The first day of the Republican National Convention was titled “Make America Safe Again”; a title which didn’t make much sense as the day progressed. Rather than addressing how America can be made safe again, the GOP trash talked Clinton and once again brought up her alleged blame for the Benghazi attacks, criticized the Black Lives Matter movement for causing “anarchy” and increased racial tensions all throughout the country and claimed Obama and Clinton’s avoidance of the term “radical Islam” questions how the democratic establishment can defeat a problem that they cannot name. Republicans spent all day overstating and blowing out of proportion what, according to them, makes America no longer safe and instilling an even more divisive partisan ideology rather than discussing what can make America safe again. That makes absolutely no sense.
The day’s title suggested that the GOP would finally address extremely relevant issues like increasing global warming, America’s response to Brexit, the coup in Turkey or the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, but the rhetoric was instead focused on implanting more fear and anger in many Americans' heads.
Fear is by far the most powerful emotion. It can be caused by everything and nothing. It makes you question whether you and all those around you are safe at all. It has the power to make you rethink everything you believe to be true. It can turn you against millions of people you know nothing about. It only takes a tiny bit of misinformation or alteration of facts to make masses feel immeasurable amounts of fear; a tactic that has been used over and over again in history to diffuse hate and make people turn against each other, and something that the American media is quite experienced at.
If you own a TV or a radio you will know that the great majority of news are about terrorism. Media outlets repeatedly show photographs and videos of terrorist attacks, state questionable facts about terrorism, ignore the truly catastrophic events in non-western places (Muslim countries primarily) and ponder on how much of a threat terrorism really is to Americans, which, according to them, seems to be an enormous threat. A little research and incredulity will lead you to understand that the average American is really under not much of a threat, and that federal intelligence agencies (CIA, FBI, NSA, DHS, etc…) have terrorism and possible attackers beyond inspected, but, nevertheless, terrorism is a huge issue that must be addressed… accurately addressed. If you had no other way of consuming news, however, you would think that there is something resembling a third world war going on, and you would fear for your life. For millions of Americans, this is the case, and, as we have seen in this current election, fear can lead to disastrous outcomes.
The reality is that Americans are mostly safe. Ever since 9/11,156 people have died as a result of terrorist attacks(including hate-related shootings and mass killings), meaning an average 11.14 people have died from terrorism each year. You are more likely to be killed by a cow (an average of 20 people are killed by cows every year in America) than by terrorism. You don’t fear cows, do you? Yes, 54 have died so far this year, but if you calculate the amount of Americans that have died as a result of terror, you will find that, out of 1,460,834 deaths in America so far this year, only 0.0037 percent (54 deaths) have been a result of terrorist attacks. Not even 1 percent. Meanwhile, in places like Syria and Iraq, hundreds of civilians die every week. Now those are some numbers that cause real fear, not 11.14 deaths per year.
Of course, there are other things that could be considered to make America not safe, like gang violence, rapes or, as we have seen recently, race-related violence. Although these are ever present and legitimate things to be concerned about, the reality is that during the past twenty-five years, the violent crime rate in America has dropped by more than half, and, during Obama’s administration, crime was reduced by more than 10 percent. For those who have no access to information or no interest in finding out the truth, however, it seems like America only keeps getting worse.
So if America is relatively safe, why have more than half of Americans reported they are terrified of crime and violence? Because they are forced to believe so. The media and many politicians inaccurately manipulate their perception of the world and make them believe that they could be in the midst of a terrorist attack at any moment. They push them to turn against those different from them, whether it’s Republican or Democrat, black or white, Christian or Muslim, for the sake of their safety. This is why America is so divided and scared.
It’s completely understandable to be concerned about terrorism because it truly is an awful thing. There is a huge difference, however, between being educated and aware and being scared. If you allow yourself to be afraid and alter your lifestyle according to those fears, you are letting them win. You are giving them the power to turn you against other Americans and terrorize your life (hence the word terrorism), and that is what they want. Be rational and stop fearing so much. The only people who have a right to be afraid are African Americans, primarily young males, whose lives are manipulated just to be part of a quota. Even so, the best way to combat terrorism in all its forms is by going about with your life spreading love and acceptance, not hate, or as Antoine Leiris, a man who lost his wife during one of the Paris attacks, said, "I will insult you with my happiness."
America doesn’t need to be safe again. America needs to be informed and inclusive, rather than fearful and polarized. It needs to broadcast the news as what they really are. It needs a commander-in-chief who won’t combat terror with more terror. It needs to recognize the demands of groups like Black Lives Matter as legitimate rather than anarchistic. It needs to address its biggest current threat: climate change. It needs to do something about its out-of-control gun problem. It needs to make Muslim Americans feel like their government hasn’t failed them. It needs to stop making it citizens fear for their lives.
