How can discrimination/prejudice against and stereotypes of refugees be addressed in host communities?
When talks of refugees and how accepting their immigration will impact the host nation arise, it is common for those that are against accepting them to resort to discriminatory stereotypes of refugees, such as the possibilities of crimes that might be committed by the refugees, and the dangers of foreign terrorists entering the host nation amongst the innocent asylum seekers. Although some of those arguments may be valid in their own rights, because they’re usually a part of an anti-immigrant rhetoric that neglect the statistic which often indicate the opposite, most of them are rendered into simply fear mongering and divisive tools to derail sociopolitical discussions into an abyss of finger pointing and buck passing.
Politicians and the elite media are often guilty of this. Politicians know that issues regarding refugees are very sensitive, and they use the controversial nature of the issue to garner supports by saying things their supporters are expecting to hear, rather than using their publicity, political power and social influences to promote positive discussions. When politicians use the anti-refugee card to win their votes, they often resort to hateful misconceptions and false stereotypes to reimagine the refugees from people forcefully removed from their homeland to a myriad of future criminals, socioeconomic opportunists and all-around lesser-beings.
The media is also well aware of the flammability of refugee-related news and is just as guilty of reporting them for the sake of viewership rather than the sake of informing and educating the public. The media creates the context in which the conversations and debates on refugees are held. And the members of the fourth estate hold the position of pick and choosing what kinds of information become available for the public to shape their views with. It is too easy to go online and find news articles and opinion editorials that antagonizes the refugees to give the financially, politically and socially dissatisfied population of the host nation a straw man to beat and a scape goat to blame. The mass production and dissemination of fake news and biased reports induce people to only privilege themselves with reports that reaffirm their preexisting views and forego the valid and discussion-worthy sides of arguments of the other side, furthering the divide and the stubborn ignorance and the unwillingness to accept refugees. Making misguided claims is too easy compared to what it takes to disprove the false accusations and the stereotypes and biases that are created along the way. People in the position to influence politics needs to acknowledge that before the politics and economics, refugee crisis around the world are humanitarian issues, and that their televised and reported voices should be held to a higher accountability and moral expectations.
To address this issue, it’s vital for people with voices, namely the politicians and the fourth estate to represent refugees through non-biased lenses. Members of the government and the elite media, who has the power to influence politics, and by extent, the social atmosphere of the host community, needs to share their spotlights with experts such as humanitarian lawyers, border patrol forces, immigration officers, academic experts on the issues that drive refugees out of their homeland. It’s important that the public do not shape their opinions based on fear mongering rhetoric, but based on factual evidence, statistic reports and empirical data. Fighting stereotypes and discriminations that follow depends on reports and political arguments based on facts that can question the validity of false accusations and stereotypes and correct the misrepresentations that force hateful discriminations upon the refugees who are forced to leave their lives behind to seek safety and stability.
HE SHIN