, due to their cheap labor. Also tell him that Asian girls will find him so handsome. He'd care and love these much more than any political reason you'd give.

But i think what you need to care is the conclusion. Your friend's ideas are retarded and we do not have a reason to respect his ideas a little bit or take them into consideration for a little while. You shall spare no time to them unless you are a psychiatrist who can cure his self-esteem problems. However if you believe - he's a good man - beside his political ideas. Here is the poem you shall read: alwynlau.blogspot.com/2009/10/bertolt-brechts-interrogation-of-good.html