Majority Fear
By: Gana Rahud
Tags: White Privilege, Silent Majority, Hindutva, Trump Voters, Assimilation

By Gana Rahud

Have you wondered who the 70+ million voters are who wanted Trump to win? Often, they are rejected as fanatics, radicals, or racists. We know that cannot account for 47% of the country. Then why are they supporting Trump? You may already have figured out that it is not because they like everything Trump stands for. There is no way you can dismiss the feelings of half the population and achieve prosperity in this nation. Disdain will only exacerbate the divide. If unaddressed there will be ongoing resistance to any progress for the minority. Understanding this issue has nothing to do with agreeing with the sentiment, but everything to do with moving forward as a country. You will be surprised that this is occurring in more countries than just America. This unexplained mass phenomenon is what I call “majority fear”.

Entering Host Country. Welcome!

As an enthusiastic immigrant from India, I see a strong resemblance between the MAGA campaign in the US and the Hindutva movement in India. As with most Hindus who emigrated out of India to US, Europe, or Australia in the last few decades, they find themselves in opposite corners in their adopted countries. As most of us fondly say, back home (in India) we see the struggle of the majority Hindus who feel marginalized by the many dominant political parties pandering to minorities. Among the majority Hindus, until recently there was a certain hesitation to speak-up about unfair treatment, particularly those to whom history has been kind to, even if they have a legitimate gripe or they may open-up only to close friends. There are many such examples that has raised frustration among Hindus, but most chose to suffer their unfair treatment in silence until recently, either due to the guilt of privilege or lack of audience. Over the last decade, with BJP coming-of-age, the Modi team has been speaking to their innermost concerns about being a Hindu in India. The vast silent majority, the reasonably well-to-do Hindus, have found a voice for the first time since Independence. I am in no way excusing the intolerance that seems to have also accompanied the political change in recent years, and that is a topic for another post. If you belong to this silent majority, you will not be surprised by the landslide victory of BJP in India last year. This silent majority sees in Modi someone who acknowledges their concerns, in a way that makes them feel “safe” in their own country. What is surprising is, if you are a minority in India or even the “lower caste Hindu”, a phrase I hate to use, you probably never realized that the vast majority felt this way. I am writing about it because this paradigm is applicable in more places than we can appreciate in this world. If you simply replace the word “Hindus” with “Whites” in the above hypothesis, you see a parallel postulation in the US with the surprise election of Trump.

As someone who immigrated into the United States in the 1980s, I have seen this phenomenon unfolding here in slow motion. I came to this country to study at a university, with the hope of staying on for a better future. More importantly, my mindset coming to the US was that it was a country built by some amazing people who work hard, are inventive, and risk-taking. I was coming in as a guest of its people. During my first few years in this country, I travelled thousands of miles with friends, seeing places that I had only seen in movies, experiencing the people firsthand, trying to use everyday Americanisms such as “what’s up”, “how’s it going” and “have a nice day”. My friends and I even got the courage to drink coffee during the class in the first row, something I never dreamed I could do in India. My advisor, an immigrant from Pakistan, was just about the nicest man in the college. I developed a deep appreciation for the American culture, diversity, and an understanding of why America was different from other countries. People came here, shed their own bias and bigotry from their home country, and worked together on everything. Back in the 80s, even in the deep south, people looked at me and my Indian friends with curiosity. They were friendly and even took time to explain something that we did not understand. It was consistent, they were treating us as guests, even if they were uncomfortable around us. We were enamored about being immersed in this amazing population. I do not remember feeling out of place in the US almost until this decade. This experience as a student reinforced deep in me: I could do anything I wanted if I dedicated myself to it. The ease of daily life or even effortlessness of travel, including renting a car as a student with just a stipend, felt like the country was saying “come join us and succeed at the American dream”. I felt that America had a way of converting ordinary people into extraordinary selves. That feeling continued until recently.

Having just come from India, which is a very diverse country even if everyone looks somewhat similar, there were underlying tensions between Hindus and Muslims, North and South Indians, Tamils and Kannadigas, and the ever-common grievance between locals and migrants. I remember thinking about the vast generosity of the local people. Why weren’t they more possessive of their country, wanting all the wealth and opportunities for themselves? How come I have a scholarship when many of the Americans around me do not? Is this what a true meritocracy looks like? At twenty-two, I was blown away by the American egalitarianism, and what I can achieve in this country. I wanted to stay here no matter how hard I must work.

Somewhere around the late 1990s, I was beginning to get the feeling that the American hospitality was wearing thin. It seemed like the guests were overrunning the hosts at their own home. One started hearing about statistics about races and ethnicities, and the need to learn Spanish for all. Suddenly, even I could feel that the average American was forced to adopt to an influx of cultures, cuisines, and languages. I could also see that the “guests” even forgot who the “hosts” were. While I did not know what to expect, my instinct (maybe because of my Indian upbringing) told me that the “locals” were beginning to feel betrayed. I felt it would take a benevolent human to embrace this change, and welcome it, without feeling some resentment. You could also see the changes in the politics — what used to be in the 80s an appeal to “working class” and “middle class”, and focus on the American dream, started getting replaced by race, gender and the sexual orientation. Even the politicians were beginning to ignore the average, middle-class white American, who was in the majority. I do not know the dynamics driving such sidelining of the white voters, but surely it laid the foundation for what we are experiencing during Trump administration. Trump has merely used this phenomenon to win elections.

The Usual Argument

For no intentional fault of the immigrants, they are now made to look like the “villains” causing economic hardships for the majority and resulting in the whites feeling ignored. Regardless, we are here trying to figure out not only how to live with each other, but also about how many more immigrants can be accepted. The political debate is toxic, often based on partial truths and conspiracy theories, such as “immigrants are taking away our jobs” vs “we are taking jobs that nobody else wants” or “many immigrants are lazy and getting handouts from taxpayers” vs “immigrants are hardworking and not on welfare” or “Muslims want to create sharia law everywhere they settle” vs “Muslims are escaping prosecution in their homelands”. There is rarely an honest dialog about the real problem and acknowledgment of what each side is feeling. Until that happens, there is going to be no avenue for improvement. And the worst part, this internal clash has been devastating for the economic and political refugees, those not looking for opportunity but survival, who truly need someone to open doors and welcome them in. In my opinion, we have created a harsh world, and it started with unmanaged over-immigration in many parts of the planet.

The Over-immigration + Integration Problem

While the immigration problem has taken on different dimensions in US, India and EU, there is a common thread. It has not only created economic hardship for the local populations but has also caused emotional scars for the immigrants. While I am not an anthropologist, I am sure there are theories to the limit to the number of immigrants that can productively and harmoniously blend into a society without disturbing the host community efficiency and harmony. I also believe it varies with the level of effort put into the assimilation of the immigrants. I, however, never see a lot of discussion around the integration aspect. I use the word “assimilation” knowing that it results in some level of adaptation and amalgamation rather than dovetailing into another culture. Creating a parallel culture is, to take a metaphor to extreme, not a melting pot, but rather two separate dishes eaten together on the same plate. It results in immigrants living in ghettos which the local majority avoid since they do not understand each other. Immigration without resources for the guests to tool themselves to live in their new world and the isolation of immigrants is not just bad for the economy but can be debilitating to the whole society for the long term. That can result in the turmoil we see in most regions of the world today.

I have met young and old immigrants who have lived in the US for years, who do not speak English, who cannot communicate with the average person on the street, and surely do not understand the lives of the majority of the people around them. They even have names for the majority, as if they are the “other side” with whom they interact reluctantly. I have had immigrants from the middle east sometimes spew hatred for America, while they live in America, and they felt free to express it to me, since I look like an immigrant. My first instinct is to be angry at them for not being grateful to a country that is giving them a better life, and then I go on to rationalize it. I feel such people will not be angry if they felt they belonged here, and not continuously feel forced to be here as a refugee (such as those from Afghanistan, or in the past from Vietnam). I see it as the symptom of lack of focus on assimilation.

Preserve the Great American Melting Pot (borrowed from online sources)

Assimilation can take many forms and there is a role to play by ethnic, religious, and national groups, NGOs, counties, states, and the federal government. A dollar spent on assimilation will yield thousands of dollars in happy and productive lives, while also eliminating the need for managing strife. Assimilation requires huge, focused effort and program by the state and non-governmental organizations in form of training and strong incentives to learn. Mentorship, much like foster care system, with Americans volunteering can help bring about much needed ice-breaking and understanding between cultures. Integration efforts should focus on, but not limited to, language, culture, rules, and societal dynamics that will impact the immigrant. Nations need to address this on a war footing on par with national and economic security level urgently. Without addressing this problem, we can expect our politics to mirror the politics of the home countries of the immigrants. We must prevent propensities, loyalties, and political fights from the old country in the US such as could happen as example (but not limited to) between mainland Chinese Vs Hong Kongers or Venezuelan Vs Mexican immigrants or “upper caste vs lower caste” politicians. It will be worse yet if they were to get funded by their countries of origin to fight their fights. In short, without real effort for integration, people will continue to believe in their own old limitations and prejudices. Feeling like they belong in America and a successful livelihood can change all that, as we have seen from immigrants from the 70s through 90s.

While each person has every right to their own culture and traditions, it does not help to rub it in the face of your host population. It helps each immigrant to remember that they are guests in another country, and regardless of their own practices at home, respecting the local culture of the hosts will go a long way in making life around them more prosperous. I have heard impractical or lazy arguments about how Americans do not own this land, and that it belongs to the Native Americans. That line of argument is not productive and only academic. Unless one applied to immigrate to an American Indian nation, yes, the United States of America that let you arrive in the country is your host.

This post is not about stopping immigration, but managing it, and ensuring that two plus two is at least equal to four.