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socialjusticemunchkin:

argumate:

@socialjusticemunchkin, I think your idea that importing poor people into rich countries would increase empathy for poor people in those countries is incorrect, at least judging by treatment of poor people already inside rich countries or other countries with high degrees of inequality. Unless I’m misunderstanding you.

All I’m saying is, are we more sympathetic to poor people outside our countries? I don’t think so. Empirically we are way more interested in helping people inside our arbitrary borders over people outside our arbitrary borders even if the latter group’s situation is far more shitty in objective terms. The entire anti-globalization protectionist ideology proves this by its mere existence: “shipping jobs overseas” is bad and terrible because it takes jobs away from US and gives to THEM, and a thousand laid-off americans outweigh two thousand taiwanese.

Furthermore, for a bit of historical perspective I’d say that people in the US display far more empathy to the descendants of west africans who got imported to the inside of its arbitrary borders, than to those west africans whose ancestors didn’t. “Whites only” signs are taboo, but the implicit “no west africans whose ancestors didn’t get imported” hanging around everywhere passes unquestioned. It might not help the first generation that much (that’s what “getting access to the rich people’s job market” is for), but eventually people seem to get around to the idea that even people who do look different are kind of ingroup now because they live inside the same arbitrary borders.

Also, the word “import” itself is actually kind of a misnomer now that I think of it, as the entire point of open borders is to stop treating people as a product that may be imported and exported at will and instead treat them as people who may go where they want without getting shot at just for the crime of having the wrong parents.

(via socialjusticemunchkin)

1 month ago · 13 notes · source: argumate · .permalink

  1. argumate reblogged this from imu-li
  2. imu-li reblogged this from socialjusticemunchkin and added:
    If there is some sort of Conservation of Outgroups phenomina (seems plausible, but very debatable), then might the...
  3. socialjusticemunchkin reblogged this from socialjusticemunchkin and added:
    Also, the word “import” itself is actually kind of a misnomer now that I think of it, as the entire point of open...
  4. voximperatoris reblogged this from argumate and added:
    Poor people inside rich countries are treated a lot better than poor people outside them…