I don't know about Europe, but in the U.S., if you look at the issue of immigration it isn't really a huge problem. The MAGA party is using it as fear mongering, largely race baiting, and when you keep repeating every little thing wrong with something in infinitesimal detail that's all you're going to know. The big picture?
I agree. Europe also needs fresh blood, so to speak, and there are labor shortages. But we are only coming together after thousands of years of fighting each other and traditions go back just as far. And suddenly there is this influx of 'foreigners' now that we are all 'Europeans' and it's scaring a lot of people. There are plenty of places where no one had ever seen an African outside of television, or even a Muslim, and all of a sudden they are 'everywhere', with only their bad behavior being made public. And it's not only Africans, Asians and Muslims, just anyone not local. So it's been relatively easy for these parties to gain some momentum in certain places.
Migration was one of the defining factors of the BREXIT vote. Totally unsubstantiated, pure fear mongering and the UK has had severe labor and supply problems since then. Because what, it's better to import their onions from Australia and China then from across the Channel? As was said here before, are the pro-BREXIT voters ready to pick strawberries?
Coinciding with this is the rise of electronic media--computers, iPhones and the like where anything can be spread around the world instantly. If you notice, people usually glom onto to the outrageous and falseness than any truth of a matter. ... The focus of "news" seems to be mostly to keep viewers watching the news, not to give people information they can trust and use.
I don't use social media and I try and keep my information sources verified, from trustworthy sources, and even then it's not 100%, as they often just regurgitate whatever is mainstream. But it's getting better, now that there is awareness. Russia has been a main source lately, as expected, though certainly not a new one. But maybe I'm the one reading the 'wrong information'.
Things become hot button and hotly debated issues that really aren't, or shouldn't be. Like trans people. I wager that perhaps, and I'm being generous here, 95% of people in the U.S. have never dealt with personally. It's estimated that 1.03 percent of adults in the U.S. LINK]are transgender. I'm in Los Angeles/West Hollywood and I've had very rare associations with any trans people. So to think that it's a MAJOR ISSUE for most American voters is ridiculous and yet we hear about it all the time now in media circles.
Yes, it's ridiculous, totally out of proportion. But the LGBT community has ever been a favorite scapegoat. It's less in Europe but I wouldn't recommend going RuPaul out in any back country, not unless it's your intention to provoke (and probably get beaten). But at least the mainstream parties aren't making it an issue, mostly the religious right. Europe's greatest musical tradition was just won by a non-binary person and I haven't come across any condemnation of that so far.
I'm an ethnic mix myself, from colonial times, mostly European, and it would be very hypocritical of me to pretend otherwise. So I'm not against migration but considering the numbers I do think it needs to be regulated because it is causing real problems. I would hate to see our beautiful cities become unsafe again, as they have, because anyone not granted permission to stay as migrant or asylum seeker is not deported, and they have no choice but to either hide in an ethnic neighborhood, live on the streets, with a good chance of becoming a victim of organized crime. And that's not right either.
