So this poem, kind of well known nowadays I guess so feel free to yawn disinterestly if you’ve heard it all before, is not just a about the two ways people look at refugees but is also pretty representative of the massive split in U.K. society right now:
Refugees
They have no need of our help
So do not tell me
These haggard faces could belong to you or me
Should life have dealt a different hand
We need to see them for who they really are
Chancers and scroungers
Layabouts and loungers
With bombs up their sleeves
Cut-throats and thieves
They are not
Welcome here
We should make them
Go back to where they came from
They cannot
Share our food
Share our homes
Share our countries
Instead let us
Build a wall to keep them out
It is not okay to say
These are people just like us
A place should only belong to those who are born there
Do not be so stupid to think that
The world can be looked at another way
(now read from bottom to top)
So are you a top downer? Or a bottom upper?
It’s no coincidence to me that most brexiteers and Tory voters (and you can probably throw in anti face mask wearers and coronavirus deniers) are top downers