Who here is trying to spread Christianity and "Civilisation"?
If we have the power to help somebody in another country (without, say, bankrupting ourselves or causing some other harm), why don't we have a moral responsibility to do it?
Certainly we can disagree on what realistically and specifically should be done, but can agree that, in principle, humans are obligated to help other humans?
No I don't think I have a moral obligation to help people I've never met that I don't live anywhere near. I do think I have a moral obligation not to do people harm, but that's really about it.
As far as helping people, I feel morally obliged to help the people close to me, and no one else. That's not to say I refuse to help anyone outside of that group, it's just that I don't feel obliged to. My position is perfectly normal and natural and probably shared by the majority of the Earths inhabitants. Global Altruism is the edge-case here.
The 19th century missionary analogy is that you believe you have a moral obligation to help everyone on planet earth. Whether you have religious motivations or not is beside the point.
Personally kind of bothers me that we live in a world where people are left to die from starvation and easily preventable disease. Understandable as it may be why that's the case.
You could give away 90% of your salary, still survive and save so many lives. You need to lower your standards, you can do it right now, the question is why? - because you don't care about those lives.
Are you suggesting that impoverished people from developing countries who have just lost their jobs to automation are going to embark on an international journey in order to storm my house and take my stuff?
How did you come up with this far-fetched fantasy?
The people from developing countries who could afford to do that come from a more privileged background than I do.
Migration is not cheap.
> Are you suggesting that impoverished people from developing countries who have just lost their jobs to automation are going to embark on an international journey in order to storm my house and take my stuff?
Um, yes, exactly (modulo "to automation")?
Just how many migrants arrived in Germany last year? Do you suggest they are all somehow "privileged"? And that's just the beginning!
You (probably) live in a place which is geographically hard to migrate to, as you'd basically need to cross the ocean to do so[1]. On the other hand, and on the other side of the pond, we've seen hundreds of thousands of people come here on foot or on boats that I'm amazed even kept afloat as long as they did.
It may look far-fetched to you, but it's already happening. It will get to you sooner or later.
Disclaimer: I'm not against migrants or anything (virtue signaling!), but I feel bad that our policies were among the causes which made them migrate in the first place. I think that such policies were developed by people with a mindset similar to yours: whatever happens there it's not here, so whatever. It is not so. Whatever happens anywhere will, sooner or later, come here and sit on your lawn.
[1] And even then there are people who view migration as a major, significant problem - some of them are even in positions of power.
Just how many migrants arrived in Germany last year? Do you suggest they are all somehow "privileged"? And that's just the beginning!
Of course they are relatively privileged. Do you think the average person from Afghanistan or Iraq or Central Africa can afford to travel to Germany, illegally? Do you think it's cheap to travel overland and pay smugglers!? The average person from a first world country doesn't even have that much disposable income. Use some common sense - the wave of illegal migrants a few years back weren't made up of the lower class, it's economically infeasible.
You (probably) live in a place which is geographically hard to migrate to, as you'd basically need to cross the ocean to do so[1]. On the other hand, and on the other side of the pond, we've seen hundreds of thousands of people come here on foot or on boats that I'm amazed even kept afloat as long as they did.
It may look far-fetched to you, but it's already happening. It will get to you sooner or later.
It has nothing to do with sheer numbers, it's willpower. You're absolutely right in that it would be foolish to purchase property and the like from a country that doesn't even have the political and social will to protect itself from unarmed invasion. Luckily not every place is as short sighted as Germany or Western Europe in general.
I think that such policies were developed by people with a mindset similar to yours: whatever happens there it's not here, so whatever. It is not so. Whatever happens anywhere will, sooner or later, come here and sit on your lawn.
I've never advocated military regime change or any other such nonsense. So no, the mindset is not similar to mine. I am against aggression.
[1] And even then there are people who view migration as a major, significant problem - some of them are even in positions of power.
Who are you eluding to here? The Government of China, Japan, South Korea...?