By: Lana Henderson

The first thing this text brings to the reader’s attention in the even use of the east vs. the west and create an idea of an us versus them. There a narrative that may be tied to certain events but are often framed through the media and affect the way that people interact with or think about other cultures. One of the biggest things that creates this problem is the lack of dialogue and understanding across the two cultures. There also needs to be conflict resolution due to the power of narrative there is a collective idea passed down through generations who haven’t even interacted with each other due to the way that people have been raised to feel about or thought about a culture before they ever got the basis to interact with these cultures for themselves. There are the words passed down through stories in social or political groups that pass down these narratives and derive them out of bits of truth such as taking one instance like 9/11 and painting that as the basis to judge Muslims. The longer these things become part of the narrative lifestyle of that community the longer it is inside and manifests in that community they are the shared feeling that creates unity in this area through creating a shared feeling toward an “other”. We must look past the retold stories and move into learning and living along those we consider the other to learn more about their true identity than the reinforced stereotypes. What are the hard decisions about immigration according to Frum that need to be taken in the US Do you agree? Is there a right level of immigration?

This article discusses immigration rates and the way that migration has changed not only in America but in other countries in the past century. There has been a shift in the number of refugees and immigrants that America took in the past and especially where these immigrants came from was a big part of the changing demographics. Today in populations of Europe though they may take in fewer actual numbers the percentage as compared to their population is much higher than that of the United States. Though immigrants have been a big part of the successful areas noted as Americans from fortune 500 companies to Nobel prize winners. Hilary Clinton in 2018 issued a warning to European cultures for them to be aware of the ways that large numbers of migrant population would affect them, and many citizens of these countries cited migration as problem. One third of British people said the reason they voted for exiting the EU was due to immigration. Especially since the inauguration of Trump the United States has also had a rise of immigration concerns and sentiment toward immigration. Though the author says that contrary to Trumps no immigration stance in a growing globalized world that is impossible the question isn’t yes or no migration it is how much? Those you pick can be either the basis to create a stronger more educated society or a society that places hostilities on each other and create social issues. There is a look at immigrants as either reinforcements or replacements due to many developed societies not reproducing at high enough rates to replace themselves. This has led to anxieties among Americans as feeling like strangers to their own country. This is due to a lot more mobilization between countries that within them, due to cost a citizen may not see the need to move from one state to another for opportunity but for an out of country immigrant the cost is nothing compared to the opportunity of life they may get.

There is a lot of discussion on immigrants coming in and stealing jobs but the reality for many whose “jobs have been stolen” it is clear that they are actually upskilling and getting better jobs though this is hard to track as unemployed people leave the labor force statistics. Due to this it may be true that the only ones reaping benefits from this labor shift are the wealthy within America not the low income. Though the money they bring in can be compared against the costs for taxpayers to pay for the social institutions that help them but when looking at the two one doesn’t outweigh the other. There is also a discussion of immigrants possibly having connection to safer America through lower suicide, drug abuse, alcohol use and crime rates in high immigrant communities though the media often makes it look otherwise. Companies who higher larger immigrant workers than native born workers are seen to have problems when it comes to providing safety for their workers. The author discusses how immigration needs to address as a system rather than a symbol. Many time family ties are what make the decision between who will transition from immigrant to citizen. The movement of long-term immigrants out of the country would serve no well purpose as they have become members of communities. Liberals need to change their tone on immigration according to the author because when they make claims of only being able to have reduced immigration with fascism will lead voters to vote for fascists if they see immigration as a main problem. Though Americans have a right to choose their peers they have also felt that the country is beginning to lose its right to be called the place of opportunity and the American dream as it seldom delivers and this a cornerstone of building a strong community native or immigrant.

Resources

Collom, Rachael. “A2 Government and Politics: Islam vs The West.” A2 Government and Politics, 7 Feb. 2016, http://rachaelsa2politicsblog.blogspot.com/2016/02/islam-vs-west.html.

Frum, David. “If Liberals Won’t Enforce Borders, Fascists Will.” The Atlantic, Apr. 2019. The Atlantic, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/04/david-frum-how-much-immigration-is-too-much/583252/.

Oprea, Megan G. “Is the U.S. Better at Assimilating Immigrants Than Europe?” The National Interest, 9 Aug. 2017, https://nationalinterest.org/feature/america-better-assimilating-immigrants-europe-21846.

TLAXCALA: The Failure of Western Narrative on Middle East</A>. http://tlaxcala-int.org/article.asp?reference=11024. Accessed 16 Apr. 2019.