1. “Refugee,” much like “slave,” used in this modern context, may be wildly different than mentions of “refugee” in some translations of the Bible. X doesn’t always mean x, especially when there’s a good few thousand years worth of linguistic, cultural, and technological differences.
2. Universal moral imperatives, especially for something so complex as this crisis, are more Kantian than Christian. A Christian is responsible only for that which God has placed under his domain—nothing else. If you are a Christian and feel you have this kind of specific moral authority over me, then feel free to make your case, since you do not have this authority over me by default.
3. I, personally, am not responsible for anything that has caused the current situation. I don’t vote, and since I have (and want) nothing to do with my nation’s rulers, I am not even implicitly responsible for their actions. Any support my nation’s government has gained from me (taxes), have come from compulsion.
4. I’m actually fine with any nation that decides to “open its borders” to the Syrians, as long as that nation’s government just does that, without lavishing them with gifts from taxpayer-supported coffers. Government bureaucrats are excellent at moral posturing since they will face none of the consequences from their decisions. That nation’s government also has a moral obligation not to tie the hands of its citizens in how they choose to interact or not interact with the Syrian diaspora. To disallow this autonomy is slavery.
5. Related to #4: As I’ve said before, diversity is a preference, not a moral command. As such, people have different preferences, and wishing they had the same preferences as you do is strange, wishful thinking. There are major, major consequences, nationally and internationally, when people with diverse (heh) preferences are shoehorned into one monolithic version. This isn’t an endorsement of what will happen, but a bit of descriptive foresight based on what has come before.
6. Memes, photographs, and videos are basically propaganda used to arouse emotion towards a certain sentiment. Doping yourself up with this kind of drug has consequences.
4 Comments
Ah, yes. Another victim class whose existence asserts moral duties upon all living beings — we sure need another of those.
There’s plenty on earth, so what’s one more? 🙂
Yup, pretty tired of those things you mentioned in six. Perhaps this thought is over-reactive, but I think there can be an attempt at obtaining a God-complex with concern for global issues, that is, if this concern turns into an illusion of control/importance throughout the world (or, God’s ability of omnipresence).
Correct. We have control over very little…especially with global issues with lots of moving parts. I think sometimes people have control of things of that scope only coincidentally.