I've seen some pretty offensive posts from both ends of the spectrum. Some of the Liberal emotional responses? Well, the best one I've seen really is the one about how the Bible says that we need to help those in need. That's true. That's in there. Several times. Great argument. But some of the other arguments I've seen are absurd. One of them is so emotional over the perceived attack on Muslims that it decides to attack Christians. I've seen several variations on this. There's the argument that Christians are more likely to be terrorists than Muslims. This is a real argument being used, and the folks using it will back it up by pointing to various people who committed atrocities and were Christians or said they were Christians. There was the guy who shot a bunch of folks in a black church earlier this year (he didn't do that in the name of Jesus--he did that because he was a racist--and he actually killed Christians when he did that). There was the unabomber (that was done for political reasons and because of mental problems). Oh, and Hitler. Yeah, nothing screams Christianity like Hitler, the man who wanted to kill all the Jews. Has anyone actually read the Bible? That belief is in direct opposition to the entire book!
Perhaps the argument that takes the cake though is the one that states that we should all change our profile pictures to show the flags of all of the countries that the United States terrorizes. That one churned my stomach. Again, I am not making this up. At least one of the people I am friends with on Facebook posted that. And that really gets to the heart of the issue, because it exposes two problems. One is that some people need to check the definition of terrorism. And the other is that a lot of Liberals, quite possibly including the President, believe that America is what is wrong with the world. This belief is a grave problem. No country is perfect, but the United States is not terrorizing the world. Although we haven't really done a whole lot to stop Islamic extremists from doing so lately either. The other Liberal tidbit being put out there is that ISIS was created during the Bush administration. OK. But no one had really heard of them until recently. They became powerful during the Obama administration. Obama has largely ignored them, made Putin look good by comparison on some fronts, made a series of bad deals, released terrorists in exchange for a traitor, and declared that ISIS was contained hours before the attacks on Paris. Now is not the time to try to figure out who's fault it is that ISIS exists. It's the time to eliminate them. Hard.
And now let's talk about the Conservative arguments. The one that makes the most sense is the one questioning if letting these refugees in is a security risk. It sounds like at least one of the attackers in Paris came into the country as a refugee. This seems like a legitimate concern. Then there's the argument that we shouldn't let more people in our country because we need to take care of our homeless and veterans instead. Valid point in the second half there, but why are we suddenly concerned about the homeless and veterans now? Where was that concern before? Maybe if everyone had that concern, this would not be a problem. But it is. And it's a disgraceful problem that we need to do something about. But that doesn't make refugee lives matter any less.
The argument that does not make sense and is terrible in every sense of the word is the one that all Muslims are terrorists and we shouldn't help them or let them in. This is a very dangerous statement to make. The terrorists want non-Muslims to be pitted against Muslims. That is one of their goals. Let's not let them win here. The truth is that there are a lot of peaceful Muslims. I know some personally. But yes, there are also those who are not peaceful, and at this particular point in History, there are more jihadists or radical Islamists or whatever you want to call them who are terrorists than there are terrorists of any other religion. Thousands of terror attacks have been carried out by Muslim extremists since 9/11. This terrorism is done in the name of Allah. Massive numbers of terrorists are not killing people in the name of Jesus, Moses, Buddha, the Dalai Lama, Joseph Smith, the Spaghetti Monster, or any other religious leader. I don't care if the terrorists are true Muslims or not true Muslims. It needs to be dealt with and condemned by all peaceful Muslims. It's been great to see the Muslims who have been speaking out against the recent attacks. And if any speak out in favor of them? Well, frankly, then those particular people SHOULD be counted as terrorists. Saying that the attacks in Paris were carried out by a handful of crazy people misses the point. That is only one example of the many, many terrorist attacks carried out by Muslim extremists since 2001. Don't forget about the attacks in all those countries where people largely ignored the news stories on, even right before what happened in France! And, as a side note here, whether or not the left wants to be childish and avoid using that wording for politically-correct don't-offend-anyone reasons, while the right wants to be childish and try to get them to use that wording much like me trying to get my high school youth group leader to say the word "fart" does not matter. It's a fact, and the argument is beyond stupid, because the word Islam is part of the ISIS/ISIL acronym anyway.
With all that being said, I really don't have a clear cut answer here. On one hand, I feel terrible for the refugees and think that we absolutely need to help feed, clothe, and shelter them. On the other hand, there's a real possibility that one or more terrorists are disguised as refugees in an attempt to infiltrate the Western countries that they hate. There must be some way to make sure our country stays secure. It's 2015, right? I mean, really, get it together. Come up with a solution. But then, we shouldn't be surprised. Look at what happens when government tries to do anything. Trillions in debt. So much red tape. The IRS. The DMV. I bought a car in August and I still have dealer plates on that thing...
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