(October 19, 2015 at 11:23 am)Alex K Wrote: Thanks for the replies. I think one thing to think about for me is whether this is more a matter of xenophobia or classism.
It depends, xenophobia is so widely used as an insult (like racist) that sometimes it's hard to know if it applies or not. Is it xenophobic for an Ukranian friend of mine to be skeptical of Russians because the country pretty much invaded half of her country?
If someone is saying that there's homeless people who need help, I don't think that's a first world problem, but if someone is crying because they have an Iphone 6 instead of an Iphone 7 or something like that I feel compelled to make fun of them.. It's not that people's suffering is invalid, but I think when we consider that there's people who have it worse that brings positive energies to our lives. When something goes wrong, I always like to think that it could be worse, unless something really horrible happens.
I don't think most people care that much about refugees having smartphones since Syria is not a 3rd world country, most people are pissed with rational reasons like the fact most refugees want to go to Germany when international law doesn't work like that - If you are a refugee, the primary obligation is to stop in the first safe place you find (country), it's not up to you to randomly pick where you want to go - And the moment you choose to go wherever you want to go you lose the refugee status - If I and a few countrymen had the same behaviors that some refugees are having and demanded to enter a country like South Africa or Angola (etc.), I'd be considered an invader and a colonizer right away.
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you
