Let me start this opinion piece off with a disclaimer: this is not my opinion.
This piece is a collection of opinions from numerous different people with completely different opinions. I interviewed liberal people, conservative people, and those people who can't pick a side when it comes down to picking a political party to side with. Surprisingly enough, very few were able to pick a "party side" when it comes to this issue.
The topic, if you haven't already noticed, is the refugee crisis in the middle east, the opinions for or against Donald Trump's travel ban on travel to 7 middle-eastern countries, and the wall that has been proposed to be erected on the United States' southern border with Mexico. When I presented my subjects with the questions regarding these issues, I was blown away by their answers. They weren't bad answers or misinformed answers, they just weren't what I was expecting to hear. I was taken back by how informed the people in my generation have become, and I was very pleased with the results. Here are some summaries of the answers I got.
1. Do you think people who are applauding the ban and the proposed border wall are inherently white-supremacists or racist?
Highly liberal people answered,"Yes," to this question. The two who identified as highly liberal explained that Donald Trump himself is a white supremacist because of some of his cabinet picks that have previously been tied to the Ku Klux Klan. They believe that he thinks refugees from the middle east can't be trusted (which is obviously true), but they think it's only because of their skin color/religion.
The conservative people I interviewed, as expected, said no. Their reasoning concludes that the travel ban was enforced to stop current terrorists from entering the country. They solely believe that it is a matter of national security. They also extrapolated that the border wall is absolutely necessary to stop illegal immigrants from coming into our country.
Most of my candidates were completely on the fence with this question. Even though most of these non-partisan people leaned slightly more to the left in their social ideologies, they still were able to see the concerns from both sides of the argument. They do not believe that people who are applauding the ban and border wall are racist, but they do think they are prejudiced in ways against refugees and illegal immigrants as well.
All three points of view are valid, but upon research and remembering recent past events, you may conclude that non-partisan and conservative opinions have more merit than a racist argument. After accepting millions of refugees into their countries (Belgium, France, and Germany), they have experienced attacks on their citizens such as the airport attack in Belgium, the Bastille Day truck rampage in France, and another intentional truck incident in Germany that destroyed a Christmas themed market and killed numerous innocent people. Granted, these countries did not investigate the backgrounds of the people as well as we do in the United States when accepting refugees. That brings the next question around.
Do you think the people who oppose the travel ban have no regard for national security?
The answer to this question, unanimously, was no. Even from conservative people who are widely expected to say yes to this question met it with genuine understanding and care. Liberal and non-partisan subjects explained that their moral centers would be compromised if they supported this ban. They see people in need of refuge, and they also made a very good point that the people supporting the ban have probably never experienced the pain, death, and destruction that these people are desperately trying to run from. It's heartbreaking to them.
It was also equally heartbreaking to the conservative people who were interviewed. They felt for the people who need a place to go where they won't be in fear of losing their life or their very own children in a bombing by their own government. Their moral center is also compromised, but the trade-off is the security they feel by knowing that Islamic terrorists will not be entering the country (which is an opinion from one of the conservative extremists I talked with). Most of the conservative people believed the ban should be lifted as soon as a better vetting plan is set into place. They want to help these people as soon as they can but not at risk of losing fellow American lives.
Do you think the support or opposition of the travel ban is prompted by fear or love (or both) emotions being felt by America's citizens?
This answer was a unanimous "both" from all groups of people. The reasons people believed love was a force in the decision to enforce the travel ban was a strong feeling of nationalism in the United States. When someone loves something so dearly they will also do anything to protect it, which explains the feeling of fear that some experience after realizing that we could be letting terrorists into the country by accepting refugees from the middle east. Everyone understood that opinion very clearly. Nobody casts blame onto another. They realized they would have been wrong to judge because emotions are more powerful than any weapon, document, or government ever could be. Emotions are what make us human, and judging someone else for being human is an unspoken crime.
The Conclusion.
The results of this self-lead survey of my fellow Americans has opened my eyes to ideas and opinions I had once been so very blind to. It has brought me to an understanding that nobody can ever know what is truly right. Righteousness, now more than ever, is being left up to the eye of the beholder. Everyone has valid reasons to believe what they do, be it love or fear that drives them to make a difference and have their voices heard. This study has also reminded me of a story of a girl I read in middle school, who in the wake of adversity and destruction, still believed that all in the world is driven by what people believe is good and righteous. Maybe we are all more alike than we believe.
"Despite everything, I believe people are really good at heart." -Anne Frank
