American Studies Blog Post 11
Post and analyse any
TWO websites dealing with contemporary US border issues, one PRO, one ANTI
Latino immigration. Compare how they address the issues. Look for advocacy websites, with a strong point of
view, not news reports.
Anti: http://www.fairus.org ‘Federation for American Immigration Reform’ (FAIR)
Ethnicity and immigration has
always been difficult within America. As Campbell and Keane state: “the ethnic
mix of America is complex, consisting of indigenous peoples as well as
voluntary and involuntary immigrants around whom revolve question of religion,
allegiance and national pride.”
The anti immigration group, Federation for American Immigration Reform
(FAIR) are a “national, non-profit, public interest, membership organisation”
whose focus is to serve national interest on immigration policies. The group
has more than 250,000 members, where the group seek to help concerned citizens
with raising their voice on “sensible” immigration policies within America. The pro immigration group, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU),
are a group who work within “courts, legislatures and communities” who are
working to achieve the guarantee of individual rights and liberties within the
United States. They refer to themselves as the “nation’s guardian of liberty.”
Interestingly, both websites were published within a website
called ‘finding dulcinea’. Where the both sources were referred to as “valuable
sources of information” however, continues with, “any facts or statistics you
read are published to reinforce the group’s agenda.” After taking a brief look
at both websites, it is clear both address their views articulately and
structurally.
Both
groups have a tag line; the pro immigration groups being, ‘because freedom
can’t protect itself’ and anti immigration: ‘a policy that serves the interest
of the American People.” Both use
emotive language within this to engage with the reader. The pro immigration
group plays on the idea of immigrants not being able to support themselves,
where as the anti immigration group reinstates that the group is not aggressive
and only wishes the best for America. Similarly, looking at the language both
groups use within their campaigning, second person pronouns are used throughout,
to further engage with the reader. A key example of this within the pro
immigration website is ‘Action is where real change starts: with you.” This
stresses to the reader that they can have an opinion and be involved within the
campaigning. The anti immigration website also use this technique within the
question, “what can you do?”
The
Federation for American Immigration
Reform and American Civil Liberties
Union, use their logos as a way of addressing their issues. The FAIR use
the Statues of Liberty, which is known for its hope and opportunity to
immigrants, implicating why this idea may not be viewed as prominently now.
Referring back to Crevecoeur in 1957 who stated, ‘in
America individuals are melted into a new race of men’. The ACLU use an image
of the world, which has a less instant effect on the reader. Primarily the idea
of this could be that this image insinuates how big the world is and how
immigration effects everyone. Either way, both use images to convey their
address. This is carried on throughout their websites where they portray a
range of media ideas.
To reach to a younger audience, the intention to
draw them in by social media is prominent throughout. On both homepages of the
website, there is the option to be directed to the organisations social media
pages. This helps to address their issues to a larger audience and to keep
members and followers updated with relevant news. In addition, there are
options to become a member on both homepages, to sign up and demonstrate your
support.
As previously mentioned, both websites use a
clear and accessible structure, which offers a break down of their issues. By using
this technique the issues are easy to follow. Both website have a section for
“issues”, “about”, “action” and “donate”. Which covers all information
essentially needed to convey their arguments. However, the main differences
within this structure are two headings. In the American
Civil Liberties Union, there is a section named “stories” where there
are a variety of videos, which portray an emotional engagement as to why this
help is needed for immigrants. https://www.aclu.org/multimedia
(Here is the web link needed to watch some of these videos). In contrast to
this, the Federation for American
Immigration Reform convey their following and support under the section
“press”. Here the organisation state a variety of big newspapers, magazines and
television which conveys how broad their audience is, from CNN, NBS, the New
York Times and USA today – all very established.
A common technique further used by both
organisations is the use of statistics, as a way of supporting their arguments.
As a reader, factual evidence helps support a claim.
Both websites deal with two different issues with the border
of the U.S. Despite having completely different arguments in both, they use a
variety of the same techniques to address their issues. Interestingly, unlike
many other campaigners, their page features a lot of information other than
news reports. This helps gives a further insight on the campaigners themselves
and what personally, they wish to achieve. Conclusively, both are non-profit organisations,
which implicate that what they wish to achieve is more neutral and for the good
of what they want, rather than the money they could make from this.
Sources:
https://www.aclu.org
http://www.fairus.org
http://www.findingdulcinea.com
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