This past weekend I went to the screening of the movie “9500 Liberty,” a documentary about immigration in Prince William County, Va. The movie illustrates how elected officials within the county were pressured by residents to adopt an “Immigrant Resolution,” which allowed police officers to question any individual they had “probable cause” to believe was an illegal immigrant. The resolution ultimately was overturned, but not before Prince William County received national attention for its role in the dramatic immigration debate.
The directors of the documentary, Annabel Park and Eric Byler, were present at the screening, staying late to address questions about the film and political activism in general. During the question-answer session, Annabel spoke about the need to “break down fences” that separate people from engaging in meaningful, knowledge-seeking dialogue. She spoke of the importance of developing political opinions based on substantive facts as opposed to on stories concocted with an agenda in mind. The theory was to reframe discussions so that they are no longer arguments between “us” and “them,” but rather dialectics that are aimed at approaching greater truth.
As I listened to Annabel, I thought of Jürgen Habermas’ discursive theory, which promotes civic engagement within society to develop public policy. Habermas’ vision is of active political participation by citizens to generate informed ideas regarding the desired direction of the state. In this view, every individual has equal worth, and thus equal say, in the formation of new societal procedures so that their realization will benefit everyone. The downfall of this theory is twofold: first, that it relies upon eventual consensus, and second, it does not carry enough intrinsic political power to force agreed-upon policies to be implemented. Dialogue is useful for challenging people’s basic assumptions and promoting an atmosphere of learning, but in order for it to have any practical consequences, it must involve legislative power. Therefore, the discursive theory must articulate its objective as attempting to enlist individuals in the rumination of ideas so as to create an informed citizenry that is able to engage in democracy from a politically knowledgeable standpoint.
In order for these civil discussions to be effectively actualized, every individual must come to them with a “Will to Truth”—a sincere desire to gain knowledge and create shared experiences with others that will ultimately inform one’s personal social and political opinions. In Plato’s Apology, in which Socrates defends himself in the Athenian court on charges associated with practicing philosophy, Socrates serves as the apotheosis of a character with the Will to Truth. His entire persona is one of constant questioning with an insatiable desire to learn and understand, though at the same time he is wise in that he recognizes what he does not know and does not claim to know it. The principle illustrated is that we should never be so confident as to believe that, in our pursuit of truth, we actually have it, for our quest merely brings us closer through the constant addition of levels of nuance to the situation. Developing the Will to Truth requires deliberation, commitment, and introspection, and we must be willing to admit that we do not know.
Annabel and Eric’s mission in creating the film “9500 Liberty” was to cast a shadow of doubt on the assumptions held by many residents of Prince William County who equated the presence of illegal immigrants in their community with harmful consequences, such as higher crime rates. While this popular theory had no empirical basis, it was constructed by long-time residents of the county as a façade to hide a deep insecurity caused by the quickly changing culture of the neighborhood. It is important to note that those people did not have malicious intentions—they merely felt that their way of live was being threatened and it demanded protection from the change.
Everyone wants to be heard and to be taken seriously. We all would like for our opinions to matter and for actions to be undertaken in accordance with our values. It is for this reason that a discursive-theory style dialogue, guided by the Will to Truth, is necessary to promote meaningful civic political involvement. Everyone engaging in dialogue must not only participate with a personal desire to gain greater understanding, but also with the recognition that others are doing the same. We need not accept every viewpoint as moral, or even as valid, but it is imperative to see the bit of truth that motivates each opinion so that we may explore the pieces that collectively form a slightly more complete picture of the truth.
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