NIMBY, goddammit.
2003-01-14 at 8:41 a.m.

 

This entry is a big ol' rant. I tell you, having this as an outlet is proving to be very good for my blood pressure.

So yeh. Do you guys across the pond have asylum seekers? I guess you must have. Well, that's what's been making me pop a vessel or two in the last few days. This country's treatment of asylum seekers.

I think I can sum it up in a couple of sentences. On the one hand we preach the advantages of globalisation and global trade. We also fancy blowing the crap out of Iraq. And yet, we have the temerity to complain when these global actions present local consequences. Of course people will want to come to Britain. And not for the handouts, for the whole not-having-to-look-over-your-shoulder-for-the-guy-whose-going-to-kill-you advantage that we have going on here. It feels like we are saying 'Yes, what's happening to you is terrible, and we're going to bomb you, but we're sorry about that. However, don't come over here begging for handouts, you parasite.' Lordy, lordy, lordy.

It just makes me angry that people are using the words 'asylum seeker' or 'refugee' like a curse. It seems they are stealing us hard-working-tax-payers money. Hmmm. So we should send them back to be killed or raped or bombed. Trust me, people do not hang onto the underside of trains just for your 25 quid a week. Grrr.

So yeh. It annoys me. Especially when in my local paper this week there was an article that 'revealed' that asylum seekers queueing at the local Home Office were provided with coaches to sit on because it was freezing cold. And snowing. It wasn't actually stated but there was clearly a 'look at how the council are spending YOUR money' thread running through the article. Well, hell yeah. Seems ok to me. I'm quite happy to pay so that people don't get ill.

I can get so angry about this that it pretty much renders me inarticulate, so to save you from that I'm going to get myself a cup of coffee.

In unrelated news, FarScape completely rocks my socks! I can go from serious to incredibly flippant in under a second you know.