Why Are People Anti-Immigration?

[catographer]

Why are people against immigration from a cultural standpoint. Like, what are the arguments explicitly against immigrants because of their "cultural differences" or their inability to assimilate? How is this different than simply being bigoted or ignorant of foreign cultures and being unaccepting of those who are different than you?

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

Tribalism.

Also, it's fear. It's easier to hate "the other" than to get to know them.

[catographer]

Tribalism.

Also, it's fear. It's easier to hate "the other" than to get to know them.

Yeah, I just don't understand the mindset/mentality. I try, really, and I want to see things "in their shoes," but it's very difficult. Perhaps it's just irrational fear, IDK.

[dead0man]

Yeah, I just don't understand the mindset/mentality. I try, really, and I want to see things "in their shoes,"

do you?  Your posts make a lot of negative assumptions for someone who wants to see things in their shoes.

to answer the OP, it's natural.  People like people that look like them more than people that don't.  It's literally in our genetics.  link  Just like being gay, straight or whatever.

[ingemann]

Why are people against immigration from a cultural standpoint. Like, what are the arguments explicitly against immigrants because of their "cultural differences" or their inability to assimilate? How is this different than simply being bigoted or ignorant of foreign cultures and being unaccepting of those who are different than you?

It's because they're bad bad people and not a woke person like you.

[courts]

Why are people against immigration from a cultural standpoint. Like, what are the arguments explicitly against immigrants because of their "cultural differences" or their inability to assimilate? How is this different than simply being bigoted or ignorant of foreign cultures and being unaccepting of those who are different than you?

well,i'd rather not have where i live become unrecognizable.or face higher housing costs or other undesirable things like that brought on by a sudden influx of people.or deal with fundamentalists and others like that who don't respect me.although that last one is a gray area...obviously a lot of people hold fundamentalist or conservative religious views but respect other people's right to disagree and don't go out of their way to harass women,lgbt people,whatever.that's about the most simple way i could put it

[American_Aristocracy]

1. Tribalism
2. Read the 14th amendment
3. Cultural uniformity of some sorts needs to be preserved.
4 .people need time to assimilate into the national culture and so immigration is restricted in that matter. They can't come in one big group and a subculture will compete with the dominant culture. (This ties in with point number three)

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Amnesty, has been talked about since 2007, and the Democrats remain in the Minority.  Fewer voters are open to immigration reform, than back then, and want to move on to security of a fence.

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

Different reasons.  Some people think immigration is bad for the economy.  Some people want to preserve an ethnic majority.  Some people are worried about terrorism.

There are people who only oppose immigration from certain areas.  For instance, some people are worried about immigration from the Middle East but have no issue with Latin American, European, Southern African, or East Asian immigration.

[Orthogonian Society Treasurer]

There are some people who have seen what the rest of the world has to offer and have decided that, respectfully, it is not for them.

[ConservativeCommunist]

Different reasons.  Some people think immigration is bad for the economy.  Some people want to preserve an ethnic majority.  Some people are worried about terrorism.

There are people who only oppose immigration from certain areas.  For instance, some people are worried about immigration from the Middle East but have no issue with Latin American, European, Southern African, or East Asian immigration.

Yeah, most hardcore anti-immigrant people have no problem with white Europeans immigrating here... I wonder why 🤔

[TJ in Oregon]

Different reasons.  Some people think immigration is bad for the economy.  Some people want to preserve an ethnic majority.  Some people are worried about terrorism.

There are people who only oppose immigration from certain areas.  For instance, some people are worried about immigration from the Middle East but have no issue with Latin American, European, Southern African, or East Asian immigration.

Still others have no problem at all with immigration in the abstract but despise the chaos of the current paradigm. Only a blind man could see our current immigration system as totally fine and not at all broken.

[Ohioguy29]

I'm not anti-immigration, but I can understand it. When you bring in a large number of immigrants, the culture can change and life will change. This can be good or it can be bad, but there will be change. Many countries are rife with misogyny far worse than what we have. Do we want to bring in a ton of men who have messed up norms when it comes to sexual harassment, rape, women's right to public space, etc.?

When I worked in an Indian restaurant I was sexually harassed by several different coworkers, and this was a small business. I'm sure it was worse for women (I'm a feminine looking man); the owners warned my female coworker not to even talk to men in the kitchen and I'm sure they would've given me a similar warning if they'd realized I'd be a target. The owners are fantastic and they were on my side, but they didn't fire anyone and I don't blame them. If they fired everyone who was creepy, they wouldn't have been able to keep running a restaurant. There's plenty of creeps in America and plenty of great Indians (the majority), but I would never have faced this kind of harassment in a business full of people born in America.

IMO, the solution is to keep immigration at reasonable levels, try to screen for the best immigrants, and encourage integration. We're already doing pretty well with this imo, although we could stand to do a little better on the last point, for immigrants' sake more than our own. But also for our own; well integrated Indian men were never the ones being creepy, it was always guys who barely spoke English and didn't understand American social mores.

Note: I'm not trying to call out desis specifically here, this just happens to be where my personal experience lies. Most Indians immigrants have rejected the most creepy and misogynistic aspects of Indian culture; many come here to escape attitudes and behaviors like that.

[catographer]

Yeah, I just don't understand the mindset/mentality. I try, really, and I want to see things "in their shoes,"

do you?  Your posts make a lot of negative assumptions for someone who wants to see things in their shoes.

to answer the OP, it's natural.  People like people that look like them more than people that don't.  It's literally in our genetics.  link  Just like being gay, straight or whatever.

that makes sense, how we may be naturally predisposed to people who look like us. but why should we let that predisposition prevail, if we think it's wrong? i personally think it's ethically wrong to prefer ppl who look more similar to us, and i'll try to resist that. so what about ppl who dont mind it, dont acknowledge it, or embrace it?

[catographer]

Why are people against immigration from a cultural standpoint. Like, what are the arguments explicitly against immigrants because of their "cultural differences" or their inability to assimilate? How is this different than simply being bigoted or ignorant of foreign cultures and being unaccepting of those who are different than you?

well,i'd rather not have where i live become unrecognizable.or face higher housing costs or other undesirable things like that brought on by a sudden influx of people.or deal with fundamentalists and others like that who don't respect me.although that last one is a gray area...obviously a lot of people hold fundamentalist or conservative religious views but respect other people's right to disagree and don't go out of their way to harass women,lgbt people,whatever.that's about the most simple way i could put it

fair points! i wonder tho... plenty of americans (or native citizens of whichever country we live in) already believe those things. so maybe the logic is "i dont want fundamentalists in my community, whether that means they come from outside our borders or within?"

[catographer]

Why are people against immigration from a cultural standpoint. Like, what are the arguments explicitly against immigrants because of their "cultural differences" or their inability to assimilate? How is this different than simply being bigoted or ignorant of foreign cultures and being unaccepting of those who are different than you?

It's because they're bad bad people and not a woke person like you.

just help me understand what differentiates culture anti-immigrant sentiment with prejudice? idk where the lines are!

[Progressive Pessimist]

Immigration has become a scapegoat for many people's misery. "The party of personal responsibility" has embraced and exploited this to a ridiculous extent.