por José de la Isla
HOUSTON – Some academics, when they rethink how we look at an idea, refer to a “new narrative.” This is kinda a no-fault way not to apologize but to change the storyline. It’s also called “reframing,” sometimes. People in the political arena do it all the time.
For instance, Sarah Palin didn’t quit as Alaska’s governor but refused to become a lame-duck just to travel and draw a paycheck. It was, heck, a selfless act: “I’m not putting Alaska through that,” she said. After having promised “efficiencies and effectiveness,” she was just delivering on her word.
New narrative, reframing.
But sometimes, there’s no framing at all. And without an interpreter or a context, some information feeds the devil in us. We think the worst.
Take for example how much has been made of a Zogby International Poll a couple months ago that reported one-third of all Mexicans wanted to come to the United States.
Since one of our national characteristics is our love-fear relationships (since the times of the Puritans), here was a finding that appealed to our sense of danger, something to pout about. It was fuel for those who distort data to stoke anti-reform fears. It soaks the mind in a brine which makes it seem doing anything is like doing everything wrong.
The problem with that is as stand-alone opinion, it’s just plain wrong-headed, even if the data are accurate. That one was validated by a Pew Research Center poll.
The narrative feeds the belief that everyone else in the world who is having a hard time wants to come here. And we don’t want “our” jobs and “our” neighborhoods displaced by others. We are the insiders, they are the outsiders.
But how does that square with the opening line of a Dec. 19 article in The Economist: “For the first time in history, across much of the world, to be foreign is a perfectly normal condition.” Or put another way, it’s not all about you and the way it was.
According to the Gallup polling organization, about 700 million, or 16 percent of
the world’s population, want to move to another country. Of these, 210 million would choose a European destination, 165 million the U.S., 45 million Canada, and 10 million would choose Singapore.
Our narrative suggests that the 700 million are the “others,” and not us. It presupposes people mostly want in here. It does not tell us that we also want out.
Another Zogby poll blows a hole in the old interpretation. It fi nds 25 percent of the present generation of U.S. 18-to-29-year-olds believe they will live a signifi cant part of their lives in another country. Zogby calls them and the new attitudes and perspectives arising from an internationally conscious generation, First Global citizens.
It seems that as this country begins to think about immigration as part of the public policy agenda for Washington, a Ground Hog’s Day phenomenon will take hold. In the movie by that name, the events of that day are repeated over and over. The same thing happens when the same old yammerers take the mike and say the same old nasty things about others.
This is the narrative that needs a new scenario. The play must be reframed.
It helps to think of our country as one place, some of us call it home, where people come and go, and we are replenished by the movement of humanity. Take.
Then in the next scene. we who are a little over the hill join our sons and daughters in attitude and perspective as First Global citizens. It’s a wrap.
[José de la Isla writes a weekly commentary for Hispanic Link News Service. His latest digital book, sponsored by The Ford Foundation, is available free at www.DayNightLifeDeat hHope.com. E-mail him at joseisla3@yahoo.com.]
