Our Fear Of Immigrants Summary

In “Our Fear of Immigrants,” Jeremy Adam Smith, the author, writes about why do American’s fear immigrants. The author goes into depth about how the way people act towards immigrants is an evolutionary advantage (Smith 752). Another reason why Americans have a fear of immigrants is that immigrants can be perceived as a threat to one’s own hierarchy (Smith 75). After stating that fearing immigrants is an evolutionary advantage, the author then goes to challenge that said theory (Smith 753). He questions if the statement is truly fact, why did the children in Rodrigo Guzman’s class, support Rodrigo, an immigrant (Smith 755). Within this article, the author had used the modes of persuasion to make an effected argument overall. At the time of reading

By using logos, facts and ideas, from other psychologists, like “By the end of the day, we’re motivated by resource-distribution,” he provides the reader with a more structured statement (Smith 752). The author, however, had not provided the reader with a strong emotional appeal, within this section. Consequently, this had a negative affect his argument. If the writer had included the writing technique pathos, then the section would be improved. In order to improve pathos, the author could provide the reader with more statements that allow for the reader to have an emotional connection to the text. There is an abundance of facts and ideas; however, there is no emotional text. Pathos could be improved by inserting more visual text to help the reader understand what happens to the children and families who get sent back to their

One specific piece of information that author used in this section for logos was “Any newcomer represents a threat to the person who has power” (Smith 753). By using logos, the author was able to branch off and provide more information about why immigrants are perceived as a threat, allowing for his argument to improve. In addition to providing factual evidence within the text, Jeremy Smith gives the reader an emotional point of view, ethos. The author had not used a sufficient amount of pathos within this section; however, he had a few statements that appealed to the emotions. Within the article on page 754, he writes, “Horror over tens of thousands of children crossing the border without their parents transmutes into fear and repulsion, because many native-born Americans despair of being unable to help them.” (Smith) This sentence pulls at the hearts of people, as it talks about children being separated from their families, in order to obtain a better life. The author had used factual evidence to further prove his ideas; however, he had use only a small amount of emotional context within this specific section. In addition to having logos, the author had also used ethos. By using quotes from Dacher Keltner, a psychologist, the author was able to help the audience to trust his credibility,