A Taboo Topic, But Not Anymore

Humans have always been wanderers. From the earliest days of history, we moved from one place to another, driven by curiosity, survival, and the need to explore. But in today’s world, migration still isn’t just about exploration, it’s mostly about escaping poverty, seeking better job opportunities, or running from broken systems. In an ideal world, people would migrate for the joy of discovering new cultures and expanding their horizons, not out of necessity. But the way immigration works today tells a different story.

When people leave their home countries, it’s often because they feel they have no choice. They might be escaping corrupt governments, weak economies, or a lack of opportunities. Many highly skilled professionals, like engineers and doctors, leave developing countries to work in richer nations where their talents are better rewarded. It’s understandable, everyone wants a better life. But this creates a problem for the countries they leave behind. If all the smart, ambitious, and capable people migrate to places like the U.S., who’s left to fix the problems at home? If the best minds of a country leave, there’s no one to demand reforms or drive change. Governments in those countries can continue to be corrupt and inefficient because the very people who could have challenged them have already left.

This is what many people don’t realize. Immigration isn’t just about individuals moving for a better life. It has a huge impact on the countries they leave behind. Imagine if all the talented young Indians, Nigerians, or Venezuelans stayed in their home countries instead of moving out. They would have no choice but to push for better governance, demand reforms, and work towards improving their own democratic institutions. Instead, they are given an escape route, and that escape cools down the frustration that could have led to revolutions or democratic changes.

This isn’t to say migration is bad. It clearly benefits individuals and recipient countries. Skilled workers boost the economy, innovation, and productivity in developed nations. Even unskilled workers provide cheap labor, which helps businesses profit. That’s why western countries love immigration, not just because they want to help people, but because they gain from it economically. However, what’s often ignored is that this system profits off the struggles of developing nations. Rich countries take in the best talent from poorer countries, benefiting from their education and skills, while the home country remains stuck in underdevelopment of both economy and democracy.

Developed countries often claim they support democracy and development worldwide, but if that were true, they wouldn’t be draining other nations of their brightest minds. Instead of helping developing countries build strong institutions, they weaken them by absorbing the very people who could have made a difference. If they really wanted to promote global democracy, they would encourage people to stay and build their own nations, rather than taking advantage of the dysfunction in these places.

Of course, there’s a moral dilemma when it comes to refugees and asylum seekers. When people are fleeing war, ethnic cleansing, or political persecution, we can’t just tell them to stay and fix their country. In cases where violence is extreme and the nation is far from reforming, it’s understandable that they need a safe place to live. But here too, problems arise. Many refugees come from places with weak democratic traditions, making integration difficult. If they struggle to adopt the modern and progressive values of their new country, they often end up forming ghettos or parallel societies instead of fully blending in. This happens due to the government’s negligence in integrating them with the local population. If the government cannot or does not want to put in the effort to integrate them properly, then it should stop accepting asylum seekers in the name of morality. Providing refuge without effective integration only leads to long-term social and economic tensions. Governments spend a significant amount of tax money on integration programs, and this may make locals frustrated because they may feel like a "huge" amount of money is being spent on migrants instead of on them.

That’s why some argue that only those who are most capable of assimilating should be given asylum. It’s not about discrimination, it’s about ensuring that migration doesn’t lead to long-term divisions in society. Developed nations should prioritize those who genuinely respect democratic values and are willing to integrate. The problem is that today’s migration policies aren’t really about morality or human rights. They are mainly about economics. Skilled migrants boost innovation, cheap labor increases corporate profits, and even refugees can sometimes fill labor shortages. What looks like a noble humanitarian effort is often just a cover for economic self-interest.

None of this means that people should never migrate. It just means we need to rethink how we approach immigration. Instead of a system that weakens developing nations, we should work towards one that allows all countries to grow and prosper. In a truly ideal world, migration wouldn’t happen because of economic desperation or political collapse. Instead, people would move out of curiosity, exploration, and the desire to experience different cultures. They wouldn’t have to leave because their home country was unlivable, but because they wanted to see the world.

Humans are natural explorers. We’ve traveled across continents, sailed across oceans, and even landed on the Moon. Ironically, most of these explorations were not driven purely by curiosity but rather by economic hardships, geopolitical issues, and the need for survival rather than true exploration. But still today, the way migration works is less about exploration and more about survival. If we want to create a fairer and more balanced world, we need to make sure migration isn’t just an escape hatch for struggling nations. Instead, hopefully in the future, it should be a choice, a way for people to grow, learn, and experience new cultures, or even to challenge them with good faith, not just a last resort for those fleeing broken systems. That’s the kind of future we should be working towards.

At the same time, we must recognize that even in developed and democratic countries, there is a significant portion of the population that lacks critical thinking skills due to gaps in education. These individuals don’t analyze the deeper economic and political realities behind immigration and instead blame all their problems on migrants. They represent a failure of the very democracies they live in. Democracies are fragile and require an active, thinking population to function sustainably. But when governments neglect to invest in education and social institutions or fail to innovate them over time, they put themselves at risk of losing democracy altogether. A society that doesn’t encourage independent thought is one that can easily slide into populism, misinformation, and ultimately, decline.