Today Donald Trump suggested that all Muslim immigration be halted. Here is what I think is wrong about that:
1. Blatant bias against a single religion and the people who believe is not appropriate anywhere and especially not in the United States, given our history.
2. It is not the correct approach to the current problem. We do have a problem with immigration controls. It's clear that we have no control of our borders - both under the current Administration and under the Bush Administration to be honest - and the process of vetting people entering the country, both newcomers and our citizens who leave and come back, does not identify folks like the ones in California that just committed acts of terror. But the solution is not banning Muslims. We are seeing people from a variety of backgrounds going to the Middle East and getting converted.
Even that statement - that are borders are porous and we don't vet well - is an oversimplification. There are many aspects to both of those problems that make up the whole.
The solution is to break down the problem into its constituent parts and solve them individually.
3. The other thing about Donald Trump's statement is that it shows he is willing to say the wrong inappropriate things to get votes. If we believe Donald Trump's other statements that he knows many Muslims and they are wonderful people, then we have to believe he is not calling for limiting Muslim immigration because he hates them. I have to conclude that he's doing it to pander to people's fears and biases. I'm not interested in people who say things just to get votes and not because they believe them.
I mentioned in the headline that the media does it again too. And they did, with banner headlines like "Trump: No more Muslim immigrants." Or CNN "Trump: Ban all Muslim immigrants."
That's not what he said. What Trump really said, according to the CNN article, is:
"Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on," a campaign press release said.
Now that is very different than what the headlines said. The media should not sensationalize the situation to bias or skew the impression of readers. Another example of liberal bias on the part of media outlets.
1. Blatant bias against a single religion and the people who believe is not appropriate anywhere and especially not in the United States, given our history.
2. It is not the correct approach to the current problem. We do have a problem with immigration controls. It's clear that we have no control of our borders - both under the current Administration and under the Bush Administration to be honest - and the process of vetting people entering the country, both newcomers and our citizens who leave and come back, does not identify folks like the ones in California that just committed acts of terror. But the solution is not banning Muslims. We are seeing people from a variety of backgrounds going to the Middle East and getting converted.
Even that statement - that are borders are porous and we don't vet well - is an oversimplification. There are many aspects to both of those problems that make up the whole.
The solution is to break down the problem into its constituent parts and solve them individually.
3. The other thing about Donald Trump's statement is that it shows he is willing to say the wrong inappropriate things to get votes. If we believe Donald Trump's other statements that he knows many Muslims and they are wonderful people, then we have to believe he is not calling for limiting Muslim immigration because he hates them. I have to conclude that he's doing it to pander to people's fears and biases. I'm not interested in people who say things just to get votes and not because they believe them.
I mentioned in the headline that the media does it again too. And they did, with banner headlines like "Trump: No more Muslim immigrants." Or CNN "Trump: Ban all Muslim immigrants."
That's not what he said. What Trump really said, according to the CNN article, is:
"Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on," a campaign press release said.
Now that is very different than what the headlines said. The media should not sensationalize the situation to bias or skew the impression of readers. Another example of liberal bias on the part of media outlets.
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