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Letter to the MIT community: Immigration is a kind of oxygen
- PaulHoule 7y agoBut then what is emigration? People who don't like government oppression in China can leave and escape it. People who don't like a "rigged" system in Korea can come to the U.S. to escape it. Those people might stay and fight if they didn't have somewhere to go -- open immigration policies aid and abet oppression in the places where people come from.
- drdeca 7y agoIf this is true (if it does help the countries people want to leave), why do dictatorial states (such as NK) frequently forbid people from leaving?
- eesmith 7y ago???? The essay says nothing about oppression. Or Korea. I.M. Pei immigrated from pre-Communist China, and as a member of the 'upper echelons of society' (quoting Wikipedia), it does not seem that oppression motivated his choice to go to college in the US. So, are you really responding to this letter? Or are you responding to something you read between the lines? FWIW, who is best able to decide if it's appropriate or continue to suffer oppression? You, making this statement, or the person being oppressed? The lack of open immigration policies for Jews during Nazi Germany didn't help prevent their oppression, so that seems like a good counter-point. The metaphor for oxygen is that, just like how MIT "is refreshed by a new tide of students" every fall, "immigration is a kind of oxygen, each fresh wave reenergizing the body as a whole." Under this metaphor, emigration - eg, a US citizen moving to China - would also be like oxygen, invigorating China. (The metaphor then breaks down, as what is the CO2, and where does it get breathed out?)