Common Fears

[Content Note: Refugee crisis; Islamophobia.]

I have been updating my earlier post as more and more governors have said they will not accept Syrian refugees in their states, and/or demanded better vetting, as if the vetting already being done isn't the best it can possibly be given the circumstances.

But in case you haven't been following the updates, here is where we are at the moment: More than a dozen governors have now said they will not accept Syrian refugees: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Texas.

All of this horseshit is based on the fear that among the refugees will be sneaky terrorists. And, sure, that's a possibility. But the vast majority of refugees are people who share the fear of IS. They are refugees explicitly because they have been living under the daily terror of the exact sort of attacks that these governors are afraid will be perpetrated in their states.

And instead of focusing on these common fears we share with the refugees, people are eliding it altogether to instead fearmonger about how the refugees might themselves be terrorists.

I don't even know what the fuck to say, except to repeat that I really love, ahem, the chutzpah of crowing about "Christian values" while turning our backs on the people who have suffered the most at the hands of the terrorists we fear. I'm not sure "No room at the inn!" was meant to be the takeaway of the central story in the New Testament.

The President underlined the revolting irony at his press conference earlier today:

President Obama had sharp words Monday for current and would-be political leaders who have since stoked fear about the danger of Syrian refugees following the tragedy in France.

Obama said that people fleeing Syria "are the most harmed by terrorism, they are the most vulnerable as a consequence of civil war and strife." He pointedly countered suggestions that the United States should distinguish between Christian and Muslim migrants, calling it "shameful" and saying, "That's not American. It's not who we are."

He commended German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her "courageous stance" on welcoming refugees, as well as the G20 for affirming "that we do not close our hearts to these victims of such violence and somehow start equating the issue of refugees with the issue of terrorism."

Frankly, if you're scared of IS, that's the reason to welcome refugees. You don't need another one. Because they are scared of IS, too.