A false comparison

A German hotel being converted to a refugee center for a flood of migrants burned early this week. The blaze at the unoccupied building was ruled arson.

As the structure burned, crowds of Germans gathered and cheered. There was even a half-hearted attempt to slow firefighters arriving at the scene.

So why the cheering from the local population?

It wasn't that the locals hated the newcomers. It certainly wasn't that the locals wished harm or death on the newcomers.

The cheers and jubilation stemmed from the same fears and concerns held by many Americans in the face of this changing world.

The local German population sees their way of life evaporating. They see the lack of assimilation and the effect on their economy. And many are weary since Germany accepted just over a million immigrants last year alone.

The local population sees an erosion of the German culture as thousands upon thousands of migrants from Africa and the Middle East leave their war-torn countries.

The debate in Europe and the United States is similar. The balance between Christian charity and the admonition to help those less fortunate against the loss of their culture is the struggle facing many in today's changing world.

It's easy perhaps to brand these Germans as cold-hearted or even xenophobic. It's easy to unfairly portray them as ruthless in their opposition to the wave after wave of new arrivals.

Yet forced diversity that threatens virtually all aspects of normality is the fear that strikes in the hearts of those who question the open-borders policies embraced in some quarters.

Progressives embrace unfettered immigration under the guise that we are a nation of immigrants who should welcome with open arms any and all who seek to call America home.

But conservatives recognize the lack of assimilation and, in some instances, an outright disdain of American culture as the hallmark of this new and growing population.

Given the current international climate, is it not fair to question the values and reasons why newcomers seek to arrive here? Or in Germany and elsewhere?

A comparison with the current flood of immigrants and the immigration that populated this nation a hundred years ago is a false equivalent.

I am neither defending nor condemning the German response to these ever-changing demographic population. I'm just trying to help explain the response.

When Donald Trump launched his presidential campaign, if you'll recall, the linchpin to his rhetoric was the promise of a new "beautiful" wall on our southern border.

That initial message struck a chord not because Americans are uncaring hatemongers but because many Americans fear a sea change that will threaten their vision of the American way of life.

It's been a few years since I first opined that the greatest threat to this nation was a porous border and the inability to monitor those coming to this country.

As we see in Germany and elsewhere, we are not alone in our concerns and the problem has gotten worse, not better.

Michael Jensen is the publisher of the Sikeston Standard Democrat.