There’s a certain technique often used by journalists, one designed to get you not thinking, but feeling. It involves opening an article with a human-interest story, and it’s figuring prominently right now with the illegal-migration controversy. It may go something like this:
Lupe entered the United States as a wide-eyed child from Mexico, having high hopes and dreaming bold dreams. Growing up in Arizona, she toiled as a maid to support her family. But using a false document to land a job resulted in a felony conviction, making Lupe ineligible for DACA; any path to legalization was closed to her. Now in her 30s, Lupe must endure the continuous fear of deportation. She has been robbed of opportunities her peers take for granted, such as driver’s licenses or college aid. Once a hard-working immigrant, Lupe is now an outcast, one of America’s modern-day lepers.
Heart Over Head
Of course, the idea is to engage your emotions and not your intellect. You’re supposed to identify with Lupe and not identify policy-specific imperatives. It’s not supposed to occur to you that Lupe isn’t an “immigrant,” as stated above, but a “migrant” at best. (The former term implies entry via a legal process.) You’re not supposed to think about illegal-alien crime and its many American victims. You’re not supposed to contemplate the strain on resources and infrastructure, such as schools and hospitals. You’re not supposed to wonder about how the billions of dollars illegals cost our system affect our ability to help fellow citizens, such as veterans. It’s not supposed to dawn on you that deportation isn’t punishment. As with children who’ve run away from home, it’s merely the returning of people to where they’re meant to be.
You’re not supposed to trouble over the cultural and political implications of absorbing millions of sometimes unassimilable aliens. No, you’re not supposed to consider facts, figures, realities, or statistics at all. You’re not to realize that making policy for 343 million people based on one person’s situation ignores that the “good of the many outweighs the good of the few.” You’re only supposed to identify with Lupe. You’re to be governed by your tears, not Truth; by what momentarily feels good, not what is good.
Hellbound and Down 