Philosophy Discussion Forums | A Humans-Only Club for Open-Minded Discussion & Debate

[Lagayascienza]

Immigration, properly managed, (which it largely is in Australia) has never been an immediate threat here. Rather, it has been an engine for economic growth. And we are virtually all immigrants here.

In times of economic downturn like at present, factors other than immigration are the actual cause of perceived problems. Not least of which is the failure of governments of all persuasions to build an adequate supply of social housing. This has driven up existing house prices and is making rents increasingly unaffordable for those on the bottom of the economic pile. Governments could have fixed this problem long ago by ending negative gearing so that building new housing became more profitable for rich investors than buying up existing housing stock.

This will have to happen sooner or later because without it, cutting immigration, which the government is doing, will not help much because it is not addressing the underlying problem. And, moreover, until Australia can get its fertility rate up, we will need immigration to fuel continued growth.

IMO, it is not immigration per se that is the problem in Australia. It is the type of immigrants they are allowing in. We should only allow in those who are committed to secular democracy with the separation of powers and the freedom of, and from religion, provided for under Section 116 of our Constitution. Australia must never become a place where religious fundamentalism can take hold.

[Sy Borg]

I agree that it is getting harder to maintain individuality these days. We have to live as part of a society. It is not possible for us to go it alone. If everyone went against the current we would have anarchy.

We can try to resist attempts to place us in a box, but doesn't that just place us in a box containing would be individualists who don't want to be placed in a box. Anarchists, radical libertarians, individualists etc. are all part of, and partake in
some group-speak. They are in their own boxes.

Very true. As it happens, the more total choices there are, the more people narrow their selections to a very few.

It goes deeper than that. There is actual erasure of individuality - a permanent suppression that brings atrophy.

You are not you - not to the powers that be. You are merely a serial number, an income level, an ethnicity, a gender, an age and an urban resident. You as a human being do not count - at all. You are of near zero worth (as technology advances), and you are very readily expendable. Unconventional ideas are shut down by mainstream media and even social media.

Individuality need have nothing whatsoever to do with anarchy. It's currently possible in society to be quite individualistic but still operate within society's more important norms. There is always a balance between control and freedom, and both are needed (like creation and destruction) and it's clear which way the balance is tipping as governments increasingly exert the kind of deep control you'd expect of a corporation over its employees.