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On Horse Vision...

“Any businessman or student can easily get a multiple entry visa. There are no problems with visa, but there are serious problems with illegal immigration.”
        I wonder where these people's "expertise" on people of the world and visa matters come from? From sitting in front of the TV and watching the same type of channels? They have no experience whatsoever with visa procedures but still feel they have the right to talk about visas.
        “How can you say there are no problems with visa? How many times did you apply, how many times were you made to jump through hoop after hoop for no good reason?” I asked. I did not get an answer.
        In fact, there are very few people who have an idea of what visas are today. I am sorry to say that but even the most travelled “Western” people do not know what visas are. As they are not exposed to them as much as citizens of other countries. And of course the citizens of other countries do not, generally, travel so extensively.

Some people are so narrow-minded they can only see from their side. Thing is, they cannot even see the complete picture from their side. Because they have not bothered to go to countries who apply visas to them. Why should they? They live in the perfect place, right? Horse vision even from “their” side. Not knowing about the visa requirement for Americans wishing to travel, or not even caring. Ask the handful of Americans or British or the EU citizens who wanted to travel to every country. How difficult was it for Albert Podell to get visas for Angola etc., how much bribe he had to pay to get a visa. But no, they believe it's only their country whom everybody is dying to get in and pay a bribe.
        Horse vision...  As if visas are only about people coming to America or Europe. Some see as if that's the whole world. As if there is no movement in any other direction...
        Alex Andreou, a Greek journalist living in England was recounting a joke:
        "I don't get what the fuss about immigration is... you know... All my neighbors are English, all the kids in the school are English, all the shops are run by English people... I love it here in Spain!”
        It's a joke but there is a lot of truth in it, just like Chinese Quarters, Little Italys, there are places in the world that look like English or German villages. But of course they are not immigrants. Even the word they use for themselves is different, they are expats. Immigrants are the poors.

There is also the other side of the coin they are not considering or are deliberately overlooking. I quote from the first issue of the new year from New Internationalist titled “Humanity Adrift: Why Refugees Deserve Better”
        “Until early 1990, Moroccans did not need visas to enter Spain. They would come for seasonal work and then leave. As soon as visas were introduced, immigration from Morocco rocketed. And instead of returning, people stayed put. ‘If we had visa-free migration, more people are likely to come to work, and to have a look around – but also to go home again,’ says Hein de Haas. It’s only when you obstruct this flow that you get a crisis.”
        Yeah, but we say some things are harder than making a camel jump through a trench, in Turkish. (“Deveye hendek atlatmaktan zor.”) Making people with horse vision see the horizon is like tryin' to scratch your ear with your elbow, or like catching lightning in a bottle or like getting blood out of a stone.
        And I'd say, not only refugees, every migrant, anybody who wants to move around in the world s/he was born, deserves better.