Water/flood as a Metaphor

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Seeing headlines titled like, “Migrants are Insects” or “Migrants are an Invading Army” are extremely over the top, not to mention they are extremely dehumanizing and honestly naïve. Though this should not need to be pointed out – but, for example, a plague of corn borers, commonly called ECB’s, (Hunker, 2017) can easily destroy acres of corn and spoil all of the corn. Invading armies can burn down towns and commit easy acts of genocide. Water and floods can wreck property, drown people, and cause tremendous amounts of loss. In biblical terms, “God saw how great wickedness had become and decided to wipe humankind off the face of the earth” (Fairchild, 2017) …by sending a massive flood. Immigrants on the other hand… don’t do or control/take part in any of these acts. So why are we using the words water and flood when trying to describe them?

Metaphorical frames that activate certain representations to influence the audience can be applied to the current public policy debate over immigration. Conceptual metaphors used in the immigration debate may influence how we as readers and as an audience conceptualizes the immigration problem. How the problem is defined and understood can consequently lead to legitimizing anticipated solutions as well as the kind of information we as readers and audiences seeks in order to understand the issue as a whole.

In a study done by Professor Ruth Wodak, she wanted to illustrate how two different concepts, “immigrant” and “asylum-seeker” have been mixed up in the media to produce terms like “illegal asylum-seeker” and “illegal immigrants.” Because these terms have been mixed up, it has shaped the immigration discourse in a way that the public no longer distinguishes between the two distinct groups of immigrants… they just generalize them as the water/flood of unwanted people in our country which is highly unproductive. Though this is the way the media is describing these PEOPLE, it is important to note that the media has the ability to construct the discourse in a way that would influence people’s understanding of these concepts. Using these terms in the wrong context is just as bad as generalizing all immigrants as a flood of people. Discourse strategies can legitimize political action whether you agree or not.

Though today’s immigration metaphors signify a loss of economic security and cultural hegemony, the anticipated terms to come might hope for an emphasize on immigrants’ economic contributions to our country and potential for social belonging. The process of this evolution may be a long one, but in hopes it will diminish the power of existing metaphors, like water/flood, to conflate and fade, while creating space in the legal imagination for new frames to emerge in order for everyone to get the chance they deserve in our land of the free, what we like to call, America.

References

"A List of Insects That Destroy Crops | Hunker." Hunker.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2017.

"Water Definition and Meaning - Bible Dictionary." Bible Study Tools. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2017.

Biria, Ensieh. "Figurative Language in the Immigration Debate: Comparing Early 20th Century and Current U.S. Debate with the Contemporary European Debate." (2000): n. pag. Web.

Fairchild, Mary. "Learn the Lessons in the Story of Noah's Ark and the Flood." ThoughtCo. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2017.

Linguistic Society of America. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2017.

O’Brien, G. (2003). Indigestible food, conquering hordes, and waste materials: Metaphors of immigrants and the early immigration restriction debate in the United States. Metaphor and Symbol, 18(1), 33-47.

Shariatmadari, David. "Swarms, floods and marauders: the toxic metaphors of the migration debate | David Shariatmadari." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 10 Aug. 2015. Web. 05 May 2017.

Wodak, R. (2006). Mediation between discourse and society: Assessing cognitive approaches in CDA. Discourse Studies, 8, 179-190.