My Thoughts on Public Comments

• How would you describe the fears and anxieties being expressed in these comments? What are these commenters afraid of, specifically?
• What kinds beliefs and values are represented in these comments? How would you characterize the kinds of values and beliefs being expressed in the comments?
• Which commenters came across as the most reasonable? What made them seem reasonable?
• Which commenters came across as lacking credibility or trustworthiness? Why didn’t they seem trustworthy?

I think there are two distinct fears present throughout this string of comments: fear of ignorance, and fear of 'them'. A good amount of the comments talk about how Donald Trump is a racist or a bigot or any number of other negative things. But another section of them agree with Trump, and express a fear of the immigrants. This is a classic 'us vs. them' conflict where people have a clear fear of what they don't understand, and obviously most of these people don't understand Mexico's situation or its culture or its people. Fear of the unknown has been around since day one, hence the nightlight.

Similarly to the two opposing fears, there are three distinct sets of beliefs and values that I noticed. The first set that I noticed were those people that agree with Donald Trump and believe that Mexican immigrants are a problem and they are ruining our country. I would characterize these beliefs as racist or ignorant. Then there are the people directly opposed to Trump, and they express the belief that Trump himself is a racist or ignorant and that his ideas have no place in American politics. I think it's interesting to note that instead of voicing support for immigrants, they chose to speak out against Trump. Finally, the third subset of beliefs that I noticed are those people on either side (generally agreeing or disagreeing with Trump) that chose to recognize deeper, more fundamental issues that could be at the root of the more superficial conflicts that Trump is harping on. Instead of worrying about immigrants and murders, we should be worrying about why these people are doing what they do.

I think the most reasonable arguments were the ones that acknowledged both sides of the issue. For me personally, it's much easier to listen to people that don't take on some of the extreme viewpoints expressed in some of the comments. For instance, Jake doesn't sound like a radical in his comment, and even though he states strong support for Trump he comments on both sides and that gives him a lot of credibility in my book.

"Give my your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" This is the quote on the Statue of Liberty.

Most of the commenters came across as lacking credibility. For one, if you can't use 'to' vs. 'too' correctly, I'm not going to consider your opinion on an issue as complex as whether or not to deny access to people who are willing to risk their lives trying to gain access to our country in hopes of a better life when THE STATUE OF LIBERTY says that we should take the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. But regardless, I also don't believe in extreme ideologies and the people that claim to be 100% in support of either side without fully considering the alternatives are obviously missing the big picture.