National outcry calling for open arms to fleeing Syrians to take refuge in the United States has quickly changed to condemnation and suspicion following the November 13 attacks on Paris by ISIS. Syria has been embroiled in a violent civil war for the last four years, which has led to civilians fearing for their lives on a daily basis, and has already claimed more than 200,000 lives.
Just two months ago, a picture of a 3-year-old Syrian boy who drowned after the ferry he was in with his family capsized while they were trying to escape Syria, caused outrage and a call to action for allowing Syrians to take refuge in European countries. People were horrified that this little boy died because his family was making their final attempt to flee after their asylum application had been rejected.
Apparently, people have forgotten about him in the aftermath of the Paris attacks. After reports surfaced that one of the attackers was allegedly a Syrian Refugee, 53 percent of Americans do not want to welcome any more refugees, according to a poll taken by Bloomberg Politics. Politicians like Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz have gone on Islamophobic rants about how we should only allow refugees who can prove they are Christian in the U.S. Congress has passed legislation that will stop Syrian refugees from entering the country. Europe has begun to tighten their borders.
It has now been revealed that none of the attackers were Syrian refugees, but in fact all European nationals. There are theories that ISIS planted fake Syrian passports near bombing sites to try to take advantage of the refugee crisis by increasing the world's fear of them, therefore barring them from leaving Syria and leaving them with no choice but to join ISIS.
If this is actually their plan, it's working. Americans are clearly terrified right now, and rightfully so, but generalizing an entire population of people and trying to stop them from leaving a war torn country is taking it to an unnecessary level of irrationality. ISIS has a strong presence in Syria and is already there, killing innocent civilians. Add that to the number of people who are killed due to the ongoing civil war and you will understand the true, imminent danger Syrians face every day from multiple forces.
The media can also be blamed for the switch in public opinion. Their deliberate choices to sensationalize certain stories makes those who watch vulnerable to becoming wishy-washy.
When the Syrian boy drowned, the news was hyper-focused on that. Now, it's the Paris attacks they have zeroed in on, and ISIS's reign of terror. People tend to follow what the news tells them to believe, and in this case, it is telling them to fear Syrians.
