Urobte Ameriku opäť skvelou (Slovak) – Make America Great Again
Ready or not MAGA hats, t-shirts and banners will be resurfacing again in preparation for the U.S. Presidential Election.
Whether you agree or not, the above slogan speaks to Duffy’s comment. “Our analysis of Donald Trump’s success in the United States showed how ‘nativism’ –the sense that your own people, those born in the country, should come first – drove the president’s support more than any other single factor”, p. 87. [1]
In a backlash to globalism, politicians are getting political milage out of the political football called Immigration. The return to isolationism and the severing of international connectivity is part of the delusional palette that is being embraced by the GOP.
In the U.S. alone, immigration legislative action has been stymied for the last 20 years. It is only through the Presidential Executive orders that any movement has occurred and even then, those orders are in constant battle. For instance (December,2022), “The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling Tuesday, granted a GOP request to prevent the winding down of the pandemic border restrictions known as Title 42…[2] They went on to say, “The “current border crisis is not a COVID crisis,” Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in his dissent. “And courts should not be in the business of perpetuating administrative edicts designed for one emergency only because elected officials have failed to address a different emergency. We are a court of law, not policymakers of last resort.”[3]
The U.S. is not the only country that has this struggle. Duffy states, in Chapter 4, “Disquiet about immigration, religion, and integration has helped shape the political debate in every recent European election, from the French presidential election in 2017 to the Italian general election in 2018. Just about every county in Europe has at least one high-profile, extreme political party that has immigration and broader cultural concerns at the heart of its offer… [4]
According to Duffy, two topics combine to demonstrate how “Why We’re Wrong About Nearly Everything.” Immigration and religion, he states, are two of the most divisive issues in the world today. Emotions are high, and our delusions, not just about the scale but the nature of minority populations, are frightening. p. 87.[5]
Combining these two topics, many U.S. churches are uncommitted to the refugee plight. As Cindy Wu writes in A Better Country,
“The nations have come to America, creating a tremendous opportunity for us to live out our faith and commitment to Christ. Yet in a 2016 Lifeway survey, pastors revealed that their churches have a sense of fear about refugees coming to the US (46%) and some (13%) did not believe Christians have a responsibility to care sacrificially for refugees and foreigners.” [6]
Despite the fact that there is biblical mandate to deal compassionately with the alien amongst us, Many U.S. Churches have become politicized on the topic of immigration. Matthew Soren’s and Stephen Bauman write,
“Scholar Walter Kaiser notes that the Old Testament warns “no fewer than thirty-six times of Israel’s obligations to aliens, widows and orphans. Most important here, Israel’s obligation is to be motivated by the memory that they had been aliens in Egypt.” [7]
Groups like the George Bush Institute, have produced policy recommendations called “The White Papers” to draw legislators to the economic pluses of immigrants in the U.S. [8]
However, Duffy states, “It used to be assumed in some political circles that you just needed to put the facts out (for example, on immigration’s net benefit to the economy) and people would come round to a ‘sensible’ view as result, p. 107. [9]
Unfortunately, according to Duffy, use of just the sensible view has not been successful. He writes, “This has been rightly discredited, as the power of identity, ideology, and partisanship have been brought to the fore. p. 107[10]
Duffy goes on to say that, “The emphasis then shifted to focus less on the facts and more on the narrative, connecting with people through stories and emotions…”P. 107[11]
Anecdotal stories by themselves have also failed to help people cross the perceptual gap between immigrants reality. Stories like “The Act of Sacrificial Love” https://worldrelief.org/the-act-of-sacrificial-love/ March 13, 2023, fail to move opinion.
Chivers writes, “Anecdotal evidence has a bad reputation, but it’s not inherently wrong.” [12]
Duffy adds, “We remember vivid anecdotes far more readily than boring statistics. And some stories are more attractive to the human brain than others, particularly those that play on our sensitivity to threats or danger – and that is often how discussions of immigration are framed in the media and politics. Our delusions about immigration are systemic, not due solely to media or political misdirection on the one hand or our own wrong thinking on the other, but a result of these two groups of effects interacting,” p.90.
Immigration statistics are cited constantly by both parties and with pictures of asylum seekers rushing to the south Texas border gates, this has caused a visual and numerical “anchor” in the minds of the public. Duffy states, “According to research by psychologists Kahneman and Tversky, we are influenced by previously provided information, and this can have a powerful impact on us, even when that information is irrelevant, p.102.[13]
Duffy’s Conclusion.
As in all things, balance is required. Duffy ends chapter 4 saying. “We’re approaching a more balanced position, where both story and facts should be recognized as important to the beliefs that people hold. This is a good thing, not just practically but also for the type of society we want in the future,” p. 108.
Amen.
[1] Bobby Duffy, Why We’re Wrong about Nearly Everything: A Theory of Human Misunderstanding, First US edition (New York: Basic Books, 2019).
[2] Joel Rose, “Supreme Court Allows Border Restrictions for Asylum-Seekers to Continue for Now,” NPR, December 27, 2022, sec. National, https://www.npr.org/2022/12/27/1144475541/supreme-court-decision-title-42-migrants-asylum.
[3] Ibid. Rose.
[4] Duffy, Why We’re Wrong about Nearly Everything, 2019. p.87.
[5] Duffy, p. 87.
[6] Cindy M. Wu, A Better Country: Embracing the Refugees in Our Midst, Second (Littleton: William Carey Publishing, 2022), 39.
[7] Stephan Bauman, Seeking Refuge: On the Shores of the Global Refugee Crisis (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2016).
[8] “Welcoming Immigrants Policy Recommendations | George W. Bush Presidential Center,” accessed January 16, 2023, https://www.bushcenter.org/publications/welcoming-immigrants-policy-recommendations.
[9] Bobby Duffy, Why We’re Wrong about Nearly Everything: A Theory of Human Misunderstanding, First US edition (New York: Basic Books, 2019), p.87.
[10] Duffy, 107.
[11] Duffy, 107.
[12] Tom Chivers and David Chivers, How to Read Numbers: A Guide to Statistics in the News (and Knowing When to Trust Them) (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2021),15.
[13] Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow, 1st ed (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011).
About the Author
Russell Chun
interlinkt.org is now ready for your Refugee Resettlement needs. 15 tasks, languages ESL plans coming6 responses to “Urobte Ameriku opäť skvelou (Slovak) – Make America Great Again”
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Hi Russell, Thanks for this post highlighting your passion for immigration. I liked your final quote by Duffy, “We’re approaching a more balanced position, where both story and facts should be recognized as important to the beliefs that people hold. This is a good thing, not just practically but also for the type of society we want in the future,” p. 108. Speaking of balance, how do you manage the anecdotal stories with the facts? I am assuming stories and facts are used to support both sides of the issue and charged with a lot of emotion.
Hi Jenny,
Thanks for your comments. My short answer? I reformatted the problem. In short, rather than dwelling on positive/negative anecdotes, rather than harping on the positive/negative statistics I reformatted the problem to PROVIDING a tool that serves the church in responding to the Biblical Mandate of serving the International Newcomer.
In another way I am taking: Biblical directives + Anecdotes (positive) + Statistics (positive) + Interlinkt.
During Covid I saw how churches with the right biblical mindset gathered round a “step forward”- meaning the USDA Farmers to Family Food Program. We fed over 280,000 people. The CHURCHES (all colors) needed a jumpstart, some activity that would allow them to be proactive. Parabolani are risk takers. There is a strong parabolani gene in our U.S. churches, we don’t need to wait for our three branches of government to come up with a systemic rehaul of immigration. We have to and can do something now… “love” one by one. My prayer is that Interlinkt can be one tool that will help churches “saddle up.”
Shalom….Russ
Hi, Mr. Chun. Immigration is the main issue that our Micronesian communities starting from the U.S. Territories of the Northern Marians Islands to the State of Hawaii and all the way to the mainland USA. It is not that they do not let the Micronesians into this country, they do let them in. The main issue is through equity.
For example, a rich boy cannot just invite his poor friend to play a round of basketball game without giving him a pair of basketball shoe that fits or showing him first how the game is played. Through the Compact of Free Association between the Federated States of Micronesia and the United States of America, Micronesians are allowed to come to the United States of America and reside, go to school, and even work. That is very special! We are taught how to play the game; we are told we could enjoy these privileges. However, the pair of shoes given is either too small or too big. We need a pair that fits good so we can play fairly. Just to be specific for an example, we are invited to come to US for school, we are not eligible for most of the financial assistance that can help an individual pay his/her education. We work hard to earn our living and then decided to buy a house, we were given hard time or discriminated against. Even buying or leasing a vehicle, we cannot get better ones just because we are not citizens of the USA. Of course, they do not tell us this directly because it does not look good, but they make it very hard.
Well, sorry I kind of get carried away. But thanks Russ for the postings.
Hey Russell, I always love your passion! I have an easy question. what do you feel is the answer to the immigration problem in the United States?
Hi Todd,
In my Section #2 Essay I wrote.
The tension of immigration today in the United States, begins with the words “We the people of the United States” in the Declaration of Independence (1776). Initially, the term people meant only those considered white or of Caucasian ancestry, the 1790 Naturalization Act – Excluded non-white people from eligibility to naturalize.
With that being said…Matthew Soren’s and Stephen Bauman write, Scholar Walter Kaiser notes that the Old Testament warns “no fewer than thirty-six times of Israel’s obligations to aliens, widows and orphans. Most important here, Israel’s obligation is to be motivated by the memory that they had been aliens in Egypt.
Bottom Line: Like the advent of wars, I believe we will have wars till fulfillment of Revelation. That means I don’t think we will ever be without the refugee problem. The bible gives us guidance that we are to care for them…also till the fulfillment of Revelation. Sadness…
My NPO will provide a tool (one of many) that may help us. My title – REFUGEE INTEGRATION – THE 1ST 30 DAYS OF U.S. RESETTLEMENT. My answer is Interlinkt, a telphone app that empower the refugee volunteer and inform the refugee.
Hey Mr. Russell! Oh, I loved your entire response, especially the part about since we will have wars until the end of time, we will have refugees! Beautiful…well said and I love it! I’m liking Interlinkt too! I’m looking forward to your NPO! Man, I love you bro!!!