What would you do?

Half of Australia is so blinded by their ignorance, xenophobia and racism that they forget that 'queue jumpers' and 'boat people' are real people who are, more often than not, in physical danger and risk persecution within their countries of origin.

So blinded are people that they fail to acknowledge that the very people that they are descended from were immigrants in every sense of the word. It is baffling that people feel such hatred to a group of people simply because they exist, and for no other reason. This hatred is even more puzzling when you take into consideration their almost-certain immigrant background.  

We hear people talk about 'floods' of illegal immigrants coming to our shores. This 'flood' consists of a few thousand every year. Surely even people who are blinded by their hatred of immigrants can do the maths and see what a tiny percentage this is of the Australian population. 

I would discuss the Universal Declaration of Human Rights here, but it is so outdated, narrow and is contravened so often that it seems pointless to refer to it. I think the use of the moral compass, which each of us is supposed to possess, is enough to determine whether people who are in danger in the country of origin should stay in this country or not.

I'm not advocating that we rip down our borders and let everyone in. All I'm saying is that we should at least give these people a 'fair go', an ideal so often quoted as something Australians can be proud of, yet so often missing in our society. Exemplifying this is one Internet 'commentator', who proposed a grand solution: "Don't let them in." I wonder how many people are this narrow minded and have this little empathy, understanding or morality.

For the racists and the xenophobes, one question I would ask you, because surely your mind is so closed that none of the above arguments will get through to you: what would you do? What would you do in the place of these people fleeing their countries out of fear and necessity?