Steven Storms“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! ” -Statue of Liberty
Our being the beacon of hope to the rest of the world is quickly dimming. The United States is entering a new dark era that will be remembered along with the Japanese internment camps, segregation, and slavery. A large portion of our population and leadership has become paranoid, selfish, and heartless and are dragging the rest of us down.
The refusal to accept Syrian refugees by 27 states, including New Mexico, is not how our nation used to behave. We are facing one of the greatest humanitarian crises since WWII, which our bumbled foreign policies over the last several decades have caused.
Denying acceptance of the refugees is irrational and is purely based on an overblown fear that is being fed by the media and political leadership. Yes, there is a chance that a terrorist may hide among the masses. There is also a likely greater chance that one of the routine flights coming into our country or state every day may have a murderer, drug dealer, pedophile, or rapist on board. Should we also deny all travelers?
Roughly 10,000 Americans die each year from DWI, 1,300 from domestic violence, and 3,000 from food poisoning. Obesity is 6,000 to 23,000 times more likely to kill you than a terrorist. As a society, we have accepted these risks and only work to reduce them on the fringes. On average since 2001 there have been about 32 deaths of US citizens globally from terrorists (208 averaging in 9/11). Why is this an unacceptable risk and worth giving up our compassion, national identity, and even our freedoms?
We are also playing right into the terrorist hands and are allowing them to win. We are behaving exactly as they state in their recruiting propaganda. By acting this way we are guaranteeing that we will increase their support and sway the beliefs of the millions of refugees from hope to hatred. Every time our paranoia made us willing to sacrifice our principles, the support and recruiting rates for the terrorist has increased, including home grown sympathizers. This behavior will continue the downward spiral of conflict and increased terrorism.
We need to mercilessly deal with the ones actually conducting these acts, but we also need to show compassion, acceptance, and generosity to the innocent and stop this guilt by association paranoia. We need to show some courage and accept some risk in order to dry up support for these reprehensible acts and once again demonstrate through action that we are truly the beacon of hope and freedom for the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
