A defining image of the refugee crisis..

[AkydefGoldberg]

Picture is here for those who wish to see:

Spoiler:

But a truly shocking and saddening image. Kid was three years old.

Hope it sparks a change in government thinking and the horrible language used by them at times. Easy to paint them as migrants when most, if all, are from Syria when Cameron was more than happy to aid rebels and from Libya when they (including the US) were so keen to rid of Gaddafi that they've left an unstable country resulting in people being displaced and thus wanting to move to a safer place.

Other countries in Europe, such as Germany and Iceland have made positive steps but UK, is fairly silent on doing anything other than chucking money at a fence in Calais.

This was refreshing to see from Germany during their latest round of Bundesliga games in which refugees were invited to watch the game. Doubt PL fans will do anything similiar, sadly.

[EmperorWu]

Fuck man that's brutal.

[SortaCreative]

I've never really understood the mindset of being so against refugees and immigrants. Maybe it's because i'm not speaking from a position of privilege (I am when compared to the refugees). The entire mindset seems very backwards in today's interconnected world we live in.

Historically refugees and immigrants are the ones that help build countries, they work hard and they're often more than willing to adapt to culture and rules and they respect heritage. The Polish, Irish, Indian and Pakistani communities are the largest migrant communities in the United Kingdom, all have had an overall positive impact on the country. Now and throughout history. Yes, there are bad apples in the bunch who don't integrate, who don't learn the language or who abuse the systems in place to ensure everyone has at least a basic standard of living (in theory - we'll get to this in a second).

Now we're in a situation where we have children washing up on the shores of a country, fleeing a land which is in utter ruin thanks partly to our involvement and thanks partly to the overall instability in the region. I don't understand the thought process that goes into coming to the conclusion that this isn't our problem. It's all of our problem. They are human beings. Human beings with hopes and thoughts and dreams and fears and desires and pain and suffering. Everything you've ever felt and wanted and hoped for. To describe these people as a swarm or as a marauding horde is utterly shameful. David Cameron is the Prime Minister of this country and he lacks the basic human compassion to care about human beings so desperate to find safety that they'll jump into a dinghy and brave the open sea.

Now i'm not saying we need to open the doors and let everyone in and it's all a great time and it's food for all. We can't afford that. No one is saying we should do that. But show a little compassion, treat them with dignity, build a few less bombs and house these people temporarily while we find suitable places for them to be and live. Look at what Germany are doing. They probably can't afford to take on every refugee indefinitely but they don't treat them like dogshit. They treat them with decency and are even going out of their way to make them feel welcome.

We sit here and claim that the western world is the best place to be on this Earth. The United States, the UK, Europe, people in the east dream of living the lives we do. When those people come knocking at our doors with no where else to go, it's shameful to turn them away. Cameron needs to do more, simple.

[Daz]

Also, a good deal of people who are anti-immigration and whatnot, don't seem to realize they live in a country shaped historically by immigrants. David Cameron has absolutely bombed in his dealing of the situation and the verbiage he has used to address it, is indeed shameful. Expecting basic human decency and empathy for those less fortunate isn't something we should ever expect from anyone associated with the Conservative party.

I'm glad though that people in Germany have stepped up though and are providing a little for these refugees.

[Viazon]

So a guy on my Facebook wall is criticizing the refugees and immigrants, saying it's just life. He then goes on to say that he never had any help in life, even from his parents and had to do everything for himself. Apparently having to make your own way in a privileged country and risking death to escape a war torn country is the same thing.

[UTK]

I don't understand people who were previously anti-immigration and/or had a burning hatred for illegals, but now feel bad for these refugees. The majority of immigrants (and I'd dare say 99.9% of illegal immigrants) come to prosperous countries like the US, UK, Germany, etc. because their life is utterly awful and they see this migration as a way to fix that. What makes this situation different? Because this news story comes with sad pictures? Without the sad pictures you'd be screaming about how your jobs are being taken away.

I'm not referring to anybody here, unless you fit the description of who I'm referring to.

[Daz]

I don't understand people who were previously anti-immigration and/or had a burning hatred for illegals, but now feel bad for these refugees. The majority of immigrants (and I'd dare say 99.9% of illegal immigrants) come to prosperous countries like the US, UK, Germany, etc. because their life is utterly awful and they see this migration as a way to fix that. What makes this situation different? Because this news story comes with sad pictures? Without the sad pictures you'd be screaming about how your jobs are being taken away.

I'm not referring to anybody here, unless you fit the description of who I'm referring to.

I've seen a handful of people like this. A couple of months ago, they were voting UKip. Silly cunts.

[Locke]

I don't understand people who were previously anti-immigration and/or had a burning hatred for illegals, but now feel bad for these refugees. The majority of immigrants (and I'd dare say 99.9% of illegal immigrants) come to prosperous countries like the US, UK, Germany, etc. because their life is utterly awful and they see this migration as a way to fix that. What makes this situation different? Because this news story comes with sad pictures? Without the sad pictures you'd be screaming about how your jobs are being taken away.

I'm not referring to anybody here, unless you fit the description of who I'm referring to.

Immigration can still be a problem, cause problems, and effect others, and a person can be against a lot of things. It doesn't change the fact that seeing a little child in this situation should make -anyone- with a microscopic shred of humanity feel upset.

My little boy is small for his age, and only 4, and he looks a lot like this when he sleeps. Same position and everything. This image disturbs me enough to make me a bit sick to my stomach.

I wish humanity wasn't too stupid and self-preoccupied to come up with a solution to this. Shit like this should never happen to anyone, kids or adults. What a sad way to go..

[Twister]

I don't understand the 'I'm alright Jack' mentality. We don't get to choose where or what we're born into. It's nothing but pure luck that we are born into wealthy countries that more often than not, will look after us if we fall on hard times, where food and water is aplenty, healthcare is readily available, and where we generally don't have to worry about getting stabbed or shot at when doing simple things like stepping out of the front door. When people say we should "look after our own first" they seem to forget that these refugees, they're human beings. Just like the rest of us. They're only doing what anyone would do in that situation. No one can turn around and say that they wouldn't do what they could to protect themselves and their families under the same circumstances. It's all just a bit hypocritical and inhumane to turn around and say "fuck off back to your own land". I feel so sad that people would be so unkind to fellow humans, who are genuinely and sincerely in need of some help and support.

With all the resources available to us in this day and age, this sort of situation should never be allowed to happen. We are very privileged in the Western World and many of us take it for granted daily, I know I do. A bit of empathy goes a long way.

[Twister]

So a guy on my Facebook wall is criticizing the refugees and immigrants, saying it's just life. He then goes on to say that he never had any help in life, even from his parents and had to do everything for himself. Apparently having to make your own way in a privileged country and risking death to escape a war torn country is the same thing.

What an utter cunt. People like him don't know they're even born. He has lived a privileged life from the start because he was fortunate enough to be born into a wealthy first world country. I would like to see him try and 'do everything for himself' and get himself into the same position he is in today if he were born in a country like Syria.

[SKS]

This is upsetting, and is one of the reasons I'm thankful I was born where I was. I don't live in Europe so I'm not exactly familiar with the immigration policy.

I do find it cringe worthy when people that do not have immediate problems talk shit about these immigrants and refugees. People in the US do that to immigrants all the time on Twitter & Facebook, and it annoys me greatly. I was lucky to be born in a nice town in the US and wasn't as lucky as those born into poverty who want to go somewhere nicer, so is it my right to tell them to fuck off? You can be against illegal immigration without saying shit like that. Just a dick thing to do. Most of my friends are from immigrant families who came here legally (some illegally at first, but applied and received citizenship) and they are all extremely genuine, good people, who wouldn't deserve that kind of treatment. I would certainly wish that I'd receive the benefit of the doubt if I was in a situation where I needed to leave the country also. I hope immigration becomes an easier transition in the future, with citizenship being easier to acquire for the good people that need it and are willing to work for it, with temporary visas, or something of the sort. Right now it's just a mess.

[UTK]

I don't understand people who were previously anti-immigration and/or had a burning hatred for illegals, but now feel bad for these refugees. The majority of immigrants (and I'd dare say 99.9% of illegal immigrants) come to prosperous countries like the US, UK, Germany, etc. because their life is utterly awful and they see this migration as a way to fix that. What makes this situation different? Because this news story comes with sad pictures? Without the sad pictures you'd be screaming about how your jobs are being taken away.

I'm not referring to anybody here, unless you fit the description of who I'm referring to.

Immigration can still be a problem, cause problems, and effect others, and a person can be against a lot of things. It doesn't change the fact that seeing a little child in this situation should make -anyone- with a microscopic shred of humanity feel upset.

Yes, and a lot of immigrants find themselves in situations like the boy in the picture. But since there's no sad pictures of them, their problems don't matter or don't exist.

[Locke]

Yes, and a lot of immigrants find themselves in situations like the boy in the picture. But since there's no sad pictures of them, their problems don't matter or don't exist.

Agreed. Powerful imagery can do a lot to raise awareness. As shocking as this picture is, I think every single cunt that ever threw a fit on some soapbox about "DEY DOOK AR JOBS" etc. should have to take a good look at this picture. People sit around on their comfortable couches and talk shit on Facebook about this shit and they're completely unaware to what they're even fucking talking about. If they lived for ONE DAY in an immigrant's shoes they'd be wanting to support change to help, rather than bitch.

If they seem unaffected by the picture, maybe they should become immigrants. I dunno, I'm not here to solve the problems, because I'm too stupid, but it seems fair to me.

[Viazon]

So a guy on my Facebook wall is criticizing the refugees and immigrants, saying it's just life. He then goes on to say that he never had any help in life, even from his parents and had to do everything for himself. Apparently having to make your own way in a privileged country and risking death to escape a war torn country is the same thing.

What an utter cunt. People like him don't know they're even born. He has lived a privileged life from the start because he was fortunate enough to be born into a wealthy first world country. I would like to see him try and 'do everything for himself' and get himself into the same position he is in today if he were born in a country like Syria.

I do have to say about this guy that even though he is lucky enough to live in a country like ours, his life hasn't been what one would call perfect. He didn't have a great family life growing up and his parents weren't as loving as you would expect him to be. He moved out young and worked hard to make something of himself and is now doing very well. So fair play to him. He didn't have as much help as other young people in this country might have had.

However, with that being said, his situation is still significantly different to these poor people fleeing these countries. For him to look at both and see any kind of similarity, and even going as far to say, "that's life" is ridiculous.

[Twister]

I'm sick to death of people on my Facebook news feed banging on about how they supposedly feel 'sorry' for the refugees but in the same breath say we shouldn't help them because there are people in need in our own country Last time I checked it's perfectly possible to help both. I would like to see what half the people complaining would do if they were ever put in such an awful situation through no fault of their own.

[Viazon]

I'm sick to death of people on my Facebook news feed banging on about how they supposedly feel 'sorry' for the refugees but in the same breath say we shouldn't help them because there are people in need in our own country Last time I checked it's perfectly possible to help both. I would like to see what half the people complaining would do if they were ever put in such an awful situation through no fault of their own.

Going with the theme of my post about my Facebook friend, their countries problems are much much worse than our problems. I too really hate the "we have to help our own country first" response. This country may have a lot of problems, sure, but we have it pretty good. As you said, it;s possible to help both, but even so. It's not gonna hurt to put ourselves aside for a while to help in any way we can for these refugees.

[Locke]

Getting off Facebook was the best decision ever.

[Everlong]

Something that's gone really unnoticed in the mass media is the amount of help Jordan has been providing to refugees. I saw an article today saying that even though there are only 6 million citizens of the country, they've already taken in 1.5 million refugees. Incredible.

Meanwhile, more "western" nations that have the sort of wealth and infrastructure to handle large numbers of refugees are turning them away.

We all could learn a thing or two from Jordan.

[Locke]

If the US wasn't so weird about immigrants, I'd suggest they come here and we could put them in like Wyoming and Montana. TONS of room.. zero people.