I often hear individuals give grand statements about how to handle conflicts in the Middle East. Some suggest to drop bombs to handle terrorist groups, hatching the perfect plan to drop a bomb and wipe out the problem. Many of these same people also think India is in the Middle East. If you just thought, "Hm...India isn't in the Middle East?", it is time to get with the program.
To be fair, there are numerous issues in the Middle East. Though we most often hear about ISIS, there is also civil war in Syria, conflicts of rightful land ownership in Palestine, and plenty of other civil and cultural issues—frankly, too many to name here. However, this turmoil has deep roots in colonization, empires, and a powerful struggle between religious and secular rule. Those in the Middle East did not just wake up one day and think, "Hey, let's just have lots of conflict because we are inherently bad people."
Believe it or not, the vast majority of people in the Middle East are normal people like us. They have families, friends, jobs, favorite restaurants and travel locations, and even major universities, historical sites, and ambitions for the future. When one suggests violent and extreme action against these places, they would really be taking more away from these people who vehemently disagree with terrorist groups than they would take from terrorist groups and extremists. Really, these groups likely want you to have these extreme mentalities.
Your explosives do not discriminate. Your well-meaning intentions might be dangerous.
At this point, there is absolutely no excuse to not have at least basic knowledge of the Middle East. It dominates our politics, and we form new opinions every single day in the international arena pertaining to this part of the world. Every day we are asking ourselves, "What should we all do to handle turmoil in the Middle East?"
It is impossible to make an informed choice without knowing something about the Middle East: Their history, their culture, their geography—something.
Take some time to learn about the Middle East. Even just reading some Wikipedia articles will suffice for now. You may really be surprised about what you learn. Because think about it—before you start spouting off about banning Syrian refugees, shouldn't you, at least, be able to point to Syria on a map?
