Non Sequitur

"It does not follow."  Congrats to the Republicans for yet another inappropriate response.  Radicals in Paris kill people, and you decide to ban Syrian refugees from coming here. Those refugees are fleeing Syria, fleeing the violence caused by ISIS.  In what alternate reality does it make sense to turn them away?  Just like attacking Iraq because of 9/11- one does not follow from the other.  Please, explain the connections, in detail.  After the horrible attacks in Paris, here's what the French are doing: accepting more refugees. They understand what is going on over there.  We don't.  Cue blaming the French for being victims, and calling them weak.  Of course, that has probably already started...

The French are attacking ISIS too, bombing in Syria and hitting extremist cells throughout Europe.  France is not weak.  The French are way tougher than they are given credit for.  I've seen the police in Paris- you don't want to piss them off.  And the French military has been strong for centuries.  Remember when they helped us win our Revolution?  Remember theirs, and Napoleon?  Yes, they were in bad shape after years of trench warfare in WW1, and got rolled over quickly at the start of WW2, but so did pretty much everyone else.  If the U.S. had had to fight Germany in 1940 we would have lost too.  Given the chance, though, the French recovered, and fought well till the end of the war.  Since then, they have been strong (even if they sometimes stay out of situations where there is no need to fight- something we could learn a bit about...)

As for ISIS, they are awful people.  We need to fight them (and we are, and have been,) not those who are trying to get away from them.  I still call them ISIS; I'm just used to it.  But I love that others use “Daesh,” an Arabic abbreviation, because apparently it pisses the militants off.  And I like ISIL, since it is more descriptive, and tweaks conservatives with no knowledge of history or geography.

Look- there is risk anywhere, anytime.  The risk from accepting Syrian refugees is incredibly low.  The risk from traveling, to France anyway, is very low.  (Syria... I'm going to wait awhile.)  I am much more worried about being attacked by a disgruntled ex-employee where I work.  Or a paranoid, ignorant current employee.  The day after the Paris attacks, I was talking with a coworker about security at the plant.  Our company increased security after 9/11; I doubt anyone could get in undetected.  I feel pretty safe there.  This guy does not.  He said “What about the ones that are already here?”  I was confused for a minute; did he mean refugees, or even terrorists, already in the U.S.?  Nope, he meant Muslims working at our company.  For real?  That is his worry?  That Ahmed, who has been there two years and who I have had great conversations with about politics and, more often, food, is going to turn out to be a terrorist?  That Muammar, who prays five times a day and is the friendliest person you'll ever meet, is somehow violent?  I worry more about the guy who asked the question: a disheveled gun-nut, who is afraid of something he knows nothing about, is well-armed, and is always negative, whether he's talking about work, the weather, his wife, whatever.

Things happen in the world.  We need to react to them by using reason, not emotion.  Facts, not soundbites from Fox.  What happened in Paris was awful, and its consequences are playing out right now.  Something bad will happen next week, and next year.  We need to remember that we are people, and not animals- lashing out at refugees because you don't like them will not prevent the real terrorists from doing something else.  Stop being afraid.  Keep living life as it should be lived.