Reading Response

My senior seminar class for my history minor was a class that focused on American immigration policies, world events that led to mass immigration, and the lives of new immigrants. Though much of what we discussed and eventually wrote about concerned legal immigration, the professor, from Canada, felt as though we could not talk about immigration in American history without addressing illegal immigration, particularly in the case of people arriving in the American Southwest from Mexico or arriving in the United States by traveling through Canada.

Vargas' story was unlike anything we were able to read or watch because of the honesty with which he told it. The vast majority of illegal immigrants are (understandably) too scared to tell their stories. I never really stopped to think about what actual daily life is like for someone who has to hide who they really are in terms of legal status in this country. Maybe most telling, he considered coming out as gay to be far less scary than revealing he is here illegally. I honestly can't imagine how exhausting it must be to have to live with such a heavy secret. Obviously it's somewhat ironic that he chose to pursue a career in journalism all the while using fake documentation. I think that his decision to stop hiding that part of his identity certainly was influenced by his conscience.

The most complicated part of journalists being required to "exercise their personal conscience" is the idea of personal conscience. How do we know that all journalists have the same internal standards that make up someone's personal conscience? I think that it's true that in order for journalists to feel as though they can do that, managers/editors/etc need to create and continually foster an environment that encourages everyone to speak their mind. No one is always right and no one never makes mistakes, so in order for the collective conscience of the paper or magazine or whatever to be sound, individuals have to believe that what they say and how they "exercise their personal conscience" is heard.