I’m going to say what is probably the worlds biggest understatement, but here we go. Terrorism is scary. The Paris attacks are nothing short of horrifying and what happened in Brussels is the stuff of nightmares. Not to mention the all too ignored tragedies in Nigeria, Ankara and Turkey. After all, this, to be scared is reasonable. But to act on fear isn’t just unreasonable, it’s harmful, and it is what the attackers want us to do. If we are to truly combat terrorism, then we need to first break down the two biggest myths that our collective conscious is creating in order to make sense of our fear.
Myth: Refugees could be terrorists, so we need to keep them out.
Fact: All of the most recent high-profile attacks have been committed by members of the community in which they took place, not refugees. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the Paris attacks. The vast majority of attackers, including the ringleader, were born and raised in Europe, if not France specifically. In Brussels, all three identified perpetrators were Belgium citizens raised in Brussels.
Both of these attacks took place long after the refugee crisis had begun. Politicians and media commentators had spent months so preoccupied with terrorists infiltrating borders under the guise of refugees that nobody noticed the ones already living inside the borders. We are ignoring the actual, evidence-based threats in favor of racist stereotypes that carry no actual weight. And who loses in this scenario? Everyone. The public’s safety from terror attacks is decreased because nobody is focusing on the actual threats. And millions of refugees are being turned away on absolutely no basis, even though they are ISIS’s biggest victims. Which brings us to our next myth.
Myth: ISIS’s main goal is to destroy the West and kill Christians.
Fact: As much as we Americans like to make everything about us, we are not ISIS’s biggest victims. In 2014, 17 Americans were killed as a result of terrorism. While tens of thousands of Muslims have been killed by ISIS and other militant groups. Countries are being torn apart, families are being separated, millions are fleeing their homes. But the amount of coverage these tragedies are receiving has been minuscule compared to the hours upon hours of coverage given to the terrifying "swarms of refugees." Politicians are claiming to be against ISIS, that ISIS is the worlds greatest evil, that we have to destroy ISIS, but then hypocritically refusing to help ISIS’s main victims.
Words are powerful. And when our words are determined by fear and islamophobia instead of facts and logic, our actions follow suit. If we're can't discuss the facts of the issue, then what hope do we have of solving it?
