Ultimately it's not about "feeling connected to" but about identity and interests - people are wired to preserve the interests of their group (nations) above others.

Multiculturalism can work ok in rich and safe bubbles (such as some areas of Berlin), but my guess is that it will break miserably when put under a true test, such as a war. As Poland happens to share a border with an aggressive empire, it's a scenario we need take into account.

Poland wants and relies on help from the EU, that includes Germany. A lot of polish people benefit from the schengen system and the ability to work abroad. However, Poland tries to opt out of a significant chunk of the shared burdens of the european union, and one of those burdens is that the european union does have an asylum policy that accepts people that are threatened in their _home_ country - not countries that they've been fleeing through. It's a legacy of the world wars and the nazi genocides which saw a lot of people incapable of fleeing because no country would accept them - and IMHO - the embodiment of one of the most important core value of the often proclaimed christian tradition: Compassion towards others in need.

Given that Poland happens to share a border with an aggressive empire (well, if you count the Kaliningrad enclave as sharing a border), I question the wisdom of opting out. If you're afraid of a war, I'd be more concerned about making friends than alienating them.

Nice to hear propaganda repeated word-for-word. What shared burdens is Poland opting out (outside of refusing to go down with Merkel?) The environment? We had one of the most rapid improvements when it comes to allround pollution. What happened when there were talks about unified gas/oil price? Ever heard of Nord Stream? The migrants don't even want to be here. Are we going to force them to stay? Put them behind tall fences?

I can't even.. That we are discussing on this platform with people all over the world and your position is that Multiculturalism can't work. Seriously? And on a larger scale Poland move to the right is irritating a lot of Europeans. I would be worried about your EU status and how this affects you and your neighborhood.

According to studies done by Piketty, there's not a single case in the world where a backward country have opened themselves to global trade and it allowed them to rise to the first-world country status, while there are examples where it was achieved via protectionalism - Japan, South Korea, Taiwan. Knowing that, I think leaving the EU might do us good in the long term. (As for me personally, I tend to work remotely for US companies anyway, so in either case I won't be affected.)

As for the cultural differences, my intuition is that this forum is not that diverse - not in fundamental ways. For example, how many people here condone religious dictatorships or sex with 9 year olds? And these are the kind of people who can settle in my multicultural neighbourhood, if I start letting them into the country.

You are confusing two different discussions here.

The refugees we talk about are hardly people who hang out on HN.

Multiculturalism works when there is time to adopt new cultures into your own. Sudden influx is going to create obvious conflicts when the cultures are that different.

And I say that as someone who is pro multiculturalism. But I am not ignorant to the consequences if done too fast.