I lived in Australia during the years of media panic about Asian immigration, in the one of the areas with the greatest immigration from Asia.
No one around me was panicking, our previously dull working class suburb was enriched and invigorated by the influx of new people. The hysteria came from people who didn't know immigrants personally but were perceiving immigration via the media,
the nefarious hordes they feared didn't exist, they were a nightmare whipped into existence by lazy reporting that optimises for maximum sensation from minimum effort that amplified the opinions of cranks.
Could something similar be happening in the US now? I believe that people universally care about their material conditions of their lives, about being treated with respect, and about the future for their children, but when these concerns are presented in the media it is the shrill and sensational voices that are amplified. No-one gets to see their perspectives communicated in way that resembles the true beliefs and everyone else seems trivial, idiotic and dangerous.
In recent decades, immigration animosity is usually directed towards Mexicans. Usually people are upset when they perceive their jobs are being "taken away", but the professions Asians are associated with in recent decades in accordance with that model minority myth are not the same set of jobs that are being threatened.
> I believe that people universally care about their material conditions of their lives, about being treated with respect
I think everyone would agree with this sentiment, however the far-left/medium-left now equate this sentiment to "All Lives Matter" and reaffirming white supremacy or even that Black Lives Don't.
I attended public school that was 25% black, 25% white, 25% latino, 25% asian. I always felt America was a tolerant place, but in recent years that has changed. The democratic party has shifted from the labor of party to being one of social issues and identity politics, while the republican party has in a way become about blue collar laborers. In my opinion, identity politics is to blame for this, but the situation is far too complex to point to a single or even a dozen things. I realized that, as a rule of thumb, most phenomenon in America can be parsed if you assume there is some private commercial interest at play. Things may start as grassroots, but eventually corporations taint the situation with their own agenda. Definitely Social Media and the attention economy which is fueled by controversy and polarization, "The Social Dilemma" may cover some of these bases.
Could something similar be happening in the US now? I believe that people universally care about their material conditions of their lives, about being treated with respect, and about the future for their children, but when these concerns are presented in the media it is the shrill and sensational voices that are amplified. No-one gets to see their perspectives communicated in way that resembles the true beliefs and everyone else seems trivial, idiotic and dangerous.