Chris Banyas
Editor-in-Chief
I’ve never been shot at, never survived a mortar attack, aerial bombardment or any other type of ordinance detonating nearby.
I’ve never seen my friends killed in the once peaceful streets of the city in which we grew up.
I’ve never had to risk my life to provide dead friends a decent burial, amidst sniper fire and sporadic explosions.
I’ve never had to push through all of these things only to find that all of the suitable grave sites in which I might have laid my friend to rest have already been filled and filled again with the bodies of the friends and families of others.
I’ve never had to leave that friend’s body in the street, my hands still stained with his blood, retreating into the husks of bombed out houses that once thrived with human life and civilization.
Yet I have been sad, I have been in pain and I have had to watch my loved ones endure pain and if someone could have helped me in any of those situations, I would have loved them for it.
Syrians are, and have been experiencing these things on a daily basis for the last few years, and whether due to policies, public opinion or anything else, we have not intervened.
The fact of the matter is that the things which we call society, civilization and to a larger degree peace itself are not as solid and eternal as we in the United States have largely come to appreciate.
Contrary to these beliefs, when the finger-snap of our existence as a country is examined in the context of the greater human history on planet Earth, peace is far outweighed by the tumult of chaos.
Now that the human ocean has risen and flooded out of Syria, I feel that we as Americans have an obligation to help as many of these refugees as possible, as quickly as possible.
So why are we offering to accept so few refugees?
Rampant xenophobia is a widespread epidemic within the borders of the U.S.
Every time I hear someone make a reference to turning something to glass, I think to myself, “Does this person not understand? Can they not see that these people want nothing more than what they themselves want, to give their children the opportunities which they might have been deprived of, to ensure that their children have a future?”
Entitlement: the belief that one is inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment.
Just because the cosmic dice came down in your favor, and you were born in this country at this time, does not mean that you are in any way more deserving of a peaceful way of life or anything else than anyone occupying any other space on the surface of our planet.
Yet many do not feel that way.
And what would the 24-hour news networks do if, when faced with a human crisis of this magnitude, all those who stood capable to help did so at short notice and without hesitation? Why, they would find the next crisis, the next easily exploitable emergency to focus the lenses of their cameras on.
The next time you watch any of these 24-hour news stations, pay attention to what they are showing you.
Gone, in large part, are the horrific, bloody scenes of the Vietnam War, tank battles outside of Iraq in the ‘90s and other scenes of carnage which provide some sick immediate sense of satisfaction, an instant gratification which allows the viewer to say, “my life isn’t that bad…better them than me.”
Everyone loves to watch a car wreck, so the saying goes, but due to some maladaptive evolutionary measure, people want to see suffering, degradation and a slow decline, rather than entrance and exit wounds.
When was the last time that a genuine emergency happened? Did you spend time locked into one of the many national news stations, enraptured, almost unable to pull away?
The human animal did not evolve to where we find ourselves today out of a peaceful and tranquil environment, and I would posit that this enraptured effect is evidence of that. You are feeling the pull of your ancestors: they are recognizing the natural state of existence, and trying to get you to acknowledge it.
It is in light of these effects that something must be done, and sooner rather than later. How many genocides have been viewed through the cathode ray tubes of American televisions?
Did you know that in the later stages of the Second World War, Idaho housed German and Italian prisoners of war?
According to Arthur Hart, a writer for the Idaho Statesman who focuses on Idaho History,
Camp Farragut Naval Training Station on North Idaho’s Lake Pend Oreille received 750 German and Austrian POWs in 1945.
At Christmas time, the commanding officer sent his prisoners a message in both German and English.
“On your last Christmas as a Prisoner of War in America we would give you these presents to carry back to the homeland: a little view of the democratic life; a new courage to face the problems of tomorrow; a memory of a peaceful Christmas where you had Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear.”
The idea of a war on terrorism is as absurd as a war on drugs, but that is a different discussion for another time.
My point about the POWs is this: those men were once our enemies, and we treated them in this way.
Syrians have never been our enemies, so why are we not extending them the same life changing opportunity that so many immigrants experienced entering into this country, to see the Statue of Liberty for the first time, and to experience first-hand what America is about, what it should be about?
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she / With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. / The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. / Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, / I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
I would suggest that we as a country have not come as far as we would like to think in the subsequent years after WE DROPPED TWO ATOMIC BOMBS ON “MILITARY” TARGETS WITHIN JAPAN KILLING SOMEWHERE IN THE BALLPARK OF 200,000 PEOPLE, MANY CIVILLIANS.
It’s convenient to remember that differently, or to not remember it at all, isn’t it?
Do you know what the major difference between those German POWs and the Syrian refugees is? As I see it, the Germans were white Europeans, and the Syrians are brown Middle-Easterners.
Again, XENOPHOBIA: know your enemy, as this is largely becoming the defining characteristic of the US in the modern age.
As I understand it, a large reason for America’s reticence on the refugee situation is a fear of terrorism. So what this means is that we are in a position to help, and we are not doing so because we are… afraid?
Fear is the mind killer, and if we allow it to stop us from acting, it will quickly turn into the dream killer as well.
A common argument in terms of fear and especially in the government’s attempts to pass certain legislation dealing with privacy and surveillance is this: “I don’t have anything to hide, so why could I care if the government is looking at me?”
I refute this absolutely. By taking this stance, you have already given up, and have taken the first step toward an Orwellian tomorrow. It is the principle of the thing, and if there is anything that is certain, the American people are quickly becoming a nation, not of principles, but of ratings.
In the words of Mr. Murrow: “If we dig deep into our own history and our doctrine and remember that we are not descended from fearful men, not men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes which were for the moment unpopular,” perhaps we might be able to help these people in a much more substantial manner.
