The “terror-prone\u201d countries the ban is referring to include seven majority Muslim countries \u2013 Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. The rational given by the Trump administration is that the ban will keep America safer from terrorism. Many Americans throughout the country protested in response to the ban. Citizens where NOT playing regarding this issue which one company, Uber, found out the hard way. Uber found itself in a twitter trending topic frenzy resulting in a boycott against the company. Lets just say things got real, REAL QUICK, for the CEO of Uber, Travis Kalanick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Social media was on FIRE from twitter trending topics to Instagram memes. I shared a meme on my Facebook page that read:<\/p>\n\n\n
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What seemed, to me, like a meme with a straightforward message was quickly questioned by a friend. Lets call my friend Kay. Kay\u2019s stance was that the meme was “overly simplified\u201d. She argued one cannot really differentiate white Christians from KKK members because “their hatred isn\u2019t always displayed in the daylight\u201d and to the average person these people live regular lives. They attend church, school, serve in government, are active in their communities and unless a person is apart of their white supremacy community one would have no idea that person is a KKK member. This also applies to Muslim terrorist. Kay expressed Muslim terrorist who enter the United States do not reveal they hate America and some have entered the US as refugees. Kay stated \u201cthose that are filled with hate identify like you and I as God fearing\u201d. \u00a0To Kay if the government could differentiate between the two then Trump would not have signed the executive order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Initially I responded to Kay expressing I felt she was thinking a little too deep and that the meme was not overly simplified. To me the meme was trying to illustrate that although there are KKK members who are Christians it would be wrong to claim all white Christians are KKK members. If Americans can differentiate that KKK white Christians do not represent ALL white Christians Americans should understand that ISIS does not represent ALL Muslims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, after talking to Kay I started to see where she was coming from. If \u201cdifferentiate\u201d is perceived as being able to point out and identify “hey you, over there\u201d then yes, I agree it is hard to differentiate. I get where people like Kay are going with this. Since we are unable to differentiate we must increase our vetting process or as Trump says, partake in \u201cextreme vetting\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Issues I Have With Kay’s Perspective<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n As I stated before, I see Kay’s perspective and her concern. However, if the main concern is American safety, why not also address the non-Islamic terrorist attacks that happen in the US. Last year NPR aired an episode of Fresh Air titled, Who are America\u2019s Homegrown Terrorist<\/em>? The episode featured Peter Bergen, a journalist and CNN national security analysis. Bergen discusses how since 9\/11 there have been a total of 45 deaths in the US by militant Muslim terrorist and 49 deaths by right wing and antigovernmental extremist. According to Bergen,<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEvery lethal terrorist attack in the United States since 9\/11, whether in Fort Hood or Boston or San Bernardino, has been conducted by American citizens or legal permanent residents. And so some of the hysteria about refugees coming into the country and performing acts of terrorism is very overblown. Certainly about 10 refugees have been involved in relatively minor jihadi terrorism crimes\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Yet, still many Americans, including our president and Kay, believe foreign Muslims are the main threat to American safety. If Trump is concerned with American safety, why not enact \u201cextreme vetting\u201d toward US citizens? Starting with when purchasing a gun. No, instead Obama’s gun background check regulation was repealed. A regulation that required the Social Security Administration disclose information about people with mental illnesses to the national gun background check system. Some argued the regulation was repealed because it imposed on peoples 2nd<\/sup> Amendment rights. Others argued the repeal would increase gun violence. If we are going to partake in extreme vetting, why not focus on areas where it matters the most. If the MAJORITY of terrorist attacks are committed by US citizens or permanent residents, then the US needs to focus on this area and gun regulation is a start. But lets keep it real, the Trump administration is not focused on gun regulation and the NRA could care less about gun violence as long as they are making a profit. They will and have done everything in their power to fight against gun regulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Soooo the whole “we need to prevent Muslim immigrants and refugees from entering the US for our safety\u2026blah blah blah\u201d<\/em> all that can be saved for the birds. I\u2019m just not buying it because if we wanted to keep America safe we would focus on reducing terrorist\u2019s attacks committed by US citizens or permanent residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What started off as a meme post turned into a full blow discussion, but I must thank Kay for keeping me on my toes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another Meme<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Reference:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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