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I had to do a speaking presentation for my English course in School, and I ended up picking the misconceptions about immigration, migration, and refugees online. I never realised how much fake news is online about these minorities.
I saw an article made by The Daily Express with "Fury over Britain's 2M illegal migrants!" in bold. That is such bullshit, and it's shocking how people believe these things.
These articles use fear-mongering or anger-producing headlines like "Migrant invasion out of control" and "Save our country".
Not to mention that they inflate numbers to make this supposed "problem" worse. For example, The Daily Telegraph boldly said, "One in 12 in London is an illegal migrant".
And the worst thing is that it promotes the mindset and mentality of "Us VS them" while dividing communities and seeing migrants as a threat. These false narratives affect real people. Hate crimes are increasing, and migrants are being denied jobs, housing, and education.
(Sources: GOV.UK, International Labour Organisation, Chartered Institute of Housing, Humans Rights Watch, Global Solutions)
Overall, don't trust everything you see online (which is common sense, I fear), and the immigrants/migrants/refugees aren't taking your jobs (AI is more likely to take your jobs). It's the corrupt politicians who don't give a shit about you.
(Source: Parliament UK)
Comments
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chuddie
i don't disagree with you on misinformation on immigrants, but what you're saying can be used to discredit any criticism of migration, such as cheap foreign labour being preferred to native labour, the majority pakistani grooming gangs, london being only 36.8% white british.
Yes, it definitely could, and while what I'm saying isn't to discredit any other criticism of migration, I understand it can be used for those purposes.
However, it's not the immigrants' fault that there has now been a shift in the preference for cheap foreign labour. That is the fault of the corrupt companies and the capitalistic society the UK lives in, which benefits from and takes advantage of these poor minorities. The preference for cheap foreign labour is created by large companies that want things cheaper. And that shouldn't be a criticism of the migrants themselves, but of how capitalist companies are taking advantage of migration for cheaper costs.
But the Pakistani grooming gangs are most definitely out of control and dangerous. The British government needs to address that while keeping all victims safe. No way could any discredit that. And while yes, these grooming gangs do cause people to see migrants as a threat, that's not because of misrepresentation of the media, which was what my original blog was about. That's down to the gangs making a bad name for migrants.
And while yes, London has become 36.8% white British, other cities have not decreased to that percentage. Not to mention, London is the capital city of England, with many tourists and migrants traveling there for educational or work reasons, as it offers a wealth of educational resources and job opportunities. London is going to have the fewest native people of most countries, especially considering Big Ben is a big tourist attraction.
However, if we look at different parts of England, it's a different story:
Liverpool = 77%
Doncaster = 86.6%
Chester = 95.5%
Stoke-On-Trent = 83.5%
Bristol = 71.6%
Leeds = 82.2%
Peterborough = 75.4%
Norwich = 78%
Preston = 72.6%
Canterbury = 89.2%
Winchester = 88.1%
York = 92.8%
Newcastle = 84.5%
And the list continues. While the UK is indeed becoming a more diverse country, it's not as if British people are drastically decreasing in number; rather, it's mainly shown that in major areas like London, Manchester, and Oxford, where they have better educational opportunities and job experiences.
And the reason why the percentages are so low now in certain areas is because of the increasing wars going on, and the need for people to seek asylum, get a better education or job opportunities that their countries do not provide, unlike the UK.
by Ka1 ☆; ; Report
i agree with you that it's not the migrants fault, but with the nature of the system we live under as well as the people letting them in, companies will always choose cheap foreign labour over native labour. mass migration also causes a housing crisis, because of the massive amount of people seeking a house will increase demand, making it more expensive for everyone. as well as many immigrants receive welfare benefits, and non-uk nationals have a slightly higher unemployment rate than the native british, which is antithetical to immigration's supposed benefits.
the problem of grooming gangs i believe is a result of immigrants failing to assimilate into british society and culture, if the UK is to have immigrants, they should be assimilating into british culture, be employed, and not cause any problems to british society, which i believe we are not seeing at the moment, and so the immigration system needs to be fixed.
the white population in the UK has declined everywhere, moreso in urban areas, as they are more attractive to immigrants. the places you mentioned have still had their white british population decline, just not as soon as urban areas, this is why we need to address this problem before it reaches rural areas as well.
by chuddie; ; Report
Fair enough, I completely agree with everything you said. Although I do think the government can do so much more to prevent these issues, especially the Pakistani grooming gangs. However, I also understand how mass migration can have an effect on British culture and society.
by Ka1 ☆; ; Report
mikey murderz
no one iz illegal on stolen land <3
Exactly! Thank you!
by Ka1 ☆; ; Report
antipatic
illegal or not london is only 35% native now. why should europeans not be concerned about the rapid change of demographics?
I'm not saying they shouldn't, I can understand why people might be concerned, but I feel some people are concerned about the wrong things when it comes to immigration, migration, and refugees.
A main concern people have about immigration is that immigrants are taking their jobs, which is incorrect. Only 19% of the workforce is comprised of immigrants. While the UK is now the third-largest AI market in the world, with over 3,700 AI companies and employing over 60,000 people. No doubt that it's going to increase significantly as 75% of UK companies are either already using or exploring AI. Personally, people should be more worried about AI taking over their jobs than immigrants.
So I can understand why people are worried; however, some people are using this rising concern to spread false information and narratives about immigrants to either push their agenda or create a division within communities.
by Ka1 ☆; ; Report
as i thought. you can only think in terms of economics and not the long term future of that island
by antipatic; ; Report
If you wanted to talk about the future of that island (which, btw, I currently reside in), then you could've just said so. Assuming that I "only" talk about the economics is ignorant, considering that your original reply lacked clarification of what specific topic you were talking about. You didn't clarify what concerns people would have about immigration in the UK, and I wasn't going to write each possible concern in a reply, so I gave one example, which happened to be economic.
Also, I did touch on the future of the UK when I was talking about the rise of AI. This might be new news to you, but the economics of England do tie into the future of the UK; the economics that are happening in my country reflect on how it's going to be long-term.
But it seems you're not really interested in talking about my original blog, which was about false information about immigration and misconceptions online. And if you're not gonna reply with facts or an actual point, then don't bother replying.
by Ka1 ☆; ; Report
Dylan
How does a publisher such as The Daily Telegraph justify these statements? For example, the "one in twelve in London" statistic. Your post implies that this is a misleading statement, which isn't hard to believe, but I'm wondering how they are able to state this with any "credibility". Surely a paper as large as The Daily Telegraph is going to have SOME reasoning behind that claim, be it an iffy definition of "illegal", or sourcing a dubious/ill-researched report. I'm not saying these publications don't have the intention of misleading readers and supporting harmful ideologies. It's just hard to imagine that one of any notable stature would flat-out lie so openly and boldly. Maybe I'm wrong, though.
I had that same thought: why would a big news company make such an unbelievable and factually incorrect statement? But while The Daily Telegraph is classed as a news source, it doesn't mean it has to be accurate or true. In fact, a lot of new sources are propaganda; it's meant to persuade you into believing something rather than just reporting a fact.
There are thousands, maybe millions of situations where the media has lied or exaggerated things to either sell a product (whether that'd be a magazine or some trash skin care serum), persuade you into doing something, convince you to think a certain way, or warp your perception of something.
While it could be a lack of research, it doesn't help with the numerous instances of false information online about this topic, since it does affect real people.
by Ka1 ☆; ; Report
So then how are we to know your post isn't "propaganda" or false information as well? Not saying it is, but you've provided absolutely nothing, no sources and no credible statistics to back up what you've said. Does that not make you just as uncredible as them?
by Dana Scully; ; Report
My post is not propaganda as it is fact-based and a critical response to harmful media narratives. I'm raising awareness about misinformation and offering sources to back up my points. I have linked websites, added images, and included credible sources.
My blog has facts, sources, and it encourages critical thinking and supports human rights. It's not false, misleading, or manipulative, and it doesn't target vulnerable groups or minorities. If anything, my post is anti-propaganda.
by Ka1 ☆; ; Report