Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Like Fathers like Sons

Their fathers messed up America while pretending to improve it. When they grew up, they found the place so messed up; they had no choice but to turn their backs on it and not try to fix it.

Considering the practicality of the situation, that was a wise decision to make given that they inherited no skill from their fathers that would qualify them to fix the country. And so they wondered what they could do, having no skill to fix the country, and no country worth fixing in the first place as far as they were concerned.

That, in fact, was also the conundrum that motivated their fathers to give up on America, having discovered they messed it up so very badly. However, not to sit idly, the fathers pretended they could fix the Middle East and Asia; also pretended they could fix Africa and Latin America. Their problem was that everywhere they went with their ideas; the locals told them to buzz off and never show their faces around here again. The refrains they often heard everywhere they went sounded like this: “Yankee go home,” and “Gringo not welcome here”.

Unwilling to be subjected to a similar fate, the sons gave up on those places and searched for a more hospitable place where to go. They dreamed of a place that would make them feel welcome and allow them to practice their unskilled intrigues without being rebuffed or sent away. They found Europe to be such a place … or so they thought. That's the question they are mulling at this time, trying to determine if there are European opportunities they can tackle, thus help build a society that will withstand the winds of change blowing from the East and from the South.

Two of the sons wrote an article each, and had them published on the same day, July 7, 2017 in the same publication, National Review Online. Max Bloom wrote: “Migrants Won't Solve Europe's Demographic Problem.” Noah Daponte-Smith wrote: “The Second European Migrant Crisis Begins”.

To make themselves sound useful and essential to fulfilling a task that remains unfulfilled, each writer starts his piece with a declaration to the effect that Europe is in bad shape and that it needs his advice. Max Bloom starts with this: “A massive influx of refugees from the Middle East appears unlikely to provide the economic boost the continent needs as it contends with an aging population and low birth rates”.

As to Noah Daponte-Smith, he starts his article with this: “After a pause, the continent once again must confront an unwanted influx on its borders.” The two White Knights, riding their high horses, have now legitimated the effort they are about to undertake in a chivalrous attempt to rescue the Europeans from a calamity they fail to see, but one that's gathering on the horizon.

In making his point, Bloom paints the picture of a Europe that needs immigrants because it does not replace itself: “The costs to health care and pensions will increase while tax revenues decrease. The savings rate will decrease too, which will slow the economy. The effect could be fiscal catastrophe,” says he. And he paints a picture of the Middle Eastern refugees as being “unskilled, uneducated, and with poor language skills … the jobs they will find are likely to be low-paying, menial labor”.

His point is that despite the looming catastrophe, the Europeans will resent having refugees among them. He seems to imply that they would rather grow old and penniless than share a prosperous economy with descendants of refugees. As to the refugees, they will forget the horror they left behind and start resenting the menial jobs they will be offered, Max Bloom seems to say. Because of those difficulties, he concludes that Europe is making a mistake taking-in the refugees. Maybe the young man should do himself a favor by going to the Statue of Liberty in New York, and read the inscription about the poor and the huddled masses. And he could read a book or two about the boat people, some of whom were doctors and engineers, yet were happy to sweep the floor for a living … away from the bombs and from Agent Orange.

As to Noah Daponte-Smith, he makes an argument that departs from what used to be the conventional wisdom just a year and a half ago. The reflexive response at the time was to invoke the typically American argument of the genitalia: “They are raping their women” howled the uninformed ignoramuses of our continent. But look what Smith is saying now: “For a time it looked as if the European Union might not survive … In 2017, however, the last remnants of Europe's paroxysm seemed to fade away”.

This done, he strains himself to develop tangential arguments that give the impression, the problem that never was, can flare up (again). And so, he puts the onus on “Merkel and Macron, the experienced old hand and the ambitious neophyte [to] forge intra-European cooperation” and save Europe.

You see, my friend, it is a good thing he is telling them this because they didn't know they had a problem, let alone one that could be solved through cooperation.

And that's how the two authors earned their wings. If they could now turn their attention to the American Congress and tell the zombies populating it they can solve the problems of the nation by cooperating, the American public will appreciate it, and so will the Europeans who will say: We welcomed the Gringo, and now we're happy he's gone home.