Kay Ryan, "Crocodile Tears"

Hi all --

So the Starbucks I use in Odessa is playing this on pretty much infinite loop. Ask me privately and I'll tell you which one; I don't want to get anyone in trouble for doing whatever it takes to get through work. It is dancy and bright and maybe that's good enough to be an earworm. Sharing this in case you want it stuck in your head, too:

The bigger picture with denying student visas

On a more serious note, the news about the Trump administration cancelling student visa interviews is falling on deaf ears. I'm not talking about those who rant daily about migrant invasions or Hunter Biden. I'm talking about those who are overwhelmed, wondering why exactly they should care about this latest outrage.

So I watched a segment in which two experts were interviewed about this. One treated students who wanted to come here with marked contempt, saying that all international students do is nothing but protest U.S. policy and hate capitalism. The other couldn't respond to everything revolving around this crudity. They couldn't get across that international students give the U.S. an edge which allows us to dominate in so many ways, including militarily. They couldn't assert that they come here because they want to share in our values, and the spirit of the 1st Amendment matters for their student experience. They did get to say that international students are of enormous economic value to the U.S., so much so that their complete elimination can't possibly be good. What I mainly heard from both experts was that traditional vetting processes were being thrown aside.

It hit me, hearing this segment, that you've got to know when to be blunt. You cannot debate policy with someone who believes people should jailed and expelled from the country for finding fault with international arms dealing or cooking the entire planet. Some are looking for any excuse to say hurting others is actually good. Any policy debate with them helps legitimate their hate.

And this leads to another point. It helps to be upfront about what's at stake because our discourse is saturated with extremely lazy right-wing tropes. Many are far less obvious than "they hate us." Think about how many we know who will treat students from abroad, admitted to our best universities, as thieves. As if tax dollars alone could pay for the talent, effort, and determination required to figure out the mysteries of gravitational waves or a better picture of financial markets or precision targeting. We know why they'll treat them as thieves: they're used to the trope of "they're coming here, they're stealing," and "they" have become infinitely variable. First it was "gangs" and "criminals." Then it was children who may or may not get government aid. Then it was asylum seekers, because people fleeing persecution, apparently, are "faking it." And now it's anybody you don't like. Anyone you don't like isn't really American, no matter how much they do for this country. Hence, Afghans who took incredible risks for U.S. troops aren't welcome here.

How did this happen? Yes, there are many who are full of hate. But the lazy tropes are broadcast nonstop. If you don't know anything about how this country eats or what it did to expand or how ridiculous getting a green card or citizenship can be, the news isn't going to tell you unless you look for it. Worse, you have to do some real research. However, you will hear trash like "they're invading" all the time, and it doesn't matter if you watch video after video by white supremacists. What matters is that "they're invading" is as ubiquitous as "vaccines cause autism" and "lowering taxes pays for itself." Loud, everywhere, and incessantly in our ears and brains, it puts people on edge while providing a template for lashing out. They have to lash out to feel like they're in control. They have to feel like they're in control because they very obviously are not.

The only things in control are the tropes themselves. To an obvious degree, even those benefiting from them are their victims.

Kay Ryan, "Crocodile Tears"

This tiny poem, this poem which sells a slight joke, meets our current moment well. The tropes are in charge, far more than actual people. That sounds ludicrous until you consider how well we serve them. We've got these complicated, contorted inner selves which obfuscate in order to accept the unacceptable. For example: Why would anyone date someone who doesn't believe they have a right to their own body? Why would anyone date someone who might want to deport them? No one bothers questioning the notions that simply going to church makes you serious or that only bad people face immigration officers.

We double down on throwing tantrums and causing trouble instead of identifying and fixing problems. We're constantly crying crocodile tears, pretending we mean no harm when we either 1) mean it or 2) believe we have a right to be so careless it can be cruel.

It's so bad you could imagine a poor crocodile out there, "[t]he one sincere/ crocodile," having "gone dry eyed / for years." That guy doesn't need the fake tears to lure prey. He just gets the job done and keeps on living. Then again, I'm imagining the crocodile as Bill from Tomie de Paola's Bill and Pete. I believe this crocodile has at least two responsibilities: one to his mama and the other to his toothbrush, Pete. (Click on the link to read the story if you don't know it.)

Crocodile Tears (from Poetry)
Kay Ryan

The one sincere
crocodile has
gone dry eyed
for years. Why
bother crying
crocodile tears.

Ryan asks us "Why / bother crying /crocodile tears" and the answer for us has to be a bit different. I don't think the simple truth gets us out of the situation we're in now. I mean, yeah, people can stop indulging cruelty. But they've got to realize how they're being manipulated to be cruel, e.g. how messages giving them the most jaundiced view of reality are everywhere. And then they've got to admit that they need a better media diet, need to make some kind of reparation to those they've hurt, and start helping others. Sincerity is important, as it's a start.

It's only a start. I don't think we need liars, but I do think we need people to be judicious with the truth. Patient with it. Not so long from now, some are going to be asked how they acted in these times. We're already hearing "I was just following orders" from those jailing politicians or expelling children with cancer from the country. The truth isn't on their side, but that doesn't mean they won't try to paint everyone else as a villain, including those who didn't tell every detail or just outright lied because it saved lives.