Global Migration

For John, BLUF:  I picked this item because of the acronym:  "WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic)".  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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What Cannot be Discussed

Here is the sub-headline:

Immigration and the North-South Conflict

From In My Tribe (Substack), by Blogger Arnold Kling, 3 December 2023.

Here is the lede plus three:

In his new book The Geek Way, Andrew McAfee quotes Marc Andreessen as having tweeted:

The most serious problem in any organization is the one that cannot be discussed

McAfee stresses that when top executives make it clear that a certain topic is taboo, there is a good chance that the firm is vulnerable on that issue, both financially and morally.  He argues that openness and transparency are better for the organization, even if in the short run it makes executives uncomfortable.

I think that we can interpret the political tension in the United States and Western Europe in Andreessen’s terms.  The political elites do not want to discuss the issue of how to handle large-scale migration of people from the global South to the global North.  Underlying this is an unwillingness to discuss cultural differences between the WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) and the rest.  And an unwillingness to favor the former over the latter.  Consequently, these leaders face populist revolts, surprising them with Donald Trump, Brexit, Geert Wilders, and the Irish anti-immigrant riot.

The Blogger then goes on to discuss the recent riots in Dublin, Ireland, over an Immigrant who knifed several people.

The Blogger then describes how the elites differ from the general population on immigration and how the elites try to stiffle discussioon of the subject, demonizing those from the proletariat who do not see immigration as a wonderful moral success.

One of the issues is the ability or willingness of new arrivals to assimilate into the existing society.

But people outside the progressive elites can see with our own eyes that immigrants from the global South into Western Europe are not assimilating.  Right-wing intellectuals use expressions like “invasion” or “great replacement.”  But their fears are not allowed to be discussed in polite company.  As Matt Goodwin has pointed out repeatedly, in the UK even the Tory party is unwilling to raise the issue.

I am optimistic that the assimilation model can still work in the United States. Immigrants from Latin America tend to believe in assimilation.  They do not belong to a Muslim culture that is hostile to ours.  But the Democratic left does not want to champion assimilation, because doing so would concede the conservative proposition that our culture is in some respects superior and worth assimilating into.

Agreed!  He then goes on to talk about illegal immigration.

What annoys many Americans is illegal immigration.  This in turn is encouraged by the perverse way that we deal with asylum requests

I differ with the Blogger in that what annoys me is that those trying to immigrate legally face large bureaucrstic hurdles, hurdles not faced by those who are jumping the Southern Border.  I have been following the plight of a Canadian woman who had previously lived in the United States, and worked here, and has children who live here.  Her path has been long, expensive and bureaucratic.  It is not a path that is a credit to Emma Lazarus and her words "Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free".

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff