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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   1652 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 23, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Imagine you are a German who has some troubles and needs a second identity to escape the law or whatever. It’s 2015. What stops him from dying his hair black, putting on some shabby clothes, and presenting himself as a newly arrived refugee with no documents? He can even draw quite a bit of money from social welfare and after half a decade he gets a brand new German passport not attached to a real person which can be extremely valuable in right circumstances. What stops him from doing this 10 times with 10 different disguises? Or a gang doing this with real refugees at scale?

There are lots of Syrians, Lebanese, even Afghans which have similar skin tones to Germans. That does not mean Germans and Syrians look alike. I'm not sure how long this ruse would last, especially as because others note, people who enable immigration fraud would not be inclined to do so on behalf of an ethnic German.

How much of the difference is due to social cues and fashions, though? In Texas there are a lot of Mexicans with <75% euro ancestry who have similar complexion and features to the scots-irish if they work indoor jobs, but who are nonetheless visually distinctive by beard and haircut stylings, manner of dress, makeup styling for women, etc. A dark-haired German in a tracksuit and buzzcut, using a trained-in accent- would he come off as Arab?

https://www.deslegte.com/images/cached/resample/webp/data/uploads/389/600/cms_visual_912330.jpg_1481551087000_389x600_0.8_p-842b0fe3f1.webp

This is a fair haired blue eyed German guy who used contact lenses fake mustache and hair dye to disguise himself as a Turkish migrant worker for literally years in Germany to write a book about the life of those workers. I don’t think it takes that much to disguise yourself. Besides you don’t have to keep it up all the time like the journalist did. Only when you interact with the state

I suspect he might end up like Rachel Whatshername. Fake refugees are allowed to get away with what they do because everyone in the system is broadly sympathetic and don’t see any option other than letting them in as viable/moral. In short, ‘fake’ refugees are seen as morally justified by those who work with them, whatever the law says.

A ‘refugee’ who gives signs of being a German, however, is sinning against the standards of a lefty human rights lawyer / civil servant, which is a VERY different think. No charity would be given, no stone would be left unturned to root out the evil.

At least, that would be my prediction. It would be a very effective false-flag operation if anyone could manufacture such a scandal.

Yeah, I think the hard part would be doing a convincing foreign accent consistently.

Maybe it would easier to go to a different European country, less chance of getting found out if you aren't among Germans. Then go back to Germany a few years later.

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