Eyes wide opened on Syrian refugees

[scooterscot]

We had some new members join our Deutsch course this morning. Woher kommst du? (where do you come from?). An Irish gal answered, no escaping where she'd come from when I heard the accent. The next gal sat next to her, blonde hair, white. You know Brits abroad have that look.. I was expecting her to say somewhere from the south west of England. Ich komme aus Syria. Was Stadt? Aleppo. Since 18 months ago. She'd never left the country before that time. Parents were Syrians.

It was first time I've met a refugee from Syria let alone from that bloodbath of a city. And you could have blown me over with a piece of paper against the expectation of what someone from that part of the world should have looked like. Nothing like the Daily wail interpretation of young dark skinned male refugees clambering over each other as the paper would have me believe.

I felt ashamed of the stereotype that made its home in my head. Utterly so. After chatting more with her, my shame only grew. The life she spoke of before could have been any UK city. UK media has only led me to believe in uneducated, non monied individuals.

Someone once told me Germany sucked up all the 'fresh' refugees at the start of the open door program and left the cannon fodder to everyone else. It is clear to me Germany stands to benefit from such individuals, even against other Germans whom I meet who are just as lazy as their British sit at home counterparts.

Perhaps there's something to this fake news business after all.

[PurpleGorilla]

We had some new members join our Deutsch course this morning. Woher kommst du? (where do you come from?). An Irish gal answered, no escaping where she'd come from when I heard the accent. The next gal sat next to her, blonde hair, white. You know Brits abroad have that look.. I was expecting her to say somewhere from the south west of England. Ich komme aus Syria. Was Stadt? Aleppo. Since 18 months ago. She'd never left the country before that time. Parents were Syrians.

It was first time I've met a refugee from Syria let alone from that bloodbath of a city. And you could have blown me over with a piece of paper against the expectation of what someone from that part of the world should have looked like. Nothing like the Daily wail interpretation of young dark skinned male refugees clambering over each other as the paper would have me believe.

I felt ashamed of the stereotype that made its home in my head. Utterly so. After chatting more with her, my shame only grew. The life she spoke of before could have been and UK city. UK media has only led me to believe in uneducated, non monied individuals.

Someone once told me Germany sucked up all the 'fresh' refugees at the start of the open door program and left the cannon fodder to everyone else. It is clear to me Germany stands to benefit from such individuals, even against other Germans whom I meet who are just as lazy as their British sit at home counterparts.

Perhaps there's something to this fake news business after all.

Nice anecdote.

[TheGreenBastard]

What about the fact that most are in fact young males?

To most reasonable people their varying skin tone is a non-issue, that's just projection on your part. Having said that, most are darker than the average Irish chick, but you've found an outlier that promotes your world view, bravo.

[Big Blue Plymouth]

We had some new members join our Deutsch course this morning. Woher kommst du? (where do you come from?). An Irish gal answered, no escaping where she'd come from when I heard the accent. The next gal sat next to her, blonde hair, white. You know Brits abroad have that look.. I was expecting her to say somewhere from the south west of England. Ich komme aus Syria. Was Stadt? Aleppo. Since 18 months ago. She'd never left the country before that time. Parents were Syrians.

It was first time I've met a refugee from Syria let alone from that bloodbath of a city. And you could have blown me over with a piece of paper against the expectation of what someone from that part of the world should have looked like. Nothing like the Daily wail interpretation of young dark skinned male refugees clambering over each other as the paper would have me believe.

I felt ashamed of the stereotype that made its home in my head. Utterly so. After chatting more with her, my shame only grew. The life she spoke of before could have been any UK city. UK media has only led me to believe in uneducated, non monied individuals.

Someone once told me Germany sucked up all the 'fresh' refugees at the start of the open door program and left the cannon fodder to everyone else. It is clear to me Germany stands to benefit from such individuals, even against other Germans whom I meet who are just as lazy as their British sit at home counterparts.

Perhaps there's something to this fake news business after all.

Wot, you mean you thought they were all darkies?

Crikey, that must have taken some admitting knowing your lefty, pc sensibilities :

Of course, many people in the Middle East are of white Caucasian appearance.

I used to work with Lebanese people who were always very keen to point out they weren't of Arab stock but descended from the Phoenicians.

Pretty white in other words.

[LondonManc]

No relation to this one then?

Germany arrests former Jabhat al-Nusra extremist accused of massacring 36 civilians in Syria | The Independent

[scooterscot]

What about the fact that most are in fact young males?

Not an entirely unexpected retort. Predictable and disappointing perhaps.

[shaunbhoy]

I felt ashamed of the stereotype that made its home in my head

Why? It is not as if there isn't plenty of room!!!

[TheGreenBastard]

Not an entirely unexpected retort. Predictable and disappointing perhaps.

You'd rather a lefty self flagellation style response, rather than deal with cold hard facts?

mentalgymnastics.org/members/scooterscot

[LondonManc]

You'd rather a lefty self flagellation style response, rather than deal with cold hard facts?

mentalgymnastics.org/members/scooterscot

"Do you know ScooterScot? He's a Country Member"
"Yes, I remember"

[scooterscot]

The point I'm trying to convey, which seems unable to penetrate the hate filled Daily wail rhetoric, is a very simple one. The city this person had come from, the place that was described to me, could have been any in the UK had I not been told otherwise. I'm not looking to qualify those that have come here, as the whole of the British press seem bent on. I just don't get how the world stood by when people like that ones I've just spoken to had their lives torn apart on the scale it did. And the best we can do is create meaningless hyperbole.