"The Case for Open Borders": The wall is not impermeable

Border wall between Turkey and Syria. Image source.

Here's another quote I want to share from the book "The Case for Open Borders." This is from a chapter about a man named Abu Yassin, whose 18-month-old daughter died in a refugee camp due to the cold and the lack of medical care.

From page 18:

The wall that day when Abu Yassin couldn't find warmth for his daughter, the wall that Turkey was defending with support of the European Union and the United States, was not impermeable. Others could pass. Turks could cross the wall in either direction. Foreign dignitaries, American citizens, Germans, reporters, anyone with enough luck to be gifted the proper passport could pass, flash their papers and cross, and cross again-- they could do a triumphantly slow two-step back and forth to the rhythm of their national anthem: Syria to Turkey, Turkey to Syria, back and again. But anybody born in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, or any African country would be blanketly barred, left to burn their front doors for warmth.

That discrepancy defines much of our contemporary world. Not only are some free to traipse the globe while others are immobilized by walls and visa controls, but the very difference is the fulcrum point that drives the worldwide inequality regime-- not only financial inequality but an inequality of rights, prospects, security, opportunity; an inequality of life.

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Related:

That's What Radicalized Me (a post about immigration)

Blogaround

1. Police detain 50 after Pride march in Istanbul (June 26)

2. Zhongkao, Not Gaokao, Now the Make-or-Break Exam, Parents Say (June 26) "Part of the reason for parents’ anxiety is the zhongkao’s 50% pass rate as dictated by the Ministry of Education. Roughly half of middle school students go on to regular high schools, with the chance to take the gaokao three years later and be admitted to regular undergraduate universities, while the lower-scoring half either study in a vocational secondary school or drop out completely"

3. Will evangelicals be fooled by the ‘He Gets Us’ campaign? (June 27) Captain Cassidy found a "Christianity Today" article which turned out to be just an ad for the "He Gets Us" campaign.

4. Teach your kids about propaganda, or someone else will (June 26) "Teaching them critical thinking early on is essential. It’s like an intellectual vaccination, giving them a defense against all the toxic memes in the wilderness of the world."

5. When Did Jesus Mention Transgender, Intersex, and Asexual Folks? (June 19) and The Ethiopian Eunuch and Transgender, Intersex, & Asexual Folks (June 22) Very cool to see these posts about the biblical passages talking about God's acceptance of "eunuchs", and how there are similarities between "eunuchs" and modern-day transgender/intersex/asexual people. Obviously there are important differences too- but the point is, in the bible, there was more than just the gender binary and compulsory heterosexual marriage.

6. God Made them Male and Female…and Eunuch: Why the Biblical Case for Binary Gender Isn’t So…Biblical (2020) "Matthew’s Jesus does, however, recognize nonbinary gender in the grand finale of his teaching on divorce in a verse that conservatives routinely omit."

7. Woman Sues Anti-Abortion 'Pregnancy Center' After Her Ectopic Pregnancy Ruptured (June 26) "'Our client was forced to undergo a traumatic, dangerous, and completely avoidable emergency surgery to save her life because she was deceived into going to an anti-abortion clinic instead of an appropriate healthcare provider,' Liss-Riordan said. 'At every step of the way, she was led to believe she was receiving appropriate medical care when in fact she was subject to a campaign of misinformation and unfair and deceptive practices.'"

8. Fall Out Boy - Ghostbusters (I'm Not Afraid) (Audio) ft. Missy Elliott. Okay I'm sure I've shared this before, but here it is again. I love this cover of the Ghostbusters song SO MUCH.

Blogaround

1. This important thread:

Thread incoming.
🧵
We're all familiar w/this famous meme.
But, did you know there are more?
LOTS, LOTS, MORE? pic.twitter.com/vFcMCW1qku

— Christian Janeway 🖖🥂🔍🏴‍☠️ (@XianJaneway) February 14, 2023

2. This whole thread:

I am nearly 43 yrs old. I have had 2 children, probably 10+ gyns, and so many pelvic exams.

Only last week did I encounter a doctor who first asked, "so many women have experienced sexual assault, will you be comfortable with this exam? Or can we talk about what you need?" 🤯

— Liz Sepper (@lsepper) February 14, 2023

3. This School Has the Worst Fire Safety Policy You've Ever Seen (2013) Okay I know this is from 2013, but I just saw it shared on Twitter and I am gobsmacked. (Also he links to a related post that he wrote but his link is broken, here is the correct link for that one.) Hemant Mehta literally emailed Pensacola Christian College to ask for clarification, and they replied twice, but somehow they aren't able to say the words "getting out of a burning building is MORE IMPORTANT then dressing modestly."

(I've heard a lot of horror stories about PCC from Samantha Field's blog...)

4. The recent kerfluffle on twitter is that some pastor told a story about how he was minding his own business at a restaurant and then the SEXIEST WOMAN EVER came and hit on him- the consensus on twitter is that this never happened, and now we are analyzing the cultural environment that these stories come from/ the reasons that a male pastor would make up a story like this (and this is a whole genre- it's not like this is the only example).

This thread is good:

Okay, I figured it out.
These kinds of stories are the only kinds of stories men can tell about how they heroically prevented adultery that also leave them totally in the clear.
The reason why they sound so ridiculous is because that’s not how men and women have sex with each https://t.co/h0A3hPdWRR

— Laura Robinson (@LauraRbnsn) February 17, 2023

5. The Princess Bride (1987) -- Ace Mini-Review (February 17) "Unlike many rom coms, which treat True Love as a universal goal everyone should be searching for, The Princess Bride presents it as practically unattainable.  And, as an ace-spectrum person, I actually find that comforting."

6. Extremely Hardcore (January 17) About Twitter employees' experiences after Musk took over. Yikes.

7. Microsoft “lobotomized” AI-powered Bing Chat, and its fans aren’t happy (February 18)

8. Far From Home: Meet the Migrants Returning to Shanghai (February 16) "On Sunday, Sixth Tone visited an underground parking lot at the Shanghai Railway Station, where a temporary shelter has been set up for returning workers. Since public transportation closes at midnight, many migrant workers find it too expensive to stay at hotels or book taxis. Instead, they stay overnight to catch the earliest metro to their next job."

And 2 more articles, also from Sixth Tone:

How the Pandemic Left China’s Migrant Kids Behind (February 16) "Less encouraging is the data from the last three years. Although reliable statistics are hard to come by, education figures suggest that the pandemic has reversed some of the progress of the past decade and separated large numbers of children from their migrant parents."

Chinese Teams in Turkey: Rescue Over but Relief Will Take Years (February 17) "As the world pledged to help, China was among the first, offering aid, equipment, and personnel. While the government announced 40 million yuan ($5.8 million) in aid, official estimates suggest that nearly 300 personnel, both sent by the government and from independent organizations such as Blue Sky Rescue and Ramunion, have joined the rescue effort."

9. Christian Leaders Are Sharing Their Experiences at the Asbury Revival (February 15) 

10. There is no sleeping giant (February 17) "That all-or-nothing view of revival will only ever produce the latter result. It will never bring 'revival.' I’m not sure it will even allow it."

11. After the ‘miracles’: Turkey, Syria, and long-term recovery (February 10)