Immigration Rhetoric: 'Untied States of America'
Juan Enriquez is the CEO of Biotechonomy, a life-sciences research and venture capital firm. Jeff Thiebauth hide caption
President Bush recently warned against the "harsh, ugly rhetoric" in the debate over immigration. Author Juan Enriquez says the brutal language being used in that debate threatens to tear the country apart.
Web Extra
Enriquez explains why 'narrowcasting' of information limits debate.
Book Excerpt
From Untied States of America Copyright © 2005 by Juan Enriquez (Crown Publishing Group).
Enriquez writes about those divisive factors in his book The Untied States of America: Polarization, Fracturing, and Our Future. (Read an excerpt.)
"How we treat each other today, what we call each other today — not just brown/white but religious/non-religious, Northern/Southern — is going to resonate for a long time, and those are things that can make countries become impermanent," he says.
"Countries are actually very fragile entities," Enriquez says. "Three-quarters of the flags, borders and anthems in the world did not exist 50 years ago. It's a lot easier to split a country than it is to keep it.
"Some of the symbols that we hold most dear, like flags, are myths that only exist as long as our grandchildren are willing to support them. And the day that our grandchildren say, 'You know, I'm not willing to die for that particular flag,' that particular flag goes away."
About the Series
In a series of conversations, we tackle some of the broad, underlying themes in the immigration debate, including assimilation, the use of language and the meaning of citizenship. We'll talk with comedian Carlos Mencia, author John Updike, Univision news anchor Jorge Ramos and others.
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The Untied States Of America
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