This man is my hero. Seriously, this man unabashedly covers deep topics in such a thoughtful manner. He says what needs to be says and does not apologize for it.
So, basically, someone compliments John on his explanation of a worldwide political and humanitarian situation, and people start assaulting said person because of that compliment? And calls him "beta" and "leftie"? There's no side when it comes down to humanitarian problems, you know. And if it feels comforting to offend those who are doing something positive towards helping address a crisis, even if it's simply explaining such crisis, then you, sir ou lady, is also someone to be blamed for this mess. You aren't just denying help. You are hostile towards those who are helping. Good job, RUclips. You are proving John is right and the world's is clustered by apathy.
+Victor Hugo Marubayashi da Silva I'm sorry that I care more about my children's lives and their children's lives than the lives of Muslims from across the world.
+Indican King I too care a lot about my future children and grandchildren. However, what I'm talking about, is being hostile towards those who are helping. If you don't wanna partake on the problem and help, fine. But don't insult those who are doing it, even if through a small act such as explaining the situation to those who are clueless about it or seek another point of view.
+Paul Mancini it just seems like the conversation is "look at the failure of Europe for not taking in enough" not "look at the failure of these rich nations that are closer, richer, and have the same culture"
Thank you for this video, John. I'm working as a security guard in a german refugee camp, and it really helps to have some more facts and arguments at hand.
It sincerely worries me how many people disagree with John. It terrifies me to no end; who are you people? Honestly, reading the comments section reminds me of the time that woman who decided not to evacuate her house during a hurricane and when it flooded she tried to knock on someone's house to let her in but they refused and both her children ended up drowning. IT. DOES. NOT. MATTER. THAT. IT. WAS. HER. MISTAKE. You let that woman in, let her eat your food and use your blanket. Know why? Because it's the human thing to do. It's the right thing to do, for god sakes imagine you were born a Syrian. You literally had 0 say in what happened, that toddler definitely had no say that ten year old boy definitely had no say, what is wrong with you people?
+Rodina A. (Ro-day-nah) People are afraid of these refugees, and they forgot that these refugees are also afraid of Assad's regime, they are afraid of "Death's barils", they are afraid of the future too.
9 лет назад
+7rider7 I understand what you say, but as John stated syrians are very educated people so I assume they don't commit so many crimes...
When you are running away from a flood, the logical thing is to get inside the nearest house and not the richest house. The "house" which are nearest to Syria are Saudi-Arabians who are bathing in black gold and refuse to help the neighbouring Arab refugees.
no one thinks like that anymore people think it's just YOU and the people YOU care about everyone else doesn't matter honestly it's that kinda thinking that will end races and then our whole species
Thank you for this. I'm shocked to read so many folks in the comment section say that refugees do not deserve to be rescued because they are not as "grateful and kind" as should be appropriate. Life is life, brothers and sisters.
+Rusty Clanton I completely agree. Gratitude and kindness should never be expected when you help others. We help others to help them, not ourselves. Remember your humanity as you help those who have had their basic human rights ripped from them. Gratitude is shown differently in every culture, some don't even have a word for "thank you" because it's rude. Don't help others because you want them to shower their love and appreciation upon you. Help others because you have your humanity in tact.
Father Karras You realise that those people need to prove they are from Syria when they claim to be? Since so many of them are granted Asylum, it is safe to assume, they are endangered. Either because they are from Syria (in Germany, a very small number of people from Syria (4?) haven't been granted Asylum, but it is not sufficient to come from Syria to be granted Asylum) or because there are other reasons why their life is in danger (Syria is not the only country torn by war).
Supattra Paveenkittiporn do you know the immense amount of vetting that they go through? There isn't an immigration option more complicated and hard to get through than that one.
Vikings488 .... "the immense amount of vetting that THEY go through"... Who are you referring to? Refugees in Germany? Germany opened up the flood gates and did absolutely no vetting in the beginning of the crisis. Vetting the refugees once they are in the country is not a proper vetting process, that is simply trying to fix a problem they created... a problem that will never be fixed.
Also, I know you don't want to talk about the election yet, but when you do could you just do a video briefly explaining the basic platform for each candidate? You are one of the only sources I trust to be relatively unbiased
+Pimp Doubt He's not unbiased, for certain, but we're sort of all biased in the same John-ish direction. Also, his voice makes me happy. (actually, the audio on this video is frustratingly unbalanced)
+Jane Doe im a pretty big fan but if you think he's not biased its probably because you, like most other people, only get you news from people you agree with. and if i had to go out on a limb i'd guess you call fox news faux news or something along those lines.
+Jane Doe It's a largely manufactured "controversy" designed to deflect attention from the systemic problems in our... well, system. To completely paraphrase and pretty much misrepresent something Bernie Sanders said, "Don't vote against Hillary because of this email bullshit, vote against Hillary because of Iraq."
im from Bosnia and seeing how badly people speak about refugees makes me sick. anyone can be in their situation,it's crazy. thanks for adressing the issue
i couln't find ANY news that isn't in some right wing infowars like blog, just one cbs link saiyin that the news of a 13 year old german girl missing was false
Anil Singh Particularly in the case of modern Islam, it remained stuck in the Middle Ages because of al-Ghazali and al-Wahab centuries after. Now it stands completely against the principles of the Enlightenment, still endorsing theocracy, cruel punishments like stoning and beheading for non crimes like witchraft or adultery, and desiring to impose Sha'ria law all over the world.
LesPaul2006 You're talking about Salafism. These are Islamic fundamentalists you're talking about, who want to impose Shari'a. Shari'a is not inherently a part of Islam any more than the Hebrew law code in the Bible is a part of Christianity or Judaism. There are plenty of mainstream Christian conservatives who don't believe in the Enlightenment and who want a theocracy.
Shout out to all the Australians hanging their head in shame at the awful government we have whose refugee policy is littered with racism, misinformation, and slander in a bid to decrease our intake and dehumanise refugees to discourage interest in helping them.
Ah yes, the racists are here. Insulting me won't make me think refugees as anything less than humans. You're wasting your time. You're not even giving counter arguments to a different point of view you're just being offensive.
Hi John, I´m from Czech Rep. which is one of the "bad" countries that "refuses" the syrian refugees. Unfortunatelly you´re missing few very important points. The Syrian + other refugees are actually leaving through Turkey - which is safe country and some of them lived there for a year or more. The reason why the head to central Europe is due to the fact that Merkel (german prime minister) invited them to Germany. Please také in mind that they don´t want to stay in Greece, Bulgaria, neither Hungary, Poland, Slovakia or Czech Rep. they want to get to Germany. And the reason WHY is because they´ll receive very generous social security there - lot of money.So Germany caused crazy hysteria among these poor people - and actually Germany is to blame for making many of them drown in the sea - because they wouldn´t leave Turkey. Right now Germany and EU is forcing other countries (especially in central Europe) to take quotas for immigrants - that means that some of the people that came from Turkey (i.e.many of them Syrians) just for the econimical reasons will be sent to countries as mine - and probably even without asking. And nany of them flee for Germany. So it¨s not very clear if they´re economical migrants or refugees. We welcome refugees but this is much more complicated than just simple xenophobic hysteria.
and the very recent news is that Germany closed their borders beacause they are "surprised" how many refugees (or migrants) came. They actually tricked them for some strange reasons and these people will be probably angry. So tomorrow we will welcome thousands of them in Czech Rep ... please follow the news if you´re really interested - it´s happening now :-)
+Rudolf Schimera Nobody can oblige your country to accept these quotas made by Germany and EU, every country has its own quotas, nowone must accept to be Germany's toil paper, of course if those rulers from those countries have a spine
No you don't. Its every country's freedom to reject those quotas, as a matter of fact sincer yesterday UE "deleted" the mandatory part from those quotas, so everyone will take as many refugees as their respective policy dictates. No more imposed quotas
"And humans, all humans, are our people. And when the oppressed and marginalized die because they are oppressed and marginalized, then powerful are at fault" - thank you for that quote, it's beautiful and I have it on a sticky note on my desk
I live in Greece and ships full of refugees arrive in my city twice a week. a teacher at school gathered some students to go help the people who arrive, give them some food, especially for the babies, before they go on their buses. when I arrived at the port to help I wanted to cry. just seeing all those parents trying to find some milk for their babies made me depressed. we had some food to give to the families and whenever i gave them, the grateful looks on their faces made my heart melt. no one CHOSE to leave their country especially under these circumstances. they just want a safer future for their kids. which is a huge problem for the European countries where they go, but its not these people's fault. just try to think what you would do if you were in their position. there were also some people who just shouted at us telling us to let them die. 'they deserve it' they said. NO ONE deserves this. No one. However big this problem is, no one deserves to die.
Hats off to you John Green You are what seems like the only person out there who is speaking sense, you are the voice that will guide us as a species to a better future.
+REDANDSILVER741 You are what is wrong with the world. You get all your information and opinions from the biased media instead of doing your own research and forming your own opinions. You are a lemming and you deserve to watch the world as you know it burn
There's one thing about this crisis that I never see answered. I live in Germany, we'll get the most refugees in Europe. But after official government statistics and international statistics, only 20% are from Syria. Now, I understand why so many Syrians are coming right now, but why the other 80% too? In Eritrea, the people flee from oppression. But that's been going on for years already, and hasn't really worsened recently. Why do they all come now? In Kosovo, the people flee because of huge unemployment. But they have had that for a few years already. Why do they all come now? In Afghanistan, the people flee from violence. But that's been happening for years. Why do they all come now? And so on... Why would they all come in this year, at this time, along with the Syrians? This makes no sense, it's extremely suspicious. I'd even go as far as to say that someone instigated this crisis. Someone wanted to see my country flooded with other races and cultures.
+Ygramule You Western Europeans have lost all survival instinct. It's really sad but we stand on the threshold of ethnic war, and you can not even see. War is a great business as we know. I have no doubt that the US will provide to help us by selling weapons to both sides at bargain prices.
I think it's because the global attention is on refugees. U never realized that the majority of refugees in the past ten years to Germany were from the Middle East specifically afghans. This has been going on for a while. It's just that u and rightly so had no idea that it was. And now since the attention is on the refugees u will see more afghans trying to seek asylum. U have to realize a lot of these were contractors for the US military which were left behind now they are being hunted by the Taliban (there is a whole vice documentary on this). That is one of the few stories u will hear from these afghan refugees.
+rbagel55 Sweden has the most refugees in proportion to their population. Its population is 10 million and it has received around 160 000 refugees, which is around 16 % of its population, if Germany were to acceptthe same percentage it would have a total of around 13 million refugees.
Syrian and Iraqi here, so glad you made this video. I have family currently in Syria and I was always super worried they'd be caught in the crossfire, even as a little kid. My cousin came over to visit the family for a bit, he was kinda thin. Not emaciated, but not really a healthy weight, he didn't even have a shirt on under his sweater, and told loads of stories about his school bus breaking down because they ran out of oil and what's left is bad quality, and this was all normal to him. Really made me appreciate how privileged I am to live in a safe and wealthy country. I can't believe how many people have forgotten how to have empathy. There are probably people out there who'll read this comment and be like "Yeah but..." like where's the but? How could you think it's fine for a kid to grow up like this?!
Actually, those who are going to Europe...are choosing to go to Europe. Actually, that is the reason for why they are choosing the best countries, like Germany, England, and the nordic countries.
+Ace Diamonds I'm from Brazil, Ace. The restrictions to people who want to go to my country are pretty low, basically you can get in a plane in Syria and go to here, and we'll basically give you asile. But there's no social benefits for those who want to go here. And Brazil is not a rich country like Norway and Denmark, and so on... And, indeed, some sirians have come here. And many of them say things like: "Oh, I would rather have gone to Sweden, or Germany, or England. The cost of living in Brazil is to high. There's no social benefits." (If you want to read, here's a post, in portuguese, about a syrian family who is in Brazil in the moment, and they are complaining, saying that they would rather have gone to Sweden. And they want to help to get out off Brazil and go to Sweden.) revistacrescer.globo.com/Refugiados-no-Brasil/noticia/2015/09/eu-nao-escolhi-vir-para-o-brasil-nao-ha-escolha.html [Guess what? We're not in war in Brazil. But they still want to go to Europe.] I just think that John should have left pretty clear that: Those who are going to Europe are going for the social benefits.
And that's why I said: They are NOT running from the war. Those who are just "running from the war" are those who are going to... I don't know Turkey, or India, or Russia. Those are going to Europe are not refugiate, they are (illegal) immigrant. And that's why John Green was wrong when he called them "refugees" They are choosing to go to England. They don't want to go to Turkey, or whatever.. And also, other another thing: The international comunitate should ask : "Why does the Arab Emirates, that is a freaking rich country, don't receive this refugees? Why Saudi Arabia, don't receive them? Why it has to be the Europe? Nobody said a freaking thing about Dubai haven't received anyone. I just hate how everybody think that Europe, and US should solve all the problems of the world.
Yes, they are "shopping around" to find out the best country, which has the fanciest choices available to them... That's the point! That's not actually how the whole thing about "being a REFUGIATE" work, That's why, according to the international law, refugees has to seek asylum in the first, in the first country that they reach out. The international law don't say: "Oh, and you can shop around to find out the best country that best fulfill your expectations and desired standards of living". --- About destabilizing the region, ok you have a point there. But many of the country that the emigrants are going like: Norway, and Denmark, and Switzerland, and Sweden... do not destabilized the region, at all.
+Eric P. Alvaro Its almost like these refugees want countries that can support their children rather than other more problematic countries in the middle east. Did you hear about the bombing in Turkey recently? This is why many of them strive for the better off European countries.
AlliArt15 Of course... because the only place in the word that are not being bombed is the european coutries, all the other countries are being bombarded 24/7. I'm from Brazil. Brazil is not being bombarded and it's relatively easy to get an asylum here. Do they want to go to Brazil? No. No. Because we are not rich country with the fanciest choices like Norway. (And not even dare to say about "oh, it's expansive a airline tickets, because the refugees are paying like 3.000$, sometimes even more, to able to go to Europe)
Nobody chooses where they are born and what circumstances they are born into, so the response from governments and just the general public is truly disgusting, and this comment section exemplifies that. For all you know you could have been one of these refugees, but you're lucky enough to be living in a country that is peaceful. I can't believe some of you people. Nobody's asking you to do anything, because honestly none of us can really do much, only governments have the power to decide who will be accepted in their countries, but have some fucking empathy. I am so sick of the way these refugees are being dehumanized to the point that people don't even give a shit. I see humans but no humanity.
Professor Wilhelm Boomberg These refugees don't have any kind of agenda and it's pretty deplorable that you think they're just there to "ruin" Europe. A lot of them are families that are fleeing war conditions. And may I remind you that there's a lot of Syrian and Iraqi Christians who are part of the many refugees who ARE escaping conflict and persecution (otherwise they wouldn't be refugees in the first place, just economic migrants). So I suggest you educate yourself on the situation before spouting racist rhetoric.
+Souleika Domingues The people living in these safe countries made them safe over time. We set up the institutions to make it how they now are. It is an evolutionary process. Taxation is one of things that we accept and it goes to pay for the social programmes that our "safe" countries enjoy. These refugees/migrants want to take advantage of something to which they have never contributed. The REAL refugees are the ones that were being persecuted in their own countries and not this horde that finds that their countries can't provide for them as Europe can do.. Don't just look at the pitiful videos of drowned children. Take a look at the mobs destroying Greek islands; the garbage trail they are leaving when they move on and the useful stuff the leave behind; the lack of gratitude for help they receive. They seem to think they have a RIGHT to move to Europe. The European leaders are trying to strike a balance between their obligations to REAL refugees and how to deal with this horde, most of whom do not qualify as refugees.
+Souleika Domingues refugee's don't find rich countries to leech off of if they are only escaping from danger as you put it. What they are doing now makes then illegal migrants
I just cried in the inside rn; eventhough this video is 2 yrs old its message; its humanity is eternal, we need more ppl like him. WE need more countries to act within his ideals that treats the world as an undivided region with humans regardless of their cultural, religious and other such distinctions whilst at the same time respecting these values.
Oh dear, this again. I thought Atheism was on the rise. Where "sins of the father" and "original sin" didn't exist. It isn't our fault that a bunch of religious fundamentalists setup a fanatical religious movement in the name of Islam. It is Obama and Hillary's (Secretary of State) fault. Sure, George W. Bush had the country's infrastructure destroyed, but they were also trying to fix it. Then they just pulled out the troops, leaving a power vacuum, which lead to this mess. If they had stayed until a proper police was made, this could've gone differently. Also, the argument he makes about highly educated refugees... think about that. How many highly educated people is the in the USA? A wealthy western country. How about Europe? Most of these people will take jobs, and take whatever pay they get. Now who do you hire, the guy who works for a regular pay, or the one who works for minimum pay? Also, there are more criminals in 10 000 refugees, than in 10 000 citizens. A lot more, it even goes to orders of magnitude on some types of crime. So here's the bottom line. The refugees are unskilled workers, taking minimum wage, thus unbalancing the job market. Taking them in leads to a disproportionate increase in crime. They also bring their backwards beliefs with them. About 1 in 3 "Syrian refugees" aren't even Syrian. They should take a patient overview, and not take in too many, or else you get rampant terror attacks, them making countries inside the countries, which work on entirely different justice system, the stuff going on with Rotherham (look it up), and them attacking Jews because they are Jews. Turns out Germany doesn't break down on Neo Nazis if they're from the Middle East. Before you say "it's just a minority". It's still there. We want that "minority" to be as small as possible. And these immigrants has a bigger "minority" than any other people in Europe.
I need to write so much, because you talk about the video, the video is long, so I have to refute the video's claims (or at least some of them). I need to make it solid, so people don't just point at one thing, then brush it aside. You just brush it aside. Never addressing any of my points. So my points still stand, unchallenged.
Ah, well that's understandable. It's just, you pretty much tried to dismiss it with the "not enough time thinking about your claims". It's like if someone said: "Your argument sucks, but it's long, so I wont bother refuting it." That people do that is the problem. But if it's just too long, then admitting it's going to take too much time is a far more valid response, than some dismissal.
+Nozomi Suzuki They usually don't complain about it. Do you know, that Syria accommodated the most number of refugees on its territory over the second Iraq company? If I am not mistaken, we are talking about 4 million people. This is a stunning figure, isn't it?
***** You are surprisingly right. Germany didn't bomb anybody, at least a few last decades. However, NATO did and Germany is a member of this organization.
Nozomi Suzuki I did not answered for two primary reasons. First, personaly If I were a decision maker I wouldn't send them back. But I understand people who would. And secondly, the question itself is incorrect, from my perspective Because, who has a right to allow or not allow independent country to send or to accomodate refugees.
John, i love your vídeos, and they are often very explanatory, but I must say that I was very disappointed that you only addressed the cause of this crisis to countries not accepting the refugees; what about the REAL ROOT of this problem? this crisis is the product of USAs criminal war politics and interventions, which happened during the American imperialism, with the help of European countries of course. They exploited countries and financed wars (and still do to this day) searching for raw materials and whatever the fuck they wanted - and simply because wars are lucrative in this fucked up capitalist world - all based on LIES to make people think it was ok. I'd appreciate if you take the time to read this. I still love u tho bye
PLUS we are all humans living on the same planet, like you said, how can people just don't care about others? how can people always think about the money problems it will cause? what about PEOPLES LIFES???? it makes me sick
Honestly let's just knock the real definitive problem with this video. It's a video by an American explaining the European Migrant crisis. However, the problem is Green glosses over some major issues that the Europeans have with this unfortunate event. He goes and makes claims that countries are being inhumane essentially, though some simply cannot support migrants.
Kristen A The fact that you don't seem to know is we have getting a lot of immigration in Europe for years. It's a touchy subject amongst all the countries here. People are either for or against it. Here in England nationwide debates occurred regarding it and I'm not entirely sure of the outcome. Just to say I am aware of the fact that refugees aren't necessarily immigrants but it's very easy for people to simply slip into society without any problems once they've arrived. We may be able to deal with the slowish population growth but add on to that 1000s of extra people in a very short length of time? The money to make sure the camp's are safe and protected? Unfortunately it's never going to be as simple as "Let them in" and Im annoyed that Green makes us sound like much worse people than we are for not letting them in.
I think Green is trying to say that all the countries in the agreement just shouldn't be setting limits to how many refugees they will take, but instead if every country involved was as open as they agreed to, there wouldn't be as much pressure on fewer countries. This would also then lower rates of smuggling because access to countries wouldn't be as difficult for refugees.
+Iovar “Wolkun” Friiselahh i like this :) i think that its okay that the immigrants is coming but they must understand that we'll take care of ourself first :)
I'm not gonna speak for your Country and I'm so sick of people in Canada or even the U.S. Saying they shouldn't have to take care of the refugees before themselves. We live in a first world country I don't care if you grew up in a bad neighbourhood with barley enough to get by you still had it better then these people. I wish countries didn't exist and that anyone could live anywhere tbh because I don't agree with keeping anyone who isn't an obvious threat out of countries, sure it might cost money to help them but we as humans need to stop forgetting to value money over life.
+Iovar “Wolkun” Friiselahh You have a computer, house, food, water, clean cloths, etc. yet you still think we aren't in a situation where we don't just have to look after ourselves? wtf
+Victoria Gibbs Have you been to Detroit? St. Louis? Harlam? Compton? These places are in my nation and our nation is classified as a developed nation; yet most of Africa looks like a paradise compared to these places. You have a very narrow view of Developed and underdeveloped; that is the actually term for it not the first, second or third world. First, second and third world are classifications during the cold war between the US and the Soviets.
That's all nice and dandy that we have to take care of them. I sympathise with the children and families and I live in Europe. But first problem with that is, we don't have enough jobs for ourselves, where will we get jobs for them? And now other countries are starting to flee to Europe. Where will we put them? We have 10mil. people, we are tiny. Second problem is they don't want to stay in other countries than Germany. We have a refugee camps here where the young men attack the security trying to get out and than to Germany. Third problem: There was a security conference held with head of the syrian women militia. She said they succesfully fight IS and so who will fight IS when all young men will be in Europe? Women of Syria? Or we and our fathers and brothers? She also said there's a lot of men who are trained by IS and their sole purpose is to infiltrate Europe. US people should understand the fear of terrorism best of all. I don't mind muslims, I dread terrorists. They don't even want to get registered so our police can do a security check. You can think I'm racist or xenophobe or whatever you like, but I have a family to worry about as well as they do and terrorism is a BIG problem. If you can guarantee there's not one dangerous man among them I'll take them all in.
+Laidart If you're worried about too many refugees for your population, then quotas is a better idea anyway. Say you'll give safe travel to your country for X number of refugees and then change the system the EU has in place that's making European countries terrified to let refugees into your country. If you're not scared of all the restrictions on the government once refugees get there, you can allow safe passage for how ever many a country of 10 million can handle.
"Hank, when discussing refugees I often hear, 'But that's not our problem'; 'We have to take care of our people'. But we are one species sharing one interconnected world and humans, all humans, are our people." *bows low*
its okay, not all of us are bad, people tend to forget that being human comes first before making a joke or talking politics, or racist/ xenophobic views enflamed by propaganda. But, thats what freedom of speech gets you. "I didn't know freedom means people doing bad things"
Your so called "Humane" ways is destroying Europe. Let everyone in to Europe, what becomes of Europe? A giant refugee camp, where the natives are minorities. Terrorist attacks happen everyday, enjoy.
Once again, once a refugee has found physical safety in a country that is not at war but then turns around and decides I like it in Germany better because they give me free stuff they are to be considered ECONOMIC MIGRANTS! That little boy who was found dead on the beach that everyone likes to keep talking about, fled the safety of Turkey with his parents in order to gain benefits in the West. He basically died because his parents were being selfish. Go ahead call me heartless but I think that is what's DISGUSTING!
+TheJamShot did.... did you watch th..the video? the video which you have just commented on?? it literally explains why turkey isn't safe........................................................
+Ace Diamonds Its not a crazy idea do get out off middle east, but a problem, no one seems to say out loud, out of fear being labeld as racist, is that wherever muslims go in big mases they bring middle east with them along.
+Valdis Kazaks What do you even mean by bringing the middle east with them? There are concentrations of Muslims near where I live but they don't bring war and suffering, they just try to live their lives like everyone else is trying to.
***** Yet in Britain the proportion is 14% and 5% worldwide. Clearly instead of all Muslims being bad, something else is going on, and the fact you didn't notice this tells that you are perhaps just a little bit prejudiced.
John, you might be a tiny little bit ignorant from your throne in the safe and rich USA. How about you promote the safe passage of Syrians and Afghans to US, before preaching it to EU. Extremists, as you said it countless times, refuse to see things complexly, thus ignoring one side or the other. I'm from EU, and I see everywhere ultra-nationalist extremists, but also ultra-humanitarian extremists, both choosing ignorance over the bigger more complex picture (just like you). Romania (the country where I'm from) offered from the very beginning shelter and rights (all those you mentioned) to under 2000 refugees. Too few, you might say. Guess how many refugees applied for safety in my safe country? NONE! Why? How come refugees don't seek safety and rights, but riches in Western Europe? I think we all know the difference between refugees and immigrants, don't we?!
He clearly was talking about this as a HUMAN problem! So, your comment about him being in the U.S. is irrelevant as he was commenting about not only has the EU fail these people, but, also Canada, United States, Australia, etc. They haven't themselves been very sympathetic of this situation.
+John Smitj No you are not allowed to search prosperity under the guise of 'ow there is a war in my country, plz gib mfree moniez and jubz so i can live here for the rest of my days far wealthier than i ever was back home'
+Mihai Ioan Ardelean Agree. Big problem with these "refuges" is that they dont act like you would expect from refugees. They dont act as immigrants nether. They have demands, they are often very aggressive, they throw away offered food, they just demand you transport them to Germany or UK and if you dont help them in that, you are enemy. Another thing that confuses me about them is that most of them appear to be males in age 18-40, normally you would expect to see them fighting for their country, or some kind of peace there, but no, they run away leaving behind their wives and children. And there is also big culture difference. It wouldnt be a problem if they respect our culture, but no. They come to Europe expecting/demanding that Europeans will allow them to do anything they want in the name of their religion. And lets face it, by today western world standards, Islam is often very far from being nice and friendly. In other words, I dont want my wife or sister raped, cos some "refugee" thought that she wasnt dressed properly, so it was her fault. In short, average refugee is looking for safe shelter, and regular meals. Syrian are looking for some paradise in Europe and have some high standards here and they are ready to fight to get there.
Ace Diamonds Who said all? It's baggage. The baggage isn't worth it. And there are plenty of economic migrants and places that are full of people who don't even come from Syria. Don't forget all the middle Eastern places that won't even take refugees. They don't even need to risk a dangerous boat ride if they would take their own neighbors in as refugees.
Listen....you have a lot of points when talking about the Syrian refugee crisis in europe but hear me as well. I am a Greek.I was born in Greece ,raised in Greece and now with the financial crisis my family and I have suffered greatly.We were in the verge of becoming homeless and many people helped us but we mostly found ways to survive ourselves....Over the years thing have gone a lot worse and we are in the point that all of us Greeks are in the same financial status.ALL OF US. The goverment that was elected is commiting crimes against all Greeks and they have a racist stance against our religious culture and our rights when it comes to work and education. So when you tell us that EU and the countries that are accepting refugees are to be blaimed for crimes against the Syrians ,I get mad .What makes the most sense to you? Leave the locals to starve and feed the people that also disrespect the help that we are trying to offer from what we dont even have? We as a country lack money and yet we are feeding other people as well because we have to and want to. I am not racist and I want all people to survive and live happily but the EU head goverments (Germany,France etc) take advantage of our low economy to make things even worse for us Greeks. This is racist and fasist like...Other countries on the borders are not accepting Syrians because the Greeks are not good people or so they say. We are good people, we just cant support everyone . Also some Syrians are racist to us Christians and there are several ocassions of churches being pilaged :(
And the blame of USA for trying to destibilize the entire arab world, the some smug vlogbrother says that Europe is cruel. Well why not ship them all to USA???
Cool guy Not only. Every empire is this way. China and Russia included. The three super powers are flexing muscles to show each other that they are force to be reckoned with... at the expense of a countries like Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Tibet and the contenders for South China Sea.
Todor Todorov mostly USA which invaded Iraq at first place but this guy didn't even mentioned USA . that is the reason i dislike this video . but once for all people must understand they need to respect each other .
***** Okay so USA is destabilizing the arab world just for fun. Thats even worse. And on top of that their f***ing government has the nerve to talk about freedom and democracy. Russia and China at least have the decency not to lie about their intentions.
+ClemMedia Another indication of what John said. If it doesn't affect you you just brush it off. Damn even when the Ethiopians were killed by ISIS I was the only Ethiopian in school and I never even heard a peep from the other kids around the school.
+ClemMedia yes this is more important. Doesn't mean the other thing wasn't bad too and it's a little easier for people to speak out against through personal experiences. It was a disgusting video and it was wrong and people are allowed to talk about that too.
+KnightRaymund They are, but not at the expense of others. It is one thing to talk about both, but many are acting like that video is the worst thing happening in the world today. It clearly is not.
Hayley Rodgers a lot of youtubers have experience with assholes or body issues. Not many have a lot of foreign policy experience or know all the intricacies of the crisis over there. So you'll excuse them if they talk about something they know more about.
+ClemMedia Wow, maybe people are better authorities on their own feelings than the richly complex and complicated issue of Syrian war and the refugee crisis and they should make videos about what they both care and know about.
You're awesome John Green, and I just found out that you are the guy who wrote all those books like "The Fault in Our Stars", and I had no idea! Mind Blown! I have never read them but I hear they are very good reads. I loved your history crash-course videos, and thank you for helping me better understand the refugee crisis. I'm glad there are people like you using your RUclips influence for good. Keep doing what you're doing!
Every life is precious. Civilizations rise and fall. They are a dime a dozen in the large scheme of things. Individuals are priceless. They live and then are gone forever. When an individual dies an entire universe goes with them. When this death is needless, a sin has been committed greater than any the world has known. Every life is precious, even the inconvenient ones. I refuse to count bodies. That is all.
Here's the thing: this is a humanitarian crisis but Europe is overwhelmed. I live in Portugal, okay? We have been facing austerity since the 2008 crisis and only now signs of economic growth are starting to show. We have unemployment rates that extremely high. The construction business has stopped because there's almost no space left. So how are we supposed to welcome and support refugees when the country can't really support it? I know those poorer countries are already housing refugees but they have a lot of free space (I can't stress this enough, most of Europe is bursting at the seems when it comes to construction) and I'm not sure what do those countries provide the refugees with besides shelter. Here's the thing John: those refugees won't be smuggled into the US, which makes you an outsider. Europe is dealing with this the best they can for now. There are socio-economical factors that are not being taken to consideration because you don't live here. This comment doesn't come from a place of hate, racism or xenophobia, it come from a place of understanding that this is called a CRISIS for a reason and that many European countries aren't taking many refugees, not because they don't want to but because they don't know how.
+Mark Vengance I don't know about Australia or Canada, but being honest what's been going on in the USA lately I'd say refugees would only be slightly safer. Only because over here people are screaming at the top of their lungs about illegal immigrants, "this is a christian nation", and hell even trump has been blaring about building a wall at the border. I'm sure we could take some refugees and it would still be a lot safer than being in Syria, but I feel like honestly there would be a ton of negativity towards them.
+imsoofreakintired This is exactly why we need a pan-European solutions. Southern Europe being overwhelmed and left to deal with that many refugees alone is completely unfair and perhaps, gross and racist as it is, Hungary's response is to be seen in this light to. The financially strong countries in Europe need to start taking some serious responsibility.
+imsoofreakintired There are lots of space in Portugal, in the inner parts of the country, including hundreds of abandoned villages, where the young moved to the big cities (or migrated), and the old just died off. Think about what those people wouldn't give for a chance at moving to such a place right now.
+imsoofreakintired I agree that Europe is struggling but not perhaps as much as it likes to make out. Compared to the situation in Lebanon or Jordan life is peachy and I believe we have a moral responsibility to help spread the burden with these countries. The situation is fucked and it’s horrible but the idea the European countries are bursting a the seams and incapable of helping is simply not true, there is enough land and if there was the political desire to do so there could be plenty affordable housing too. I’m a Scot living in Austria and I’ve been impressed by Austria handling of the situation, even if it has been a bit haphazard, it has been compassionate. Germany is taking on the most refugees and well it might, it’s a big country, has the strongest economy in Europe and is best suited to house and integrate these people (although i actually think Merkel’s ‘blank cheque’ has actually created a mini crisis of it’s own). I find Czech Rep, Poland and Hungary’s (especially Hungary’s) attitude pretty disgusting. Most of the people are just looking for passage through these countries and they are being treated as sub-human. I also find their attitude of accusing refugees of being scrounging foreigners while helping themselves to huge EU subsidies pretty galling. But finally reserve my most contempt for the UK, one of the few countries in Europe which could really be doing something to help people and stands by doing nothing. The many of these migrants are skilled and educated and (important point no-one seem to mention) speak English. It would be easier for them to integrate in the UK than else where in Europe but the British government is too bust scaremongering and sucking the dick of the banking sector…
Refugees? Ok. There was video of one of them. The reporter asked her why are they not staying here(Slovenia). You know the answer? "I heard Slovenia is poor". Migrants not refugees. illegal immigrants.
+Ace Diamonds by definition, yes, refugees SHOULD only go to the closet choice. The fact that they are COUNTRY SHOPPING means they are ABUSING their status of refugees.
Ace Diamonds i know it's normal in human nature, but my point is that if we allow this, then Europe would be unlivable. and of course...the refugees being Islamic don't help cultural integration either. If they are atheists who believe in secularism, then this would be a lot easier...
Ace Diamonds "it shouldnt matter if they are islamic or not as long as there are laws preventing religion from influencing politics youll be fine. " => but in practice, this is impossible. As long as religions dictate believers' morals, they will vote according to what they think their religion teaches. You see this even in US, despite the US constitution forbidding mixing of religion with politics! "those countries should be focusing on housing, jobs, and the economy so the immigrants arent destitute and relying on welfare." => but easier said than done! If European countries can't even manage their own people (e.g. high unemployment rate in UK), then how is bringing in 1 million refugees going to help? Shouldn't we prioritize on helping our own people first before taking in more? Greece is already going down like shit, and Italy and Spain are next to fall. All this refugee business is really like adding oil on fire.
Ace Diamonds It is easier to do an economic restructure without being burdened with millions of refugees. Yes, the refugees can keep trying to come, but as long as we stand firm and don't welcome them, then there's nothing they can do about it. I can agree with about fixing the problems in our society, but i don't think we should be welcoming refugees while trying to fix those problems at the same time, especially Islamic refugees that have a history of being culturally incompatible with the European culture. I'ts not like we're takling about Chinese/Japanese immigrants...who have a history of being very compatible with the West.
Ace Diamonds "if you tell them no the immigrants will just accept that and go back to their war torn country, that makes sense." => if they try to swarm the border by force, i would support our troops to open fire. and yes - on children too. If families choose to use force to illegally come into our countries with their kids, then they're responsible for whatever happen to them and their kids. "or was the west just about to get around to doing that?" => i know you're being sarcastic...but i would argue the West is indeed getting around to doing it. Bernie Sanders from US is one example. And his message is spreading to Europe as well. So refugees are not required to start a social revolution. People are sick of our current politics already and want a change. The whole Greece economy fiasco taught us the dangers of overly-powerful banks.
I started following the vlog brothers because I was a school teacher. This is the most powerful vlog I've seen yet. Thank you for using your voice as a platform for questioning, for humanity. Thank you for so logically and eloquently explaining views that some of us simply break down trying to put into words. I leave for Lesvos in the morning for two weeks. I am blessed to have this opportunity, and I am blessed to know I'm a conduit of this kind of love and acceptance and positive energy from home.
Is it really so outlandish to think that a government should think of its own people before others? Honestly. People elect leaders to defend and serve -them-, not people from other countries.
+DrH5N1 he doesn't give a shit about UN or international law. His goal is to explain, why american policy is above it and to explain viewers from EU, why they have to get bent and shut up. Because empathy, love and human rights.
I can't agree with you john. Hungary does not have the resources to take in all the refugees it's taking without significantly lowering the already pretty low (by European standards) standards of it's native population. As for crime, at least the attitude of the "refugees" seem to be that of arrogance. Take half a minute to watch this video of refugee's throwing out water bottles. www.liveleak.com/view?i=344_1441354394
+X Acolyte Hungary doesn't have the resources to take care of 10,000 refugees but Pakistan has the resources to take care of 10,000,000 refugees? That's ridiculous. Does Hungary have .1% of Pakistan's wealth? -John
+vlogbrothers Do you think life's peachy for ten million refugees in Pakistan? Given the number of refugees, it's not unthinkable that a country would either have a hard time financially supporting the refugees, whether that be in transporting them or providing them housing, or be hesitant to allocate so much capital to that effort. The refugees may also not have any skills that are transferable to the culture or economy of the country they're entering. Maybe capital would be better allocated in fighting the bad roots.
Is there any proof that those people are actually refugees, that the water was given to them as aide? It could well be a stunt to try and back up the backwards ass thinking of people trying to make up excuses not to support these people in need.
Hes ignoring this thread now because internet bs isnt something VlogBrothers accepts, and rediculous "debating" (thanks Hank) is counterproductive to the more real humanitarian issues of the Syrian refugee crisis.
+Nolan Thiessen Let me guess, doesn't pay taxes / early twenty something or late teen and supports Mulcair or Trudeau. I know diversity and multiculturalism are some feel good words to you but go ahead and move into a "diversified" area of a city like Toronto or Vancouver and then let me know how great it is. The sad thing is you have zero world experience and will only learn when things are crumbling around you.
+Sergeant Whiskeyjack Why are things crumbling around those 'divsersified' areas of those cities? It sure as fuck isn't because of the 'diversified' people there. It's because of fat cats like what you seem to support, refusing to invest in infrastructure for poorer areas. Stop pretending you have some sagely experience young people don't have. Pathetic.
+Sergeant Whiskeyjack Or maybe the part where Harper's government are incompetent book-burning thieves? The sad thing is there are actually degenerate nutjobs like you defending that worthless cretin after a decade of Canada crumbling.
I'm a Lithuanian and I along with many people at first thought "Sure, this is basic human decency, of course we should help them". However then came in the news about how they travel through Europe. Only one goal in mind: Germany. Instant entitlement by refusing food that is given to them and demanding fancier food, fancier places to live and such. When I heard all about this my mind changed suddenly into "You ungrateful pieces of ..." At least here in parts of Europe we're almost constantly shown news about how the refugees are very entitled and refuge in Hungary or Romania will not do, they only want Germany. Also, whatever you give them is not enough, they always need more. And finally, when you come to a different country, I'd say common decency is a must, but they seem to lack it. A ton of people leave clothes and shoes in train stations for the refugees, but after they come and go, a dump will look more appealing than what they left behind.
+explorelt Thank you! Exactly my problem with this entire issue. If they are refugees seeking safe haven, they should be happy with any country in the EU. However, they only want to go to Germany or Sweden because these countries are richer. Beggars can't be choosers. They refuse help from other countries, simply so they can get to Germany. Ridiculous. Poor Germany, this is costing them 10 billion euros this year.
+explorelt Well, they aren't stupid and have contacts who already fled to Europe before. And judging from the reports about the systematic mistreatment of refugees in Hungary (not starting with the current crisis but an ongoing issue) I very much understand why refugees don't want to stay there. And German courts agree with me there very often, decisions about deporting refugees back to Hungary are more often than not overturned by our courts by applying "A Human's dignity is untouchable" (Article 1 of the German constitution).
darmokVtS Yes, I agree that "Well yeah, of course they want to go to Germany", however the issue that I have is that it seems like they feel that Germany should take them in by default and give them everything they want. I'd say that if you're a refugee, you shouldn't have the luxury of a person that just decided to travel around Europe. You can ASK for choice and better conditions, but demanding them like they do is out of the question.
This should be watched in these times when we're dealing with a global pandemic. There is no "our" or " their" problem, there is just one problem of all people and when you protect other people you protect yourself at the same time. Hope this lesson should be taken which applies all the humanitarian crisis we're dealing with. But, it takes maturity...
Losing some serious respect points right here,vlogbrother... Europe is willing to help, but when you disrespect the international laws that grant you safety in the first place... It's real easy to point fingers from your armchair, John, when you are not letting in hundreds if thousands Isis millitants, because no id's, no control, no contacting the officials of the first country you step foot in. Seriously, a little less bias, please.
***** What do you mean? You mean Juncker announcing distributing extra 120000 refugees between European nations? And no, i'm yet to hear Europe sending people back to Syria. Anyway if the problems were easy to fix, it wouldn't be called a crisis.
***** They have done this on multiple videos about similar topics, the bias is huge. I am all for helping people in need as many if not most Europeans are, but when it's so chaotic only more problems will arise.
+phnexOice I don't think the internet is the problem. People are spoiled twats, that's the issue. We're richer than we've ever been in Europe, and with that we're more capable than ever to take in large numbers of refugees, but the idea that we might have to give up a small amount of wealth in favour of those in crying need goes against human nature. I really wish more people (particularly those with the right to vote) would use rational thought instead of basal selfish instincts...
@@rjfaber1991 I also think that the alt-right crazies are overrepresented in comment sections, and on the internet generally. I feel like I just need to constantly reassure myself that no matter what, we outnumber them. Reasonable, compassionate people are a majority in this country and around the world. We just need to find our solidary, stand up together, and get to work.
Reading the comment section and seeing some of the xenophobic words from Europeans is outrageous but unsurprising. Seeing the same from Americans is inexcusable. It is incredible that the same people who hold themselves with the highest regard in all other aspects would wish to stoop to the level of Saudi Arabia and the like.
Shouldn't Israel and the Gulf States have a greater obligation to take them in than Europe? The same is true for the US and the UK since they played the leading role in destabilizing the Middle East.
I think those areas have at least as much obligation as Europe, yet most do too little. I think it is absurd for anyone in the US to be fine killing overseas, but to be indignant to saving people from those same areas.
son0of0the0beast I agree, but Johns not saying it. I like him, but why doesn't he condemn the Israelis and the Gulf states for not taking in Syrians if the Europeans should.
They are the ones who have to deal with the crisis. Hungary was the smartest. They put up a fence early. Now Norway is wising up. In France I hope Marine Le Pen wins, gets France out of the EU, and builds the biggest fence since China's Wall.
I really like how you hold all countries accountable. Can you shed some more light on the recent videos showing refugees refusing food and water while in train carts in Hungry? I was really stunned to see them throw away bottled water and food handed out by humanitarian workers.
+Crow22Darkness Well he can't mention every country can he. +Maxwella Sky Hungary are treating the refugees over there like shit no wonder the refugees are becoming so angry there.
For all the people saying 'John, you don't live in Europe so you can't talk like that', well, I do, and I agree with him unconditionally. I come from Southern Italy, here we've been struggling with this crisis for many more years that you could imagine. 20 years ago, long before the start of the civil war in Syria, my city faced the arrival of a boat that carried more than 22,000 people from Albania, all in one night. So believe me when I say that I KNOW how hard it is to welcome all these refugees that couldn't possibly be more different from us. But keep in mind that they couldn't be more similar to us either, and that we have duties towards our own kind. Yes, Hungary, just as Southern Italy, doesn't have the best standards, but our conditions cannot be compared to the one these people are trying to escape. Please, please try to find the strenght and compassion to change your country's politics, and help. (Sorry for the not-so-good English)
+Melody Followill I live in Germany, and I can't imagine what it is like to live somewhere where huge amounts of refugees have landed for years. I is something that is hard to cope with and I hope the EU will work on this together, as we should. Those people need us.
I do believe that Refugee entry, by Consent, is a good Gift to give. It also left out some things - such as that only 20% of those coming by Forced Entry were from Syria and Genuine Refugees. It also assumes others share certain philosophies. For example, not everyone considers Law made by people that didn't go through a democratic process involving them to be valid. And that they desire to & are capable of integration. This Interview with a long term Refugee Advocate & Helper, shows that may not be correct: arbeitsgruppefluchtundmenschenrechte.wordpress.com/2018/02/11/interview-with-rebecca-sommer-english/
As I said, I feel that Refugee status is a very good Gift to give someone. However, I believe the Nationalists are more ethical in their Principles than the Corporate Globalists who force this on others & try to suppress free speech. Though I do believe some of them could go too far, same as the Far Left with Forced Open Borders & no respect for Democracy that the Corporate Globalists appear to have. The article I posted used to be on the Wikipedia entry for "Rebecca Sommers". Now it is all deleted. Just like with the attempts to suppress information coming out with Swedish crime rates & with the Cologne assaults. I feel that "lying or deceiving for a good cause" is always wrong.
Please recognize I'm talking about Forced Entry, not those who ask & are invited. Like in everyday life, the problem with it being forced open borders is that it is uncontrollable. The level of true Refugees taken (Syrians) could be up to each elected leader or parliament.
Explain to me how someone coming from Turkey, or Greece, or Italy (places where there is NO WAR THREATENING THEM) farther into Europe is somehow a refugee and not a migrant.
+WOAHDUDE they hear about the fact, that Germany etc. are caring....Greece does not offer anything! no food, no water, no place to live! Even the UN tries to change that, but they do nothing right now. Turkey isn't as save as Germany... and Italy already has so many people. Imagine: If you have to flee, where will you go? Will you go to Turkey or to Germany? But think about this: If you go to Germany you're not a refugee anymore. How does that sound? Sensless? It is. :))
+Lenianaify There is no war that will kill them in the places they are leaving, therefore they aren't refugees once they've left Turkey, Greece, Italy ect... And they are not entitled to the rights of refugees, because they aren't refugees, they are migrants.
I didn't read all 6some thousand comments through so I'm not sure if I'm the first Hungarian to comment or not... But either way, let me give you a bit of insight from that point of view. I was born and raised in Hungary, though I now live in the U.S. and have been for 20 years, about half of my life now. I consider myself "fully assimilated", I went through higher education here, raised my children here, been paying my taxes and mortgage here, etc. You get the picture. However, I also have deep roots in Hungary and I understand their thought process. Hungary is a mostly invisible little country, awkwardly and uniquely stuck somewhere between the East and the West, not being able to fully identify with either. Our language is unique, and so is our culture. Still trying to recover from the damage caused by the communist regime and the following opportunistic one, that took advantage of the transition, Hungary is still in turmoil riddled with gypsy issues, poor economy and unemployment
An influx of refugees is a burden on this country, one it is simply not equipped to support. Hungarians are famous for their hospitality. I know they would help, if they had the resources. But the uncontrollable flood of these people who are so completely culturally different and drain already limited resources at an unprecedented rate is something they simply cannot cope with. It's easy to judge from a nice white suburb American neighborhood, but if thousands of Muslims flooded your streets, John, threatening your livelihood, I'm sure you would have a different opinion.
Guys, I don't know if you see this, but you've really helped me a lot in the last few weeks. Going through a terrible depression and then this political catastrophe, I didn't have many optimistic places to turn. Thanks for things like this that remind me that I'm part of something larger.
+Carol Amaral Well, John is brilliant. However, this topic is so important right now that it is not that hard to make it interesting. It is however hard to actually form an opinion that is not very dumb, and I think John did a great job at that.
Carol Amaral No, it doesn't sound ignorant. Sometimes the shit that's going on in the world just seems to get repetitive and you just can't be bothered. I find that I often feel the same. I just often get interested again by awesome in depth commentaries like this.
+Carol Amaral This isn't meant as personal attack on you, but rather on the world you live (and the world I live as well, even if we don't live in the same country). You are privileged. You have the privilege of finding this dull and boring, and maybe you'd rather talk about other things, whatever they are, that aren't world wide crises... Your position in society gives you this privilege, because it's not close to you, and you're not the one suffering, whether as a refugee, whether as the ones dealing with this outside the refugees. They are dying out there, Europe is falling apart in so many ways it's unbelievable, and the bringing of thousands, millions of refugees into it means maybe the survival of said people, but who knows what the culture shock may bring. These people come from a culture that despises Europe and America. Most of them see women as inferior. It's not because they're in Europe that they'll stop viewing it like that, as you wouldn't were you in their country. I personally have no real fairy tale solution for this tale, and it scares me that it is so. But then again you don't really find this interesting, so you probably stopped reading at the second sentence.
+nanahimina wow i feel so bad for saying this things and think in people that live on different ways :o I was just saying that jonh makes me curious about any subject that he says
Dear John, I admire you, and all your work. Also, as a Hungarian I am not a fan of our populist government. - BUT: There is no war going on in either Serbia, Macedonia, Greece or even Turkey. So the people who cross the Hungarian border are ALL migrants without exception. Not refugees. They come from a safe place. Not a nice one, and I can't blame them, if I had to kickstart my life again I would also rather do it in Germany or Sweden, but this has nothing to do with war. Another thing, that makes a twist for my country: WE are the border of the Schengen zone, and with not so great location, comes great responsibility. We simply can not let people just roam through our borders and it is not for us to decide otherwise. For decades, ppl came to Europe with visa, applications, procedures and now tens of thousands decided to just walk in. This is not how it works. I understand your humanist viewpoint and considering what you have done and said so far is not a surprise, but I feel like you had more emotion here than well thought-through facts. Of course, I am open to reasoning. (not so)Fun fact: Our common ally in NATO, Turkey is funding and arming ISIS, the organisation closest to pure Evil in decades. And noone bats an eye... shame.
+MightyMagyarz You need to get your facts straight. The huge amount of refugees coming from hungary who were then let into Austria and Germany were from Syria. Yes, they might have ended up in Turkey or Serbia first but they are still people fleeing from the war. And who do you think is funding ISIS? Certainly not NATO and it is news to me that Turkey would be doing it. Weren't they bombing ISIS a few weeks ago?
+Hannah qwertz My question is: If they already reached a safe place, why would they be still refugees and not migrants wandering further for German welfare? And 'because.' is not an answer. NATO certainly does not support ISIS anyhow, but we do support the kurdish army there to fight against ISIS. Now, our ally Turkey does not want a strong kurdish state at its doorstep, so it decided to wage war against the only formidable land force against ISIS, who we support. Crazy. Also: There are evidences, that the ISIS sells the crude oil through Turkey, so the endless funds of that terror-state comes from Turkey. Also weapons... google it and be amazed. Syria became a Middle-East free for all and now the Russians join in.
+Hannah qwertz Sadly, it seems that Turkey is indeed involved with ISIS :( On the German "Tagesschau", they reported that ISIS soldiers go to Turkey for medical care. Not sure how else Turkey supports them, but they don't seem to be enemies ...
I'm from Spain, home of one of the highest unemployment rates in Europe. You would be surprised by the number of spanish citizens who are struggling to pay the rent or to buy food (not to mention the number of students who had to drop off college because they couldn't afford it). Our economic power as a country is ridiculous compared to USA's or Australia's economic power. So why is USA only accepting 10000 when we are accepting 15000? The US should help more. And Australia's answer to this "Refugee Crisis" is just ridiculous.
That's really cool and I am kind of happy about the way Germany handles the situation mostly ... I mean it's difficult and chaotic, but we aren't the assholes this time and it makes me proud (despite the xenophobia that still is in Germany, but I don't think there is a way of stopping it easily)
oh well, I don't think I know anything about that and I've seen some of the refugees ... they don't seem very educated. And seriously, I don't know if this is true, but whatever is, Germany is starting something and they are doing a lot more than a lot of countries do. To shit on that doesn't seem very fair ... besides, you can't as a politician act only upon your heart, you have to use your mind too, to let the situation work. Anyway, where are you from and who are you to think that you are a good judge of the situation? Maybe I'm missing something here, but maybe I am not.
+Ulysses Roe I think this might be true for migrants, but not for refugees. Or can you show me any articles about this issue? (I don't mean this as a provocation but as a genuine question.)
I work & sympathize with the refugees I know. They are hard working good people. But John Green, your position seems to be that western nations should take in all the refugees seeking asylum. Moreover, you posit that by spreading the burden around -- in time, all will be well as refugees assimilate, and contribute, and the receiving nations will ultimately benefit. But you ignore the massive spending your position entails. You minimize the impact on the recipient countries who are struggling to cope with this as it is. (Greece was bankrupt BEFORE the influx of refugees showing up on their shores & has not gotten sufficient funding to handle it.) But most importantly, your position ignores the UNDERLYING CAUSES of this massive problem. Syrians are fleeing conflict between more than one monster. When you suggest (implicitly) that we accept all Syrian refugees while NOT doing anything about Assad and the other parties involved, you are enabling the combatants to murder and displace even more.people. I'm not big on interventions in other nations, normally. But ignoring the Syrian civil war itself, is not in the Syrian people's interest OR the EU's interests. This massive migration away from the conflict is blind to the connection between the two. We should support efforts to aid the Syrians and the other refugee nations, in solving their own nation's crises. And NO - I do Not pretend that it'd be easy or simple, and yes there will be unintended consequences. We cannot ignore the monstrous underlying causes of these refugee crises. Long term plans MUST address this, or we will continue this cycle. And If we ever see another Arab Spring, or group of people fighting for their rights in their own land, I hope we won't wring our hands on the sidelines when asked to help. (Remember that France helped American patriots fight for independence from England. And they got it, and here we are. What if France had said "no we won't help your cause, but if you guys can cross the ocean to move here, you can all stay"? Not a great long term answer.)
Where are Syrians meant to go. America and European countries mess up their countries by supporting and giving weopons to rebels & creating ISIS. Dont supply weopons to rebels and support anti government people in foreign countries. Look at Libya another failure that "WE" decided wanted democracy, we now don't even see LIbya in the news, now that it is a failure.
I don't think he is accepting that nothing should be done. He just deals with the refugee problem. Take a look about the work of UN about refugees, it tries to deal with the consequences in the host countries ;)
Jeannine 1978 - Your post reflects my sentiments exactly. As much as I appreciate the video, it is the underlying cause that needs to be addressed. This is not just happening in one region of the world. It is happening in so many countries and regions. There needs to be a force for good acting to intervene in the countries like Syria committing acts against the human rights of their own people causing mass refugee and migration problems. Those countries should be held accountable and peace needs to be restored for there to be peace throughout the world. Many countries are dealing with their own issues that make it difficult to also take on more problems. I agree with helping refugees, but it is just a band aid on the real issues facing our global economy and geopolitics.
Hello my friend from 2 years ago John does address this (kinda) at the end, when he shows the video of the child asking the countries of the world to help stop the war. But this video wasn't about the systemic issues that created the crisis, but instead about how to deal with that crisis in the short term.
I love that you are talking about this in such a clear, humanitarian way. Many of us truly forget what really matters. As you said, it is shameful what governments are doing, turing their backs on people who need them. I hope this problem can be solved soon. It truly breaks my heart. Thank you for creating awareness through these videos.
As an Australian, I am sorry for our Government and its policy regarding asylum seekers. It makes me cringe to think of what other countries think of us :(
+Rock Strongo should I also suck their dick for the rest of their retarded conservative policies too? I don't know why I should be punished twice for their mistakes (of which there are many)
+Iunio92 Most Europeans wish they had the same policy. Australia accepts thousands of legal immigrants from all different backgrounds, but the key word is LEGAL.
its really nice to see you realising the problems of your government. because ofcourse its a huge problem and loads of countries arent doing anything to help children in need. they are dying!! they arent coming to live off of our taxes they just want safety
***** Actually no, not fascist. Publicly inciting hatred according to racial, religious and other divisions is a crime in many developed countries. By alerting youtube you allow them to remove such content. Fascism is something else completely. Feel free to wiki it.
+Fatima A. WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER ISLAMAPHOBIA? THESE ARE REAL PEOPLE EXPRESSING THEIR FEARS. THEY DON'T WANT SHARIA LAW IN THEIR COUNTRY AND THEY DON'T WANT TO BE SWAMPED BY MUSLIMS. THAT'S NOT RACIST THAT'S JUST COMMON SENSE. DON'T BELIEVE THOSE POLLS THESE ARE REAL VIEWS.
Being afraid is one thing. Hating, inciting hatred, inciting violence, etc. are completely separate. They constitute crimes in many developed countries. Also, there's no need to shout (I can read your comment perfectly well if you turn Caps Lock off).
John! you forgot to mention those countries supporting ISIS, financially, militarily and ideologically. Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, UAE, and a few mini-countries located down south of Persian Gulf.
The Western Civilization Network “End the war, and fix your country” Do you have any ideas how to accomplish this? I don’t know if the refugees want to become citizens. They are fleeing a war zone, and the focus should not be on what it costs to keep human beings safe.
It's sad to see that most people in the comments seem to lack the most basic level of empathy. It's either that or simple ignorance. "We lack the resources to help", "we need to help our own people first", "we have our own problems to take care of", "I'm afraid of Muslims taking over my country". We don't want to help, because we don't want to share. We only care about ourselves.
+mogami4869 No. Its the fear of Islam. Its the fear of Muslims, who will not change or acclimate because their faith prevents them from doing so, who will move in and try to change neighborhoods to follow THEIR way of life. Im living it here in my city in Texas. Its great for the Muslims. Not so great for the rest of us
+mogami4869 Bravo, because everyone that disagrees and justifies their disagreement with the massive immigration lack empathy. Way to generalize those who think different from you.
Yes after reading the comments, I do see the point where people say that Europe itself is struggling to support refugees, or maybe they are hesitant to take in refugees as it is costly to take in refugees. Europe itself is already having financial issues, but I do believe that Europe along side the US should and could do more for the refugees as the burden of refugees are causing financial strain to the neighboring countries, and with this strain, may cause more instability in the world. I don't think John was targeting Europe for its inability to do more but rather saying what more could we do to help the refugees. Personally, I think every country is to blame.
+xXDwalongXx It will be better if the middle east could do better, hell it would be better if Israel and Saudi Arabia would take in Syrian refugee's since both of them are wealthy neighboring countries of Syria. But no they have to build a wall to prevent refugee's from entering their countries.
+xXDwalongXx Actually they're hesitant to take in refugees because those people aren't refugees anymore, they are economical migrants. I don't think people here want to share their hard earned income with people who just want to live in a rich country.
ivanlagrossemoule I am doubtful to call Europe rich because it has countries in it that have economic trouble(like Greece). To be honest it would be better if the middle eastern countries that are Syria's neighbor do their job in helping the Syrian refugee's.
A few years late to the party but you mentioned that a lot of the "refugees" you are talking about were located in Turkije before moving to Europe. But you also classified a "refugee" as someone fleeing a country for safety reason. The people in Turkije are no longer in fear of their lives. Once they reached a country such as Turkije they are no linger fleeing for their safety but for better financial prospects and by your own wording become migrants.
hey there you see turkey has been taking care of there refugees for years and turkey is basically at its limit they are crashing the economy so they have opened the borders to have some breathing room I hope you understand
You would be right about some of them. But I think you would find that a lot of them just don't agree with FORCED Open Borders. There is a difference. Just like in every other area of human life, it depends on respecting both Boundaries & Bridges. We have already been through this in Australia. Also "lying for a good cause" and trying to suppress unwanted information, dissent or questioning of the Corporate Globalist agenda. The push back in the opposite direction may also go to far, which I think is a danger. So IMO, it is best to treat ethics as something that is done to "best make people flourish", rather than about Utopian Ideals which are impractical and are a big distraction from dealing with causes of such problems as War & Impoverishment in less successful nations. That would help everyone.
Hello John.. first of all I want to thank you for your concern and care about a situation many refuse to address or even accept. .. as an Iraqi Citizen I live in constant fear of death or losing someone that I care about to terror or any other . fortunately I live in a rather quite province where Isis hasn't reached and hopefully never will ... for me I don't think I'm ready to flee my country just yet but I want to thank you and all the people who are donating for the refugees (Syrians, Iraqis, afghans or any of my brothers and sisters else where) ... we are all humans and we all have something we suffer from we just have to help one another in order to find some Peace on this earth ♡
+hanin ali Good luck. I am also hopeful that ISIS will at least not spread further in Iraq (or preferably anywhere else). Right now the war in Iraq seems to be heading the right direction, or at least that is what the things I read online seem to indicate. Especially the Kurds and Peshmerga are very effective, and the iraqi army is also getting more effective. Together with the air support of the coalition, I am very hopefull that at leas the Iraq part of the conflict may come to an end (or at least a better situation) relatively soon.
+wiet111 thank you for your concern and support. .. yeah we're doing ok Arabs and Kurds alike ... hopefully we will defeat them once and for all some time soon although its hard but all we have are hopes and prayers right now. ...
I just realized how much Nerdfighteria has changed me because my initial reaction to John's suggestion to help by donating to UNHCR or Save the Children was "I wish I had my own money that I could donate... Maybe I can do a school fundraiser or something." Pre-Nerdfighter Amelia would never have been so passionate about something like this. Thanks to Nerdfighteria for making me so much more socially conscious and eager to make a difference! Hopefully, Patrick Ness's fundraiser can help in creating better conditions for refugees.
The day when your own country enters a horrific war...And you got possibilities to go somewhere else but the doors are shut at your face, that's where you'll realize just how cruel this world is. Hypocrites, until it happens to you, you won't EVER know how it feels like.
My brothers and sisters, I wish I could listen to my comment I am from a country called Syria .soeria land of safety land of peace the land of love and sincerity, but now is not its security. Citizens of the spectrum decided to leave their country because they are not safe. The Syrians did not travel to Europe for money or for food and drink, but they traveled to in order to live in peace. thank you
I think it's extremely sad that our politicians can easily spend hundreds of billions of dollars in the military, and can''t spend anything on humanitarian causes like this. Thanks for the video John...
Refugees have legal rights, but people from safe enough countries don't. I believe that people would not have any problem with Syrian refugees, but they seem to be a minority in the arriving population at least where I live, majority being from Iraq, where they could be safe living in the southern parts. These people should be considered illegal migrants and returned home. Then again, like you said the UN operations are underfunded and that's why all the money should be spent to help the camps instead of paying for expensive settlement in Europe to live on the tax payers money for years to come because the economy is in bad shape and most will not have working and thus integration possibilities for them.
Hello, Nerdfighteria! A quick question: Is there a way for me to add Finnish subtitles to this video, and if there is , where can I find out how? I'm pretty sure I can figure out the technical details by myself, but if anyone could point me to the right direction, that'd be great. Thanks! DFTBA. UPDATE: John just replied to me on Twitter, saying that English captions will hopefully "be up by tomorrow and can then be translated." Yay!
+Joonas Puuppo I believe for the public to be able create subtitles on a video, in any language, the option needs to be made available by the creator. If that is done, there is an option under the settings letting you create subtitles in English, which RUclips can then translate into any language. I may not be 100% correct, but I believe this is how it works.
+XXHinata317XX Thanks for the quick reply. If that is the case, that's unfortunate. This is an important video and John does a great job of explaining the situation, but I have found that many Finns find these videos difficult to follow not necessarily because of a language barrier but rather because of how quickly John and Hank speak. Adding subtitles would make this video a lot more "shareable" among people who aren't native English speakers.
there is a project for translating videos from the educational channels. here are some instructions. effyeahnerdfighters.com/post/113969775494/want-to-help-translate-scishow-videos you could contact effyeahnerdfighters if you run into problems. it would probably be possibly to campaign on twitter in order for john to open the video for translation.
I completely agree, I have friends who are deaf or hard of hearing, and I know they get very frustrated when they can't watch things like this because of the language barrier. It's always possible that John or Hank see comments like this and help to bridge that gap.
Well why doesn't America take more refugees. It's easier to put all the weight on someone else. First of all you don't know the economical crisis in Europe. Second it's way to suspicious why most of them want to go to Europe, when they have other close neighbor countries whom they can turn to. Stop blaming Europe for not accepting every refugee.
+Sitingonthetoilet Well, everyone is blaming EU for not doing enough .. UN, Middle East, US etc. At the same time they don't want accept any refugees themselves, even symbolic numbers.
+Sitingonthetoilet America takes MANY refugees from around the world (#12 highest refugee population). In fact, the only European nations to accept more refugees than the U.S are Turkey and Germany. Now the data that I am referring to is generalized, and not specific to the Syrian crisis, but still noteworthy nonetheless. Also, I believe that the U.S has contributed a lot of foreign aid for this crisis.
+Lawrence Bader Are you implying that Saudi Arabia has a greater obligation to the refugees than us because they're both Arab? Isn't that kind of racist? Just because they're a different race from us in a different part of the world doesn't lessen our humanitarian obligation to them. Just because another country chooses not to do the right thing doesn't mean we shouldn't do the right thing.
Hello Nerdfighters, I'm not considering myself a expert in refugee crisis and I am also not big with politics. But I live in Germany. In a state in the south called Baden-Württemberg and we are basically floded with refugees. My village already has taken in around 20 people (most of them from Gambia) and in the next months the house next to us will take in 50 more refugees. And I think that is a good thing, after all those people had to flee from their countries and need our help. Because we are the only house that borders directly to the house we were the only one asked if we are okay with it. Now my parents even started a school for the refugees in our village so they obviously are okay with it. But fact is that many people are afraid what could happen once more refugees are here. And here is the problem. Fear can lead to anger and radicalization. I admire Angela Merkel for taking the human approach insteed of the political approach to this crisis, but it is actually not that easy dealing with so many people that do not understand the language, culture or simply just how to use a train. So, I think I am not telling anything new, but I just hope and pray that there will be a peaceful solution.
I don't see the people fleeing from war as refugees or immigrants. I see them as people. Living, thinking, human people. No amount of rhetoric, scaremongering or inconvenience will ever change that fact.
+AValveFanboy Sure, and as all humans with equal rights, they all deserve to go where they wish, to pursue their dreams, so lets let all migrants move to Germany and Sweden, all 2 billion people from Africa and middle east, I´m sure if we stack them, they will all fit inside Europe right? Do you own a forklift?
I have to say I was quite suprised reading a lot of the comments to this video - there are a lot of negative stereotypes about muslims (based on hear say, or one unfriendly muslim), and complaints about how Europe can't help all the refugees. I live in Sweden, and we take in A LOT of refugees, and as a country we are still ok and functioning, and are offering to take on more. And I'm really proud of that. But certain contries on Europe can't take on the majorites of them, all members of EU need to take their responsibility. And what Hungary are doing right now can't be allowed. These are people who have lost everything, and we here in Europe and west are SO privliged, and we do have the means to help them.
+Emma Lindvall And you should be proud! I don't think I have been proud of my country, Germany, before the last weekend. It was heart-warming to see that there was the un-bureaucratic decision (not something Germany is good at) to let the refugees from Hungary come. And there where so many people holding signs with "Welcome". There are people coming to Europe needing our help. All of Europe needs to help them.
Emma I wish I could say I'm living in a country that is contributing it's fair share to help this situation. Sadly I feel that the human problem is getting lost amongst the politics of who should be doing what, rather than everyone doing whatever they can to help. I wish there was an easier and more effective way of opening people's eyes to what's happening. Everybody who thinks their country is full or couldn't help more, should go and personally see what's happening. They should personally say to someone who has left every thing behind 'no you can't come in, I don't want my apple cart rocked'.
+Emma Lindvall We won't be able to sustain our welfare system if we continue, we can already see elderly homes being shut down or remade into asylum homes. We also have a housing crisis, usually there are over 300 people in line for a rental apartment, do you think that it's then logical to take in more people? Also in which city do you live in? I have nothing against refugees but I've already paid enough for immigration with my tax. You should feel free to donate but please don't force me to welcome these people into my city and pay for their welfare when we have poor people of our own.
Badabada dabadaba I live in Stockholm, and the problem I see with immigration is the same one as in the EU, that certain countries/kommuner take in A LOT for example Södertälje, but others barely take none. I have never heard of elderly homes being shut down to be made into housing for the refugees, but please show me an article about it! If you read Swedish, here are some accounts of what it actually costs: www.svd.se/vad-kostar-invandringen, www.migrationsinfo.se/fragor-och-svar/hur-mycket-pengar-fr-flyktingar/, www.s-info.se/region/show_debatt.asp?id=226&news=3248.
I am writing my thesis about the EU asylum politics and the discrepancy between norms an actual policies. I found a source from 2005 were quite a lot of problems were listed that the EU still hasn't solved. The problem is not the smuggling because they are rescued as soon as they see the boats. The problem is rather the Dublin Treaty which keeps refugees in the outer countries and they are not equally distributed across the Union and the outer countries are the poorer EU nations. Thanks for mentioning that the long term solution is to solve the Syria IS crisis and that the surrounding countries need help, which is interestingly enough one of the few things the EU is really good at. Did you know that the EU is the worldwide biggest giver of development aid?
+Inucat That sounds like a fascinating (and insanely complex) topic. I did indeed know that the EU is the worldwide biggest giver, but that is not very surprising if you look at the government budgets, which I'm pretty sure are the highest in the world. I completely agree that the Dublin treaty causes a lot of problems, but I am not entirely sure if the EU is really good at helping other countries. They are good at giving money, but it is highly debated whether or not it actually helps. I've heard loads of arguments that development aid causes other countries to be dependent on Europe, is harmful for democracy and participation from the people, increases corruption, etcetera. The effectiveness of development aid is incredibly complex (and also definitely worth a thesis :) ), but I wouldn't say that the EU is really good at helping. They certainly try more than most other regions though, which is very admirable.
+wiet111 eh, biggest government budgets? jave you heard of this place called murica? where they spend billions on a military which seems to only ever make situations worse?
markog1999 The US probably indeed spends the most of any individual country, but the entirety of the EU most certainly has a much higher budget than America (Source: Tradingeconomics)
markog1999 the budget definitely is quite big. difficult to find numbers because normally the EU members are listed separately and not as one nation. but we are talking about 28 nations and even though Greece and other South states as well as some Eastern states are struggling, all in all Europe is financially well off. The refugees (these are btw mostly from the Balkan area) are not all coming over for safety but also for a good health system, good affordable education, good job market and financial security.
wiet111 yeah difficult topic but I have to write 60 pages and at least that way I have something to write about :) Yeah giving money is easier, but the EU as an institution is slow and inefficient. They can't agree on much else and by giving financial aid they are hoping to promote human right. There are some restrictions on getting the aid and one is that you have to follow and protect human rights. Also I don't believe that they give all of the money to the government. They invest in companies as well as far as I know.
ironlemur2049 I didn't kill them. I'm not any government. I pay my taxes. I pay 55% of my salary in tax, to be really honest. This is a problem the governments need to solve. Not me.
Morals are taught. Not inherited. But feel free to feel good about yourself in whatever way you think is right. As with religion; There is no right or wrong.
Dear John Green, You are the most unbiased human being I have ever "met". This may seem untrue to you , but two things make it more likely. I am only fourteen years old, and you doubt yourself too much. The reason I am commenting is that I wish you were the president of the United States. Funny maybe, but you can do a hell of a better job than the candidates for 2016 that I've heard of. The fact that you'll never read this comment actually made me cry, and I don't cry often. Love, your admirer Travis.
+Travis H 1. This is cringy as fuck 2. He is incredibly liberally biased. It seems he is incapable of thinking from the perspective of the peoples he demonizes.
This man is my hero. Seriously, this man unabashedly covers deep topics in such a thoughtful manner. He says what needs to be says and does not apologize for it.
+Millennial Woes are you a Republican?
+Michael Lopez I'm guessing you have a very narrow understanding of politics.
So, basically, someone compliments John on his explanation of a worldwide political and humanitarian situation, and people start assaulting said person because of that compliment? And calls him "beta" and "leftie"? There's no side when it comes down to humanitarian problems, you know. And if it feels comforting to offend those who are doing something positive towards helping address a crisis, even if it's simply explaining such crisis, then you, sir ou lady, is also someone to be blamed for this mess.
You aren't just denying help. You are hostile towards those who are helping.
Good job, RUclips. You are proving John is right and the world's is clustered by apathy.
+Victor Hugo Marubayashi da Silva I'm sorry that I care more about my children's lives and their children's lives than the lives of Muslims from across the world.
+Indican King I too care a lot about my future children and grandchildren. However, what I'm talking about, is being hostile towards those who are helping. If you don't wanna partake on the problem and help, fine. But don't insult those who are doing it, even if through a small act such as explaining the situation to those who are clueless about it or seek another point of view.
(First.) -John
+vlogbrothers I THINK I WAS ACTUALLY FIRST HOLY POOP
+vlogbrothers God damnit John.
+vlogbrothers
1,134,892,284th Comment!
+vlogbrothers Same
+vlogbrothers How many of these people is America taking in??
why is nobody talking about the negligence of rich Gulf states??? Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar have literally done nothing to help.
+Paul Mancini it just seems like the conversation is "look at the failure of Europe for not taking in enough" not "look at the failure of these rich nations that are closer, richer, and have the same culture"
under rated comment
I'd like to think the nations of Europe can be held to higher standard than a bunch of oppressive theocratic petro states.
william francis
P
ıdk ask them
Thank you for this video, John. I'm working as a security guard in a german refugee camp, and it really helps to have some more facts and arguments at hand.
It sincerely worries me how many people disagree with John. It terrifies me to no end; who are you people?
Honestly, reading the comments section reminds me of the time that woman who decided not to evacuate her house during a hurricane and when it flooded she tried to knock on someone's house to let her in but they refused and both her children ended up drowning.
IT. DOES. NOT. MATTER. THAT. IT. WAS. HER. MISTAKE. You let that woman in, let her eat your food and use your blanket. Know why? Because it's the human thing to do. It's the right thing to do, for god sakes imagine you were born a Syrian. You literally had 0 say in what happened, that toddler definitely had no say that ten year old boy definitely had no say, what is wrong with you people?
+Rodina A. (Ro-day-nah) I agree. I wish Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, China, South Korea, Japan, and Russia would do more.
It's a damn shame.
+Rodina A. (Ro-day-nah) People are afraid of these refugees, and they forgot that these refugees are also afraid of Assad's regime, they are afraid of "Death's barils", they are afraid of the future too.
+7rider7 I understand what you say, but as John stated syrians are very educated people so I assume they don't commit so many crimes...
When you are running away from a flood, the logical thing is to get inside the nearest house and not the richest house. The "house" which are nearest to Syria are Saudi-Arabians who are bathing in black gold and refuse to help the neighbouring Arab refugees.
no one thinks like that anymore people think it's just YOU and the people YOU care about everyone else doesn't matter honestly it's that kinda thinking that will end races and then our whole species
Thank you for this. I'm shocked to read so many folks in the comment section say that refugees do not deserve to be rescued because they are not as "grateful and kind" as should be appropriate. Life is life, brothers and sisters.
+Rusty Clanton Refugees are people, and I think some commenters forget that.
When people need our help, we need to help those people.
+Rusty Clanton It almost makes me cry when I read these comments. I can't agree with you more
+Rusty Clanton I completely agree. Gratitude and kindness should never be expected when you help others. We help others to help them, not ourselves. Remember your humanity as you help those who have had their basic human rights ripped from them. Gratitude is shown differently in every culture, some don't even have a word for "thank you" because it's rude. Don't help others because you want them to shower their love and appreciation upon you. Help others because you have your humanity in tact.
Shannon Skeens
Agreed.
Father Karras
You realise that those people need to prove they are from Syria when they claim to be?
Since so many of them are granted Asylum, it is safe to assume, they are endangered. Either because they are from Syria (in Germany, a very small number of people from Syria (4?) haven't been granted Asylum, but it is not sufficient to come from Syria to be granted Asylum) or because there are other reasons why their life is in danger (Syria is not the only country torn by war).
I'm in Germany.
Most of the so-called refugees are not actually from Syria.
North African criminals who pose as Syrians.
Supattra Paveenkittiporn do you know the immense amount of vetting that they go through? There isn't an immigration option more complicated and hard to get through than that one.
that has nothing to do with the coment at all.
Vikings488 .... "the immense amount of vetting that THEY go through"... Who are you referring to? Refugees in Germany? Germany opened up the flood gates and did absolutely no vetting in the beginning of the crisis. Vetting the refugees once they are in the country is not a proper vetting process, that is simply trying to fix a problem they created... a problem that will never be fixed.
Supattra Paveenkittiporn true, most are coming from north Africa, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
a vast majority of migrants are economic migrants, syrian refugees are a fraction of who is coming into europe
Can you do one of these videos for the Hillary Clinton email scandal?? I got sooo lost with what was actually happening when rumors started to fly.
Also, I know you don't want to talk about the election yet, but when you do could you just do a video briefly explaining the basic platform for each candidate? You are one of the only sources I trust to be relatively unbiased
+Jane Doe I like John a whole lot, but to call him unbiased you need to be both blind and deaf.
+Pimp Doubt
He's not unbiased, for certain, but we're sort of all biased in the same John-ish direction. Also, his voice makes me happy. (actually, the audio on this video is frustratingly unbalanced)
+Jane Doe im a pretty big fan but if you think he's not biased its probably because you, like most other people, only get you news from people you agree with. and if i had to go out on a limb i'd guess you call fox news faux news or something along those lines.
+Jane Doe It's a largely manufactured "controversy" designed to deflect attention from the systemic problems in our... well, system. To completely paraphrase and pretty much misrepresent something Bernie Sanders said, "Don't vote against Hillary because of this email bullshit, vote against Hillary because of Iraq."
im from Bosnia and seeing how badly people speak about refugees makes me sick. anyone can be in their situation,it's crazy. thanks for adressing the issue
No use of the word "rape" in this video, ok? You were wrong John, they're not harmless.
What are you talking about? What's all this talk about refugees and rape.
i couln't find ANY news that isn't in some right wing infowars like blog, just one cbs link saiyin that the news of a 13 year old german girl missing was false
Have you been to Germany in the last few years? Or ever?
Which country did the criminals come from, Rachael? I'll give you a hint, not Syria.
Standard nationalistic xenophobia. There is no correct response to this comment except to ignore it entirely.
To think every religion and culture is equally compatible with other religions and cultues is completely unrealistic.
Why?
Anil Singh Particularly in the case of modern Islam, it remained stuck in the Middle Ages because of al-Ghazali and al-Wahab centuries after. Now it stands completely against the principles of the Enlightenment, still endorsing theocracy, cruel punishments like stoning and beheading for non crimes like witchraft or adultery, and desiring to impose Sha'ria law all over the world.
LesPaul2006 You're talking about Salafism. These are Islamic fundamentalists you're talking about, who want to impose Shari'a. Shari'a is not inherently a part of Islam any more than the Hebrew law code in the Bible is a part of Christianity or Judaism. There are plenty of mainstream Christian conservatives who don't believe in the Enlightenment and who want a theocracy.
Anil Singh Not as many as Muslims. And you are lying to me. Shamelessly.
+LesPaul2006 I'm really not, and you need not look any further than the right.
Shout out to all the Australians hanging their head in shame at the awful government we have whose refugee policy is littered with racism, misinformation, and slander in a bid to decrease our intake and dehumanise refugees to discourage interest in helping them.
Here here
And our prime minister screaming "I stopped the boats" like it's a fucking achievement to be proud of.
+OneUpdateataTime Fuckin preach that shit
"Now back to that bitch talkin shit about our country in the press; Hey Tony, What's good?"
+OneUpdateataTime Literally what in the fuck is wrong with you people? Thank your government for keeping you safe.
Ah yes, the racists are here. Insulting me won't make me think refugees as anything less than humans. You're wasting your time. You're not even giving counter arguments to a different point of view you're just being offensive.
Hi John, I´m from Czech Rep. which is one of the "bad" countries that "refuses" the syrian refugees. Unfortunatelly you´re missing few very important points. The Syrian + other refugees are actually leaving through Turkey - which is safe country and some of them lived there for a year or more. The reason why the head to central Europe is due to the fact that Merkel (german prime minister) invited them to Germany. Please také in mind that they don´t want to stay in Greece, Bulgaria, neither Hungary, Poland, Slovakia or Czech Rep. they want to get to Germany. And the reason WHY is because they´ll receive very generous social security there - lot of money.So Germany caused crazy hysteria among these poor people - and actually Germany is to blame for making many of them drown in the sea - because they wouldn´t leave Turkey. Right now Germany and EU is forcing other countries (especially in central Europe) to take quotas for immigrants - that means that some of the people that came from Turkey (i.e.many of them Syrians) just for the econimical reasons will be sent to countries as mine - and probably even without asking. And nany of them flee for Germany. So it¨s not very clear if they´re economical migrants or refugees. We welcome refugees but this is much more complicated than just simple xenophobic hysteria.
and the very recent news is that Germany closed their borders beacause they are "surprised" how many refugees (or migrants) came. They actually tricked them for some strange reasons and these people will be probably angry. So tomorrow we will welcome thousands of them in Czech Rep ... please follow the news if you´re really interested - it´s happening now :-)
+Rudolf Schimera Nobody can oblige your country to accept these quotas made by Germany and EU, every country has its own quotas, nowone must accept to be Germany's toil paper, of course if those rulers from those countries have a spine
+DomuraK When you are a part of EU, you basically have to. Otherwise, we'll get less EU financial support etc.
No you don't. Its every country's freedom to reject those quotas, as a matter of fact sincer yesterday UE "deleted" the mandatory part from those quotas, so everyone will take as many refugees as their respective policy dictates. No more imposed quotas
DomuraK It is our freedom but France and Germany announced that who won't accept refugees, can forfeit the European funds.
"And humans, all humans, are our people. And when the oppressed and marginalized die because they are oppressed and marginalized, then powerful are at fault" - thank you for that quote, it's beautiful and I have it on a sticky note on my desk
I live in Greece and ships full of refugees arrive in my city twice a week. a teacher at school gathered some students to go help the people who arrive, give them some food, especially for the babies, before they go on their buses. when I arrived at the port to help I wanted to cry. just seeing all those parents trying to find some milk for their babies made me depressed. we had some food to give to the families and whenever i gave them, the grateful looks on their faces made my heart melt. no one CHOSE to leave their country especially under these circumstances. they just want a safer future for their kids. which is a huge problem for the European countries where they go, but its not these people's fault. just try to think what you would do if you were in their position. there were also some people who just shouted at us telling us to let them die. 'they deserve it' they said. NO ONE deserves this. No one. However big this problem is, no one deserves to die.
Hats off to you John Green
You are what seems like the only person out there who is speaking sense, you are the voice that will guide us as a species to a better future.
+Achillez Green for President 2016?
+Grace Teraberry the fact that he can be tho
+Grace Teraberry Green/Green for president 2016!
I think John should be Vice Prez
"His views aline with mine so he must be right"
John Green for President 2020 Only you understand the world enough to make a diffrence
+REDANDSILVER741 #BernieSanders2K16
+REDANDSILVER741 Or many other people who have taken the time to study. Don't sell yourself short, people!
How can John run when Sanders is going to be incumbent that year?
+REDANDSILVER741 You are what is wrong with the world. You get all your information and opinions from the biased media instead of doing your own research and forming your own opinions. You are a lemming and you deserve to watch the world as you know it burn
Yeah and if he is your president USA will be islamic state
There's one thing about this crisis that I never see answered.
I live in Germany, we'll get the most refugees in Europe. But after official government statistics and international statistics, only 20% are from Syria. Now, I understand why so many Syrians are coming right now, but why the other 80% too?
In Eritrea, the people flee from oppression. But that's been going on for years already, and hasn't really worsened recently. Why do they all come now?
In Kosovo, the people flee because of huge unemployment. But they have had that for a few years already. Why do they all come now?
In Afghanistan, the people flee from violence. But that's been happening for years. Why do they all come now?
And so on...
Why would they all come in this year, at this time, along with the Syrians? This makes no sense, it's extremely suspicious. I'd even go as far as to say that someone instigated this crisis. Someone wanted to see my country flooded with other races and cultures.
+Ygramule You Western Europeans have lost all survival instinct. It's really sad but we stand on the threshold of ethnic war, and you can not even see. War is a great business as we know. I have no doubt that the US will provide to help us by selling weapons to both sides at bargain prices.
I think it's because the global attention is on refugees. U never realized that the majority of refugees in the past ten years to Germany were from the Middle East specifically afghans. This has been going on for a while. It's just that u and rightly so had no idea that it was. And now since the attention is on the refugees u will see more afghans trying to seek asylum. U have to realize a lot of these were contractors for the US military which were left behind now they are being hunted by the Taliban (there is a whole vice documentary on this). That is one of the few stories u will hear from these afghan refugees.
Maybe it's the book "Germany Must Perish" still in action. I'm not joking and it wouldn't surprise me.
+Ygramule I thought it was Sweden who was getting the most refugees. Of course I'm American
and I learned not to trust what I hear on the News !!!
+rbagel55 Sweden has the most refugees in proportion to their population. Its population is 10 million and it has received around 160 000 refugees, which is around 16 % of its population, if Germany were to acceptthe same percentage it would have a total of around 13 million refugees.
Syrian and Iraqi here, so glad you made this video. I have family currently in Syria and I was always super worried they'd be caught in the crossfire, even as a little kid. My cousin came over to visit the family for a bit, he was kinda thin. Not emaciated, but not really a healthy weight, he didn't even have a shirt on under his sweater, and told loads of stories about his school bus breaking down because they ran out of oil and what's left is bad quality, and this was all normal to him. Really made me appreciate how privileged I am to live in a safe and wealthy country.
I can't believe how many people have forgotten how to have empathy. There are probably people out there who'll read this comment and be like "Yeah but..." like where's the but? How could you think it's fine for a kid to grow up like this?!
The west/america is the ones who destory ppl countries
What country do u live in
Actually, those who are going to Europe...are choosing to go to Europe. Actually, that is the reason for why they are choosing the best countries, like Germany, England, and the nordic countries.
+Ace Diamonds
I'm from Brazil, Ace. The restrictions to people who want to go to my country are pretty low, basically you can get in a plane in Syria and go to here, and we'll basically give you asile.
But there's no social benefits for those who want to go here. And Brazil is not a rich country like Norway and Denmark, and so on...
And, indeed, some sirians have come here. And many of them say things like:
"Oh, I would rather have gone to Sweden, or Germany, or England. The cost of living in Brazil is to high. There's no social benefits."
(If you want to read, here's a post, in portuguese, about a syrian family who is in Brazil in the moment, and they are complaining, saying that they would rather have gone to Sweden. And they want to help to get out off Brazil and go to Sweden.)
revistacrescer.globo.com/Refugiados-no-Brasil/noticia/2015/09/eu-nao-escolhi-vir-para-o-brasil-nao-ha-escolha.html
[Guess what? We're not in war in Brazil. But they still want to go to Europe.]
I just think that John should have left pretty clear that: Those who are going to Europe are going for the social benefits.
And that's why I said: They are NOT running from the war.
Those who are just "running from the war" are those who are going to... I don't know Turkey, or India, or Russia.
Those are going to Europe are not refugiate, they are (illegal) immigrant. And that's why John Green was wrong when he called them "refugees"
They are choosing to go to England. They don't want to go to Turkey, or whatever..
And also, other another thing:
The international comunitate should ask :
"Why does the Arab Emirates, that is a freaking rich country, don't receive this refugees? Why Saudi Arabia, don't receive them?
Why it has to be the Europe?
Nobody said a freaking thing about Dubai haven't received anyone. I just hate how everybody think that Europe, and US should solve all the problems of the world.
Yes, they are "shopping around" to find out the best country, which has the fanciest choices available to them... That's the point!
That's not actually how the whole thing about "being a REFUGIATE" work,
That's why, according to the international law, refugees has to seek asylum in the first, in the first country that they reach out. The international law don't say:
"Oh, and you can shop around to find out the best country that best fulfill your expectations and desired standards of living".
---
About destabilizing the region, ok you have a point there. But many of the country that the emigrants are going like: Norway, and Denmark, and Switzerland, and Sweden... do not destabilized the region, at all.
+Eric P. Alvaro Its almost like these refugees want countries that can support their children rather than other more problematic countries in the middle east. Did you hear about the bombing in Turkey recently? This is why many of them strive for the better off European countries.
AlliArt15 Of course... because the only place in the word that are not being bombed is the european coutries, all the other countries are being bombarded 24/7.
I'm from Brazil. Brazil is not being bombarded and it's relatively easy to get an asylum here. Do they want to go to Brazil? No.
No. Because we are not rich country with the fanciest choices like Norway.
(And not even dare to say about "oh, it's expansive a airline tickets, because the refugees are paying like 3.000$, sometimes even more, to able to go to Europe)
Nobody chooses where they are born and what circumstances they are born into, so the response from governments and just the general public is truly disgusting, and this comment section exemplifies that. For all you know you could have been one of these refugees, but you're lucky enough to be living in a country that is peaceful. I can't believe some of you people. Nobody's asking you to do anything, because honestly none of us can really do much, only governments have the power to decide who will be accepted in their countries, but have some fucking empathy. I am so sick of the way these refugees are being dehumanized to the point that people don't even give a shit. I see humans but no humanity.
+Souleika Domingues SHUT THE FUCK UP
Professor Wilhelm Boomberg That's all you can say? Lmao, that really shows the level of intelligence you have.
Professor Wilhelm Boomberg These refugees don't have any kind of agenda and it's pretty deplorable that you think they're just there to "ruin" Europe. A lot of them are families that are fleeing war conditions. And may I remind you that there's a lot of Syrian and Iraqi Christians who are part of the many refugees who ARE escaping conflict and persecution (otherwise they wouldn't be refugees in the first place, just economic migrants). So I suggest you educate yourself on the situation before spouting racist rhetoric.
+Souleika Domingues The people living in these safe countries made them safe over time. We set up the institutions to make it how they now are. It is an evolutionary process. Taxation is one of things that we accept and it goes to pay for the social programmes that our "safe" countries enjoy. These refugees/migrants want to take advantage of something to which they have never contributed. The REAL refugees are the ones that were being persecuted in their own countries and not this horde that finds that their countries can't provide for them as Europe can do.. Don't just look at the pitiful videos of drowned children. Take a look at the mobs destroying Greek islands; the garbage trail they are leaving when they move on and the useful stuff the leave behind; the lack of gratitude for help they receive. They seem to think they have a RIGHT to move to Europe. The European leaders are trying to strike a balance between their obligations to REAL refugees and how to deal with this horde, most of whom do not qualify as refugees.
+Souleika Domingues refugee's don't find rich countries to leech off of if they are only escaping from danger as you put it. What they are doing now makes then illegal migrants
I just cried in the inside rn; eventhough this video is 2 yrs old its message; its humanity is eternal, we need more ppl like him. WE need more countries to act within his ideals that treats the world as an undivided region with humans regardless of their cultural, religious and other such distinctions whilst at the same time respecting these values.
This video was inspiring.
The comment section, not so much.
As you said the blood is on our hand and we need to do something to wash it off.
Oh dear, this again.
I thought Atheism was on the rise. Where "sins of the father" and "original sin" didn't exist.
It isn't our fault that a bunch of religious fundamentalists setup a fanatical religious movement in the name of Islam.
It is Obama and Hillary's (Secretary of State) fault. Sure, George W. Bush had the country's infrastructure destroyed, but they were also trying to fix it.
Then they just pulled out the troops, leaving a power vacuum, which lead to this mess.
If they had stayed until a proper police was made, this could've gone differently.
Also, the argument he makes about highly educated refugees... think about that.
How many highly educated people is the in the USA? A wealthy western country. How about Europe?
Most of these people will take jobs, and take whatever pay they get.
Now who do you hire, the guy who works for a regular pay, or the one who works for minimum pay?
Also, there are more criminals in 10 000 refugees, than in 10 000 citizens.
A lot more, it even goes to orders of magnitude on some types of crime.
So here's the bottom line.
The refugees are unskilled workers, taking minimum wage, thus unbalancing the job market.
Taking them in leads to a disproportionate increase in crime.
They also bring their backwards beliefs with them.
About 1 in 3 "Syrian refugees" aren't even Syrian.
They should take a patient overview, and not take in too many, or else you get rampant terror attacks, them making countries inside the countries, which work on entirely different justice system, the stuff going on with Rotherham (look it up), and them attacking Jews because they are Jews.
Turns out Germany doesn't break down on Neo Nazis if they're from the Middle East.
Before you say "it's just a minority". It's still there. We want that "minority" to be as small as possible.
And these immigrants has a bigger "minority" than any other people in Europe.
Happy Demon You spent way to much time writing and not enough time thinking about your claims
I need to write so much, because you talk about the video, the video is long, so I have to refute the video's claims (or at least some of them).
I need to make it solid, so people don't just point at one thing, then brush it aside.
You just brush it aside. Never addressing any of my points.
So my points still stand, unchallenged.
Happy Demon That's a good point, but I just don't have the time to refute all those points. Sorry dude
Ah, well that's understandable.
It's just, you pretty much tried to dismiss it with the "not enough time thinking about your claims".
It's like if someone said: "Your argument sucks, but it's long, so I wont bother refuting it."
That people do that is the problem.
But if it's just too long, then admitting it's going to take too much time is a far more valid response, than some dismissal.
The truth is simple. If you like bombing independent countries then you should like to help refugees from those states you have been bombing.
+Andrey Boyd What about the countries which haven't been bombing them? They should be allowed to send the refugees back?
+Nozomi Suzuki They usually don't complain about it.
Do you know, that Syria accommodated the most number of refugees on its territory over the second Iraq company?
If I am not mistaken, we are talking about 4 million people. This is a stunning figure, isn't it?
You didn't answer the question.
***** You are surprisingly right.
Germany didn't bomb anybody, at least a few last decades.
However, NATO did and Germany is a member of this organization.
Nozomi Suzuki I did not answered for two primary reasons.
First, personaly If I were a decision maker I wouldn't send them back. But I understand people who would.
And secondly, the question itself is incorrect, from my perspective Because, who has a right to allow or not allow independent country to send or to accomodate refugees.
John, i love your vídeos, and they are often very explanatory, but I must say that I was very disappointed that you only addressed the cause of this crisis to countries not accepting the refugees; what about the REAL ROOT of this problem? this crisis is the product of USAs criminal war politics and interventions, which happened during the American imperialism, with the help of European countries of course. They exploited countries and financed wars (and still do to this day) searching for raw materials and whatever the fuck they wanted - and simply because wars are lucrative in this fucked up capitalist world - all based on LIES to make people think it was ok.
I'd appreciate if you take the time to read this.
I still love u tho bye
PLUS we are all humans living on the same planet, like you said, how can people just don't care about others? how can people always think about the money problems it will cause? what about PEOPLES LIFES???? it makes me sick
We are all human. Lets treat each other as equal. Stop having a ice cold heart people, you just won the birth lottery. You could have been a refugee
Honestly let's just knock the real definitive problem with this video. It's a video by an American explaining the European Migrant crisis. However, the problem is Green glosses over some major issues that the Europeans have with this unfortunate event. He goes and makes claims that countries are being inhumane essentially, though some simply cannot support migrants.
How can they not support refugees but can adjust to support their own people and changing population?
Kristen A The fact that you don't seem to know is we have getting a lot of immigration in Europe for years. It's a touchy subject amongst all the countries here. People are either for or against it. Here in England nationwide debates occurred regarding it and I'm not entirely sure of the outcome.
Just to say I am aware of the fact that refugees aren't necessarily immigrants but it's very easy for people to simply slip into society without any problems once they've arrived. We may be able to deal with the slowish population growth but add on to that 1000s of extra people in a very short length of time? The money to make sure the camp's are safe and protected? Unfortunately it's never going to be as simple as "Let them in" and Im annoyed that Green makes us sound like much worse people than we are for not letting them in.
Or at least as many as the rest of the world that isn't Europe wants us too
I think Green is trying to say that all the countries in the agreement just shouldn't be setting limits to how many refugees they will take, but instead if every country involved was as open as they agreed to, there wouldn't be as much pressure on fewer countries. This would also then lower rates of smuggling because access to countries wouldn't be as difficult for refugees.
Your argument is an ad hominem one. You cannot refute this argument by imputing its narrator.
Europeans should take care of Europeans first.
+Iovar “Wolkun” Friiselahh i like this :) i think that its okay that the immigrants is coming but they must understand that we'll take care of ourself first :)
I'm not gonna speak for your Country and I'm so sick of people in Canada or even the U.S. Saying they shouldn't have to take care of the refugees before themselves. We live in a first world country I don't care if you grew up in a bad neighbourhood with barley enough to get by you still had it better then these people. I wish countries didn't exist and that anyone could live anywhere tbh because I don't agree with keeping anyone who isn't an obvious threat out of countries, sure it might cost money to help them but we as humans need to stop forgetting to value money over life.
+Victoria Gibbs * I meant to value life over money oops
+Iovar “Wolkun” Friiselahh You have a computer, house, food, water, clean cloths, etc. yet you still think we aren't in a situation where we don't just have to look after ourselves? wtf
+Victoria Gibbs Have you been to Detroit? St. Louis? Harlam? Compton? These places are in my nation and our nation is classified as a developed nation; yet most of Africa looks like a paradise compared to these places. You have a very narrow view of Developed and underdeveloped; that is the actually term for it not the first, second or third world. First, second and third world are classifications during the cold war between the US and the Soviets.
That's all nice and dandy that we have to take care of them. I sympathise with the children and families and I live in Europe.
But first problem with that is, we don't have enough jobs for ourselves, where will we get jobs for them? And now other countries are starting to flee to Europe. Where will we put them? We have 10mil. people, we are tiny.
Second problem is they don't want to stay in other countries than Germany. We have a refugee camps here where the young men attack the security trying to get out and than to Germany.
Third problem: There was a security conference held with head of the syrian women militia. She said they succesfully fight IS and so who will fight IS when all young men will be in Europe? Women of Syria? Or we and our fathers and brothers? She also said there's a lot of men who are trained by IS and their sole purpose is to infiltrate Europe. US people should understand the fear of terrorism best of all. I don't mind muslims, I dread terrorists.
They don't even want to get registered so our police can do a security check.
You can think I'm racist or xenophobe or whatever you like, but I have a family to worry about as well as they do and terrorism is a BIG problem. If you can guarantee there's not one dangerous man among them I'll take them all in.
+Laidart THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNISTS WHO RUN THE UN DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR COUNTRY THEY WANT TO FISTFUCK YOUR COUNTRY AND DESTROY ANY BORDERS.
+Laidart If you're worried about too many refugees for your population, then quotas is a better idea anyway. Say you'll give safe travel to your country for X number of refugees and then change the system the EU has in place that's making European countries terrified to let refugees into your country. If you're not scared of all the restrictions on the government once refugees get there, you can allow safe passage for how ever many a country of 10 million can handle.
+Mrpapayaheadrulesall : quotas do not work. They do not want to stay in countries like Hungary. They want to go to Germany or Great Britain.
+jcimrman Then they are no longer refugees.
Maybe it's precisely because there are no jobs for that amount of people pretty much anywhere in Europe other than Germany?
"Hank, when discussing refugees I often hear, 'But that's not our problem'; 'We have to take care of our people'.
But we are one species sharing one interconnected world and humans, all humans, are our people."
*bows low*
Wow, I was kind of hoping the comments here would be more civil and humane than what I've seen on other videos.
They are not.
Glad have somebody on the same boay
its okay, not all of us are bad, people tend to forget that being human comes first before making a joke or talking politics, or racist/ xenophobic views enflamed by propaganda. But, thats what freedom of speech gets you. "I didn't know freedom means people doing bad things"
Your so called "Humane" ways is destroying Europe. Let everyone in to Europe, what becomes of Europe? A giant refugee camp, where the natives are minorities. Terrorist attacks happen everyday, enjoy.
Maybe because you’re pushing many European countries into states of unrest and mass rapes and that isn’t exactly humane either
Once again, once a refugee has found physical safety in a country that is not at war but then turns around and decides I like it in Germany better because they give me free stuff they are to be considered ECONOMIC MIGRANTS! That little boy who was found dead on the beach that everyone likes to keep talking about, fled the safety of Turkey with his parents in order to gain benefits in the West. He basically died because his parents were being selfish. Go ahead call me heartless but I think that is what's DISGUSTING!
+TheJamShot did.... did you watch th..the video? the video which you have just commented on?? it literally explains why turkey isn't safe........................................................
+Ace Diamonds Its not a crazy idea do get out off middle east, but a problem, no one seems to say out loud, out of fear being labeld as racist, is that wherever muslims go in big mases they bring middle east with them along.
+Valdis Kazaks What do you even mean by bringing the middle east with them? There are concentrations of Muslims near where I live but they don't bring war and suffering, they just try to live their lives like everyone else is trying to.
***** Yet in Britain the proportion is 14% and 5% worldwide. Clearly instead of all Muslims being bad, something else is going on, and the fact you didn't notice this tells that you are perhaps just a little bit prejudiced.
***** That is utter rubbish.
John, you might be a tiny little bit ignorant from your throne in the safe and rich USA. How about you promote the safe passage of Syrians and Afghans to US, before preaching it to EU.
Extremists, as you said it countless times, refuse to see things complexly, thus ignoring one side or the other. I'm from EU, and I see everywhere ultra-nationalist extremists, but also ultra-humanitarian extremists, both choosing ignorance over the bigger more complex picture (just like you).
Romania (the country where I'm from) offered from the very beginning shelter and rights (all those you mentioned) to under 2000 refugees. Too few, you might say. Guess how many refugees applied for safety in my safe country? NONE! Why? How come refugees don't seek safety and rights, but riches in Western Europe? I think we all know the difference between refugees and immigrants, don't we?!
He clearly was talking about this as a HUMAN problem! So, your comment about him being in the U.S. is irrelevant as he was commenting about not only has the EU fail these people, but, also Canada, United States, Australia, etc. They haven't themselves been very sympathetic of this situation.
+Mihai Ioan Ardelean "When in doubt, blame the US" 8/8 b8 m8. Europeans sure are gr8. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
+John Smitj No you are not allowed to search prosperity under the guise of 'ow there is a war in my country, plz gib mfree moniez and jubz so i can live here for the rest of my days far wealthier than i ever was back home'
+Mihai Ioan Ardelean Agree. Big problem with these "refuges" is that they dont act like you would expect from refugees. They dont act as immigrants nether. They have demands, they are often very aggressive, they throw away offered food, they just demand you transport them to Germany or UK and if you dont help them in that, you are enemy.
Another thing that confuses me about them is that most of them appear to be males in age 18-40, normally you would expect to see them fighting for their country, or some kind of peace there, but no, they run away leaving behind their wives and children.
And there is also big culture difference. It wouldnt be a problem if they respect our culture, but no. They come to Europe expecting/demanding that Europeans will allow them to do anything they want in the name of their religion. And lets face it, by today western world standards, Islam is often very far from being nice and friendly. In other words, I dont want my wife or sister raped, cos some "refugee" thought that she wasnt dressed properly, so it was her fault.
In short, average refugee is looking for safe shelter, and regular meals. Syrian are looking for some paradise in Europe and have some high standards here and they are ready to fight to get there.
+John Wayne Woah, it must have taken a lot of time to get to know each syrian refugee in order to determine that they're all doing what you say.
Literally this comment section is toxic.
cancer of the internet!
+
Literally how? Could you literally elaborate?
Disagreeing with John Green does not make a comment section toxic.
Ace Diamonds Who said all? It's baggage. The baggage isn't worth it. And there are plenty of economic migrants and places that are full of people who don't even come from Syria. Don't forget all the middle Eastern places that won't even take refugees. They don't even need to risk a dangerous boat ride if they would take their own neighbors in as refugees.
Listen....you have a lot of points when talking about the Syrian refugee crisis in europe but hear me as well. I am a Greek.I was born in Greece ,raised in Greece and now with the financial crisis my family and I have suffered greatly.We were in the verge of becoming homeless and many people helped us but we mostly found ways to survive ourselves....Over the years thing have gone a lot worse and we are in the point that all of us Greeks are in the same financial status.ALL OF US. The goverment that was elected is commiting crimes against all Greeks and they have a racist stance against our religious culture and our rights when it comes to work and education. So when you tell us that EU and the countries that are accepting refugees are to be blaimed for crimes against the Syrians ,I get mad .What makes the most sense to you? Leave the locals to starve and feed the people that also disrespect the help that we are trying to offer from what we dont even have? We as a country lack money and yet we are feeding other people as well because we have to and want to. I am not racist and I want all people to survive and live happily but the EU head goverments (Germany,France etc) take advantage of our low economy to make things even worse for us Greeks. This is racist and fasist like...Other countries on the borders are not accepting Syrians because the Greeks are not good people or so they say. We are good people, we just cant support everyone . Also some Syrians are racist to us Christians and there are several ocassions of churches being pilaged
:(
And the blame of USA for trying to destibilize the entire arab world, the some smug vlogbrother says that Europe is cruel. Well why not ship them all to USA???
+Todor Todorov because USA is the one who bullies for fun or interest .
Cool guy Not only. Every empire is this way. China and Russia included. The three super powers are flexing muscles to show each other that they are force to be reckoned with... at the expense of a countries like Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Tibet and the contenders for South China Sea.
Todor Todorov mostly USA which invaded Iraq at first place but this guy didn't even mentioned USA .
that is the reason i dislike this video .
but once for all people must understand they need to respect each other .
+Todor Todorov Europe supported the U.S in their invasion of Iraq. The whole west is to blame.
***** Okay so USA is destabilizing the arab world just for fun. Thats even worse. And on top of that their f***ing government has the nerve to talk about freedom and democracy. Russia and China at least have the decency not to lie about their intentions.
Wow. John is talking about something more important than that Dear Fat People video that's popping up everywhere
+ClemMedia Another indication of what John said. If it doesn't affect you you just brush it off. Damn even when the Ethiopians were killed by ISIS I was the only Ethiopian in school and I never even heard a peep from the other kids around the school.
+ClemMedia yes this is more important. Doesn't mean the other thing wasn't bad too and it's a little easier for people to speak out against through personal experiences. It was a disgusting video and it was wrong and people are allowed to talk about that too.
+KnightRaymund They are, but not at the expense of others. It is one thing to talk about both, but many are acting like that video is the worst thing happening in the world today. It clearly is not.
Hayley Rodgers a lot of youtubers have experience with assholes or body issues. Not many have a lot of foreign policy experience or know all the intricacies of the crisis over there. So you'll excuse them if they talk about something they know more about.
+ClemMedia Wow, maybe people are better authorities on their own feelings than the richly complex and complicated issue of Syrian war and the refugee crisis and they should make videos about what they both care and know about.
You're awesome John Green, and I just found out that you are the guy who wrote all those books like "The Fault in Our Stars", and I had no idea! Mind Blown! I have never read them but I hear they are very good reads. I loved your history crash-course videos, and thank you for helping me better understand the refugee crisis. I'm glad there are people like you using your RUclips influence for good. Keep doing what you're doing!
Finally someone who seems to be an actual human with emotions in this comment section.
Lol, yeah that's RUclips for you
+
Every life is precious. Civilizations rise and fall. They are a dime a dozen in the large scheme of things. Individuals are priceless. They live and then are gone forever. When an individual dies an entire universe goes with them. When this death is needless, a sin has been committed greater than any the world has known. Every life is precious, even the inconvenient ones. I refuse to count bodies. That is all.
Shariah
good job, you paraphrased Stalin
+MrPonitron Touché.
+PizzaManager101 I wasn't aware that Stalin thought every life was precious........
he may not have thought it, but he said so in a speech
Here's the thing: this is a humanitarian crisis but Europe is overwhelmed. I live in Portugal, okay? We have been facing austerity since the 2008 crisis and only now signs of economic growth are starting to show. We have unemployment rates that extremely high. The construction business has stopped because there's almost no space left. So how are we supposed to welcome and support refugees when the country can't really support it? I know those poorer countries are already housing refugees but they have a lot of free space (I can't stress this enough, most of Europe is bursting at the seems when it comes to construction) and I'm not sure what do those countries provide the refugees with besides shelter.
Here's the thing John: those refugees won't be smuggled into the US, which makes you an outsider. Europe is dealing with this the best they can for now. There are socio-economical factors that are not being taken to consideration because you don't live here. This comment doesn't come from a place of hate, racism or xenophobia, it come from a place of understanding that this is called a CRISIS for a reason and that many European countries aren't taking many refugees, not because they don't want to but because they don't know how.
+Mark Vengance I don't know about Australia or Canada, but being honest what's been going on in the USA lately I'd say refugees would only be slightly safer. Only because over here people are screaming at the top of their lungs about illegal immigrants, "this is a christian nation", and hell even trump has been blaring about building a wall at the border. I'm sure we could take some refugees and it would still be a lot safer than being in Syria, but I feel like honestly there would be a ton of negativity towards them.
+imsoofreakintired This is exactly why we need a pan-European solutions. Southern Europe being overwhelmed and left to deal with that many refugees alone is completely unfair and perhaps, gross and racist as it is, Hungary's response is to be seen in this light to. The financially strong countries in Europe need to start taking some serious responsibility.
+imsoofreakintired There are lots of space in Portugal, in the inner parts of the country, including hundreds of abandoned villages, where the young moved to the big cities (or migrated), and the old just died off.
Think about what those people wouldn't give for a chance at moving to such a place right now.
+imsoofreakintired I agree that Europe is struggling but not perhaps as much as it likes to make out. Compared to the situation in Lebanon or Jordan life is peachy and I believe we have a moral responsibility to help spread the burden with these countries. The situation is fucked and it’s horrible but the idea the European countries are bursting a the seams and incapable of helping is simply not true, there is enough land and if there was the political desire to do so there could be plenty affordable housing too.
I’m a Scot living in Austria and I’ve been impressed by Austria handling of the situation, even if it has been a bit haphazard, it has been compassionate. Germany is taking on the most refugees and well it might, it’s a big country, has the strongest economy in Europe and is best suited to house and integrate these people (although i actually think Merkel’s ‘blank cheque’ has actually created a mini crisis of it’s own). I find Czech Rep, Poland and Hungary’s (especially Hungary’s) attitude pretty disgusting. Most of the people are just looking for passage through these countries and they are being treated as sub-human. I also find their attitude of accusing refugees of being scrounging foreigners while helping themselves to huge EU subsidies pretty galling.
But finally reserve my most contempt for the UK, one of the few countries in Europe which could really be doing something to help people and stands by doing nothing. The many of these migrants are skilled and educated and (important point no-one seem to mention) speak English. It would be easier for them to integrate in the UK than else where in Europe but the British government is too bust scaremongering and sucking the dick of the banking sector…
Refugees? Ok. There was video of one of them. The reporter asked her why are they not staying here(Slovenia). You know the answer? "I heard Slovenia is poor". Migrants not refugees. illegal immigrants.
+Ace Diamonds by definition, yes, refugees SHOULD only go to the closet choice.
The fact that they are COUNTRY SHOPPING means they are ABUSING their status of refugees.
Ace Diamonds i know it's normal in human nature, but my point is that if we allow this, then Europe would be unlivable.
and of course...the refugees being Islamic don't help cultural integration either. If they are atheists who believe in secularism, then this would be a lot easier...
Ace Diamonds "it shouldnt matter if they are islamic or not as long as there are laws preventing religion from influencing politics youll be fine. "
=> but in practice, this is impossible. As long as religions dictate believers' morals, they will vote according to what they think their religion teaches.
You see this even in US, despite the US constitution forbidding mixing of religion with politics!
"those countries should be focusing on housing, jobs, and the economy so the immigrants arent destitute and relying on welfare."
=> but easier said than done! If European countries can't even manage their own people (e.g. high unemployment rate in UK), then how is bringing in 1 million refugees going to help? Shouldn't we prioritize on helping our own people first before taking in more? Greece is already going down like shit, and Italy and Spain are next to fall. All this refugee business is really like adding oil on fire.
Ace Diamonds It is easier to do an economic restructure without being burdened with millions of refugees.
Yes, the refugees can keep trying to come, but as long as we stand firm and don't welcome them, then there's nothing they can do about it.
I can agree with about fixing the problems in our society, but i don't think we should be welcoming refugees while trying to fix those problems at the same time, especially Islamic refugees that have a history of being culturally incompatible with the European culture.
I'ts not like we're takling about Chinese/Japanese immigrants...who have a history of being very compatible with the West.
Ace Diamonds "if you tell them no the immigrants will just accept that and go back to their war torn country, that makes sense."
=> if they try to swarm the border by force, i would support our troops to open fire.
and yes - on children too. If families choose to use force to illegally come into our countries with their kids, then they're responsible for whatever happen to them and their kids.
"or was the west just about to get around to doing that?"
=> i know you're being sarcastic...but i would argue the West is indeed getting around to doing it. Bernie Sanders from US is one example. And his message is spreading to Europe as well. So refugees are not required to start a social revolution. People are sick of our current politics already and want a change. The whole Greece economy fiasco taught us the dangers of overly-powerful banks.
I started following the vlog brothers because I was a school teacher. This is the most powerful vlog I've seen yet. Thank you for using your voice as a platform for questioning, for humanity. Thank you for so logically and eloquently explaining views that some of us simply break down trying to put into words.
I leave for Lesvos in the morning for two weeks. I am blessed to have this opportunity, and I am blessed to know I'm a conduit of this kind of love and acceptance and positive energy from home.
Is it really so outlandish to think that a government should think of its own people before others? Honestly. People elect leaders to defend and serve -them-, not people from other countries.
You're right, other countries can burn. Let's just sit here and sip our tea
Oberlemonne Then Tell your Leaders to stop steal from other countries
@@SweetJenful europe doesn't steal anymore. The west doesn't mean the US
UN never said Bashar Al-Asad used Sarin on is own population.
+DrH5N1 he doesn't give a shit about UN or international law. His goal is to explain, why american policy is above it and to explain viewers from EU, why they have to get bent and shut up. Because empathy, love and human rights.
Nigga you stupid
+DUKE JaTavius Legstrong I indeed
I can't agree with you john. Hungary does not have the resources to take in all the refugees it's taking without significantly lowering the already pretty low (by European standards) standards of it's native population. As for crime, at least the attitude of the "refugees" seem to be that of arrogance. Take half a minute to watch this video of refugee's throwing out water bottles. www.liveleak.com/view?i=344_1441354394
+X Acolyte Hungary doesn't have the resources to take care of 10,000 refugees but Pakistan has the resources to take care of 10,000,000 refugees? That's ridiculous. Does Hungary have .1% of Pakistan's wealth? -John
they threw out those water bottles because of their pride. They didn't want to accept water from those people.
+vlogbrothers Do you think life's peachy for ten million refugees in Pakistan? Given the number of refugees, it's not unthinkable that a country would either have a hard time financially supporting the refugees, whether that be in transporting them or providing them housing, or be hesitant to allocate so much capital to that effort. The refugees may also not have any skills that are transferable to the culture or economy of the country they're entering. Maybe capital would be better allocated in fighting the bad roots.
Is there any proof that those people are actually refugees, that the water was given to them as aide? It could well be a stunt to try and back up the backwards ass thinking of people trying to make up excuses not to support these people in need.
Hes ignoring this thread now because internet bs isnt something VlogBrothers accepts, and rediculous "debating" (thanks Hank) is counterproductive to the more real humanitarian issues of the Syrian refugee crisis.
If Europe continue its open door policy, it'll see its results within 10 years at the peril of everything it stands for today!
wow after watching this video and reading the comments all I can say is that humans as a whole are a sad bunch...
Ehy
@@mitchelmarine4577 the hell does that mean?
Canada is accepting 30% less today than they were 10 years ago? Hmmm... what happened around that time... Oh yeah, Stephen Harper.
+Nolan Thiessen 6 more weeks... Please let it only be 6 more weeks. I'm tired of being ashamed of being Canadian.
I've read many unflattering things about Harper. It wouldn't surprise if he's the major reason for it.
+Nolan Thiessen Let me guess, doesn't pay taxes / early twenty something or late teen and supports Mulcair or Trudeau. I know diversity and multiculturalism are some feel good words to you but go ahead and move into a "diversified" area of a city like Toronto or Vancouver and then let me know how great it is.
The sad thing is you have zero world experience and will only learn when things are crumbling around you.
+Sergeant Whiskeyjack Why are things crumbling around those 'divsersified' areas of those cities? It sure as fuck isn't because of the 'diversified' people there. It's because of fat cats like what you seem to support, refusing to invest in infrastructure for poorer areas.
Stop pretending you have some sagely experience young people don't have. Pathetic.
+Sergeant Whiskeyjack Or maybe the part where Harper's government are incompetent book-burning thieves?
The sad thing is there are actually degenerate nutjobs like you defending that worthless cretin after a decade of Canada crumbling.
I'm a Lithuanian and I along with many people at first thought "Sure, this is basic human decency, of course we should help them". However then came in the news about how they travel through Europe. Only one goal in mind: Germany. Instant entitlement by refusing food that is given to them and demanding fancier food, fancier places to live and such. When I heard all about this my mind changed suddenly into "You ungrateful pieces of ..."
At least here in parts of Europe we're almost constantly shown news about how the refugees are very entitled and refuge in Hungary or Romania will not do, they only want Germany. Also, whatever you give them is not enough, they always need more. And finally, when you come to a different country, I'd say common decency is a must, but they seem to lack it. A ton of people leave clothes and shoes in train stations for the refugees, but after they come and go, a dump will look more appealing than what they left behind.
+explorelt Thank you! Exactly my problem with this entire issue. If they are refugees seeking safe haven, they should be happy with any country in the EU. However, they only want to go to Germany or Sweden because these countries are richer. Beggars can't be choosers. They refuse help from other countries, simply so they can get to Germany. Ridiculous. Poor Germany, this is costing them 10 billion euros this year.
+explorelt Well, they aren't stupid and have contacts who already fled to Europe before. And judging from the reports about the systematic mistreatment of refugees in Hungary (not starting with the current crisis but an ongoing issue) I very much understand why refugees don't want to stay there. And German courts agree with me there very often, decisions about deporting refugees back to Hungary are more often than not overturned by our courts by applying "A Human's dignity is untouchable" (Article 1 of the German constitution).
darmokVtS Yes, I agree that "Well yeah, of course they want to go to Germany", however the issue that I have is that it seems like they feel that Germany should take them in by default and give them everything they want. I'd say that if you're a refugee, you shouldn't have the luxury of a person that just decided to travel around Europe. You can ASK for choice and better conditions, but demanding them like they do is out of the question.
This should be watched in these times when we're dealing with a global pandemic. There is no "our" or " their" problem, there is just one problem of all people and when you protect other people you protect yourself at the same time. Hope this lesson should be taken which applies all the humanitarian crisis we're dealing with. But, it takes maturity...
you can see this connects with him on an emotional level it humbling to see someone with such care and love for the world
Losing some serious respect points right here,vlogbrother... Europe is willing to help, but when you disrespect the international laws that grant you safety in the first place... It's real easy to point fingers from your armchair, John, when you are not letting in hundreds if thousands Isis millitants, because no id's, no control, no contacting the officials of the first country you step foot in. Seriously, a little less bias, please.
+cirvis240 "but when you disrespect the international laws that grant you safety in the first place"
Like turning refugees away in times of unrest?
***** What do you mean? You mean Juncker announcing distributing extra 120000 refugees between European nations? And no, i'm yet to hear Europe sending people back to Syria.
Anyway if the problems were easy to fix, it wouldn't be called a crisis.
***** They have done this on multiple videos about similar topics, the bias is huge.
I am all for helping people in need as many if not most Europeans are, but when it's so chaotic only more problems will arise.
This video gives me hope for humanity, the xenophobic, racist comments do not.
Of course what the hell did I expect it's the Internet.
+phnexOice I don't think the internet is the problem. People are spoiled twats, that's the issue. We're richer than we've ever been in Europe, and with that we're more capable than ever to take in large numbers of refugees, but the idea that we might have to give up a small amount of wealth in favour of those in crying need goes against human nature. I really wish more people (particularly those with the right to vote) would use rational thought instead of basal selfish instincts...
@@rjfaber1991 I also think that the alt-right crazies are overrepresented in comment sections, and on the internet generally. I feel like I just need to constantly reassure myself that no matter what, we outnumber them. Reasonable, compassionate people are a majority in this country and around the world. We just need to find our solidary, stand up together, and get to work.
Reading the comment section and seeing some of the xenophobic words from Europeans is outrageous but unsurprising. Seeing the same from Americans is inexcusable. It is incredible that the same people who hold themselves with the highest regard in all other aspects would wish to stoop to the level of Saudi Arabia and the like.
Shouldn't Israel and the Gulf States have a greater obligation to take them in than Europe? The same is true for the US and the UK since they played the leading role in destabilizing the Middle East.
I think those areas have at least as much obligation as Europe, yet most do too little. I think it is absurd for anyone in the US to be fine killing overseas, but to be indignant to saving people from those same areas.
son0of0the0beast, thank the CIA funded goons who started this mess and thank Clinton for destabilizing Libya. Thank the Bush family also.
son0of0the0beast I agree, but Johns not saying it. I like him, but why doesn't he condemn the Israelis and the Gulf states for not taking in Syrians if the Europeans should.
They are the ones who have to deal with the crisis. Hungary was the smartest. They put up a fence early. Now Norway is wising up. In France I hope Marine Le Pen wins, gets France out of the EU, and builds the biggest fence since China's Wall.
Conflating refugees with economic migrants seem to be very common these days
+Julien D Yeah, but even the economic migrants can claim they are underpaid in their homeland and therefore demand better life here.
I really like how you hold all countries accountable. Can you shed some more light on the recent videos showing refugees refusing food and water while in train carts in Hungry? I was really stunned to see them throw away bottled water and food handed out by humanitarian workers.
+Crow22Darkness Well he can't mention every country can he.
+Maxwella Sky Hungary are treating the refugees over there like shit no wonder the refugees are becoming so angry there.
+Crow22Darkness what's this about New Zealand?
For all the people saying 'John, you don't live in Europe so you can't talk like that', well, I do, and I agree with him unconditionally. I come from Southern Italy, here we've been struggling with this crisis for many more years that you could imagine. 20 years ago, long before the start of the civil war in Syria, my city faced the arrival of a boat that carried more than 22,000 people from Albania, all in one night. So believe me when I say that I KNOW how hard it is to welcome all these refugees that couldn't possibly be more different from us. But keep in mind that they couldn't be more similar to us either, and that we have duties towards our own kind. Yes, Hungary, just as Southern Italy, doesn't have the best standards, but our conditions cannot be compared to the one these people are trying to escape. Please, please try to find the strenght and compassion to change your country's politics, and help. (Sorry for the not-so-good English)
+Melody Followill I live in Germany, and I can't imagine what it is like to live somewhere where huge amounts of refugees have landed for years. I is something that is hard to cope with and I hope the EU will work on this together, as we should.
Those people need us.
+freyaspins that's the goal! We are a union with common ideals and beliefs, and we should start seriously behaving as one.
Your english is perfectly fine!
+PerpetuallySleepy thank you!
+Melody Followill So how did it work out long-term? Are they integrated, working, not causing problems etc etc etc?
Every person in Europe and America should be obliged to watch this
This propagarbage? Give me a break. Even Paul Joseph Watsen is less disingenuous about this topic.
Powerful video, and nothing but the truth.
I do believe that Refugee entry, by Consent, is a good Gift to give.
It also left out some things - such as that only 20% of those coming by Forced Entry were from Syria and Genuine Refugees.
It also assumes others share certain philosophies.
For example, not everyone considers Law made by people that didn't go through a democratic process involving them to be valid.
And that they desire to & are capable of integration.
This Interview with a long term Refugee Advocate & Helper, shows that may not be correct:
arbeitsgruppefluchtundmenschenrechte.wordpress.com/2018/02/11/interview-with-rebecca-sommer-english/
As I said, I feel that Refugee status is a very good Gift to give someone.
However, I believe the Nationalists are more ethical in their Principles than the Corporate Globalists who force this on others & try to suppress free speech.
Though I do believe some of them could go too far, same as the Far Left with Forced Open Borders & no respect for Democracy that the Corporate Globalists appear to have.
The article I posted used to be on the Wikipedia entry for "Rebecca Sommers". Now it is all deleted. Just like with the attempts to suppress information coming out with Swedish crime rates & with the Cologne assaults.
I feel that "lying or deceiving for a good cause" is always wrong.
Please recognize I'm talking about Forced Entry, not those who ask & are invited.
Like in everyday life, the problem with it being forced open borders is that it is uncontrollable.
The level of true Refugees taken (Syrians) could be up to each elected leader or parliament.
Explain to me how someone coming from Turkey, or Greece, or Italy (places where there is NO WAR THREATENING THEM) farther into Europe is somehow a refugee and not a migrant.
+WOAHDUDE they hear about the fact, that Germany etc. are caring....Greece does not offer anything! no food, no water, no place to live! Even the UN tries to change that, but they do nothing right now. Turkey isn't as save as Germany... and Italy already has so many people. Imagine: If you have to flee, where will you go? Will you go to Turkey or to Germany? But think about this: If you go to Germany you're not a refugee anymore. How does that sound? Sensless? It is. :))
+Lenianaify There is no war that will kill them in the places they are leaving, therefore they aren't refugees once they've left Turkey, Greece, Italy ect... And they are not entitled to the rights of refugees, because they aren't refugees, they are migrants.
+WOAHDUDE Because thiose countries refuse to take them? Id on't understand how this is a hard concept.
+Jachim Soyer They don't refuse though, there are millions of refugees there, and I don't see why they can't stay there.
+WOAHDUDE because GIB ME DAT
I didn't read all 6some thousand comments through so I'm not sure if I'm the first Hungarian to comment or not...
But either way, let me give you a bit of insight from that point of view. I was born and raised in Hungary, though I now live in the U.S. and have been for 20 years, about half of my life now. I consider myself "fully assimilated", I went through higher education here, raised my children here, been paying my taxes and mortgage here, etc. You get the picture. However, I also have deep roots in Hungary and I understand their thought process. Hungary is a mostly invisible little country, awkwardly and uniquely stuck somewhere between the East and the West, not being able to fully identify with either. Our language is unique, and so is our culture. Still trying to recover from the damage caused by the communist regime and the following opportunistic one, that took advantage of the transition, Hungary is still in turmoil riddled with gypsy issues, poor economy and unemployment
An influx of refugees is a burden on this country, one it is simply not equipped to support. Hungarians are famous for their hospitality. I know they would help, if they had the resources. But the uncontrollable flood of these people who are so completely culturally different and drain already limited resources at an unprecedented rate is something they simply cannot cope with.
It's easy to judge from a nice white suburb American neighborhood, but if thousands of Muslims flooded your streets, John, threatening your livelihood, I'm sure you would have a different opinion.
+Cki9351 you're right
Guys, I don't know if you see this, but you've really helped me a lot in the last few weeks. Going through a terrible depression and then this political catastrophe, I didn't have many optimistic places to turn. Thanks for things like this that remind me that I'm part of something larger.
Thanks John. This is the best video/opinion on this crisis I have seen all this time. You are amazing and I share your love for humanity.
+Aspiring Pyramidbuilder what?
Jonh how can you talk about anything and make it intersting?
+Carol Amaral Well, John is brilliant. However, this topic is so important right now that it is not that hard to make it interesting. It is however hard to actually form an opinion that is not very dumb, and I think John did a great job at that.
+Carol Amaral Yeah, normally I find millions of people fleeing for their lives to be incredibly boring but this was fun to listen to.
Carol Amaral No, it doesn't sound ignorant. Sometimes the shit that's going on in the world just seems to get repetitive and you just can't be bothered. I find that I often feel the same. I just often get interested again by awesome in depth commentaries like this.
+Carol Amaral This isn't meant as personal attack on you, but rather on the world you live (and the world I live as well, even if we don't live in the same country). You are privileged. You have the privilege of finding this dull and boring, and maybe you'd rather talk about other things, whatever they are, that aren't world wide crises... Your position in society gives you this privilege, because it's not close to you, and you're not the one suffering, whether as a refugee, whether as the ones dealing with this outside the refugees. They are dying out there, Europe is falling apart in so many ways it's unbelievable, and the bringing of thousands, millions of refugees into it means maybe the survival of said people, but who knows what the culture shock may bring. These people come from a culture that despises Europe and America. Most of them see women as inferior. It's not because they're in Europe that they'll stop viewing it like that, as you wouldn't were you in their country. I personally have no real fairy tale solution for this tale, and it scares me that it is so. But then again you don't really find this interesting, so you probably stopped reading at the second sentence.
+nanahimina wow i feel so bad for saying this things and think in people that live on different ways :o
I was just saying that jonh makes me curious about any subject that he says
Dear John, I admire you, and all your work. Also, as a Hungarian I am not a fan of our populist government. - BUT: There is no war going on in either Serbia, Macedonia, Greece or even Turkey. So the people who cross the Hungarian border are ALL migrants without exception. Not refugees. They come from a safe place. Not a nice one, and I can't blame them, if I had to kickstart my life again I would also rather do it in Germany or Sweden, but this has nothing to do with war. Another thing, that makes a twist for my country: WE are the border of the Schengen zone, and with not so great location, comes great responsibility. We simply can not let people just roam through our borders and it is not for us to decide otherwise. For decades, ppl came to Europe with visa, applications, procedures and now tens of thousands decided to just walk in. This is not how it works. I understand your humanist viewpoint and considering what you have done and said so far is not a surprise, but I feel like you had more emotion here than well thought-through facts. Of course, I am open to reasoning.
(not so)Fun fact: Our common ally in NATO, Turkey is funding and arming ISIS, the organisation closest to pure Evil in decades. And noone bats an eye... shame.
+MightyMagyarz You need to get your facts straight. The huge amount of refugees coming from hungary who were then let into Austria and Germany were from Syria. Yes, they might have ended up in Turkey or Serbia first but they are still people fleeing from the war. And who do you think is funding ISIS? Certainly not NATO and it is news to me that Turkey would be doing it. Weren't they bombing ISIS a few weeks ago?
+Hannah qwertz My question is: If they already reached a safe place, why would they be still refugees and not migrants wandering further for German welfare? And 'because.' is not an answer.
NATO certainly does not support ISIS anyhow, but we do support the kurdish army there to fight against ISIS. Now, our ally Turkey does not want a strong kurdish state at its doorstep, so it decided to wage war against the only formidable land force against ISIS, who we support. Crazy. Also: There are evidences, that the ISIS sells the crude oil through Turkey, so the endless funds of that terror-state comes from Turkey. Also weapons... google it and be amazed. Syria became a Middle-East free for all and now the Russians join in.
+Hannah qwertz Sadly, it seems that Turkey is indeed involved with ISIS :(
On the German "Tagesschau", they reported that ISIS soldiers go to Turkey for medical care. Not sure how else Turkey supports them, but they don't seem to be enemies ...
"95% of them are staying on neighbouring countries" Let's get that number to 100%!
How many refugees has this man taken into his own personal home?
I'm from Spain, home of one of the highest unemployment rates in Europe. You would be surprised by the number of spanish citizens who are struggling to pay the rent or to buy food (not to mention the number of students who had to drop off college because they couldn't afford it). Our economic power as a country is ridiculous compared to USA's or Australia's economic power. So why is USA only accepting 10000 when we are accepting 15000? The US should help more. And Australia's answer to this "Refugee Crisis" is just ridiculous.
what a coincedence. just a couple hours ago i was teaching refugees german!
That's really cool and I am kind of happy about the way Germany handles the situation mostly ... I mean it's difficult and chaotic, but we aren't the assholes this time and it makes me proud (despite the xenophobia that still is in Germany, but I don't think there is a way of stopping it easily)
+katharina854 Forgetting to mention Germany are playing it cool and preferring to take educated refugees while shipping the degenerates elsewhere....
oh well, I don't think I know anything about that and I've seen some of the refugees ... they don't seem very educated.
And seriously, I don't know if this is true, but whatever is, Germany is starting something and they are doing a lot more than a lot of countries do.
To shit on that doesn't seem very fair ...
besides, you can't as a politician act only upon your heart, you have to use your mind too, to let the situation work.
Anyway, where are you from and who are you to think that you are a good judge of the situation?
Maybe I'm missing something here, but maybe I am not.
+Ulysses Roe I think this might be true for migrants, but not for refugees. Or can you show me any articles about this issue? (I don't mean this as a provocation but as a genuine question.)
+katharina854 The way we in which we discuss the issue has a huge impact on xenophobia.
I work & sympathize with the refugees I know. They are hard working good people.
But John Green, your position seems to be that western nations should take in all the refugees seeking asylum. Moreover, you posit that by spreading the burden around -- in time, all will be well as refugees assimilate, and contribute, and the receiving nations will ultimately benefit. But you ignore the massive spending your position entails. You minimize the impact on the recipient countries who are struggling to cope with this as it is. (Greece was bankrupt BEFORE the influx of refugees showing up on their shores & has not gotten sufficient funding to handle it.)
But most importantly, your position ignores the UNDERLYING CAUSES of this massive problem. Syrians are fleeing conflict between more than one monster. When you suggest (implicitly) that we accept all Syrian refugees while NOT doing anything about Assad and the other parties involved, you are enabling the combatants to murder and displace even more.people.
I'm not big on interventions in other nations, normally. But ignoring the Syrian civil war itself, is not in the Syrian people's interest OR the EU's interests. This massive migration away from the conflict is blind to the connection between the two. We should support efforts to aid the Syrians and the other refugee nations, in solving their own nation's crises. And NO - I do Not pretend that it'd be easy or simple, and yes there will be unintended consequences.
We cannot ignore the monstrous underlying causes of these refugee crises. Long term plans MUST address this, or we will continue this cycle. And If we ever see another Arab Spring, or group of people fighting for their rights in their own land, I hope we won't wring our hands on the sidelines when asked to help.
(Remember that France helped American patriots fight for independence from England. And they got it, and here we are. What if France had said "no we won't help your cause, but if you guys can cross the ocean to move here, you can all stay"? Not a great long term answer.)
Where are Syrians meant to go. America and European countries mess up their countries by supporting and giving weopons to rebels & creating ISIS. Dont supply weopons to rebels and support anti government people in foreign countries. Look at Libya another failure that "WE" decided wanted democracy, we now don't even see LIbya in the news, now that it is a failure.
I don't think he is accepting that nothing should be done. He just deals with the refugee problem. Take a look about the work of UN about refugees, it tries to deal with the consequences in the host countries ;)
Jeannine 1978 - Your post reflects my sentiments exactly. As much as I appreciate the video, it is the underlying cause that needs to be addressed. This is not just happening in one region of the world. It is happening in so many countries and regions. There needs to be a force for good acting to intervene in the countries like Syria committing acts against the human rights of their own people causing mass refugee and migration problems. Those countries should be held accountable and peace needs to be restored for there to be peace throughout the world. Many countries are dealing with their own issues that make it difficult to also take on more problems. I agree with helping refugees, but it is just a band aid on the real issues facing our global economy and geopolitics.
Hello my friend from 2 years ago
John does address this (kinda) at the end, when he shows the video of the child asking the countries of the world to help stop the war. But this video wasn't about the systemic issues that created the crisis, but instead about how to deal with that crisis in the short term.
I love that you are talking about this in such a clear, humanitarian way. Many of us truly forget what really matters. As you said, it is shameful what governments are doing, turing their backs on people who need them. I hope this problem can be solved soon. It truly breaks my heart. Thank you for creating awareness through these videos.
As an Australian, I am sorry for our Government and its policy regarding asylum seekers. It makes me cringe to think of what other countries think of us :(
lol
+Rock Strongo should I also suck their dick for the rest of their retarded conservative policies too? I don't know why I should be punished twice for their mistakes (of which there are many)
+Iunio92 Most Europeans wish they had the same policy. Australia accepts thousands of legal immigrants from all different backgrounds, but the key word is LEGAL.
+Iunio92 Don't be sorry, fam. Your government is doing exactly what all governments should be doing.
its really nice to see you realising the problems of your government. because ofcourse its a huge problem and loads of countries arent doing anything to help children in need. they are dying!! they arent coming to live off of our taxes they just want safety
The amount of Islamophobia in the comments section is staggering.
+Fatima A.
Report all islamophobic comments as "hate speech" to youtube. I've been doing it for the past hour.
+brkatimachor Totally not fascist...
*****
Actually no, not fascist.
Publicly inciting hatred according to racial, religious and other divisions is a crime in many developed countries. By alerting youtube you allow them to remove such content.
Fascism is something else completely. Feel free to wiki it.
+Fatima A. WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER ISLAMAPHOBIA? THESE ARE REAL PEOPLE EXPRESSING THEIR FEARS. THEY DON'T WANT SHARIA LAW IN THEIR COUNTRY AND THEY DON'T WANT TO BE SWAMPED BY MUSLIMS. THAT'S NOT RACIST THAT'S JUST COMMON SENSE. DON'T BELIEVE THOSE POLLS THESE ARE REAL VIEWS.
Being afraid is one thing. Hating, inciting hatred, inciting violence, etc. are completely separate. They constitute crimes in many developed countries.
Also, there's no need to shout (I can read your comment perfectly well if you turn Caps Lock off).
So many of these comments make me incredibly sad.
+Angel77777771 not everyone here hates Europe and the occidental civilization like yourself. Some people want to protect it and preserve our heritage.
ike1218CA
Uh huh... you just keep telling yourself that.
+Angel77777771 he's right though.
Weed Wizard
That really depends on your definition of "right."
+Angel77777771 AND I LOST FAITH IN HUMANITY!!!111!11!!
holy shit you guys say the same thing
John! you forgot to mention those countries supporting ISIS, financially, militarily and ideologically.
Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, UAE, and a few mini-countries located down south of Persian Gulf.
A. M. Goudarzi If they are fleeing the country “supporting” ISIS then that should tell you how they feel about ISIS.
The Western Civilization Network “likely to immediately go on public assistance” Do you have a study to back up this claim?
The Western Civilization Network “End the war, and fix your country” Do you have any ideas how to accomplish this? I don’t know if the refugees want to become citizens. They are fleeing a war zone, and the focus should not be on what it costs to keep human beings safe.
yes. and USA ACCIDENTLY dropped weapons, war ammunition to terrorist groups in syria.
And USA.
It's sad to see that most people in the comments seem to lack the most basic level of empathy. It's either that or simple ignorance. "We lack the resources to help", "we need to help our own people first", "we have our own problems to take care of", "I'm afraid of Muslims taking over my country". We don't want to help, because we don't want to share. We only care about ourselves.
+mogami4869 No. Its the fear of Islam. Its the fear of Muslims, who will not change or acclimate because their faith prevents them from doing so, who will move in and try to change neighborhoods to follow THEIR way of life.
Im living it here in my city in Texas. Its great for the Muslims. Not so great for the rest of us
+mogami4869 Bravo, because everyone that disagrees and justifies their disagreement with the massive immigration lack empathy. Way to generalize those who think different from you.
Yes after reading the comments, I do see the point where people say that Europe itself is struggling to support refugees, or maybe they are hesitant to take in refugees as it is costly to take in refugees. Europe itself is already having financial issues, but I do believe that Europe along side the US should and could do more for the refugees as the burden of refugees are causing financial strain to the neighboring countries, and with this strain, may cause more instability in the world. I don't think John was targeting Europe for its inability to do more but rather saying what more could we do to help the refugees. Personally, I think every country is to blame.
+xXDwalongXx It will be better if the middle east could do better, hell it would be better if Israel and Saudi Arabia would take in Syrian refugee's since both of them are wealthy neighboring countries of Syria.
But no they have to build a wall to prevent refugee's from entering their countries.
+xXDwalongXx Actually they're hesitant to take in refugees because those people aren't refugees anymore, they are economical migrants. I don't think people here want to share their hard earned income with people who just want to live in a rich country.
ivanlagrossemoule I am doubtful to call Europe rich because it has countries in it that have economic trouble(like Greece). To be honest it would be better if the middle eastern countries that are Syria's neighbor do their job in helping the Syrian refugee's.
A few years late to the party but you mentioned that a lot of the "refugees" you are talking about were located in Turkije before moving to Europe.
But you also classified a "refugee" as someone fleeing a country for safety reason. The people in Turkije are no longer in fear of their lives. Once they reached a country such as Turkije they are no linger fleeing for their safety but for better financial prospects and by your own wording become migrants.
hey there you see turkey has been taking care of there refugees for years and turkey is basically at its limit they are crashing the economy so they have opened the borders to have some breathing room I hope you understand
seems to me that the minority of people in this comment section has an humanitarian side.
You would be right about some of them. But I think you would find that a lot of them just don't agree with FORCED Open Borders. There is a difference.
Just like in every other area of human life, it depends on respecting both Boundaries & Bridges. We have already been through this in Australia.
Also "lying for a good cause" and trying to suppress unwanted information, dissent or questioning of the Corporate Globalist agenda.
The push back in the opposite direction may also go to far, which I think is a danger. So IMO, it is best to treat ethics as something that is done to "best make people flourish", rather than about Utopian Ideals which are impractical and are a big distraction from dealing with causes of such problems as War & Impoverishment in less successful nations. That would help everyone.
Hello John.. first of all I want to thank you for your concern and care about a situation many refuse to address or even accept. .. as an Iraqi Citizen I live in constant fear of death or losing someone that I care about to terror or any other . fortunately I live in a rather quite province where Isis hasn't reached and hopefully never will ... for me I don't think I'm ready to flee my country just yet but I want to thank you and all the people who are donating for the refugees (Syrians, Iraqis, afghans or any of my brothers and sisters else where) ... we are all humans and we all have something we suffer from we just have to help one another in order to find some Peace on this earth ♡
+hanin ali Good luck. I am also hopeful that ISIS will at least not spread further in Iraq (or preferably anywhere else). Right now the war in Iraq seems to be heading the right direction, or at least that is what the things I read online seem to indicate. Especially the Kurds and Peshmerga are very effective, and the iraqi army is also getting more effective. Together with the air support of the coalition, I am very hopefull that at leas the Iraq part of the conflict may come to an end (or at least a better situation) relatively soon.
+wiet111 thank you for your concern and support. .. yeah we're doing ok Arabs and Kurds alike ... hopefully we will defeat them once and for all some time soon although its hard but all we have are hopes and prayers right now. ...
Good luck!!!
I just realized how much Nerdfighteria has changed me because my initial reaction to John's suggestion to help by donating to UNHCR or Save the Children was "I wish I had my own money that I could donate... Maybe I can do a school fundraiser or something." Pre-Nerdfighter Amelia would never have been so passionate about something like this. Thanks to Nerdfighteria for making me so much more socially conscious and eager to make a difference! Hopefully, Patrick Ness's fundraiser can help in creating better conditions for refugees.
The day when your own country enters a horrific war...And you got possibilities to go somewhere else but the doors are shut at your face, that's where you'll realize just how cruel this world is. Hypocrites, until it happens to you, you won't EVER know how it feels like.
My brothers and sisters, I wish I could listen to my comment I am from a country called Syria .soeria land of safety land of peace the land of love and sincerity, but now is not its security. Citizens of the spectrum decided to leave their country because they are not safe. The Syrians did not travel to Europe for money or for food and drink, but they traveled to in order to live in peace. thank you
+
I think it's extremely sad that our politicians can easily spend hundreds of billions of dollars in the military, and can''t spend anything on humanitarian causes like this. Thanks for the video John...
"We are one species, sharing one... world, and all people are our people"
Beautiful.
'Just stop the war.'
This makes my heart ache.
Refugees have legal rights, but people from safe enough countries don't. I believe that people would not have any problem with Syrian refugees, but they seem to be a minority in the arriving population at least where I live, majority being from Iraq, where they could be safe living in the southern parts. These people should be considered illegal migrants and returned home. Then again, like you said the UN operations are underfunded and that's why all the money should be spent to help the camps instead of paying for expensive settlement in Europe to live on the tax payers money for years to come because the economy is in bad shape and most will not have working and thus integration possibilities for them.
Hello, Nerdfighteria! A quick question: Is there a way for me to add Finnish subtitles to this video, and if there is , where can I find out how? I'm pretty sure I can figure out the technical details by myself, but if anyone could point me to the right direction, that'd be great. Thanks! DFTBA.
UPDATE: John just replied to me on Twitter, saying that English captions will hopefully "be up by tomorrow and can then be translated." Yay!
+Joonas Puuppo I believe for the public to be able create subtitles on a video, in any language, the option needs to be made available by the creator. If that is done, there is an option under the settings letting you create subtitles in English, which RUclips can then translate into any language. I may not be 100% correct, but I believe this is how it works.
+XXHinata317XX Thanks for the quick reply. If that is the case, that's unfortunate. This is an important video and John does a great job of explaining the situation, but I have found that many Finns find these videos difficult to follow not necessarily because of a language barrier but rather because of how quickly John and Hank speak. Adding subtitles would make this video a lot more "shareable" among people who aren't native English speakers.
there is a project for translating videos from the educational channels. here are some instructions.
effyeahnerdfighters.com/post/113969775494/want-to-help-translate-scishow-videos
you could contact effyeahnerdfighters if you run into problems. it would probably be possibly to campaign on twitter in order for john to open the video for translation.
Information regarding video transcription can be found at nerdfighteria.info. Thanks for helping to increase access across language barriers!
I completely agree, I have friends who are deaf or hard of hearing, and I know they get very frustrated when they can't watch things like this because of the language barrier. It's always possible that John or Hank see comments like this and help to bridge that gap.
Well why doesn't America take more refugees. It's easier to put all the weight on someone else. First of all you don't know the economical crisis in Europe. Second it's way to suspicious why most of them want to go to Europe, when they have other close neighbor countries whom they can turn to. Stop blaming Europe for not accepting every refugee.
+Sitingonthetoilet Saudi Arabia first
+Sitingonthetoilet Well, everyone is blaming EU for not doing enough .. UN, Middle East, US etc. At the same time they don't want accept any refugees themselves, even symbolic numbers.
+Ackreti at the same time its those very countries that are responsible for the destabilisation
+Sitingonthetoilet America takes MANY refugees from around the world (#12 highest refugee population). In fact, the only European nations to accept more refugees than the U.S are Turkey and Germany. Now the data that I am referring to is generalized, and not specific to the Syrian crisis, but still noteworthy nonetheless. Also, I believe that the U.S has contributed a lot of foreign aid for this crisis.
+Lawrence Bader Are you implying that Saudi Arabia has a greater obligation to the refugees than us because they're both Arab? Isn't that kind of racist? Just because they're a different race from us in a different part of the world doesn't lessen our humanitarian obligation to them. Just because another country chooses not to do the right thing doesn't mean we shouldn't do the right thing.
Hello Nerdfighters,
I'm not considering myself a expert in refugee crisis and I am also not big with politics. But I live in Germany. In a state in the south called Baden-Württemberg and we are basically floded with refugees. My village already has taken in around 20 people (most of them from Gambia) and in the next months the house next to us will take in 50 more refugees. And I think that is a good thing, after all those people had to flee from their countries and need our help. Because we are the only house that borders directly to the house we were the only one asked if we are okay with it. Now my parents even started a school for the refugees in our village so they obviously are okay with it.
But fact is that many people are afraid what could happen once more refugees are here. And here is the problem. Fear can lead to anger and radicalization.
I admire Angela Merkel for taking the human approach insteed of the political approach to this crisis, but it is actually not that easy dealing with so many people that do not understand the language, culture or simply just how to use a train.
So, I think I am not telling anything new, but I just hope and pray that there will be a peaceful solution.
+Evi Stephan Bless you for not falling into the trap of hate and fear.
I don't see the people fleeing from war as refugees or immigrants. I see them as people. Living, thinking, human people. No amount of rhetoric, scaremongering or inconvenience will ever change that fact.
+AValveFanboy Sure, and as all humans with equal rights, they all deserve to go where they wish, to pursue their dreams, so lets let all migrants move to Germany and Sweden, all 2 billion people from Africa and middle east, I´m sure if we stack them, they will all fit inside Europe right? Do you own a forklift?
Micael G You must be real fun at parties.
AValveFanboy how did you know?
I have to say I was quite suprised reading a lot of the comments to this video - there are a lot of negative stereotypes about muslims (based on hear say, or one unfriendly muslim), and complaints about how Europe can't help all the refugees. I live in Sweden, and we take in A LOT of refugees, and as a country we are still ok and functioning, and are offering to take on more. And I'm really proud of that. But certain contries on Europe can't take on the majorites of them, all members of EU need to take their responsibility. And what Hungary are doing right now can't be allowed. These are people who have lost everything, and we here in Europe and west are SO privliged, and we do have the means to help them.
+Emma Lindvall And you should be proud! I don't think I have been proud of my country, Germany, before the last weekend. It was heart-warming to see that there was the un-bureaucratic decision (not something Germany is good at) to let the refugees from Hungary come. And there where so many people holding signs with "Welcome".
There are people coming to Europe needing our help. All of Europe needs to help them.
+Emma Lindvall Word sister!
Emma I wish I could say I'm living in a country that is contributing it's fair share to help this situation. Sadly I feel that the human problem is getting lost amongst the politics of who should be doing what, rather than everyone doing whatever they can to help.
I wish there was an easier and more effective way of opening people's eyes to what's happening.
Everybody who thinks their country is full or couldn't help more, should go and personally see what's happening. They should personally say to someone who has left every thing behind 'no you can't come in, I don't want my apple cart rocked'.
+Emma Lindvall We won't be able to sustain our welfare system if we continue, we can already see elderly homes being shut down or remade into asylum homes. We also have a housing crisis, usually there are over 300 people in line for a rental apartment, do you think that it's then logical to take in more people? Also in which city do you live in? I have nothing against refugees but I've already paid enough for immigration with my tax. You should feel free to donate but please don't force me to welcome these people into my city and pay for their welfare when we have poor people of our own.
Badabada dabadaba I live in Stockholm, and the problem I see with immigration is the same one as in the EU, that certain countries/kommuner take in A LOT for example Södertälje, but others barely take none. I have never heard of elderly homes being shut down to be made into housing for the refugees, but please show me an article about it! If you read Swedish, here are some accounts of what it actually costs: www.svd.se/vad-kostar-invandringen, www.migrationsinfo.se/fragor-och-svar/hur-mycket-pengar-fr-flyktingar/, www.s-info.se/region/show_debatt.asp?id=226&news=3248.
I am writing my thesis about the EU asylum politics and the discrepancy between norms an actual policies. I found a source from 2005 were quite a lot of problems were listed that the EU still hasn't solved. The problem is not the smuggling because they are rescued as soon as they see the boats. The problem is rather the Dublin Treaty which keeps refugees in the outer countries and they are not equally distributed across the Union and the outer countries are the poorer EU nations. Thanks for mentioning that the long term solution is to solve the Syria IS crisis and that the surrounding countries need help, which is interestingly enough one of the few things the EU is really good at. Did you know that the EU is the worldwide biggest giver of development aid?
+Inucat That sounds like a fascinating (and insanely complex) topic. I did indeed know that the EU is the worldwide biggest giver, but that is not very surprising if you look at the government budgets, which I'm pretty sure are the highest in the world. I completely agree that the Dublin treaty causes a lot of problems, but I am not entirely sure if the EU is really good at helping other countries. They are good at giving money, but it is highly debated whether or not it actually helps. I've heard loads of arguments that development aid causes other countries to be dependent on Europe, is harmful for democracy and participation from the people, increases corruption, etcetera. The effectiveness of development aid is incredibly complex (and also definitely worth a thesis :) ), but I wouldn't say that the EU is really good at helping. They certainly try more than most other regions though, which is very admirable.
+wiet111 eh, biggest government budgets? jave you heard of this place called murica? where they spend billions on a military which seems to only ever make situations worse?
markog1999 The US probably indeed spends the most of any individual country, but the entirety of the EU most certainly has a much higher budget than America (Source: Tradingeconomics)
markog1999 the budget definitely is quite big. difficult to find numbers because normally the EU members are listed separately and not as one nation. but we are talking about 28 nations and even though Greece and other South states as well as some Eastern states are struggling, all in all Europe is financially well off. The refugees (these are btw mostly from the Balkan area) are not all coming over for safety but also for a good health system, good affordable education, good job market and financial security.
wiet111 yeah difficult topic but I have to write 60 pages and at least that way I have something to write about :)
Yeah giving money is easier, but the EU as an institution is slow and inefficient. They can't agree on much else and by giving financial aid they are hoping to promote human right. There are some restrictions on getting the aid and one is that you have to follow and protect human rights. Also I don't believe that they give all of the money to the government. They invest in companies as well as far as I know.
Thank you vlogbros for posting such informative and well organized explanations of important issues! You all are helping me so much.
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To all the haters, he does admit that the hard part is keeping the promise "long term, expensive and complex challenge for the world".
I'm sorry. But I did not sign anything that made this my responsibility.
"Life isn't fair." -Your mom
+Duspende So you're cool with people dying because you got yours.
I'm so proud of your achievement of being born in the right country. A true hero.
ironlemur2049 I didn't kill them. I'm not any government. I pay my taxes. I pay 55% of my salary in tax, to be really honest. This is a problem the governments need to solve. Not me.
Yeah, being a decent fucking person is so overrated.
Morals are taught. Not inherited. But feel free to feel good about yourself in whatever way you think is right. As with religion; There is no right or wrong.
Dear John Green,
You are the most unbiased human being I have ever "met". This may seem untrue to you , but two things make it more likely. I am only fourteen years old, and you doubt yourself too much. The reason I am commenting is that I wish you were the president of the United States. Funny maybe, but you can do a hell of a better job than the candidates for 2016 that I've heard of. The fact that you'll never read this comment actually made me cry, and I don't cry often.
Love,
your admirer
Travis.
+Travis H Seems to have a pretty strong leftist bias to me.
+Travis H 1. This is cringy as fuck
2. He is incredibly liberally biased. It seems he is incapable of thinking from the perspective of the peoples he demonizes.
check out Bernie Sanders
please don't breed
+Travis H if you agree with everything someone says makes them the opposite of unbias
This comment section gives me hope.
Dear comment section,
Please watch the video before commenting.