Introduction (Setting the Stage)
The border. Even the word feels loaded. It is a political flashpoint, a media obsession, and a reliable distraction for anyone who wants to avoid talking about systemic problems.
Lately, it has been showing up in my DMs, courtesy of a friend who knows I do not fit neatly into any ideological box. He asked, “So what’s your take on the border?” The question was not hostile, just probing. He even acknowledged it was complicated.
That is when I realized this was not about “finding the answer.” It was about navigating a conversation where everyone already has their script.
The Media Machine (How Narratives Get Built)
The first thing you notice is the binary.
Either it is a humanitarian crisis, or it is an existential threat.
Either people are desperate and deserve help, or they are criminals and need to be stopped.
The media thrives on this. It does not want nuance, it wants clicks. It does not want solutions, it wants outrage. The algorithm rewards extremes, so that is what we get.
The border becomes a symbol, a stand-in for everything wrong with the world. And anyone who questions the narrative gets labeled as either naive or malicious.
The Austin Lens (Why Personal Experience Matters)
I live in Austin, a city that is growing faster than most. We are a magnet for people from everywhere, including those who cross the border.
But the “crisis” does not look the same here. It is not a wall of chaos, it is a trickle of people trying to make a life.
The real impact on my day-to-day comes from something else entirely: H-1B visa workers in tech, driving down wages in my field. They are no different from the folks crossing the border. Both are trying to survive in a system stacked against them.
The difference is, one group gets celebrated as innovation, while the other gets demonized as invasion.
The Business Angle (Who Really Benefits)
The truth is, both groups are exploited by the same forces.
- Tech companies recruit H-1B workers to suppress wages.
- Farms rely on undocumented labor to keep costs down.
In both cases, the goal is the same: maximize profit at the expense of human dignity.
The border is not a problem to be solved, it is a feature of a system that thrives on cheap labor and manufactured scarcity. The real crisis is not the people crossing, it is the corporations and politicians who profit from their desperation.
Conclusion (The Friend, the Algorithm, and the Way Forward)
My friend asked a question, and I gave him an honest answer. I did not try to change his mind, just to share my perspective.
The algorithm will keep churning out outrage. But we can choose to see beyond the noise.
The border is not a crisis to be solved, it is a symptom of a broken system. And until we address the root causes, the cycle will continue.
The real question is not what’s happening at the border but what we are willing to do about it.