On the Media: Debunking Migration Memes

Because I wrote on the Europe refugees earlier, I decided to continue my thoughts. :)

Physical:

Refugee issues going on in Europe. Involving the people of Isis trying to escape and the border police of England. Discussing the Memes (pictures with a short text on them) becoming more and more popular.

Psychological:

To the people out there making the memes about this topic...you disgust me. I cannot believe people would set aside time out of their day just to make a picture that is so sensitive and rude towards the refugees. It's definitely not just one person making all of these, because there are hundreds of memes being made about the Isis situation and it still blows my mind. Rather than spreading positive memes around about how to help these refugees, they've decided it'd be way more entertaining to make fun of them.

Not to mention, half of the pictures are fake, and the other half are completely taken the wrong way. Bob does a really good job at explaining this and saying that the people that are actually coming up with the memes obviously come across the image are 'confirming the person's worst fears/prejudices' OR there are people out there that are seriously looking out there just to spread their hate about the subject. Which is SO true.

In Kleinfeld's words, the people that are coming up with these are so cynical. The people who share them are no different.Unfortunately these memes also have another side to them. They've put fear into the people of England and are scaring them into thinking that there are imposter refugees that are coming over on the same boats as the refugees and could in fact invade the homes of the people trying to help.

Social:

Granted, the people of have probably never been a situation as they are in today, and the rest of the world is asking a lot of them, I totally understand. I know that if I was stuck in their shoes, I would be little sketched out bringing a random family into my household too! So if the people that aren't okay with the idea, they find it okay to make fun of the families and people in need? NOT AT ALL.

The best thing they can do at this point is put their best foot forward and go with their instincts. Seriously though, the border police can do the best they can the pick out the imposters, but the people who are taking refugees in, need not to be naive to the situation either.

Now reverse the roles. Imagine putting yourself in the refugees shoes? AH! I truly try to see things from other people's point of view, and I try to understand, but what exactly have the refugees done wrong? Ran from murders? Ran from the people trying to tear their families apart and forcing them into these crazy armies? How is that wrong? No they don't have a green card, but would you seriously turn away someone who just went through hell trying to get away from the Islamic army? I'm almost positive you could tell a difference between someone who has been in a horrible situation vs someone who still has loads of muscle on their bodies or seems well fed.

Culture:

England is trying to take on a big role right now. It's not all going to happen at once, and it might not even happen at all, BUT! If the people of England aren't going to agree to help the people of Isis and it's surrounding areas out, someone else, with more power, is probably going to start breaking some ties with them. As if helping save the lives of the innocent people wasn't enough, I'm not sure losing some allies will matter either.

Is there more that England can do to protect their own citizens? Yes of course! The border patrol is obviously doing what they can, but why don't they set up a refugee camp and slowly leak out the ones who have shown they are safe enough to be in a resident's home? It just takes a little time and effort from the natives of England and a little heart with some volunteer service.

Temporal Context:

So what's social media doing with it? All the wrong things, that's for damn sure. They're liking, commenting, sharing and spreading these crazy, fake meme's and it's driving me insane! I can't believe the nerve of some of these people! Props to the people who are just scrolling past them and not giving the post the time of day, but how are they going to stop them? Unfortunately, I don't think they can. :( They've shared them out of fear and have completely lost hope in their own country at that point and I just hope sharing that mean (and probably fake) post made them feel a bit more safe when they go to sleep at night.

It breaks my heart to know that if something like that ever happened to me, and I was in the refugee's shoes, I would feel hopeless. When you've lost hope, it's really hard to live much longer.