Post #3906181

"The problem is that people like me have not managed to find a slogan as effective as 'immigrants take your jobs... It is false, no data shows it, but it works." This researcher on the impact of immigration blames himself - https://archive.ph/e04j3#selection-3625.124-3625.296 - and it's true of course that people with detailed understanding are not necessarily the best communicators - but I'd say there are 3 much bigger forces in play. The first is built in to the way people think: a simple but wrong view pushes out a complicated but true one. "I don't have a job - that immigrant has a job - he took my job" is a much more natural rationale than "I don't have a job, but that immigrant is contributing to overall prosperity, so he's increasing my chances of getting a job". The second is that neither centre nor left-leaning politicians are willing to keep telling the economic truth loud and clear - they, not the researchers, have ceded the ground to the far right. And third, of course, it suits the wealthy corporations and individuals that own or influence much of the media to keep people focused on 'culture war' issues - scapegoating immigrants - instead of what's really happening in the economy.