Why Should Immigrants ‘Respect Our Borders’? The West Never Respected Theirs

NY Times ^ | June 7, 2019 | Suketu Mehta

[C19fan]

There is a lot of debate these days about whether the United States owes its African-American citizens reparations for slavery. It does. But there is a far bigger bill that the United States and Europe have run up: what they owe to other countries for their colonial adventures, for the wars they imposed on them, for the inequality they have built into the world order, for the excess carbon they have dumped into the atmosphere.

The creditor countries aren’t seriously suggesting that the West send sacks of gold bullion every year to India or Nigeria. Their people are asking for fairness: for the borders of the rich countries to be opened to goods and people, to Indian textiles as well as Nigerian doctors. In seeking to move, they are asking for immigration as reparations.

[cymbeline]

Respecting our borders has nothing to do with the immigrants desire to come here for a better life.

[jospehm20]

Where does the NYT find all these idiot writers? I don’t really care much what some moron named Sekutu Mehta thinks about anything.

[aquila48]

I don’t expect invaders to “respect” our borders. What I expect is for us to defend our borders and keep the invaders out.

You only own that which you are willing AND able to defend by whatever means at your disposal.

[CaptainK]

How lucky for Mr. Mehta to come from an above reproach Indian heritage where everyone is born as an equal to all other Indians.

[cuban leaf]

Say, that reminds me. How’s South Africa doing these days? ;)

[FLT-bird]

Ah yes, the old “you owe us” line of argument.

OK. Let’s say you’re right about those points. What did the West ever do for the rest of the world?

Let’s see:
The telephone
The internet
The automobile
Railroads
Airplanes
Satellites
Television
Movies
The polio vaccine
Eradication of Smallpox
Antibiotics
Hell, all modern medicine
The refrigerator
Central heat and air conditioning
The Diesel Engine
Nuclear power
Space exploration
Pretty much all major sports
Most music in the world today
The light bulb
home appliances
Electricity (as something useful rather than just lightning)
Sewer systems
The green revolution in agriculture
All modern farm equipment
The material abundance brought by the Industrial Revolution
Democracy
The Rights of Man

That’s off the top of my head. That’s all from the West. The entire modern world is. On balance, the rest of the world owes the West far more than it owes them.

[catnipman]

and The Slimes continues their “America Last” crusade ...

[ronniesgal]

no thank you. the “rich” countries (i.e. civilized) have done enough, and have enough troubles without piling on.

[Freedom4US]

Have to go to school for many years to get that stupid. Some ideas are so dumb, only an academic could believe them.

[Black Agnes]

They didn’t respect each other’s borders either...

[dfwgator]

“Alright, but apart from:
The telephone
The internet
The automobile
Railroads
Airplanes
Satellites
Television
Movies
The polio vaccine
Eradication of Smallpox
Antibiotics
Hell, all modern medicine
The refrigerator
Central heat and air conditioning
The Diesel Engine
Nuclear power
Space exploration
Pretty much all major sports
Most music in the world today
The light bulb
home appliances
Electricity (as something useful rather than just lightning)
Sewer systems
The green revolution in agriculture
All modern farm equipment
The material abundance brought by the Industrial Revolution
Democracy
AND The Rights of Man,

what has the West, EVER done for us?”

[TLI]

This article could have been part of "Camps of the Saints".

It's the NYT.

May as well be yelling at rocks.

.

[FLT-bird]

I could have added the joint stock company, all modern sciences, the University and much more but hey, I didn’t want to pile on.

[FLT-bird]

Other than even average people’s:

Food (fresh food year round, lots of meat and far more variety - not to mention ENOUGH food)

Entertainment (TV music, movies at your fingertips)

Travel (hop in a plane and go anywhere on earth in a day)

Healthcare (immunizations, antibiotics and hospitals.....he’ll, just think of dentistry)

Being beyond the wildest dreams of kings a few hundred years ago........what has the West brought the world indeed?

[chief lee runamok]

"There is a lot of debate these days about whether the United States owes its African-American citizens reparations for slavery. It does not."

Fixed

[SamAdams76]

Yeah, yeah, but besides all that, besides the abundance of food, besides all the entertainment, besides the healthcare, the travel, the eradication of most diseases and all that other jazz, what has the WEST ever done for us!

[ealgeone]

There is a lot of debate these days about whether the United States owes its African-American citizens reparations for slavery.

The US owns African Americans?? Who knew?

[Cincinnatus.45-70]

Oh, yeah, I forgot. India has made reparations for a thousand years of the caste system before the British came! Nope, not a bit, and they still have a lot of it today. Article in the last week complained about no black Indian beauty queens, as I recall.

[Wuli]

Mr Mehta should get off the planet, for selective history that puts nothing in context of either its time, nor what local failures contributed to all the “harms” claimed as “imposed” by “the west”.

It pretends all cultures besides the U.S. were never unjust empires, never had their local wars of one demographic against another, never had any historical “inequalities” from any of those things that the culture is still showing the ill affects of. That are but the “west” was and would be utopian, were it not for the “west”.

Total nonsense.

[magna carta]

didn’t MX get cash?