Saturday, November 2, 2024

How Americans see foreigners

 I grew up in Texas, which was hardly a place of love and harmony among different kinds of people. But a lot of immigrants are in this country because the Texas border has always been leaky, if not porous.

Workers from Mexico and Central America came to Texas because the businesspeople who were members of the chamber of commerce and all the civil clubs hired them. These bastions of the community might cluck their tongues over “illegal” immigrants, but they relied on them.

That’s the reality I grew up with. I’m baffled by the frenzied hatred of immigrants that’s on display at Trump’s rallies.

I don’t understand it. But it made me think of Hoffer’s line: 

 

The Americans are poor haters in international affairs because of their innate feeling superiority over all foreigners. ... It is of interest that the backward South shows more xenophobia than the rest of the country. Should Americans begin to hate foreigners wholeheartedly, it will be an indication that they have lost confidence in their own way of life.

 

• Source: Eric Hoffer, The True Believer; Time Incorporated, 1963, p. 100. If you know the book by sections, the quotation is from §73.

2 comments:

  1. From my small corner of Scotland I am hoping for the best for your very large country, though with the same foreboding as I felt in 2017. I do dip in to your blog to give some sense of balance to The News, which of course gives only the hideous headlines. So, thank you for the blog which is a great stabiliser and resource for writing new to me - A Sand County Almanac and Donald Hall - among others that I've enjoyed. Have you come across Inger Christensen’s long poem Alphabet, a remarkable work and my current "find"

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  2. Hi, Jude. Sorry I missed your note until now. I have not heard of "Alphabet," but I'm a fan of long poems and will try to find it. I've visited Inveraray and love Norman MacCaig, so I'm curious about your corner of Scotland. Thank you for your kind words.

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