When I hear stories like the one that’s hit the current news cycle–kids being detained in cages and separated from their parents after having entered the country illegally — I have learned to suspend judgment until I get the whole picture. This comes from finally discerning, after years of taking sides and identifying with one side of the polarity, that there are always two sides to any contentious issue, and the truth lies hidden somewhere in the vast middle.
Still, mainstream media sources tend to slant their stories based on the side they identify with. And this slant is even more pronounced when we are dealing with testimonials from members of either of the dominant political parties.
The very reason this ‘kids in cages’ story has even come into public view is that the Left is trying to cast the Trump Administration in a bad light, based on their current ‘Zero Tolerance’ Immigration Policy.
The response from the Right? They were able to identify the photo below, which was used and shared as part of the criticism of Trump’s Zero Tolerance policy, as a photo taken in 2014 — while the country was under the Obama Administration. And so they are able to ‘put the heat’ back on the Left, not only insinuating that Democrats are misrepresenting evidence for political purposes, but also that they are guilty of what they are accusing the Republicans of.
For more insight into this, take a look at Joe Martino’s recent short video ‘Why are we just now hearing about children in cages?’, and his in-depth podcast ‘Don’t be fooled by politics.’
We’re Asking For It
The truth is, we as a collective can hardly complain if important social issues keep coming to us through the dense filter of polarized political theatre. As long as we as citizens continue to fundamentally identify with one or the other side of the polarity, politicians will continue — in essence, they don’t have much choice — to ‘play up to’ their base and excite and arouse them, so that they can maintain power and support.
Take a look at the dramatic exchange between ‘crime-fighting super-hero’ Donald Trump and ‘sanctity of life’ crusader Nancy Pelosi trying to stake their positions on the immigration debate:
The Immigration Issue
In effect, the issue of immigration in the United States has many facets and needs to be dealt with in a comprehensive way. Most people would agree that, as currently constituted, The United States has some right to a process to determine which people will and will not be permitted to live and work in the country. Most would also agree with the notion that all people should be treated with a certain level of dignity and respect.
Donald Trump’s recent Executive Order to end family separation at the border would seem like a step towards conciliation — though it is met by the other side with general scorn and skepticism, amidst questions about whether this will reunite the families that are currently separated. One side will argue that 500 children have been reunited since May, the other side will ask whether those people are still in custody or they have been freed. Democrats will say that Republicans don’t treat immigrants with any respect, Republicans will argue that Democrats are blocking funding that will allow for adequate living conditions for detained illegal immigrants.
Meanwhile, for as long as any of us have been following this issue, people continue to suffer and endure abuse in a broken system. It is such a systemic failure, would it be such a surprise to eventually discover that the system has always been broken — on purpose?
Let’s Leave The Theatre
As conscious and awakening citizens, our primary role here is to stop buying into to the exaggerations, omissions and outright falsities being propagated on both sides of the aisle. Our own discussions about immigration policy should not be dictated by this fabricated polarity, within which we have to self-identify with one side or the other. Let’s try to look beyond and see that there is a much more powerful force, pulling the strings of both sides of the debate, and maintaining a state of confusion and inaction.
Suggestions now coming out that the Mexican border immigration phenomenon has long been used as a cover for child trafficking may be the point we should really be keeping our eye on. Despite Donald Trump introducing the idea that the Democrats are ‘responsible’ for this, we have reason to believe that immigration policy from both sides has long been facilitating crimes being perpetrated by powers far above the Left/Right fray. And if we are prepared to read between and beyond the distraction, and investigate through the smoky veneer, we may soon become agents of significant change that our politicians could never be.