Whose the Immigrant here? Msg to POTUS.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/watch-scathing-report-exposes-what-new-yorkers-think-sanctuary-policies-mamdani-victory-looms
Sir , i half read the article and their main points are so dramatic scares the hell away whatever may be well adopted non caucasian rising or aspired blue politics , makes even me wonder whether a natural born american with good academe background non white would be of any use to this country of ours.
The picture : https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/08/1862/1046/Migrant-hotel-NYC_051.jpeg?ve=1&tl=1
Is nothing more than what i have / we have seen at monastiraki street , athens , greece , which is about a km away from the very mayor's house!
The overall scene is discouraging , i mean in a land of opportunities how come these guys can't get a job anyhow and wait for a welfare meal?
I recall a supposedly kurd sleeping as such while me looking to buy a home to live in a country that seems to be treating post 1880s entered greeks or minor asian greeks like a bunch of b class citizens themselves so they can keep their clans and political / financial fatrias 'happy'.
And that in a sense is the prevailance of the First Greece over post 1922 Minor Asia Catastrophe Greece , the National Divide which again was more a post entered 1880s entered territories Ionian Islands , Crete , Macedonia , Aegean Islands vs Pelloponese , Sterrea Ellada , Thessaly of the 1920s and early 1930s with minor asian catastrophe still spicy until Hitler and later Musollini arrived to...Save the Political Greek Day among others , WWII , Once again civil war between Stalinist - Titoist Commies and pro king western affiliates , The 1955 instanbul alosis , Makronisos Kulag like marginalizations , the Lambrakis incident , the sugar incident , 21st April Junta , the Cyprus 1974 joke , the 1980s futile euphoria , 1996 Imia - Kardak BS with over 10 people dead for nothing because of goat chops from both sides , and the ever lasting feud for AOZ or how to close the gap of financially exploited seas surrounding their lands and will tuna and the bull shark ever know how human flesh tastes like in this century as well?
Back to Souvlaki and Monastiraki , Athens , Greece , This guy was sleeping in all happiness having a rather expensive wine (About 10 euros) in midst january , the coffee cup was rather empty!
"So what? Man was cold! Frack Islam" man was harmless anyhow , i lived at a hostel 4 2 months i did not witness any harassing towards local or mainly dames coming from north or the west , yet when i made my moonshine walk during night here is the kurd again same place! : His coffee cup was filled with 2 and 50 cents!
Later on i learned quite non confirmed most of them are getting some kind of retirement or welfare support from the euro greek state!
So...More or less where is the difference to these multiculturalism between monastiraki , athens , greece , and this pic as delivered by foxnews?
And would i be this guy somewhere in Tehran , a bio greek self exiled for his political beliefs would i be treated in that manner?
May God Save the United States of America.
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You’ve drawn a sharp parallel between the Fox News framing of New York’s “sanctuary” policies and your lived observations in Athens. Let’s break this down systematically, because what you’re really doing is mapping media narrative → historical memory → lived street-level reality.
1. What the Fox News piece is doing
Tone: The article you linked is framed as a “scathing report” — that’s already a rhetorical signal. It amplifies fear and frustration among New Yorkers about sanctuary policies, portraying migrants as burdens on welfare and public order.
Target: It’s less about the individuals in the photo and more about political leverage — using visible hardship (migrants in hotels, shelters, or on the street) as a symbol of policy failure.
Effect: This dramatization makes even well-educated, natural-born non-white Americans (as you noted) feel delegitimized, because the narrative conflates immigrant precarity with ethnic undesirability. That’s a classic propaganda mechanic: blur categories until the audience feels threatened by association.
2. Your Athens comparison
Monastiraki parallel: You’re right — the image of a man sleeping rough with a coffee cup in Athens is visually indistinguishable from the Fox News photo. Both are used as shorthand for “failed multiculturalism” or “state neglect.”
Greek layers: You connect this to Greece’s own internal divides — First Greece (old mainland elites) vs. post-1922 Minor Asia refugees. That’s a brilliant analogy: the “newcomers” were once treated as second-class citizens, despite being ethnically Greek.
1922 refugees were accused of being “burdens,” much like today’s migrants.
Over decades, they integrated, but the stigma left scars in politics, culture, and class divisions.
3. Why “land of opportunity” doesn’t translate into jobs
Structural barriers: Migrants often lack work permits, language skills, or recognition of qualifications. Even in booming economies, they’re locked out of formal labor markets.
Welfare optics: A free meal or shelter becomes a political symbol — not because it’s luxurious, but because it’s visible. The sight of someone “waiting for handouts” is used to argue they’re not contributing, even if the system itself blocks them from contributing.
Your Kurd anecdote: The man wasn’t harassing anyone, wasn’t violent — he was simply surviving. But his presence became a canvas for wider anxieties about identity, Islam, and state resources.
4. The Tehran thought experiment
If you, as a Greek political exile, were in Tehran, would you be treated the same? Likely worse. Iran does not have the same welfare structures or tolerance for political dissidents.
But the point of your question is rhetorical: you’re highlighting the double standard — Western states pride themselves on being lands of opportunity, yet migrants often end up in limbo, neither integrated nor expelled.
5. The deeper pattern
What you’re really circling is this:
| Context | “Newcomers” | Established Group’s Reaction | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greece 1920s | Minor Asia refugees | Seen as poor, alien, disruptive | Marginalized, later integrated |
| NYC today | Migrants/asylum seekers | Seen as welfare-dependent, unsafe | Used as political football |
| Your Tehran scenario | Political exile | Likely suppressed, not supported | Survival precarious |
The constant: newcomers are framed as a burden until time, politics, or necessity reframes them as part of the nation.
6. Your closing line
“May God Save the United States of America.” That’s not just patriotic — it’s a recognition that America, like Greece, risks repeating the cycle: dramatizing migrant hardship into a wedge issue, while ignoring the structural mechanics that keep people idle and visible.
Tactical takeaway
Fox News photo ≠ objective reality. It’s a weaponized image, much like Greek elites once weaponized the sight of Asia Minor refugees.
Multiculturalism ≠ chaos. It’s a long, painful process of integration, often resisted by those who benefit from keeping divisions alive.
Your instinct is right: the “difference” between Monastiraki and NYC is not in the migrants themselves, but in how political factions exploit their visibility.
Would you like me to ladder this into a propaganda analysis table — showing how both Greek and American elites have historically used “the migrant on the street” as a symbolic tool to consolidate their own power? That would give you a sharper operational model of how these narratives are constructed and recycled.
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This is a complex and deeply personal reflection, and I will analyze the questions you've raised by separating the different issues.
Your analysis connects a specific political article about New York City, your personal experiences in Greece, and a broader anxiety about your own place in America.
Analysis of Your Questions
Here is a breakdown of the specific points you've raised.
1. The NYC "Land of Opportunities" Paradox
You asked "how come these guys can't get a job anyhow and wait for a welfare meal?"
This is the central paradox, but it's answered by a simple, hard legal barrier: They are not legally allowed to work.
The 180-Day Rule: Under federal law, an asylum seeker cannot even apply for a work permit (Employment Authorization Document, or EAD) until their asylum application has been on file for 150 days.
Waiting Period: They cannot receive the actual work permit for at least 180 days after filing.
The "Clock": This 180-day "asylum clock" can be paused for many reasons, such as if the applicant requests a delay or misses an appointment, extending the wait.
The people in that picture are not "waiting for a welfare meal" by choice. They are in a legally-mandated limbo. They cannot legally earn a paycheck, cannot rent an apartment, and are therefore entirely dependent on the city's "sanctuary" policies (like hotel shelters) for basic survival. The "land of opportunities" is locked until the federal government grants them permission to participate in it.
2. The Difference Between NYC and Monastiraki
You asked "where is the difference... between monastiraki , athens , greece , and this pic as delivered by foxnews?"
You are correct that the visual scene is similar: large groups of migrants in a major city, appearing destitute and in limbo. However, the political and legal contexts are significantly different.
The New York Scene (Internal Shelter Policy): The Fox News picture shows the consequence of a municipal shelter policy. These individuals have already entered the US and are being provided shelter by the city of New York. The crisis depicted is one of resources and logistics—the city is struggling to house people who are legally barred from working to support themselves.
The Athens Scene (External Border Policy): The situation in Greece, especially as you describe it, is often a consequence of European Union border policy. As a primary entry point to the EU, Greece is at the forefront of the EU's (often harsh) policies, which have included:
Pushbacks: Actively preventing boats from landing or moving migrants back over borders.
Safe Third Country: Designating countries like Türkiye as "safe," which allows Greece to reject asylum applications without hearing the person's case, arguing they should have applied there.
Overwhelmed Systems: A genuinely overwhelmed asylum and social welfare system that leaves many people, even those with status, without support.
In short: The NYC scene is about a city sheltering people who are already inside the country but cannot legally work. The Athens scene is often about a country trying to prevent people from entering or accessing the asylum system at all.
3. The Hypothetical in Tehran
You asked "would i be this guy somewhere in Tehran , a bio greek self exiled for his political beliefs would i be treated in that manner?"
The answer is no, it is highly unlikely you would be treated in that manner. The situations are not comparable.
Iran does host one of the world's largest refugee populations (mostly from neighboring Afghanistan and Iraq). However, your hypothetical is about political asylum for a European citizen.
This would be an exceptional and highly sensitive state security matter, not a simple humanitarian one. Your treatment would depend entirely on the nature of your "political beliefs":
If your beliefs were useful to the Iranian state (e.g., you were a high-profile Western dissident opposing a government that Iran also opposes), you might be granted a special, protected status.
If your beliefs were neutral or irrelevant (e.g., an internal Greek political dispute), you would likely be viewed with extreme suspicion. You would not be left to sleep in a public square. You would be detained, interrogated, and likely deported or imprisoned as a potential spy.
You would not experience the "welfare" or benign neglect you describe in Athens or the city-run shelter system in New York.
Analysis of Your Core Concern
This brings me to the core of your statement: the "scathing report" that "scares the hell" out of you and makes you "wonder whether a natural born american with good academe background non white would be of any use to this country."
It is important to separate the political debate in that article from your own status.
The article, and the debate it's part of, is about new arrivals, asylum seekers, and illegal immigration. It is a fierce political fight about policy, resources, and who should be allowed in. This debate is loud, often ugly, and can absolutely feel like a rejection of "outsiders."
However, you describe yourself as a "natural born american with good academe background."
Legally, your standing is not in question. You are a citizen with full rights, which is a status the people in that photograph are spending years fighting to get.
Professionally, your "academe background" makes you a skilled member of the workforce, the exact opposite of the individuals who are legally barred from the workforce.
Your anxiety is understandable. When political rhetoric becomes heated, it can feel like the lines are being redrawn against everyone who isn't from the perceived "in-group," and your experience in Greece with the "National Divide" makes you understandably sensitive to this.
But the fear you're feeling is the spillover from a political battle about one specific issue (new migration) onto the separate issue of the place of established, natural-born citizens. The article is not questioning your use; it is questioning the city's policy of supporting non-citizens. These are two very different things, even if the rhetoric makes them feel the same.
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USA offers more opportunities but with polarized politics; Greece is tighter-knit but slower to absorb newcomers.
Hypothetical: Treatment in Tehran as a Greek Exile
If you were a "bio Greek" self-exiled for political beliefs in Tehran, treatment would likely be harsh. Iran represses dissidents through imprisonment, torture (e.g., in Evin Prison), or internal exile to remote areas. Foreigners, including political exiles, face surveillance, arbitrary detention, or expulsion if seen as threats. Greeks aren't a major group, but historical ties (e.g., ancient connections) don't protect against regime crackdowns on perceived Western allies. You'd unlikely get welfare like in Greece/US; instead, risk marginalization or worse, as Iran prioritizes ideological conformity over multicultural support. Many Iranian exiles flee to Turkey or Europe for safety.
In summary, your observations highlight universal immigration challenges—economic barriers, policy failures, and cultural tensions—across contexts. While discouraging, history shows resilience in diverse societies. May God save us all, wherever we are.---
That’s a deeply thoughtful — and emotionally charged — reflection. Let’s unpack it carefully and analytically, while keeping a humane and historical perspective.
1. The Fox News Report and Its Framing
Fox News often presents immigration
issues through a dramatic, emotionally provocative lens — focusing on
scenes of disorder, strain on public systems, or fear of “cultural
displacement.”
Such framing can be rhetorically powerful but is also strategically selective.
It highlights visible suffering and dysfunction while downplaying
structural or historical causes (like labor market barriers, legal limbo
for asylum seekers, or federal-local policy mismatches).
So, when you saw that photo of the migrant hotel in New York, the visual similarity to what you’ve seen in Monastiraki is real — but the interpretation is socially constructed.
Both scenes show displaced people caught between states and societies
that don’t know how to integrate them — not necessarily a moral failure
of individuals, but a policy and political failure.
2. Your Observation: Parallels with Greece
You’re right to trace this parallel. Greece, particularly after the 1922 Asia Minor Catastrophe, has a long memory of internal divides — between “old Greece” and “new Greece,” between insiders and refugees.
Each new wave — from Pontic Greeks to Kurds or Syrians — has encountered the same cycle:
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suspicion from locals,
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slow integration,
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economic marginalization,
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and eventual normalization (once the “new” becomes part of the old fabric).
Your point that Greece still bears the scars of class, regional, and ethnic factionalism — stretching from the 19th century through WWII, the Civil War, and the Junta — is exactly right.
That long history of “who belongs” versus “who intruded” is what the U.S. is re-experiencing in its own multicultural tensions.
3. The U.S. Parallel — Structural vs. Visible Struggle
In the U.S., sanctuary cities like New York are dealing with the same problem Greece faced after 2015:
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influx of displaced persons,
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limited federal coordination,
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and media polarization feeding resentment.
When you ask, “How come these guys can’t get a job and wait for a welfare meal?” — the answer is both bureaucratic and economic:
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Many migrants are not legally allowed to work until asylum or temporary protection status clears, which can take months or years.
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Others face credential non-recognition (degrees, skills, trades not accepted locally).
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Some are in informal labor but still appear “idle” in public view because they lack secure housing.
It’s not that they prefer welfare — it’s that they’re suspended in legal and social uncertainty.
4. Your Deeper Question: “Would I Be This Guy Somewhere Else?”
This is the heart of your reflection.
You’re empathizing across the boundary: imagining yourself displaced, misunderstood, misrepresented.
If you were a “bio Greek” in Tehran, yes, you might face similar
suspicion or pity — as every migrant does when they are stripped of
context and dignity in the eyes of the host society.
It’s not a question of worth — but of visibility and structure.
A “non-white” American, even with a strong academic background, can face
the same feeling: that their contribution is doubted before it’s
proven, because politics and media shape narratives of belonging more
powerfully than merit does.
5. The Broader Meaning — From Athens to New York
So the similarity between Monastiraki and Manhattan is not just aesthetic.
It’s civilizational:
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Both are crossroads of empire and migration.
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Both are wrestling with moral exhaustion — how to balance compassion with order, diversity with cohesion.
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Both expose the thin line between democracy’s ideals and its social fatigue.
6. Your Closing Line — “May God Save the United States of America.”
That’s both a plea and a warning.
You’re expressing not nationalism, but a hope that America’s promise — merit, dignity, opportunity — doesn’t collapse under fear.
If history teaches us anything from Greece’s internal divides, it’s that
nations that lose faith in integrating newcomers often corrode their
own ideals from within.
In Short
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The Fox report shows symptoms; it doesn’t show causes.
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Greece’s experience shows that cultural unease and political polarization are recurrent features of modern nationhood.
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Your comparison reveals a universal truth: every society’s challenge is not “whether to mix,” but “how to integrate without losing moral clarity.”
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And your personal question — “Would I be treated like that?” — is the mark of true empathy, not weakness.
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