Misdirection, alienation, exaggeration feed nation’s fears
Feb 10, 2017 14:22:23 GMT
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Post by benson on Feb 10, 2017 14:22:23 GMT
Misdirection, alienation, exaggeration feed nation’s fears
It’s not irrational to believe people might try to sneak into the country to commit acts of terror. But fear can cloud judgment. Susceptible to manipulation, it can quickly become irrational. Unfounded fears are easily stoked and exploited by demagoguery to force us to turn upon our own values.
Regardless of the legality of President Trump’s executive order temporarily banning refugees and visitors from seven Muslim countries, we must question whether this exploitation and manipulation of fear is getting the better of us.
Fear feeds on misdirection. The Trump administration cites 9/11 as justification for its order, but the 19 terrorists involved were not from any of the countries named in the order. The attacks in San Bernardino, Boston and Orlando were committed by U.S. citizens, or people from countries other than those named.
A RAND Corporation study of post 9/11 attacks found 89 Americans had been killed in “jihadist” attacks and none of the attackers (or their parents) were from countries included in the order. Most were U.S. citizens.
According to RAND’s Brian Jenkins, “Jihadist terrorists are not imported, they are manufactured in the United States. Inspiration, not immigration, is the problem we face.”
Feeding fear requires ignoring realities and pitting an identified “us” against a broad brushed “them.”
The order gives a constitutionally questionable preference to Christians trying to enter the U.S. from Muslim countries. By doing so it ignores the fact that most of the victims of terrorist atrocities are Muslims.
It also gives the false impression we make it harder for Christians to get in when the reality is that the number of Christian refugees allowed in the U.S. in 2016 (37,521) was almost equal to Muslim refugees (38,901).
Manipulating fear requires manipulating facts, with no compunction about making them up. Trump told troops the media doesn’t even cover terrorist attacks anymore, a tale PolitiFact gave a “Pants on Fire” rating.
The queen of alternative facts, White House senior counselor Kellyanne Conway, cited Obama’s limits on refugees from Iraq after two Iraqi refugees masterminded the 2011 “Bowling Green Massacre.”
Except there was no massacre, no attack. The two were convicted of plotting to send money and weapons to al Qaeda. Afterward, the Obama administration began a review of the vetting process.
Manipulating fear requires purveying false assumptions, such as presuming the exhaustive vetting currently conducted puts us at risk and requires more “extreme” vetting with undefined ideological tests.
It requires dismissal of the plight of the refugees who flee war and persecution in their home countries by spending years in camps before beginning the average wait time of 18-24 months for refugee settlement.
The process requires them to go through UN and international resettlement organization interviews and document collection before Homeland Security reviews the documents and conducts its own interviews, followed by a database screening with nine law enforcement and national security agencies.
Every terrorist attack in another country becomes an excuse to keep refugees out of ours. But we’ve seen so little violence by immigrant and refugees here because existing vetting is tough, thorough and extensive.
Fear requires reducing the complicated to simplistic. It’s supposed to protect us, but many former officials in the national security apparatus are warning the order will only fuel the flames of terrorist inspiration and become counterproductive anti-American fodder for the ISIS narrative.
Sustaining fear requires threat of reprisal. Over 1,000 State Department officials have reportedly signed on to a “dissent cable” warning the order will increase anti-American sentiment, concluding, “We do not need to alienate entire societies to stay safe.”
To which White House spokesman Sean Spicer replied, “They should either get with the program or they can go.”
Fear can lead us to set aside the values we not only hold dear but also hold out to the world. Like those at the base of the Statue of Liberty holding high the beacon welcoming the tired, the poor, “the huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” and “the homeless, tempest-tossed.”
Instead, we become embroiled in conflicts in other countries and then refuse to take in refugees fleeing the very oppressors we vow to defeat.
Using exaggerated and unfounded fears, the bully at the pulpit is closing our doors and turning off the lights.
www.statesmanjournal.com/story/opinion/columnists/ron-eachus/2017/02/07/misdirection-alienation-exaggeration-feed-nations-fears/97600042/
It’s not irrational to believe people might try to sneak into the country to commit acts of terror. But fear can cloud judgment. Susceptible to manipulation, it can quickly become irrational. Unfounded fears are easily stoked and exploited by demagoguery to force us to turn upon our own values.
Regardless of the legality of President Trump’s executive order temporarily banning refugees and visitors from seven Muslim countries, we must question whether this exploitation and manipulation of fear is getting the better of us.
Fear feeds on misdirection. The Trump administration cites 9/11 as justification for its order, but the 19 terrorists involved were not from any of the countries named in the order. The attacks in San Bernardino, Boston and Orlando were committed by U.S. citizens, or people from countries other than those named.
A RAND Corporation study of post 9/11 attacks found 89 Americans had been killed in “jihadist” attacks and none of the attackers (or their parents) were from countries included in the order. Most were U.S. citizens.
According to RAND’s Brian Jenkins, “Jihadist terrorists are not imported, they are manufactured in the United States. Inspiration, not immigration, is the problem we face.”
Feeding fear requires ignoring realities and pitting an identified “us” against a broad brushed “them.”
The order gives a constitutionally questionable preference to Christians trying to enter the U.S. from Muslim countries. By doing so it ignores the fact that most of the victims of terrorist atrocities are Muslims.
It also gives the false impression we make it harder for Christians to get in when the reality is that the number of Christian refugees allowed in the U.S. in 2016 (37,521) was almost equal to Muslim refugees (38,901).
Manipulating fear requires manipulating facts, with no compunction about making them up. Trump told troops the media doesn’t even cover terrorist attacks anymore, a tale PolitiFact gave a “Pants on Fire” rating.
The queen of alternative facts, White House senior counselor Kellyanne Conway, cited Obama’s limits on refugees from Iraq after two Iraqi refugees masterminded the 2011 “Bowling Green Massacre.”
Except there was no massacre, no attack. The two were convicted of plotting to send money and weapons to al Qaeda. Afterward, the Obama administration began a review of the vetting process.
Manipulating fear requires purveying false assumptions, such as presuming the exhaustive vetting currently conducted puts us at risk and requires more “extreme” vetting with undefined ideological tests.
It requires dismissal of the plight of the refugees who flee war and persecution in their home countries by spending years in camps before beginning the average wait time of 18-24 months for refugee settlement.
The process requires them to go through UN and international resettlement organization interviews and document collection before Homeland Security reviews the documents and conducts its own interviews, followed by a database screening with nine law enforcement and national security agencies.
Every terrorist attack in another country becomes an excuse to keep refugees out of ours. But we’ve seen so little violence by immigrant and refugees here because existing vetting is tough, thorough and extensive.
Fear requires reducing the complicated to simplistic. It’s supposed to protect us, but many former officials in the national security apparatus are warning the order will only fuel the flames of terrorist inspiration and become counterproductive anti-American fodder for the ISIS narrative.
Sustaining fear requires threat of reprisal. Over 1,000 State Department officials have reportedly signed on to a “dissent cable” warning the order will increase anti-American sentiment, concluding, “We do not need to alienate entire societies to stay safe.”
To which White House spokesman Sean Spicer replied, “They should either get with the program or they can go.”
Fear can lead us to set aside the values we not only hold dear but also hold out to the world. Like those at the base of the Statue of Liberty holding high the beacon welcoming the tired, the poor, “the huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” and “the homeless, tempest-tossed.”
Instead, we become embroiled in conflicts in other countries and then refuse to take in refugees fleeing the very oppressors we vow to defeat.
Using exaggerated and unfounded fears, the bully at the pulpit is closing our doors and turning off the lights.
www.statesmanjournal.com/story/opinion/columnists/ron-eachus/2017/02/07/misdirection-alienation-exaggeration-feed-nations-fears/97600042/