Dehumanization: the Modern Day Fight-or-Flight Response to Cultural Difference
St. John argues in his book Outcasts United that when natives feel threatened by change to their culture, they oftentimes dehumanize outsiders as a way to protect the traditional way of life they have created. St. John first contributes to this argument in Part 1 of his book, when Mayor Swaney voices his concern for the controversy that debates if soccer, especially played by immigrants and refugees, should be played on the nicer public fields. This opinion became supported by most white residents in Clarkston and neighboring towns, so much so it received local media coverage. Specifically, what pushed Americans over the edge was a collection of Latino immigrants …show more content…
The sight of a large group of Latino men taking over a public space as if it were their own-to play a foreign-seeming game, no less, seemed to gall those Americans who were growing fed up with immigration, legal or otherwise” (P. 92). St. John’s writing exploits imagery of how soccer threatens American culture, apart from clearly stating it as a ‘conspicuous symbol of culture change’, but also by conjuring an image of ‘Latino men taking over a public space as if it were their own’. This claim connotes soccer as this specific image, one of tan skinned men aggressively abusing the town’s resources. The word choice that creates such a negative image, specifically the phrase ‘taking over’, is unsupported by the actual actions of newcomers as they do share the field and they do have the right to celebrate their culture in a new country. So why is something as concrete as a right suddenly becoming blurred and distorted? This ‘sight’ is an exaggeration, and exposes the threat Americans feel when someone non-white becomes a part of a community without immediately adopting American culture. This imagery association with soccer is what predisposes Americans to strip refugee and immigrant athletes of …show more content…
John highlights the urgent conflict regarding natives’ motivation that causes their racist and derogatory actions towards refugees; an argument that develops throughout the book. Another example of the causes and effects of dehumanization is in Part 3 of the story, when St. John introduces the ‘heated debate’ over America’s immigrant policy. He describes an unexpected federal search for illegal immigrants in Stillmore, a small Georgia town, causing over one hundred immigrants to face custody and hundreds more fleeing to nearby woods in intense fear. The most common job of immigrants and refugees at poultry processing plants is an important part of this ongoing controversy as though it somewhat helps immigrants and refugees provide for their families, though it offers sickening conditions and neglect for their employees, as St. John notes, “They offered low-paying, dangerous work in revolting conditions and at an unrelenting pace, work Americans seemed less willing to do that immigrants, at least for the wages offered...they were more compliant than American workers, less likely to file workers’ compensation claims or support union organization drives” (P. 225-227). This environment is forced upon newcomers to prevent them from standing up for themselves, as they could ‘file workers’ compensation claims or support union organization drives’. By forming groups or being well-off, in a native's view, would make a newcomer too successful, disrupting the
St. John argues in his book Outcasts United that when natives feel threatened by change to their culture, they oftentimes dehumanize outsiders as a way to protect the traditional way of life they have created. St. John first contributes to this argument in Part 1 of his book, when Mayor Swaney voices his concern for the controversy that debates if soccer, especially played by immigrants and refugees, should be played on the nicer public fields. This opinion became supported by most white residents in Clarkston and neighboring towns, so much so it received local media coverage. Specifically, what pushed Americans over the edge was a collection of Latino immigrants …show more content…
The sight of a large group of Latino men taking over a public space as if it were their own-to play a foreign-seeming game, no less, seemed to gall those Americans who were growing fed up with immigration, legal or otherwise” (P. 92). St. John’s writing exploits imagery of how soccer threatens American culture, apart from clearly stating it as a ‘conspicuous symbol of culture change’, but also by conjuring an image of ‘Latino men taking over a public space as if it were their own’. This claim connotes soccer as this specific image, one of tan skinned men aggressively abusing the town’s resources. The word choice that creates such a negative image, specifically the phrase ‘taking over’, is unsupported by the actual actions of newcomers as they do share the field and they do have the right to celebrate their culture in a new country. So why is something as concrete as a right suddenly becoming blurred and distorted? This ‘sight’ is an exaggeration, and exposes the threat Americans feel when someone non-white becomes a part of a community without immediately adopting American culture. This imagery association with soccer is what predisposes Americans to strip refugee and immigrant athletes of …show more content…
John highlights the urgent conflict regarding natives’ motivation that causes their racist and derogatory actions towards refugees; an argument that develops throughout the book. Another example of the causes and effects of dehumanization is in Part 3 of the story, when St. John introduces the ‘heated debate’ over America’s immigrant policy. He describes an unexpected federal search for illegal immigrants in Stillmore, a small Georgia town, causing over one hundred immigrants to face custody and hundreds more fleeing to nearby woods in intense fear. The most common job of immigrants and refugees at poultry processing plants is an important part of this ongoing controversy as though it somewhat helps immigrants and refugees provide for their families, though it offers sickening conditions and neglect for their employees, as St. John notes, “They offered low-paying, dangerous work in revolting conditions and at an unrelenting pace, work Americans seemed less willing to do that immigrants, at least for the wages offered...they were more compliant than American workers, less likely to file workers’ compensation claims or support union organization drives” (P. 225-227). This environment is forced upon newcomers to prevent them from standing up for themselves, as they could ‘file workers’ compensation claims or support union organization drives’. By forming groups or being well-off, in a native's view, would make a newcomer too successful, disrupting the