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METEA MEDIA

Middle Eastern stereotypes within America: how nativism has become an epidemic

[quote]By Megan Arnold
Features Editor
Cartoon courtesy of www.14publications.com[/quote]

“There is a great hatred toward Americans by large segments of the Muslim population,” Donald Trump, at a recent campaign in Mount Pleasant, NC, said. But, this is not an article about Trump. This is an article about the misconception of terrorism, Muslim people, and the Islamic faith and the effect that it has had on America.

If, like Donald Trump, you have decided to categorize all Muslim/Syrians/Middle Eastern people as terrorists, then you should also consider all white Christians as Ku Klux Klan members.

Islamophobia has become a raging epidemic in the United States and throughout the world, ultimately causing Muslim people to feel excluded in a country that was raised upon values of rights and freedom. Why is it that American people, based off of the acts of a small number of Muslim people, have stereotyped an entire race, religion, and culture?

Terrorism does not have a specific religion.

In America, from 1980 to 2005, only six percent of all terrorist attacks were carried out by Islamic extremists, yet the amount of hate crimes against Muslims have raised 50% since 2010 due to increased anti-Muslim campaigns and propaganda.  

How can we, as a nation, completely ignore the fact that the Ku Klux Klan has been ongoing for longer than Al-Qaeda and ISIS? The KKK started in 1865, whereas Al-Qaeda started less than 20 years ago. Or that the Planned Parenthood and Charleston, SC shootings, which were mass murders intended to harm and terrorize, have been investigated under murder/homicide rather than terrorism?

What is terrorism, exactly?

Dictionary.com defines terrorism as:

Terrorism

[teruh-riz-uh m]

noun

  1. the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes.

Violence. Threats. Intimidation. Political purposes.

No mention of religious affiliation… Weird.

Yes, ISIS and Al-Qaeda use misinterpreted religious ideals in order to mask and increase compassion for their horrific acts of terror, but their lies should not be confused with the true values of Islam.

On Nov. 3, terrorists affiliated with ISIS attacked Paris, France, leaving over 180 people dead and thousands of others in mourning. After these attacks, many started questioning the security and safety precautions regarding Syrian refugees and their entering Europe and the United States.

[polldaddy poll=9232438]

Many presidential candidates, political leaders, etc. used these tragic events to create paranoia within the people of America specifically. Many even argued that any immigration into the United States posed a potential threat for terrorism, causing more racial stereotypes and a rise in hate crimes against Muslim Americans. Barack Obama held a live conference to discuss the dilemma of Syrian refugees, letting the American people know that he does, in fact, support letting Syrians into the United States.

Even though Obama supports this idea, only few states agreed.

1117usmapsyrianrefugeescomplete01 [quote]Graphic courtesy of NewsWeek[/quote]

Republican party candidate, Donald Trump, has publicly announced that he wants a complete ban of Muslims into America until we figure out “what the hell is going on.” He also has made it very clear that he does not support letting Syrian refugees into the country because of the “ginormous” threat of terrorism – “Common sense,” in his eyes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76An3ZxWNfk

However, John Oliver, from “Last Week Tonight”, argues that only one in 261,000 Syrian refugees would be even suspected of carrying out a threat of terrorism, based off of statistics and information from the organizations and agencies responsible for the rigorous citizenship process for all Syrian refugees.

261,000 – that’s about 13x the amount of people who can fit inside the United Center and 14x the amount of people who can fit inside Madison Square Garden, and only one of those people are ever suspected of potentially carrying out a threat of terrorism.

I would like to point out that if Donald Trump is going to discriminate against Syrian refugees, Mexican immigrants, or any immigrants in general, then I’d advise him to consider the fact that his great-great grandmother was probably an immigrant as well.

America was essentially built on freedom and “new beginnings.”  As most of us know, these new ideals for America brought millions of immigrants from all over the world. While these ideals drew many immigrants to America, many suffered poor living conditions, little to no pension, and discrimination motivated by Nativism.

Nativism is the favoring of interests and the protection of native born citizens over those of immigrants, this term used to describe a time period of more than 100 years ago seems to fit quite nicely with today’s issues at hand.

We are taught that the education of our world history is our strongest tool in order to reshape our future, but the repetition of past events has become far too familiar in the world of today. I can’t help but wonder why that is.

I am not here to push my political beliefs onto another person – I am here, though, to protect and highlight the rights of other Americans, no matter their religion or the color of their skin. Racism is and always will be an issue but I believe that with the right information being passed on, the education of our future generations, and the understanding of religion and culture we can move forward as a nation that is built on integrity and strength.

 

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Comments (43)

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  • A

    abby smedleyJan 21, 2016 at 2:09 pm

    I just wanna say I absolutely love the amount of discussion this post has brought! It’s great for everyone to talk about their opinions as a high school student body! :)))))))))

    Reply
    • A

      AJan 26, 2016 at 8:57 am

      this isnt a place for these shenanigans

      Reply
  • V

    ViziJan 6, 2016 at 7:57 am

    We shouldn’t shut out Muslims or Syrians from our country, because these are not groups of bad people. The only people we should be shutting out are terrorists, and through background screening that’s very possible most of the time. There are mistakes. But some of you are putting “American” lives as the paramount here, when you should just be prioritizing human lives. It’s this sort of blind nativism that leads to anti-immigration policies, along with fears of terrorists – or “drug dealers and rapists”, as Trump’s said about Mexicans – getting into the country. As if we don’t already have them here?

    My point is that people will do bad things regardless. Don’t let the actions of a minority dictate what you think about a group as a whole – we are all humans. Every human life has value.

    Reply
  • S

    Spurdo SpardeJan 4, 2016 at 8:24 am

    I think that if we take a holistic approach to the situation, we can clearly see that you can’t stump the Trump.

    Reply
  • R

    Reel FactzDec 21, 2015 at 8:02 am

    This is something all schools should show to their students. These are empirical facts disclosed by the PEW Research Center, ABC, CBS, and even our entertainment industry. Put the link below into your browser and educate yourself. Facts are a stubborn thing.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSPvnFDDQHk

    Reply
  • J

    jeffDec 18, 2015 at 9:56 am

    I am so sick of how I get called a bigot and a racist at the expense of my generations stupidity. You all want people from a country bombarded with terrorism to move here. women and children who’s families are willing to blow themselves up for what they call Islam and I don’t care if its interoperated wrong, because they specifically say Allah and jihad. In my opinion if you’re a Muslim and you won’t fight against radical Isla mists then you’re just as bad. You all wish we could be friends; however, if we are a generation that feels words as if its a real object then how can any country in the world respect us, especially a group of people who actually kill us not talk about it just kill us and you want to let n their family members. You know what fine if you want to call all white male conservatives like me, republicans, and Christians alike racist bigots, fine then we should be able to call you all mentally ill. Hate trump all you want at least if we elect him it’ll be someone who wants help this country.

    Reply
    • M

      Michelle JacksonJan 5, 2016 at 11:13 am

      Will you also call a Christian who doesn’t actively go against the Westboro Baptist Church a bad person as well? You are wary of Muslims because they could be terrorists; are you ok with people being wary of you because you might shoot up a school, church, or movie theater? No! It’s extremely ignorant to judge a whole religion based on the wrong actions of a few. Judging from your comment, the reason you get called a bigot and a racist is probably because you are.

      Reply
    • H

      HadiJan 5, 2016 at 8:03 pm

      “..because they specifically say Allah..”
      Let’s take the Arabic word Allah, and examine. Obviously, it looks like that you think that Allah= Islamic God. What you might not be aware of is that Allah, in arabic, simply means God. If you have traveled to any Middle Eastern country where Christians and Muslims live peacefully, you will notice that BOTH say Allah in there daily lives, and I might also mention that if were to read the Holy Bible in Arabic, you will see Allah in it, because it’s simply the word for God in Arabic. So just because someone says Allah and does something, doesn’t mean they’re Muslim, or anything else. It just simply means that they just know the word God in Arabic. Now let’s move onto Jihad. I’m quite sure you have the misconception of Jihad as a term for “Holy War”, while in actuality, simply put, Jihad just means struggle (coming from the root Jahada, meaning to strive for). In the Holy Quran and the Holy Bible, Jihad is mentioned, as it’s only the Arabic word for struggle. In the Holy Quran, Jihad isn’t mentioned as a “Holy War” simply because war isn’t Holy, and violence in general is looked down upon in Islam. One form of Jihad, usually overlooked in today’s pursuit of newsworthy headlines, is the Jihad of presenting the message of Islam is da`wah. This type of Jihad is done by the tongue (going to people and talking to them, Missionaries basically), and not sword. The other type of Jihad is called Jihad an nafs, which is ones struggle with him or herself, basically to do the right thing in which wrong seems to be more attractive and pleasing. Lastly, I should mention the Physical Jihad. Combative Jihad in the technical usage of Islamic law means “the declaration of war against belligerent and aggressive non-Muslim powers or against fellow Muslim transgressors”.The principles of Islamic jurisprudence state that the actions of the leader must be guided by the interests of the people and that the interests of the collectivity. So Combative Jihad is similar, same actually, to a declaration of war from a country against an already belligerent country, and is only done in self defense. Now, the last time I checked, no country is in a war against an Islamic Country, hence, there can’t be any combative Jihad as it’s only in self defense. So if a leader of an extremist group calls himself a Caliph(ruler of the Islamic empire… Which DOESN’T exist) and tries to call people to fight and isn’t even recognized by the majority 99% of Muslims(only recognized by ISIS), that isn’t any sort of Jihad. I hope this cleared any kind of misconceptions you had.

      Reply
      • A

        Amruth PabbaJan 22, 2016 at 8:09 am

        Hadi I disagree with your comment all religions have different Gods just because words are similar in the two holy books does not mean that it matters. I agree that not all muslims are terrorists but, to save our people I believe that stopping the Syrian refugees coming in because, we cannot trust them anymore after what they have done.

        Reply
        • A

          A FriendJan 28, 2016 at 10:44 am

          And what exactly have they done?

          Reply
  • C

    Chuck BartoszDec 17, 2015 at 9:09 pm

    I think this is a waste of people’s time if they are censoring posts. Posts that are not even rude but contain facts. I’d be surprised if this was even posted.

    Thank you

    Reply
    • H

      HumanJan 19, 2016 at 2:25 am

      Dear Chuck,
      You may not find your responses rude, but they certainly are hurtful to much of today’s population and infact to the world. Humanity should be our race, and love our religion. You do have they right to share your own opinion and sheild your kids from thoughts unaligned from your thinking, but please do not put groups of people down, it has hurt and threatened much of the student body. So next time please be mindful of the words you spew, because they are hurting your own self-image.
      with much love,
      A concerned Human

      Reply
  • U

    UnidentfiedDec 17, 2015 at 5:09 pm

    I’m glad that there are culturally educated people in this world unlike the three musketeers above who are all probably just waiting for a response to come up with some twisted response to.

    The thing is, Islamaphobia does exist. I’ve dealt with it myself. As a follower, I know what Islam is all about. It IS a peaceful religion first of all.

    Just because a small percentage of Muslims are terrorists does not mean that every other Muslim is.

    It’s sad that people refuse to take time to research, even for five minutes, what Islam is. People, DO NOT make stupid assumption or let fear of ANY Muslim take over you just because of the media! Yes, right now, ISIS and other various extremist groups exist, and they represent the face of terrorism, not an average Muslim person.

    And honestly, people from other religions have committed horrible crimes. just look it up right now.

    People who believe all this crap about Muslims all being “terrorists” or an “extremist” are weak minded. These weak minded people let other people or the media feed in their fears, or in most cases, create fears. Honestly, if you believe his, then I definitely don’t want to engage in a conversation with you if you act this dumb and uneducated about something like this.

    Please, be open minded. Seriously. Also, this is an opinionated article. For those of you who want this article taken down, suck it up. And look up what opinion means.

    Oh, and for for the people in need of a good lesson about Islam to clarify that it is a peaceful religion, here is a fantastic debate to watch:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HjRI2AsF3h0

    Or if you are cautious of clicking links, just search up

    “Mehdi Hassan- Islam is a peaceful religion debate”

    Thank you.

    Reply
  • A

    anonymousDec 17, 2015 at 2:31 pm

    You liberals want to house thousands of Syrian refugees but don’t care at all about the 50,000 homeless veterans.

    Reply
  • A

    anonymousDec 17, 2015 at 2:29 pm

    Again with the liberal bias as always….

    Reply
  • L

    Liam SweeneyDec 16, 2015 at 7:17 pm

    Love how this whole comment section is one family patting each others back for there conservative simple minded black and white views. My sides are currently in orbit because of this comment section.

    Reply
    • L

      Liam SweeneyDec 17, 2015 at 6:36 am

      First off, the whole grape argument is idiotic and too black and white. It says we either have to let in terrorists, or keep all Syrians out. The thing is we could actually just let in good Syrians and keep out terrorists through rigorous background checks, WHICH WE ALREADY DO MIGHT I ADD AND HAS ALREADY KEPT OUT TERRORISTS. I laughed when I heard this because I know these conservatives hate SJWs, even though there using the exact same bowl of M&Ms argument they use against men. Please, check your hypocrisy.

      Reply
  • D

    DanDec 16, 2015 at 7:55 am

    I think it is extremely oversimplified to sum the Syrian refugee crisis into whether or not the refugees themselves are terrorists – obviously, the vast majority of them are not terrorists. This being said, no one considers what happens to the refugees after they come here. Idealists claim that they are hard workers and would benefit society. Regardless whether or not they are hard workers, for the most part these refugees are uneducated and do not even speak English. With millions of Americans unable to find a job who are also hard workers, are educated, and speak English, it is unlikely that these refugees would realistically be able to find a truly productive place in American society, and the government would be forced to pay most of them welfare. The proposed number of refugees to bring in is a staggering 65,000. Allowing this amount of people to come into our country, most of which (at least initially) would receive government housing and welfare would plunge our country into an already enormous debt.
    Again, it is insane to say “all Muslims are terrorists” or “all these refugees are innocent”. Find a sane middle ground. Don’t be a bigot, don’t be idealistic, be a realist. And then maybe we can find an actual solution to this problem.

    Reply
  • R

    Robbie DozierDec 16, 2015 at 7:53 am

    Those of you who are saying that opinion articles should be unbiased. Get over yourselves. They’re opinion pieces.

    Reply
  • J

    Joe BDec 15, 2015 at 10:19 pm

    All life ends. It all leads to that point, no matter what you do, it will happen, accepting the inevitable is just what you have to do. So many people around the world die everyday, we shouldn’t let death rule over us and be afraid. The fear you feel is them winning, don’t let them win.

    Reply
  • B

    BoiDec 15, 2015 at 10:13 pm

    Lol y’all said you were “thoroughly disgusted” I’m dying. Three musketeers over here cheering each other looking like the away teams student section.

    Reply
    • P

      pam halbartJan 6, 2016 at 7:12 pm

      hahahahahahhaha so truee

      Reply
  • C

    Chuck BartoszDec 15, 2015 at 2:45 pm

    In response your following statement,

    “Islamophobia has become a raging epidemic in the United States and throughout the world, ultimately causing Muslim people to feel excluded in a country that was raised upon values of rights and freedom. Why is it that American people, based off of the acts of a small number of Muslim people, have stereotyped an entire race, religion, and culture?”

    The PEW Research Center (a respected nonpartisan American think tank) just came out with the statistics regarding “Muslims and Islam: Key findings in the U.S.”…….

    PEW says that of the 2.75 million Muslims in the United States, 7% say suicide bombings are sometimes justified and 1% say they are often justified. If you do the math, at 7% = 192,500 Muslims and 1% = 27,500 Muslims in THIS country that believe this Jihad is justified.

    Pretty scary, huh? And you wonder why some people in this country might look differently at Muslims (or “exclude” them as you say). To me those numbers don’t seem to be a SMALL number of Muslims as you state above.

    You can check this out yourself at:

    http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/12/07/muslims-and-islam-key-findings-in-the-u-s-and-around-the-world/

    Reply
    • M

      MolDec 16, 2015 at 10:41 am

      Donald trump used PEW research to prove his point too 🙂 how ironic!

      Reply
  • J

    Josh KlineDec 15, 2015 at 2:14 pm

    Though members of the KKK swore to uphold American values and Christian morality, virtually every Christian denomination officially denounced the KKK.

    Reply
    • G

      Gowtham SunraligamDec 15, 2015 at 3:17 pm

      virtually every Muslim denomination officially denounced ISIS. There is only a very small percentage that have extremist ideas.

      Reply
    • A

      AnonymousDec 15, 2015 at 7:02 pm

      Just like how all Muslim denominations have denounced ISIS

      Reply
  • J

    Joe KDec 15, 2015 at 1:05 pm

    The KKK isn’t blowing up buildings, mass murdering and to torturing tens of thousands of people, and committing terrorist attacks across the globe. Sure, they have a racial prejudice but let’s be real, they are pretty irrelevant group now a days. The argument of the KKK organization being around longer is entirely irrelevant to the conversation because they’ve literally dropped off the map. When was the last time they inflicted bodily harm on someone?

    Secondly, “the true values of Islam” you claim in this article…..whether you believe it or not Islam has elements built into it that not only conflict entirely with the U.S. Constitution but with our society as a whole. Sharia law, the degragation of women and call to use violent, oppressive and lethal force towards opposition are all components of the Koran. So you can sit here and try to make the claim that these “radicalized” Muslims committing the atrocities are outliers of the population, but in reality, they are the ones following the religion to the exact specifications.

    I have no problem with Muslims who disown these elements which lie in such contrast with our society today, but the fact of the matter is these are the ones who do NOT conform to the measures of the “faith”. Everyone’s all up in arms about these “extremists”, but these extremists are really the ones carrying out the message to the T.

    Reply
    • S

      Safa ShaikDec 15, 2015 at 4:03 pm

      “The true values of Islam” you seem to not know what the true values are either, Joe. Sharia law in no such way degrades women. Being a Muslim women myself who is well educated in her religion and others, I know what my religion preaches and what it does not. Muslims who commit such horrendous acts are not to be considered Muslims at all and are not following their religion to its exact speculations. Now we can go on and debate on whether or not it was right of Megan to mention the KKK and link them to Christianity but that also is aside the point. Megan’s point of bringing up the KKK was to compare it to ISIS and Al Qaeda because of the same link they have to Islam. Both organizations shouldn’t be linked to either religion because no religion promotes the killing of innocent people. As for KKK not being mentioned in the news or media lately, it is because they just aren’t as active anymore but they have murdered many people and harmed many more than that. You claim that they are irrelevant but let’s be honest that’s your opinion. They haven’t dropped off the map, they just aren’t given the attention and publicity they used to be given during the civil rights movement. Let’s be real, ISIS isn’t following Islam to its specifications, Al Qaeda isn’t following Islam to its specifications, and the KKK isn’t following Christianity to its specifications. Blaming the followers of Islam who you consider to be following Islam to the complete extent, appreciating the ones who let go of their religion to fit in American society, and claiming Islam along with sharia law degrade women and call for violence shows how uneducated you are. Let’s be real Joe, I’m a Muslim women living in the United States of America. A citizen of this country because I was born in this country. An American who knows the values of the constitution. A Muslim who knows the values of her religion. An American Muslim who follows her religion to its true specifications while also being a good citizen to her country. So let’s be real, you misunderstood Megan’s purpose in the article but fortunately she has written it to educate people just like you.

      Reply
  • J

    Jeannette BartoszDec 15, 2015 at 12:03 pm

    I’m assuming that you’re a student. At your age, I was a little idealistic also. But, the truth of the matter is, there are very real dangers in the world and at this point in history, it is NOT Christians, whom you equate with the KKK. It is Muslim terrorists. There’s no way to whitewash it. It is what it is.
    And please, be honest. There is NO terrorizing by the American people of Muslim people. If there is anything like that, it is very isolated because I’m sure our media would have had an incident like that all over the place. Do we look at Muslims differently now that all of this has happened? Absolutely. But we didn’t start that. They brought that on themselves- whether they are the terrorists themselves, or sit idly by and let it continue to happen. Americans are a great people! We have the mechanisms in place to fix bias and discrimination. We are a very giving nation, and our efforts over the years to end discrimination are second to none. But……………
    At this point, I do not trust this current administration to protect the American people although this is a government’s FIRST priority. I do not want to bring in any Syrian refugees for that very reason. That doesn’t make me anti-immigrant. That makes me prudent. My first priority is the safety of my family and friends.
    You say that only “1”, statistically speaking, would be a legitimate terrorist. Consider this: 19 terrorists killed 3000 people on 9/11. That’s 152 people killed per terrorist. Are you comfortable with that statistic? I’m not. I want ZERO. Because not one American life is worth taking that chance.
    This has nothing to do with nativism or racism or any other ism. This is about seeing what is going on around us, being adults and taking proper precautions. Political correctness is not appropriate here. It will get us killed.
    Finally, please stay away from the Daily Show when getting your news. That is not news, it is entertainment.

    Reply
    • C

      CDec 16, 2015 at 7:54 am

      BEST satirically response ever! HA could you imagine anyone actually saying this?!
      Daily Show Rating 10/10

      Reply
  • G

    Gregory SimonDec 15, 2015 at 9:43 am

    So what are your ideas about the other candidates running for presidency?
    Or was this not about politics and the upcoming election at all? It seems to me that people are just bashing on Donald Trump because of the misconceived tweets and social media that twists Trumps actions and speeches.

    Reply
  • S

    SaifDec 15, 2015 at 9:39 am

    Well said. However, it is a bit unnerving to see in the poll that, at least at this time, only two more people chose the first option rather than the second. Trump supporters may be among us.

    Reply
  • M

    Michael BOVADec 15, 2015 at 8:31 am

    This article is pretty biased and has very liberal standpoints. In my opinion, people should not be writing articles based off of their own political standpoints. School Articles should be wrote by both sides. You are literally making fun of a religious group (Christians) which is a big sign of bigotry. I do agree that most Americans do prejudge muslims but it does not give you the right to write about conservatives in a negative way.

    Reply
    • P

      PavanDec 15, 2015 at 5:15 pm

      it’s called an ‘opinion’ piece.

      they aren’t obligated to give both sides of the story, just their opinion. Whether or not you disagree with is irrelevant to the writer’s excersizing of their right to free speech

      Reply
      • A

        AnonymousDec 16, 2015 at 8:05 am

        his comment is obviously not irrelevant if you’re replying to Michael, Pavan

        Reply
  • J

    Jessica BartoszDec 15, 2015 at 8:12 am

    I agree with only some of Donald Trump’s ideas, and this one I agree with. (Ted Cruz is my favorite, so I am not for Donald Trump). To start off, not all Syrian refugees are terrorists, but I do not agree with allowing them into our country. Hear me out. If you are given 10 grapes, and out of those ten grapes 3 of them are poisoned. (but you do not know that). Are you still willing to eat all of those ten grapes. I for one am not willing to take that risk. So if you think of those grapes as Syrian refugees, but x10000, we could be letting in a lot of terrorists. Again, not saying all Syrian refugees are terrorists but some terrorists are sneaking into our country because they use the disguise of a Syrian refugee when they are not. They are killing innocent people all over the world… and just because we do not agree with their way of life and their culture. I think for the safety of our country we should ban Syrian refugees from entering our country (temporarily, until the president and the government can get everything worked out. Also, The Klu Klux Klan was against Catholics and Jews. I am a Catholic (under the christian branch). I do not agree with what you said if we believe in what I just said that “all white Christians are considered Ku Klux Klan members”.

    Reply
    • J

      Jeannette BartoszDec 15, 2015 at 12:04 pm

      Very well said!

      Reply
    • S

      Sarah SDec 16, 2015 at 10:05 pm

      “If you are given 10 grapes, and out of those ten grapes 3 of them are poisoned. (but you do not know that). Are you still willing to eat all of those ten grapes.”
      Alright, I understand that this is just a metaphor meant to simplify an idea that you are trying to express, but your logic is so incredibly flawed that I can’t allow these ideas to be spread without providing the actual FACTS. For starters, in your scenario of “3 out of 10 grapes” being poisoned, you’re indirectly making the assertion that 30% of Syrian refugees are terrorists. For your scenario to be even remotely accurate (although the issues lay not only in your statistics but in the entire premise of comparing families, children suffering oppression to grapes), we’d need to change these numbers fairly drastically. Let’s look at Europe as a case study. In total, Europe has admitted nearly one million Syrian refugees (source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34131911). Would you like to take a guess at how many terrorist attacks these refugees have initiated? I’ll give you a hint, it’s not 300,000. Try 0. So let’s redo this scenario and make it a little more accurate, shall we? Hypothetically speaking of course, let’s say there’s a group of 9 million people, comprised 67% of women and children (source: http://www.factcheck.org/2015/11/facts-about-the-syrian-refugees/), being held under oppressive regime and having their human rights violated. If there was a possibility, not assurance, that among the masses of suffering families there was a single terrorist, would you offer them protection and help regardless? Maybe your answer is still no, and you’re entitled to your own opinion, however overly cautious and selfish it may be. However, you should at least form your opinion based on /facts/ and not on made up scenarios involving fruit.

      Reply
    • L

      Liam SweeneyDec 17, 2015 at 10:29 am

      (See bottom of page)

      Reply
  • C

    Chuck BartoszDec 15, 2015 at 8:03 am

    I find your article to be totally misleading and am surprised that it is on a high school website. Political propaganda should not be allowed in our high schools. It’s bad enough our kids will be indoctrinated when then attend college. I am not a Trump fan but what he said “factually” is to temporarily stop refugees (who happen to be Muslim) from entering this country until they are thoroughly vetted. Ergo, a temporary halt of entry. Trump is a boob but I agree with him on this one point. The safety of our families and friends is first and paramount. Regarding Islamophobia, this is something the left leaning media has started and is still propandizing. The facts are, the most current terrorist acts happening in the world today have been committed by extremist Islamic radicals who ARE Muslim. I think the majority of people realize that and are not condemning Muslims in general. Also, comparing these Islamic radicals to what the KKK and Christians have done generations ago is VERY misleading and disingenuous. I’d appreciate if the school would pull this article from their website or at least have a counter-point article with real facts written and published.

    Thoroughly disgusted.

    Reply
    • S

      Sarah SDec 16, 2015 at 10:23 pm

      “The facts are, the most current terrorist acts happening in the world today have been committed by extremist Islamic radicals who ARE Muslim”.
      If you’re going to presume to provide facts about terrorist acts, I’d recommend checking their validity next time. It’s alright though, I’ve done it for you. http://www.globalresearch.ca/non-muslims-carried-out-more-than-90-of-all-terrorist-attacks-in-america/5333619
      Over 90% of terrorist attacks between 1980 and 2005 have been committed by non-muslims. Huh. Seems like you may need to do a little more research before aimlessly criticizing an article that promotes toleration. No one is stifling your opinions on the matter, and you have every right to express dissatisfaction. However, keep in mind that this is the opinions section of a student-run site, and as such, opinions are going to be voiced, regardless of whether you personally approve or not.

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        Chuck BartoszDec 17, 2015 at 8:14 am

        Sarah…you missed my whole point. It’s like telling your kids “you heard me but did not listen”. My point was about the MOST CURRENT attacks. Again, that’s the most current attacks. Did I mention the “most current attacks”? This is the point Trump is making above. He’s suggesting a moratorium (suspension) for a few years until our government can vet European refugees more thoroughly. For you to pull up an article of what happened between the years 1980-2005 is a moot point. It’s what’s happening now, such as Paris, San Bernardino, Bamako hotel attack, Ankara bombings, Fort Hood, ISIS/ISIL, Boko Haram, Al Qaeda, yada, yada. You get the point,

        If you want a better bird’s eye view of all current Islamic Jihad click on the link below. Grant it, it’s only Wikipedia, but it was quick. Scroll down to the bottom at the year 2015′.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Islamist_terrorist_attacks

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Middle Eastern stereotypes within America: how nativism has become an epidemic