tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902120443627257365.post4748515057745680605..comments2024-02-18T18:34:00.231+10:00Comments on The Endless Oceans of my Mind: Immigration (part 1): Asylum seekers/refugees in Australia (the facts)Victoria Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036742461356732142noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902120443627257365.post-25439572327654980592017-08-12T21:19:38.522+10:002017-08-12T21:19:38.522+10:00I totally understand why people are afraid of terr...I totally understand why people are afraid of terrorists as well. I remember sitting in my friend's kitchen watching the TV as a terrorist held people hostage in the Sidney Lindt Siege and being beyond horrified. <br /><br />And I agree. We shouldn't allow just anyone in (for example, I think anyone with a criminal record should be denied). I agree once again. Politics is nuts and is so hard to keep up with, and it's usually mentally and emotionally exhausting attempting to. I suppose I'm very into this subject because I'm an immigrant myself, like I'm also very invested in feminism in the media because I write stories and I'm a female. Thanks for your thoughtful comment, Ashley! :)Victoria Jacksonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15036742461356732142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902120443627257365.post-22252252539217220302017-08-12T19:23:39.054+10:002017-08-12T19:23:39.054+10:00To be honest, I'm not really sure what's g...To be honest, I'm not really sure what's going on with the politics here. I dunno. *shrugs* I'm pretty sure Australia's liberals are like Canada's conservatives? Because that makes sense. <br /><br />I know, and they're not a large country!!! How can one country so small (population 6 million) be bearing the brunt of this issue? California alone has almost 40 million people. Australia is allowing 12,000 refugees, which is approximately 0.05% of our current population. People are losing their minds over 0.05%. (If my math is correct. Forgive me if it's not. It's been a long day of studying.)<br /><br />Duuuuude, what??? Is that seriously happening? Lol my Bible is purple. I guess it's sort of like when "witches" had to recite the Lord's Prayer perfectly or be burned at the stake. I'm super glad your church is showing people what Christ is all about, because at the end of the day I believe we're all made in the image of God, and He loves us and wants us to return to Him whether we worship Allah or science or ourselves, and I think we as Christians need to be His hands and feet and love people like He called us to.<br /><br />Thanks Emily! I'm glad you think so :) They are indeed, but I wouldn't say that I could do any better. It would be horrible to have the entire country (plus the rest of the world) yelling at you to do ten different things at once. Besides, the world is so complicated that someone is always going to be left out, and you're the one who's going to have to deal with that. <br /><br />Amen, amen. Victoria Jacksonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15036742461356732142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902120443627257365.post-57555087181790146082017-07-27T06:05:27.384+10:002017-07-27T06:05:27.384+10:00Hm, this is really interesting. I know immigration...Hm, this is really interesting. I know immigration is a huge topic in the US and UK, but I didn't realize that it was a controversial topic in other countries too. <br /><br />I understand why people are nervous about terrorism. But not all immigrants are terrorists. Every time I hear people talk about immigration, people usually seem either radically left or radically right? Yes, we need to be careful of terrorists. And yes, we need to help those who are seeking asylum. No, we don't need to freak out over every single immigrant. We just need to be wise about who we let in and treat them like humans while we're at it (because they are humans). I honestly don't know much about our current laws on immigration and asylum seekers. I'm really not into politics. It's continually changing and usually imperfect. People like to mix emotions and politics a lot. It's not that I don't care. It's just exhausting.<br /><br />This post was very interesting! I can tell you did a lot of hard work to research for it. Awesome job!<br /><br />This was a very interesting post!a.n.g.https://www.blogger.com/profile/03667996517318905980noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902120443627257365.post-84727659240580275692017-07-12T00:57:04.307+10:002017-07-12T00:57:04.307+10:00Wow. In my head Australia is very chill and sunny ...Wow. In my head Australia is very chill and sunny etc, I think it's because your current PM is from the Liberal Party and I assume that's similar to our Liberal Democratics ... research says it is not. It's so confusing how political parties use the same words to mean different things in different countries?? Like when I'm listening to Hamilton and they talk about the Democratic Republicans and I'm like literally American politics why is this so hard.<br /><br />But anyway.<br /><br />Did you know that currently more than a quarter of Lebanon's population is made up of Syrian refugees? It seems crazy that some countries in the world are bearing the brunt of the Syrian crisis, whereas others are doing so little to help. The UK is not doing well at all. Especially with the repeated terrorist attacks we've seen over the past few years (ramping up this year -- in May and June alone there were two attacks in London and one in Manchester), people are becoming more and more afraid of immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers alike. Of course there's the old classic "they steal our jobs", but now islamophobia is also on the rise because "what if they're terrorists".<br /><br />My church is actually very involved in with Iranian asylum seekers -- we have the UK's biggest Iranian congregation outside London, with a Farsi service on a Sunday night and Farsi Bible studies -- and lots of our members are currently going through trials and interviews with the Home Office. The law is that you can't return an asylum seeker to their country if they'll face persecution/torture there, and these ex-Muslim Christian converts could face persecution in Iran if they go back. But the Home Office wants them to prove that they're Christians (otherwise lots of people could falsely say they are in order to be granted asylum). But the questions they ask are absolutely crazy. Members of my church have been asked questions like, what colour is a Bible, how do you cook a Christmas turkey, and why don't you wear a crucifix? Our church Bibles are blue, but the interviewee was told "everyone knows Bibles are black!" Like seriously??? It makes me think of literacy tests in America in the 1960s, which black Americans had to pass to gain the right to vote, and which, due to racist officials attempting to block black enfranchisement, asked questions such as, "how many bubbles in a bar of soap?" <br /><br />This was a great post! Human governments are so frustrating, but we can pray for better leaders, and we can thank the Lord that he loves the needy:<br /><br />“To the thirsty bring water; meet the fugitive with bread … For they have fled from the sword, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the press of battle.” (Isaiah 21:14-15)<br /><br />One day, "all of his exiled will return to Zion with singing!"Emilyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08057480293595295502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902120443627257365.post-57952218094083546662017-06-28T19:33:30.794+10:002017-06-28T19:33:30.794+10:00Hahaha thank you :) Oh goodness, it's so contr...Hahaha thank you :) Oh goodness, it's so controversial and so confusing. I think what's worse than completely disregarding this issue is when someone argues for their view without knowing the facts behind the issue. Like people argue that immigrants are uneducated but in reality more Syrian immigrants in the US have college degrees than American citizens. <br /><br />Err that's true, but the empty bits are inhabitable, pretty much. The Outback isn't kind to humans. We do have room on the coast, though. And yes, of course, we need places to put people that are safe and welcoming. It's such a complicated issue and I won't pretend to have the answers or to know everything about it. Victoria Jacksonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15036742461356732142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902120443627257365.post-17675513677847034842017-06-28T19:22:03.863+10:002017-06-28T19:22:03.863+10:00Exactly my thoughts. I definitely am a bit biased ...Exactly my thoughts. I definitely am a bit biased being an immigrant myself, of course. But a person's a person, no matter how small. <br /><br />Thank you for reading :)Victoria Jacksonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15036742461356732142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902120443627257365.post-7980388583494803272017-06-28T19:19:52.735+10:002017-06-28T19:19:52.735+10:00I would love to hear some personal stories as well...I would love to hear some personal stories as well, but unfortunately they are hard to find, or at least not well-publicised. I feel like some people wouldn't want to publicly bad-mouth the government if they had a bad experience with immigration and risk deportation or abuse. <br /><br />Wow, that would have been an amazing experience, I'd love to read a post on that or something. Victoria Jacksonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15036742461356732142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902120443627257365.post-9813393576088956772017-06-28T19:15:11.809+10:002017-06-28T19:15:11.809+10:00Goodness yes, it's a really touchy subject. (H...Goodness yes, it's a really touchy subject. (Ha, isn't that the definition of politics sometimes? It's the same here as well.) <br /><br />It is a really difficult subject, because of course we have to monitor who comes into our country and how they're going to integrate into our society but on the other hand they are people looking for safety. Victoria Jacksonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15036742461356732142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902120443627257365.post-54942709328670039752017-06-26T01:27:54.827+10:002017-06-26T01:27:54.827+10:00Congrats on the good grade you got on that piece y...Congrats on the good grade you got on that piece you wrote in tenth grade haha. But yes, this is such a controversial topic, and you covered this all really well. It's such a wide and deep topic, and yet so many people disregard it without knowing much about it. What happened in 2001 was completely heartbreaking, I didn't even know that that even happened. Truly saddening. <br /><br />Australia is such an insanely big place, isn't a large majority of it unhabited? I could be completely wrong, but I do know that there's a lot of space that could be used to help those in need. I know that in the UK we have a pretty open doored policy, but the difference is that we don't actually have much space at all. I still want people to have homes and be safe, but we need places that can actually provide that, you know?<br /><br />Amy;<br /><a href="http://littlemoonelephant.blogspot.co.uk" rel="nofollow">Little Moon Elephant</a>Amy Aedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17112327200574984495noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902120443627257365.post-9126515367653775772017-06-25T13:49:57.589+10:002017-06-25T13:49:57.589+10:00Ah, this disgusts me too. (I'm Australian as w...Ah, this disgusts me too. (I'm Australian as well.) I understands people's hesitations about being overrun by immigrants, but for me it comes down to the fact that each one of those immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, is a person with their own story and hopes and dreams. We can't take that from them. <br /><br />Thanks for speaking up about this, and sharing so concisely. :)Jessicahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06543574650970283141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902120443627257365.post-33170610864569618182017-06-22T02:41:14.042+10:002017-06-22T02:41:14.042+10:00Ugh, that sounds like it's a really rough ride...Ugh, that sounds like it's a really rough ride for people seeking asylum. I'd love to hear the stories of people who have actually experienced the struggles of detention and so forth, just because a personal experience would help ground my understanding of this issue. <br /><br />Having helped tutor refugee students this last semester, I've become more aware of this issue. I will say, it's really sad to see cheerful, growing, ordinary teenagers worrying that they might get deported due to the Islamophobia in charge... Heatherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16797485444727976121noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902120443627257365.post-80553458382117583942017-06-20T08:55:17.267+10:002017-06-20T08:55:17.267+10:00Ack. Immigration is such a tough topic to tackle--...Ack. Immigration is such a tough topic to tackle--it's one of the biggest hot button topics in the U.S. right now. (Or it was during election season last fall, at least. Now everyone's arguing over pointless things for the most part.) <br /><br />On one hand, people should be treated like people. On the other, national security and the nation's interests need to come first from a governmental perspective.R.M. Lutzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07225038858127086583noreply@blogger.com