Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Ethan Connelly
One way that assumptions of difference help sustain economic disparities that have led to migration movements is via the “our country against their country” mentality. Due to the common mentality that one shares more similarities with every individual that resides in their country than they do with any individual in another country, a dynamic is created that is similar to teams competing in a sport. This idea is emphasized when President Trump is quoted as saying, “But we have strong borders and really are tough, and early actions have really been proven to be 100 percent right. We went out, we’re doing everything in our power to keep the sick and infected people from coming into our country.” President Trump notes that the United States borders are strong, which implies the level of difficulty that a non-United States citizen faces in their attempt to travel to the United States. Additionally, by saying that there is a major attempt being made to keep the sick and infected people from coming into “our country”, there is an implication of dehumanization regarding those sick and infected people.
The implication of dehumanization is further supported by incidents such as the one that recently occurred in London where a 23-year old Chinese man was brutally assaulted by several adults, unprovoked, who said that they didn’t want his disease. This seems to tie well with President Trump’s argument that, because they aren’t members of our country, it is not our responsibility to aid them and that we should keep “them” away. This reinforces the assumptions of difference and further emphasizes the significance of “borders”. The, what seem in many cases to be arbitrary, “borders” decide who many people view as being their allies as opposed to their enemies.
However, the coronavirus issue has exposed what level of individuality borders really do give a country. Despite President Trump’s claim that the “United States borders are strong” and the feelings of individuality that might give many United States citizens, the other New York Times article discusses how the coronavirus had first negatively affected China’s economy, and as a result, is negatively affecting every country’s economy that has association with China, including the United States. This completely undermines President Trump’s claim of strong borders, showing that they have little to no meaning when it comes to dependence on another country’s economy and the repercussions of when their economy struggles. I believe that the contradictions are ridiculous. It is silly to attempt to build a following of people that neglect the world outside of their own country, especially when their country’s economy is dependent on the rest of the world. It creates a feeling of individuality that doesn’t actually exist.
The alternatives to notions of difference and borders that Urrea proposed, specifically the the importance of treating those in other countries as individuals with individual stories rather than judging based on pre-establish assumptions, seems viable. I think it would be very difficult for many, as the concept of borders and the concept of people on opposite sides of those borders being drastically different from one another is deeply ingrained in many cultures worldwide. However, it’s not impossible and I believe it could result in a much larger sense of community, beyond the countries in which we live.