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Need for a New Narrative on both Immigration and democracy

part 1

Alfredo Bravo de Rueda

    Culture gives context to the concepts we manage every day, from immigration to democracy. As a context, it provides them connotations that can deter or make easier the rationalization of a situation in which a concept clashes with our values. And yes, the culture is made of conflicting narratives from which one emerges victorious and becomes dominant, the narrative that our brain triggers each time we get in contact with the concept.
    This essay will try to present the reasons why constructive narratives on immigration and democracy have been unable to deter xenophobic and authoritarian narratives, how xenophobic and authoritarian narratives are closely related, and what we can do about that.

    First of all, let’s start with the fact that our brain is more comfortable processing reality through narratives than through ‘hard data, as William J. Bernstein acknowledges in ‘The Delusion of Crowds.’ In his work, Bernstein studies from Apocalyptic delusions to financial bubbles as he assesses that statement. And though all the cases presented in ‘The Delusion of Crowds’ imply exuberant expectations born out of false premises, let’s make clear that a narrative doesn’t necessarily have to start with a falsehood. Jesus Christ’s parables are an example of narratives that have set moral precepts about which we can’t state a conclusive declaration of truthfulness or falsehood even if their specific content depends on the filter of interpretation. And narratives don’t have to be necessarily based on falsehoods. In fact, a narrative could be just a more friendly way of presenting a correct postulate that, otherwise, would have been dismissed in favor of a false narrative for precisely the reason brandished by Bernstein: few people inform their actions by the rational analysis of ‘hard data.’

    Now, myths, as concluded by Mircea Eliade, are foundational narratives. The protagonists of the myth, like the god, the demigod, or the culture hero, are not human beings and appear at the beginning of time, in the sacred history, not in the profane history (which lacks a perfect model). It’s the hero’s role (and especially the role of the culture hero) to connect both worlds in an act that is ‘real and significant,’ an act that through the ritual brings the sacred into the profane. In the myth, the hero is not an ordinary human. The hero completes the Creation as it was intended to be. Nevertheless, in our nowadays profane world, Eliade acknowledges that the role of connecting those foundational narratives with our perception of reality falls on popular culture (and he even mentions the movies in particular). Our culture camouflages myths and uses the myths’ motifs, to allow man to escape his time and reach that primordial time that happened before things started to turn worse. In others words, it allows man to recreate history on a more perfect pattern. On the other hand, ‘if the world is to be lived in, it must be founded and no world can come to birth in the chaos of the homogeneity and relativity of profane space.’ More, when Robert Ellwood explores the positions of Jung, Campbell, and Eliade with respect to the mythic role of the hero, he concludes that ‘Above all, one felt in these writers a distinctive mood of world-weariness, a sense that all has gone gray—and, just beneath the surface, surging, impatient eagerness for change: for some tremendous spasm, emotional far more than intellectual, based far more on existential choice than on reason, that would recharge the world with color and the blood with vitality. Perhaps a new elite, or a new leader capable of making “great decisions” in the heroic mold of old, would be at the helm.’
    Tito Ferguson, also notices that, in his description of the hero’s journey, Joseph Campbell explains that ‘The archetypes to be discovered and assimilated are precisely those that have inspired, throughout the annals of human culture, the basic images of ritual, mythology, and vision.’
    In conclusion, myths are more ingrained in our brains than rational analysis and are composed of foundational narratives that explain how the hero, through his feats, brings order and knowledge, so displacing chaos and uncertainty from the profane world. In old myths, the hero, a god or a demigod himself, is the linkage between the sacred and the profane, but nowadays, in our profane world, the hero can be a human being who with his bravery, his cunning, or his teachings helps ordinary humans take the world to the situation where it should have always been, situation from which it deviated as a result of the intervention of chaos. That is why, different from some misguided interpretations that have become dominant in entertainment and which see the hero’s transformation as the narrative’s raison d’être, it’s the transformation of the world as a result of the hero’s intervention what should be at the center of nowadays narratives.

    Now, let’s get a bit closer to the issues of our interest: immigration and democracy. You may agree or disagree with Thomas Piketty’s recommendations or ideological inclinations, but there is no way you can disagree with the reams of statistical data supporting his diagnosis. In ‘Capital and Ideology,’ Piketty explains how the political world, as it was understood before the period between the New Deal and World War II, was not the world as it was understood from the 80s on and how new political realignments took place in consequence. In the 30s and 40s, social democracies sold a narrative in which state intervention could play a beneficial role in the general welfare and even the members of the working class, who in those times blamed themselves for their own unemployment and supported balanced budgets according to Gallup polls taken during the Great Depression, ended up embracing the new role of government in detriment of the rough individualism of the 1920s. But then, as we approached the 80s, Social Democratic parties became the parties of the well-educated. As such, they started embracing reforms that put their own interests before those of that same working class for whose interests they claimed to speak. The resulting disappointment, that chaos and uncertainty, left enough room for far-right parties to compete for the working class preferences in the mainstream and if immigration has risen to be one of the top issues, that is because, for far-right parties or wings, xenophobia is an issue so important that they are not willing to find middle points. From Hungary to France to the United States, Orban’s, LePen’s and Trump’s bases have been willing to forgive their leaders for unfulfilled promises on everything but on immigration. Immigration is the issue on which they are not willing to negotiate. Their narratives for the general public don’t highlight immigration though. When immigration becomes salient in the mainstream, it’s because of the many times we learn of the gruesome ways the far-right is willing to use when it comes to dealing with immigrants. Yet, when directed to the mainstream, their immigration narratives are limited to rationalizing those gruesome ways (especially through dehumanization). When they direct their message to the general public, the narrative they highlight is the public’s disappointment with the traditional parties, which have come to symbolize the chaos and increasing uncertainty resulting from the post-70s status quo, in which average Americans no longer believe their children will have a better life than they themselves live. As we are embarked on that trend, should it surprise us then that, as these parties and wings, characterized by clear authoritarian traits, rise, the salience of democracy wanes in comparison to other issues and that many feel nostalgia for idealized, mythic versions of the past?

    Now, do we have grounds to state that the current narrative on immigration has been counterproductive and that the narrative on democracy is simply nowhere to be found? Yes. Yes indeed.
    Let’s start with the facts and then we’ll proceed to their interpretation. In a recent article for The Atlantic, Reihan Salam (And, regardless of what you think of his conservative inclinations or of Piketty’s socialist inclinations, Salam quotes research made by reputable sources), he finds that although the general public is abandoning (or, at least, is more willing to rationalize) the pain of low-skilled immigrants, their sympathies now rest more clearly with skilled-immigrants and, as the main reason for the business sector to support immigration reform has been its interest in skilled workers, Salam recommends to adopt ‘Selectivism’ (To secure better immigration conditions for skilled immigrants and, in exchange, to surrender low-skilled immigrants to the appetites of the far-right). And though attitudes toward immigration have high variances, the matter of the fact is that right now that appreciation is closer to where the public’s attitudes are. But it’s not just the general public. A recent Wall Street Journal poll shows that Hispanic voters now are not only evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans on the top issues (a level of support that has surpassed the peak reached by Republicans in 2004, when the Republican Party was led by George Bush, to whom nobody could consider a xenophobe) but also more supportive of Republicans on immigration policies (Not just about border enforcement but also about immigration policies themselves, and this less than two years after the infamous spectacles of Children in Cages).
    On the other hand, the support for democracy doesn’t fare better and a recent survey by Pew Research only adds to the trend already documented by Piketty. Before Trump, the far right was cynical with respect to the system. With Trump, it realized it could win the White House. And that makes it much more dangerous.

    Said that, let’s explore why the immigration narrative is so bad:

    1. It has been directed to immigrants and in terms of the ideological preferences of the Abolish ICE Left without regard for the interests of the native-born or for the long-term consequences for immigrants themselves.
    As mentioned before, immigration is the main motivator for the far-right (while gerrymandering and their leverage in primaries is the source of their power). Yet, the core of their message to the mainstream is not about immigration but about the general public’s contempt for the establishment in both political parties. And when it comes to immigration, their narrative plays in different frequencies: one openly xenophobic, directed to their base, and one working as a low-level invitation to rationalize harsh enforcement-only policies (For instance, when they invoke the criminal alien’s victim’s suffering to rationalize a policy of collective punishment of all immigrants, against landscapers and nannies). In the latter case, the message is presented in terms of misleading information about the effects of immigration on the native-born in terms of jobs, wages, or crime while the pro-immigrant narrative is still presented in terms of how immigration reform is going to benefit immigrants without even mentioning the effects on the native-born or trying to prevent any possible future backlash. And though there is serious research about the positive though marginal effect of immigration on crime, jobs and wages, this is the ‘hard data’ to which, as Bernstein notices, nobody pays attention, ‘hard data’ that the framers of the current immigration narrative have failed to translate into a more positive immigration narrative in terms of the needs of the native-born. Add to that how low the salience immigration has been as an issue for the average native-born and you will be able to understand why, if you see the trend of Trump’s job approval since mid-2017 until June 1st, 2020 (when the trend is broken after Trump expelled from Lafayette Square, D.C. pacific racial-justice protesters only to make room for his own photo op), not even the scandal of Children in Cages (an act of cruelty comparable only to the mass deportations during the Eisenhower and Hoover administrations and which were more widely visible since mid-2018), could make a dent on that steady but rising trend. This means that, regardless of how reprehensible these policies were, Americans always found a way to rationalize them in a way they could not rationalize the Lafayette Square photo op.
    2. It has failed to become part of a bigger narrative that addresses the needs of Hispanic or non-immigrants.
    Take into account that immigration, as Naleo polls have shown for years, has never been at the top of Hispanics’ priorities, and yet, as Romney learned the hard way in 2012, a candidate adopting anti-immigrant postures used to move Latinos to vote against him. That changed in 2016 with Trump though and, in case you think that that was just an anomaly, that happened again in 2020. And yes, Biden neglected operations on the ground directed to Latino voters. And yes, he also neglected a message about the economy, which was much more important for this demographic than the pandemic, especially among those not solidly leaning Democrat. And yes, there are structural variables also affecting the attitudes towards immigration (basically, demography and changes in the labor market). But the matter of the fact is that the immigration narrative failed to even make Latinos supporting Trump feel guilty. Worse, because Democrats’ sympathy for immigrants is partially based on the perception of its importance for Hispanics, these results are leading some Democrats to see immigration as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the far-right on other issues. This would be a huge mistake for Democrats as the experience of moderates and liberals in Europe trying to cut deals with their far-right has shown because that has given the far-right an additional reason to stay in electoral politics. Yet, for Democrats, that chip has clearly shown to be on the table.
    3. The dominance of multiculturalism in the immigration narrative is not helping
    To make things worse, the immigration narrative has been tainted by a particular version of multiculturalism that, as noticed by Erick Kaufmann, conceives cultures as watertight compartments where, different from the ‘Melting Pot’ allegory, not even the culture of the host country is given a leading role. This has only pushed to the arms of the far-right those segments of the population that, regardless of race or ethnicity, see in the survival of the mainstream culture a guarantee that order may eventually return to keep chaos at bay and bring back the good old years. An immigration narrative that reassures these people that the mainstream culture will continue being the anchor of their hopes could lead them to defect from Trump’s base and yet, no effort has been made in that direction. Actually, according to ANES surveys, a significant part of Hispanics have felt alienated from the Democratic Party just because they prioritize integration over multiculturalism. And another significant part, which is still in the Democratic Party, does consider the Hispanic identity very important in their lives but without denying the idea of a ‘Melting Pot.’ In other words, these two groups’ preferences are not incompatible and yet some have felt so uncomfortable with this new conception of multiculturalism to which the dominant pro-immigration narrative tries to please that they have preferred to defect to the new Republican Party, the Republican Party led by Trump, even if that means turning their backs on fellow Hispanics who are immigrants.
    And yet, despite the havoc created by this counterproductive immigration narrative and its implications in the more wider discussion about democracy, this point has not been taken seriously by other liberal activists. Define American, the only one organization that has made the right questions about this issue (‘How do we create a culture in which we see immigrants as people deserving of dignity? These policies don’t make sense if we don’t see immigrants as people.’) has nevertheless extracted the wrong conclusions (That what we need is a narrative that shows immigrants in different circumstances, as defined by race, sexual preference, etc).

    And what about the narrative for democracy? It’s simply nowhere to be found. Let’s take a look at the four most popular series of recent times: In ‘Game of Thrones’ the decisions are made by medieval kings and lords and when finally democracy is mentioned in the last episode by Sam Tarly, one of the secondary characters, all the protagonists laugh at his proposal of implementing one in Westeros. ‘Stranger Things’ and ‘13 Reasons Why’ don’t deal with politics. And in ‘The Walking Dead,’ the series is centered on decisions made by strong chieftains who behave more like warlords.
    In other words, if what you want is to see an entertaining series about a hero who leads his followers through a democratic journey (like in ‘Norma Rae’), you are out of luck. And this happens precisely in times when the far-right is getting electorally stronger and, culturally, is becoming mainstream.



 

    1      William J. Bernstein, ‘The Delusions Of Crowds: Why People Go Mad in Groups’ (https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/56240358)
    2      Mircea Eliade ‘The Sacred and the Profane’ (https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/28024)
    3      Robert Ellwood ‘The Politics of Myth, A Study of C. G. Jung, Mircea Eliade, and Joseph Campbell’ (https://sunypress.edu/Books/T/The-Politics-of-Myth).
    4      As a digression, in the particular case of Jung, let’s not forget the way the chaos of World War II and the nuclear weapons used in 1945 shook his faith in humanity and made him embrace individualism and as well as decry collectivist ideologies.
    5      Tito Ferguson, ‘Mircea Eliade and Joseph Campbell’ (http://religionnerd.com/2011/05/29/mircea-eliade-and-joseph-campbell/)
    6      Regardless of whether we can establish, as Campbell does, a similar path between the heroes of different cultures (and there is plenty of evidence in that direction), what is true is that heroes, culture heroes, and tricksters are present in all cultures across continents.
    7       Thomas Piketty, ‘Capital and Ideology’ (https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674980822)
    8       Interestingly, Piketty can extend his analysis satisfactorily even to India, with caste playing the role of class and Islamophobia playing the role of xenophobia.
    9       Reihan Salam, ‘Conservatives can win by embracing ‘Selectionism’’ (https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/06/us-republican-immigration-strategy-selectionism/661310/)
    10       https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/Baseline%20Nationwide%20Poll%20Nov%202021.pdf
    11       https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2021/12/07/global-public-opinion-in-an-era-of-democratic-anxiety/
    12       This is as absurd as a salesman trying to convince you to buy an item basing his pitch not on the benefits that item is going to offer you as a customer but on the fact that the salesman will earn a commission on the sale and that the salesman has already plans for that commission.
          On the other hand, childish slogans like ‘Abolish ICE’ and ‘No Detentions’ are launched without regard for any future backlash that could bring the horrors of the Trump era back to the lives of millions of immigrants.
    13       https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_trump_job_approval-6179.html
    14       Identity Crisis, John Sides, Michael Tesler and Lynn Vavreck; Princeton University Press, 2018), p. 184 (https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691196435/identity-crisis). As ANES polls show, Hispanics for whom a Hispanic identity is important, are more receptive to a pro-immigrant message. Also, Haney Lopez, Ian ‘Trump exploited status anxiety among Latino voters,’ Washington Post 11/08/2020 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/trump-exploited-status-anxiety-within-the-latino-community/2020/11/06/3164e77c-1f9f-11eb-b532-05c751cd5dc2_story.html). Also, Hernandez, Arelis R., ‘Why Texas’s overwhelmingly Latino Rio Grande Valley turned toward Trump’ (https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/texas-latino-republicans/2020/11/09/17a15422-1f92-11eb-ba21-f2f001f0554b_story.html).
    15       As seen recently in negotiations between Republicans and Democrats about new funds to deal with Covid.
    16       Eric Kaufmann, ‘Whiteshift: Populism, immigration and the future of white majorities’ (https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/a-political-scientist-defends-white-identity-politics-eric-kaufmann-whiteshift-book)
    17       https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/11/entertainment/immigration-tv-shows/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+CNN+-+Top+Stories%29
    18       Jose Antonio Vargas, on Latinos being over-represented on productions with respect to Asian and African undocumented migrants: “Correcting imbalances like these is something Define American tries to do in its work. We need different stories so that we can get to a point where the narrative has been created that this is an issue that impacts all races and ethnicities.” (https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/11/entertainment/immigration-tv-shows/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+CNN+-+Top+Stories%29)
    19       https://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/Reactions-Sam-Suggesting-Democracy-Game-Thrones-46179003
    20       https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079638/

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