Visual Analysis of National Immigration Forum Images

Introduction

The issue of immigrants has been a subject to public debates since time immemorial. Under the current administration, the issue has aggravated in both political and public domains causing serious political party divisions and opinions in the country. Nonetheless, several facts about immigration in the United States hold. According to Hirschman (1), over 75 million people living in the United States are part of the immigrant community, which comprises of foreign-born and their children. This number represents roughly a quarter of the American population in 2010. Additionally, studies on the American industrial revolution and immigration shows that during the industrialization era, immigrants provided a lopsided share of workers especially for the dangerous and dirty jobs in manufacturing and mining. The labor provided by these immigrants greatly contributed to the development of roads, canals and railroads networks in place today (Hirschman &Elizabeth 1).

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Amidst the above facts, however, there has been a rising fear and popular belief that immigrants snatch away job opportunities that would otherwise have gone to the American natives. Additionally, a majority of the Americans think that the massive number of immigrants, especially from third world countries, is a threat to institutions, culture and values, dear to the natives hence the rise of anti-immigrant lobby groups recently (Hirschman 4). However, these widespread popular beliefs are a facade. In fact, Smith and Edmoston (chapter 4) conclude that immigration has expanded labor supply and though it has increased the job competition and lowered the wages, it has supplemented this by expanding total production and increased incomes that ultimately benefit the native American workers.

To forge and build consensus on the above important role of immigrants in the country, the National Immigration Forum (NIF) was founded in 1982 ("About the Forum - National Immigration Forum"). The main responsibility of the Forum is a holistic promotion of not only the welfare of immigrants through federal immigration policies but also to ensure the ideals of the American founding fathers of a safe and economically successful America is achieved to make it a true land of opportunity. Rather than fear the immigrants, the Forum advocates for America which embraces NIF recognizes the importance of standing together in eliminating the fear of immigrants among the natives to welcome and support the victims of violence and persecution ("About the Forum - National Immigration Forum"). This essay aims at carrying out a critical visual analysis of two images provided below to evaluate the goals and missions by the NIF stakeholder and their effectiveness of the rhetorical strategies used in passing the intended message to the target audience.

Fundamentally, the target audience for these two stakeholder's images is particularly the native Americans citizens and more so the policy makers ("About the Forum - National Immigration Forum"). Therefore, the message must be persuasive and clear enough to sell its idea that America is better as a nation of immigrants even amidst the concerns introduced above. Bearing this in mind, identification rhetoric strategy is one of the paramount strategies that the stakeholder must employ in their visual campaign. According to Richard (np), the primary effect of this rhetoric strategy is that it allows the speaker to establish a shared, attitude, interest and sense of values with the target audience.

There are several ways by which these two images have accomplished identification. In the first image, the Forum has strategically incorporated the colors of the USA flag and the one of the symbolic star in the flag. Before even reading the text on the image, these colors automatically trigger the same patriotic emotions that fill a patriotic American citizen when they see the national flag. The star, unconsciously, commands attention, respect and provokes reflection of the founding fathers' idea that all US citizens share. Introducing the intended message in form of text automatically finds a psychologically and emotionally prepared audience hence easy grasping of the request to be part of the immigration approach.

In the second image, perhaps the first thing that meets the eye, before anything else, is the national flag and the famous statue of liberty painted in Forum's colours. This because the flag is familiar to every target. The two happy ladies in the background photo holding a flag solicit patriotic emotions that facilitate seamless connection with the message in the text by the audience. The use of identification strategy automatically creates a sense of responsibility and national duty to embrace and care for immigrants fleeing violence and persecution.

For the text message in the two images, the stakeholder has employed two rhetorical strategies to appeal their advocacy information to the target audience. The first strategy used is pathos or emotional appeal to the audience. For instance, in the second image emphasizing on America is better as a nation of immigrants, just by reading the words, the reader develops an empathetic emotion towards the immigrant subject. The stakeholder has capitalized on the human nature need for peace and harmony coexistence to direct the reader's mind towards the importance of embracing people from all kinds. By specifically, placing one of the former president's quote from his farewell speech that glorified the country and likened it to a shining city on the hill, the stakeholder awakes the pride and respect for the country's values in the audience. This allows the target reader to reflect and connect with the wishes of one of the country's great leaders. On the second line of the same image, the Forum intentionally regards immigrants as victims of violence and persecution to provoke emotions of empathy which triggers consideration of the immigrants first as humans rather than job snatchers. This is very effective in reminding the natives of the value humanity which should surpass everything in the world.

Pathos in the first image is derived from the fact that the Forum empowers the audience to be an ambassador of the pro-immigration movement. Essentially, by calling out to the reader to be part of the approach, it creates a sense of value and importance in the stakeholder's advocacy. Delegating the responsibility attaches the same emotions the National Immigration Forum of vigor and dedication to promotion and strengthening of them of own communities to attain status, opportunities and skills to realize their full potential.

Lastly, the second image has also intentionally used repetition of the words "America is better when..." As Brown (233) asserts, repetition primarily commits something to the memory and provides a leeway for assimilating the experience. In the context of immigration subject, the Forum has designed the statements in the image in a manner that not only emphasizes the importance of immigrants to the country but also reminds target audience that they should always aspire to make their country better.

Conclusion

From the above in-depth visual analysis of the National Immigration Forum's advocacy images, there is no doubt immense efforts were employed to produce content that would effectively carry the intended message to the target audience. The utilization of multiple strategies that captures both attention and emotions of the target is the best way to approach the issue of immigrants that has scoured fear and harsh opinions among the American natives and the two images have successfully achieved the goal.

Work Cited

"About the Forum - National Immigration Forum". National Immigration Forum, 2018, https://immigrationforum.org/landing_page/about/. Accessed 6 Oct 2018.

Brown, Penelope. "Repetition." Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 9.12 (1999): 223-226.

Hirschman, Charles, and Elizabeth Mogford. "Immigration and the American industrial revolution from 1880 to 1920." Social Science Research 38.4 (2009): 897-920.

Hirschman, Charles. "Immigration to the United States: Recent trends and future prospects." Malaysian journal of economic studies: journal of the Malaysian Economic Association and the Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya 51.1 (2014): 69.

Smith, James P., and Barry Edmonston. "The New Americans." Washington, DC: National Academy (1997).

Richard, N" The Rhetorical Strategy of Identification". Thoughtco, 2017, https://www.thoughtco.com/identification-rhetoric-term-1691142. Accessed 6 Oct 2018.