You know I'm not, and don't see much point in this conversation style.
Your phrase was of the form "I'm not saying... But..." The "but" is a denial of what preceded it. The "weird" narratives are the reasons why it is a mess, the reasons why it is costly. When you deny those, and use your "of course, of course... but" it comes off as a denial of the problem.
I think you misread me there. It wasn't a denial at all.
It was simply saying: whatever the state of the mess -- weird, distorted narratives about the mess don't help us out of the mess. And in fact are a huge part of the mess.
Exactly as you put it.
This is one of those moments I wish people had a way (I guess you could just add it in the notes) to mark their HN account with a region. Are you in the UK, maybe?
The immigration issue sounds very different in the EU vs US, even if many of the sound bites rhyme.
Yes, you are. That's a large part of the problem.
In my neighborhood, they've moved these migrants into what are essentially concentration camps. (They've used the local military buildings to do it, and in many cases, yes, they're feeding and clothing them with state tax dollars.) We're happy some of these families are getting a chance at a better life. We're happy to see some of them working jobs at the local grocery market. We're not happy to see crime rise precipitously in the local areas near where they're housed. (B & E, stolen cars, kidnapping attempts of local girls...) We're not happy to be told that classrooms are now jammed full of students, many of whom can't speak English, guaranteeing worse outcomes for our children.
It's unlikely that the same people working at the market are the ones committing the crimes, but this population was brought here because of the administration's policies favoring open borders over the security, safety, and hard work of the citizens its supposed to protect.