Why We Shouldn’t See Refugees as Huddled Masses
Media Images Portray Displaced People as Speechless and Without History
In recent months, the news media have broadcast striking images of refugees that prompt sympathy and assistance from well-meaning individuals and charitable organizations, and can even help persuade governments to act in a generous rather than mean-spirited manner. But repeated images of human suffering and distress also imply that refugees pose a challenge or uncontrollable threat to the countries they are seeking to enter, and over time carry the potential to make governments respond to public anxieties by pulling up the drawbridge, as if the state is a “fortress” that …
