The United States has cherished certain principles for the last century or so, lofty ideals that reflect our nation’s noblest aspirations. This is the “melting pot,” a haven to which diverse masses have flocked in search of better and more fulfilling lives.

It is appalling and shameful that now, with Syria drowning in a humanitarian catastrophe of historic proportions, many Americans seem to have lost their nerve.

Contrary to what the Islamic State group would have everyone believe, the world is not on the brink of global war between Islam and the West. However, Americans are at a juncture where much has been called into question by the attacks on Paris and the violent instability in the Middle East. Every move and every debate will have grave and far-reaching repercussions.

The Republican politicians and conservative TV personalities huffing and screeching against accepting refugees are playing on our lowest, ugliest qualities — fear, distrust of foreigners, all-compromising paranoia in the insecure post-9/11 world.

The tragic attacks on Paris, like others, fit into a deliberate strategy by the Islamic State group to drive the human race apart — to drill wells of hate between the people of the West and millions of hardworking, pious and peace-minded Muslims.

Truthfully, many Muslims are just as terrified by recent outbursts of xenophobic violence in the West, like the Muslim man pushed in front of a bus in New York, or the Muslim woman almost thrown onto subway tracks in London, as some Americans are anxious about terror attacks.

None of the 31 governors or myriad county officials currently pandering for the Fear Vote will actually have any legal grounds on which to refuse refugee resettlement — it’s a federal matter, something which they probably all know and are ignoring. The motions to restrict resettlement currently in Congress are potentially more effective, though they’ll face veto from the president.

Anti-refugee arguments seem to gloss over the details of exactly how intense the screening procedures for U.S.-bound refugees already are — one of the reasons President Barack Obama has only pledged to take 10,000 out of the millions of Syrians fleeing war. That’s a reminder that all this bickering is over helping a small fraction of the group that needs it.

Many of these Syrian refugees will settle in our own communities — my hometown of Buffalo, New York is slated to take 300, Syracuse itself has taken two Syrian families this year, and the regions surrounding New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Detroit have large Syrian refugee populations already.

But the fact that many of those spewing xenophobia under the guise of concern for national security won’t be able to follow through on their pledges doesn’t make what they’re doing OK.

Inflaming communities against these newcomers — families, professionals, many of whom were productive and educated citizens before their country collapsed on itself in a storm of bullets and bombs — will only contribute to dangerous tensions.

The truth that anyone who claims to be an enemy of terror must realize is this: Islamic terrorism is fueled by misunderstandings stemming from decades of poor cultural dialogue and irresponsible politics. Undermining the tentative attempts to build cooperation between Muslim populations and mainstream Western culture is not only misguided, it’s dangerous.

The Islamic State group’s ideology allegedly holds that the West is spiritually weak, that this society is fractured, and that the secular global power structure developing in its image is based on hollow principles and can never coexist with Islam.

If the threat of radicalism is truly going to be diminished, it will not be through bombs alone. It will be through showing the Muslim world that Americans can still be inclusive, tolerant and responsible citizens of the world, even in the face of mindless and violent hate.

Thomas Beckley-Forest is a sophomore newspaper and online journalism major. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at tjbeckle@syr.edu.

Published on November 30, 2015 at 11:56 pm