Offside Chat Archives (2014-2021)

Honestly, I already found it pretty strange that this hadn't even been brought up on ESPN yet.

Jessica Gonzalez said:From what I can gather, there's just constant war in the Middle East, and I guess peace and stability won't return to those nations unless the people living there make it happen themselves. Historically, it seems like it’s usually young men who pay the price in blood for freedom and peace, yet these young men are running away. In my opinion, they aren't refugees or migrants; they're just cowards. It's one thing to see a column of women, children, and the elderly, like what happened back in El Paso. Those are true refugees and displaced people who definitely deserve help. But I don't really see why Europe should feel obligated to assist young men whose place is actually on the front lines.

I think it's hilarious how they all aim straight for Germany. Not Greece, Bulgaria, Canada, or Austria.

Neither they nor the Germans would have taken so much of a hit that they’d still be nursing WWII complexes and trying to prove to the rest of the world they're more devout than the Pope

ambertinker41 said:I think it's hilarious how they all aim straight for Germany. Not Greece, Bulgaria, Canada, or Austria.

And Americans would love to start a war just to head off to Canada, Slovakia, or Bulgaria. Hold on—if we had a war recently, where did the refugees go?
People head wherever they believe life will be better. Sure, maybe they’re being selfish in that regard, seeking out opportunities that thousands of others can only dream of, or working incredibly hard to earn them. But even with all the migration perks available right now, I wouldn't want to be in their shoes for a single second.

Michelle Palmer6 said:And Americans would love to start a war just to head off to Canada, Slovakia, or Bulgaria. Hold on—if we had a war recently, where did the refugees go?
People head wherever they believe life will be better. Sure, maybe they’re being selfish in that regard, seeking out opportunities that thousands of others can only dream of, or working incredibly hard to earn them. But even with all the migration perks available right now, I wouldn't want to be in their shoes for a single second.

Out of more than 3,500 people on one train, only six stayed in Austria. You can't really say if they'd want to be in those shoes or not, because you don't know why those specific people fled. Not everyone is a refugee from Syria; some are coming from all over North Africa. And since there’s zero actual control happening, you can't realistically gauge how many emigrated for the same reasons as tens of thousands of Americans in the last few years, or for some other less critical reason.

Look, I'm not advocating for shooting people or any of that nonsense, but I am for processing centers and strict inspections for adults.
And yeah, our people definitely headed to Italy, Canada, and Austria—they absolutely did. By the way, folks from the Midwest were fleeing to Canada, and if the borders with Romania or Bulgaria were open to the north, they would've gone there instead. When trouble hits, you don't get to be picky.

Michelle Palmer6 is acting all high and mighty here. From the comfort of their warm little armchair, they're out here mocking and
judging people who are literally naked, barefoot, and starving just trying to find the bare minimum to survive...

Jessica Gonzalez said:From what I can gather, there's just constant war in the Middle East, and I guess peace and stability won't return to those nations unless the people living there make it happen themselves. Historically, it seems like it’s usually young men who pay the price in blood for freedom and peace, yet these young men are running away. In my opinion, they aren't refugees or migrants; they're just cowards. It's one thing to see a column of women, children, and the elderly, like what happened back in El Paso. Those are true refugees and displaced people who definitely deserve help. But I don't really see why Europe should feel obligated to assist young men whose place is actually on the front lines.

They probably wouldn't even know who they were fighting for or who they were fighting against.

It's not quite that simple.

Larry Fox5 said:Michelle Palmer6 is acting all high and mighty here. From the comfort of their warm little armchair, they're out here mocking and
judging people who are literally naked, barefoot, and starving just trying to find the bare minimum to survive...

They can reach that bare minimum in any EU country, or actually, nowhere at all if they don't apply for asylum. If they want a decent life, they need to respect the laws. Obviously, you can't blame them when the EU didn't set things up that way to begin with.

Eric Fox7 said:They probably wouldn't even know who they were fighting for or who they were fighting against.

It's not quite that simple.

Actually, I think it's pretty straightforward. They’re basically just waiting around, hoping someone else will fix their problems for them. Who actually stepped up to handle our issues in the past, like standing firm during the Homeland War or Storm? It was young American men, not NATO, the EU, or some random security council. Honestly, you see these guys from Algeria who have steady jobs and houses back home where there isn't even a war, yet they're using boats to smuggle themselves into Italy. Why? They claim they're just bored and want better cell phones. Then you have this guy from Syria who moved to Sweden; he had a vlog where he basically said he'd happily go back, but he had a cheap Nokia in Syria and now he's got an iPhone. It’s wild that this guy is treated like a voice of the people without feeling any shame about those reasons. If that's the kind of mindset we're seeing, I wonder what else is wrong. Maybe that's why ISIS is making such moves over there—because they are willing to risk everything for their goals. People can hate them, and the whole world might, but they actually die for what they believe in. In the past, people might have called that being a deserter, but today they call them migrants. Just to be clear, I'm not talking about children being sent to Europe or women. I'm talking about young men running away from their own struggles.

Larry Fox5 said:Michelle Palmer6 is acting all high and mighty here. From the comfort of their warm little armchair, they're out here mocking and
judging people who are literally naked, barefoot, and starving just trying to find the bare minimum to survive...

I guess it's not quite like that for everyone, though. Actually, most of them probably managed to scrape together about $2,000 each to fund their journey into Europe. For many people living in Europe, $2,000 is actually a pretty decent amount of money, maybe even for Germans. I suppose if someone has that kind of cash, they aren't exactly wandering around without anything.

ambertinker41 said:Out of more than 3,500 people on one train, only six stayed in Austria. You can't really say if they'd want to be in those shoes or not, because you don't know why those specific people fled. Not everyone is a refugee from Syria; some are coming from all over North Africa. And since there’s zero actual control happening, you can't realistically gauge how many emigrated for the same reasons as tens of thousands of Americans in the last few years, or for some other less critical reason.

Look, I'm not advocating for shooting people or any of that nonsense, but I am for processing centers and strict inspections for adults.
And yeah, our people definitely headed to Italy, Canada, and Austria—they absolutely did. By the way, folks from the Midwest were fleeing to Canada, and if the borders with Romania or Bulgaria were open to the north, they would've gone there instead. When trouble hits, you don't get to be picky.

I never said there shouldn't be any control! Of course, people shouldn't just be able to show up wherever and however they please. If at all possible, we need to be able to distinguish between war refugees and economic migrants.
There are tons of them still stuck in camps in Turkey and Lebanon, or in neighboring countries—not everyone has started the journey yet. Those who *have* decided to make the long trek are obviously aiming for places where it's easiest to settle down, find stability, and gather enough resources to eventually pull the rest of their families out of the camps and war-torn regions. That’s why, I believe, you see so many young men among those immigrants. They’re faster, stronger, more mobile, and they have the best shot at securing the conditions needed to bring their wives and children over later.

As for the fighting... I'm not an expert on every single detail of what's going on, but the country is currently torn apart by several militant groups fighting one another and against a regime that, as far as I know, is the only one with any real legitimacy—even if it is practically totalitarian. Try finding a country to fight for in that mess!

Jessica Gonzalez said:I guess it's not quite like that for everyone, though. Actually, most of them probably managed to scrape together about $2,000 each to fund their journey into Europe. For many people living in Europe, $2,000 is actually a pretty decent amount of money, maybe even for Germans. I suppose if someone has that kind of cash, they aren't exactly wandering around without anything.

But let's be real—Syria wasn't just some empty hole in the desert where people lived under trees or in caves. It was a relatively civilized nation! The people fleeing were mostly selling off everything they owned, often for next to nothing, just to scrape enough money together to make the trip.

I've spent some time in Syria, so I have a sense of what things are like there and the scale of the situation. In my experience, people there can be somewhat unmotivated, and I honestly didn't expect much of a fight. It seems to be a pattern across the whole region; for instance, you have hundreds of thousands of Palestinians living in Jordan, mostly just getting by because it feels unlikely they'll ever really stand up against Israel. That’s why I have a certain respect for Israelis—they don't mess around. They seem to value their land and their people ten times more than the Arab world does.

Man, I feel like I’m starting to sound like a total hardliner now. It just really bothers me when people are treated unfairly, especially when the ones who are actually supposed to fix things just sit on their hands. I guess there’s no magic wand for these kinds of issues; sometimes things have to get messy to see real change. That seems to be how it's always worked, and honestly, nobody really respects people who back down when things get tough.

Jessica Gonzalez said:From what I can gather, there's just constant war in the Middle East, and I guess peace and stability won't return to those nations unless the people living there make it happen themselves. Historically, it seems like it’s usually young men who pay the price in blood for freedom and peace, yet these young men are running away. In my opinion, they aren't refugees or migrants; they're just cowards. It's one thing to see a column of women, children, and the elderly, like what happened back in El Paso. Those are true refugees and displaced people who definitely deserve help. But I don't really see why Europe should feel obligated to assist young men whose place is actually on the front lines.

Maybe because Europe, along with the USA, is partially responsible for those wars happening in the first place? Honestly, who in their right mind would want to live next door to those barbarians? It’s just common sense. Why should they be forced to participate in a war that was imposed on them?

Honestly, it would probably be way more effective if all those young people migrating just picked up rifles and handled things themselves once and for all... well, maybe not forever, but at least for a while. But when we're talking about immigrants on American soil, the issue isn't really about the mindset or the ingrained habits of a single nation.
The real problem, though—as I mentioned before—is first off, who exactly are they fighting for? And secondly, that NATO organization, the EU, the Security Council, and all those other groups you claim are just sitting around waiting for someone else to fix the mess? They aren't exactly innocent when it comes to how this whole thing started. They were the first ones arming these extremist groups whenever they needed to take down Assad, and now they’re suddenly hesitating because the chaos they cooked up has finally boiled over the edge of the pot.

From what I can gather, those barbarians are actually their brothers and neighbors. It’s probably not something that just popped up overnight.

I’m not trying to say the USA or NATO shouldn't be held accountable—everyone bears some responsibility, and what happened in Iraq was a massive historical blunder that future generations will likely still be feeling. But at the end of the day, Syria is Syria, and it belongs to the Syrian people. I guess if they collectively allow barbarians to take everything over, then maybe they're facing the consequences of that choice, as harsh as that sounds. It seems to me that both individuals and large groups earn the most respect when they handle their own problems.

The war has been dragging on for four years, but we're only seeing this massive exodus now. Apparently, they've finally slapped a ban on letting migrants in, so now everyone is out protesting in Canada. This is all going to end beautifully.

The thing is, this isn't just their problem. This is a global crisis because it was cooked up by world powers, and it threatens everyone, not just Syria. They aren't fighting a specific nation—trying to draw parallels to our Homeland War is completely inappropriate. They are fighting terrorists; this isn't a state, it's a movement that keeps pulling more people in. And honestly, those folks in Syria have put up an incredible fight when you consider that the USA, Turkey (they’re still at it), and the rest of the crew were supporting extremists and sending them weapons until very recently (which they actually admitted themselves)—Turkey was funneling them right across the border. The war has been dragging on for about five years now; it's a miracle they've lasted this long. How can anyone claim this is only Syria's problem?