For example, one of the first images that emerges with a search of “migrant caravan news” is this one from the website Zero Hedge, a popular right wing blog, superimposing a conspiratorial analysis of an iconic photo of the caravan at the US southern border. This photo follows in a long tradition of conservative media sources reporting on current news as conspiracy; from the faking of the moon landing, to the Sandy Hook shooting being a fake tragedy populated with crisis actors orchestrated by anti-gun globalists, to the migrant caravan being a procession of criminals and gang members misrepresented as families by the liberal media (This American Life). One of the main differences between different news agencies’ reports about the migrant caravan is the evidence each chooses to highlight. Zero Hedge contributor Tyler Durden accuses the liberal media of “hiding” key evidence that that caravan consists of 65% males, while liberal politicians like Gavin Newsom tweet “There children are barefoot. In diapers. Choking on tear gas. Women and children who left their lives behind-- seeking peace and asylum-- were met with violence and fear” (Zerohedge). In the same news cycle, President Trump tweeted “many gang members and some very bad people are mixed into the migrant caravan headed to our southern border… our military is waiting for you” (Zerohedge). The double significance of these tweets is in the fact that these are both viewpoints held by politicians during a midterm election race hoping to say what their constituents want to hear. These same republican messages of being “tough on crime” and promoting “law and order” from the Nixon era have evolved into a modern xenophobic view of immigrants bringing crime, drugs, and being rapists. Unfortunately, the migrant caravan provided fodder to that fire.
Works Cited
Agrawal, AJ. What Do Social Media Algorithms Mean For You?. Forbes 20 April. 2016, https://www.forbes.com/sites/ajagrawal/2016/04/20/what-do-social-media-algorithms-mean-for-you/#e47507ca5152 Accessed 25 March 2019.
Glass, Ira, narrator. “Beware the Jabberwock”. This American Life, episode 670, NPR, 2019, https://www.thisamericanlife.org/670/beware-the-jabberwock.
Durden, Tyler. NBC Admits Migrant Caravan Predominantly Men. Zero Hedge 27 November 2018, https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-11-27/nbc-news-admits-migrant-caravan-65-men. Accessed 28 March 2019.
Migrant Caravan: What is it and Why Does it Matter? . BBC 26 November 2018. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-45951782. Accessed 27 March 2019.
I found the photo you used for this article quite shocking because if it did not have the writing and the arrows pointing out its apparent "falseness," I would have seen it in a completely different way. I am guilty of reading news sources that I agree with, and I find this problematic. If I was willing to put time into it, I would look at all of the different perspectives so that I could have a more well-rounded view of news. I agree with you that partisan polarization, especially in the news, is a problem because news agencies are too focused on their economic goals as an agency than on their goals as a source of news for the public. Instead of aspiring to relay the news in an honest and objective way, news agencies tend to fall on either side of the partisan line and every sentence they say has a liberal or conservative ring to it. In a way, this can be compared to the issue of NGOs' managerialism in Keshavjee's Blind Spot. Keshavjee argues that NGOs tend to answer too often to their donors' ideologies, and they neglect their initial humanitarian goals as they answer to the donors that they so desperately depend on. News agencies are like NGOs in this way, and we are their donors.
ReplyDeleteWhen thinking about borders, I find it interesting to conceptualize them as symbolic spaces. They are living in the in-between, half set in one country or state with one set of laws dictating their boundaries, and half in another country or state with a different set of rules. However, instead of the laws and morals of countries or states being doubly applied or enforced in these regions, it is almost as if they morph into something else entirely. Everyone caught in the middle finds themselves bridging two worlds distinct in culture and policy. Borders become a place where law is both overly enforced and violated at the same time. It is at borders where people become statistics, and humanitarian issues become politicized. In your article, you mentioned the backlash (from right leaning new sources) against the depiction of women and children on these caravans, as the majority of people crossing the border were young men. It has also been argued (by pro-immigration politicians) that immigrants have helped build this country by doing work no-one else is willing to do. Due to the fear of being deported, I have also heard the argument that immigrants commit less crime and less frequently use health services. Though these arguments may be true, it warrants the question of why we need to use this rhetoric in the first place. The stories of people displaced by war (often that America and other developed countries have initiated or funded), or threatened by gang violence is no longer enough to evoke compassion. Instead, immigration must be botched and marketed into something beneficial for our country, or villainized as something that will destroy it. People in this country are becoming so desensitized that they seemingly lose their humanity altogether on an issue that should not have to be politicized in the first place.
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