Muslims. Terrorism. ISIS. Nowadays, when people watch news on TV, they will often hear these words. Violence in the Middle East has caused millions of people to flee for their lives, hoping to reach Europe and start a new life. Many extreme ideas are arising amid all of this discussion, and are resulting in xenophobic actions towards Muslims and others fleeing from ISIS in the Middle East. Many Americans now no longer want Syrian refugees to enter the United States because they are a so-called security risk. What most people do not realize is that the information that they gain from the media, politicians, and other people is often not true. Despite the plethora of veracious information, many people simply tune this out and create their own
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After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, feelings towards Japanese Americans started to change. Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, a Japanese American who was interned in the Relocation Camps and the author of the book Farewell to Manzanar, demonstrated just how quickly attitudes changed. Before Pearl Harbor, her teacher at school was a “kind, grandmotherly woman who used to sail with us in Papa’s boat from time to time”, but after the Pearl Harbor bombing, Jeanne’s teacher was “cold and distant”, and showed “outright hostility” (15). Propaganda shown to American citizens often stated, using inappropriate and racist terms, that “Japs are evacuated from the West Coast for the national security…[they] sell out their items before their voluntary departure” (video). In this single sentence, there are four instances of misinformation and bias. First, the propaganda used racist terminology such as Japs, further discriminated Japanese Americans. That language is definitely not tolerated today. Second, Japanese people are not being evacuated; evacuation is “the removal of someone from a dangerous place” (Merriam-Webster). Japanese Americans are not really the ones that the government considers to be in danger; the government thinks it’s the Americans who are in danger. Third, the so-called evacuation is not for the national security. Not a …show more content…
Many people believe that entering the U.S. as a Syrian refugee is extremely simple, and that ISIS may try to exploit this and smuggle terrorists in this way. Joe Biden, the vice president of the United States, falsifies this idea. He states, “Refugees face the most rigorous screening of anyone who comes into the United States...We’ve instituted another layer of checks, just for Syrian refugees...refugees wait eighteen to twenty-four months while the screening process is completed” (video). This just skims the surface, but shows how complicated the screening process is. It is nothing like what most people image. Everything that the refugee says is thoroughly verified. In fact, according to David Bier, “[The] Department of Homeland Security travel(s) throughout the region in order to verify claims of persecution and facts about the victims' biography” (article). Refugees have to meet a strict set of criteria, and be in a special situation where being resettled in Europe is not enough. This maze with security screening at every corner is impossible to navigate for someone claiming to be somebody else. Only the most desperate refugees are willing to go through this arduous process, and the fact is that it is much easier for a would-be terrorist to travel to the United States by another avenue. That is why foreigners who commit acts of terrorism, such as the 9/11 hijackers, choose a
After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, feelings towards Japanese Americans started to change. Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, a Japanese American who was interned in the Relocation Camps and the author of the book Farewell to Manzanar, demonstrated just how quickly attitudes changed. Before Pearl Harbor, her teacher at school was a “kind, grandmotherly woman who used to sail with us in Papa’s boat from time to time”, but after the Pearl Harbor bombing, Jeanne’s teacher was “cold and distant”, and showed “outright hostility” (15). Propaganda shown to American citizens often stated, using inappropriate and racist terms, that “Japs are evacuated from the West Coast for the national security…[they] sell out their items before their voluntary departure” (video). In this single sentence, there are four instances of misinformation and bias. First, the propaganda used racist terminology such as Japs, further discriminated Japanese Americans. That language is definitely not tolerated today. Second, Japanese people are not being evacuated; evacuation is “the removal of someone from a dangerous place” (Merriam-Webster). Japanese Americans are not really the ones that the government considers to be in danger; the government thinks it’s the Americans who are in danger. Third, the so-called evacuation is not for the national security. Not a …show more content…
Many people believe that entering the U.S. as a Syrian refugee is extremely simple, and that ISIS may try to exploit this and smuggle terrorists in this way. Joe Biden, the vice president of the United States, falsifies this idea. He states, “Refugees face the most rigorous screening of anyone who comes into the United States...We’ve instituted another layer of checks, just for Syrian refugees...refugees wait eighteen to twenty-four months while the screening process is completed” (video). This just skims the surface, but shows how complicated the screening process is. It is nothing like what most people image. Everything that the refugee says is thoroughly verified. In fact, according to David Bier, “[The] Department of Homeland Security travel(s) throughout the region in order to verify claims of persecution and facts about the victims' biography” (article). Refugees have to meet a strict set of criteria, and be in a special situation where being resettled in Europe is not enough. This maze with security screening at every corner is impossible to navigate for someone claiming to be somebody else. Only the most desperate refugees are willing to go through this arduous process, and the fact is that it is much easier for a would-be terrorist to travel to the United States by another avenue. That is why foreigners who commit acts of terrorism, such as the 9/11 hijackers, choose a