Comments for sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/post/making-sense-of-immigration-fears

Comment #4442

2017-02-16T12:56:35Z

Thank you, Kathy, for your thoughtful comment. I greatly appreciate your being part of the conversation. I want to clarify that neither I nor Friedman (as far as I can tell) are defending specific actions the President has taken, but attempting to understand the motivations behind them. One incontrovertible fact is that there is a large number of Americans who don't trust the vetting/security system as currently implemented.

In my experience, while words and facts and reason are important (that's why I write), they rarely assuage fears. I have a friend who is horribly afraid of school shootings, despite my assurance that they are statistically very rare. (I use your driving example a lot; if we really thought about that danger, we'd all stay home.) Yet that does not take away her fear, and the fact of the matter is that she has a lot more skin in the game than I do, having a daughter currently in school.

So how do we reduce fear? I put forth two possibilities.

(1) Trust. Clearly, half the country does not believe our former president gave enough attention to our national security. Whether he actually did or not is not the issue. President Trump is in a position to be able to open our borders further to refugees and other immigrants in a way President Obama could not, because he has the trust of those Americans. Despite his apparently ham-fisted first attempts, for him to say, in effect, "Stop; we need to make sure this plane is structurally sound before letting it fly" is not completely unreasonable for a man who is held responsible for our national defense. Having done that, he could bring a great many people around by saying that he believes the plane is flight-worthy.

(2) Personal knowledge and experience, supplemented by the knowledge and experience of those close to us, whom we trust. This is my favorite: though it tends to be slow, it's more certain. It's all too easy to hate faceless groups, especially when agitated by slanted media stories, but much less so when you know someone of a different race/culture/religion/political persuasion on the family level.

Comment #4441

2017-02-13T20:25:50Z

"Are all Muslims warriors against the United States? No. Do you know who is or isn’t? Also no."

This view can only seem plausible to those who are not daily involved in the process of vetting the people who come here from these "countries with which we are at war." Can anyone guarantee that a terrorist won't slip in? No. Not from those countries or any other countries. And as has been said over and over, the real terrorism threat we face is not from outside, but from those within our borders who are radicalized. That radicalization is not restricted to Muslims.

Consider how shameful and unnecessary our internment of Japanese citizens during World War ll looks in hindsight. We reacted out of irrational fear and made life miserable for countless perfectly harmless and innocent human beings. And what did we gain? Not much that I am aware of.

There are no guarantees, only reasonable precautions. We can't guarantee that we won't be killed the next time we get in our car to go to the store. That doesn't stop us from doing it. There's a certain element of risk we are willing to take.

The people that the president is banning from entry have been through a very extensive vetting process; many have been waiting for years for the approval to come here. Have you considered the possibility that the people doing the vetting are just as concerned about the prospect of terrorism as anyone else? They have friends and family they would be putting at risk if they didn't do their jobs carefully. The problem with the president's stance is that it is based on a complete lack of understanding of what is in place, and what measures are being taken already to prevent another attack. It assumes complete incompetence and lack of concern on the part of the previous administration, which may be a popular view in some circles, but isn't based on any knowledge of the reality. Fear is not a good starting point from which to build a national character. The measure of our national character will never be based on how well we protect ourselves from possible harm, but on how well we manage our fear while trying to be responsive to the real needs of others. If we let the president's assertions of imminent danger fool us into acting out our irrational fear, where are we then? Jesus did not give his life so we could choose to dismiss the suffering around us. People were already doing a perfectly fine job of that. He gave his life in the hope that we might learn to do otherwise.

Comment #4440

2017-02-04T17:26:16Z

Gaunce said that the Navy had rules that were so inconsistent that it was impossible to follow them all. This was a way to get rid of someone who wanted to make the Navy a career that the higher-ups didn't want - they easily found some rule that he had broken.

Comment #4439

2017-02-04T01:40:46Z

Well, Don, I sure am one who brings up the employers often enough. Who says it's not a major part of the problem? It's like the drug disaster: you have to tackle both supply and demand.

I think you missed Friedman's point about Muslim immigration, however. He's not saying the fear is rational, just understandable. The fear is not of Muslims we know, but of those we don't. If a random person is arriving here from a country in which there are many people who are known to be at war with us, it can be hard to know if he is friend or foe.

I do know several Muslims, and the farthest thing from their minds is making war against America. That doesn't change the fact that there is a statistically significant risk difference between granting a visa to a someone from the Gambia, say—a majority Muslim country which is not at war with us—and to someone from a majority Muslim country where known Islamic terrorists live and recruit.

Comment #4438

2017-02-04T00:02:27Z

"Are all Muslims warriors against the United States? No. Do you know who is or isn’t? Also no." I personally know Muslims who I am sure are not warriors against the U.S. and I'm sure I'm sure there are many others in this country who also do. I'd be willing to bet many people who are against Muslim immigration never even met a Muslim. George Friedman's take on this point not only doesn't seem credible it seems to be saying we should be suspicious of all Muslims because of the 9/11 attacks.

As for Mexicans and the law and order angle it's interesting how no one ever brings up the fact that U.S. employers who are employing undocumented immigrants are also breaking the law.