Originally Posted by
lardy
They've had experiences that we haven't had, so we can't imagine it. Not just you, none of us can.
There's a Malcolm Gladwell book (called David and Goliath) where he talks about direct hits/near misses/remote misses. For example, before WWII the British government were terrified of the Germans bombing London, and planned evacuations and mental institutions on the outskirts of London, expecting thousands of people to be psychologically damaged. The government was terrified of how people would react to being bombed.
Then the Blitz happened and London was bombed every night for about six months. Some died (direct hits), some nearly did (near misses) but the vast majority of people experienced remote misses. Once the bombing started, they realised it wasn't so bad. The government was wrong and people weren't terrified but the remote misses gave everyone confidence and now we call it the Blitz Spirit.
I'm sure that if I had lived in London in 1941, I'd never have had a wink of sleep, but chances are that I'd have been a remote miss and part of the Blitz Spirit.
Perhaps those asylum seekers are remote misses. They've survived a lot, and perhaps it hasn't even been that bad for them. So why not take that boat across the channel? You and me would never know what it's like for them.