The politics of fear: We are driven by fear, not leadership

(Part 1 of 2)

Fear. That’s what we have now . . . fear overtaking our common sense and our willingness to push past the first layer of convenient political rhetoric and instead try to see what’s really happening and what the facts of an issue really are. Can we not do that? Or are we so invested in what people running for office are saying that we suspend our thinking minds and instead work ourselves into a frenzy over the soundbite  . . . the soundbite designed to prey on our fears.

Our fears now center around the terrorists scattered around the world that want to blow us up or shoot us. At least we each think we will be the victims of such violence, and that such violence will be delivered by a person most of us don’t understand . . . or want to. A Muslim.

Of course, since, in our fear, we see terrorist attacks as being made by people who are Muslims, we now allow ourselves to take the step . . . fed mostly by our politicians and their supporting cast of pundits . . . to thinking that all Muslims are evil, need to be watched and monitored, maybe even registered with the government, their mosques put under surveillance and their children denied refugee status and forbidden to enter the country. (We can’t seem to remember that most of the mass shootings over the past few years were carried out by non-Muslims.)

Those are some big steps . . . and those are some of our fears that really don’t hold up even in today’s reality.

<<Some facts: There are some 2.8 million Muslims in the U.S. About 15 percent of Muslims are unaffiliated with any specific religious body . . . As to their ethnicities, 34 percent are South Asian, 26 percent Arab, 24 percent African American, and 15 percent from other areas (or ethnicities).

So even though the Census Bureau does not collect data on people by religious affiliation, data from a variety of groups seems to show that Muslims represent less than 1 percent of the U.S. population.

Muslims have been here a long time. Some 15 percent of the slaves brought to the U.S. were Muslims, or, estimates show, perhaps 300,000 people (by 1800) (Census Bureau, Guardian/Wiki)>>

Here’s today’s soundbite: Keep Syrian refugees out of the U.S. because some of them may be terrorists.

Perhaps it’s important to note that not a single “terrorist” attack in the U.S. involved Syrians.

<< More facts: Each candidate is vetted first by the UN’s refugee agency, and then separately by officials from the State Department, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Defense Department. The process takes between 18 months and two years. (Guardian)

Since 2012, the US has accepted 2174 Syrian refugees – roughly 0.0007% of America’s total population.

The refugees the US takes in are among the most vulnerable in the Syrian conflict: many are women and their children, while others are religious minorities and victims of violence or torture. (Guardian)

Of the 785,000 refugees taken in by the U.S. since Sept. 2001, 3 have been arrested for terrorist activities. (Source: State Department, Migration Policy Institute) >>

As we noted above, no Syrians were engaged in the 9/11 attacks . . . 19 men hijacked 4 planes . . .American Airlines Flight 11 5 Saudis and 1 Egyptian . . . United Flight 175 . . . 3 Saudis and 2 United Arab Emirates . . . American Airlines Flight 77 . . . 5 Saudis . . . United Airlines Flight 93 . . . 3 Saudis, 1 Lebanese

So . . . 15 from Saudi Arabia, 2 from the United Arab Emirates, 1 from Lebanon and 1 from Egypt.

Again, none from Syria.

Clearly the attacks in Paris were horrible and brutal.

According to five U.S. officials, at least four of the Paris attackers were in an American intelligence counter-terrorism database, Reuters reported, and at least one of them was on the U.S. No Fly List.

Four of the 5 terrorists directly responsible for killing 129 and wounding more than 350 were French nationals, and the fifth was a Belgian. Some identities of others killed in police raids and those currently being hunted in connection with the attacks or on suspicion of terrorist activities are unknown, as are their nationalities.

Remember, too, that the Boston Marathon bombers were two Chechen brothers, the younger brother was a naturalized U.S. citizen and the elder brother was here legally on a green card and had applied for citizenship . . . Both are said to have self-radicalized and were not affiliated directly with any group.

Not Syrians or refugees.

The murders in California further riled the politicians, who fell back in their anti-Muslim rhetoric, especially Donald Trump, who called for a ban on all Muslims entering the country. Nevermind the Constitution, the national and international legal systems. No good can out of that. 

Fear will backfire on us.