by Matt Kelemen
A week ago, terrorists attacked Paris and killed 129 people. Among the dead were three Chileans. The attacks dominated the news in Chile for a few days. Facebook friends expressed solidarity with France. Wreaths were laid at the French embassy in Santiago. Opinion-makers weighed in, some calling for retaliation, other reminding readers of the colonialist roots of the conflict in Syria, and everything in between. And then… Chileans returned to their lives and to other pressing political concerns. You can still find updates in the newspapers this week — news that the ringleader had been killed, reports on world reactions to the refugee crisis, etc. But the conversation has moved on. That’s life here, so far away from targets of international terrorism.
In that same attack one American died. That’s two fewer than the number of Chileans. Much of the reaction in the US was the same as in Chile. The condemnation, the solidarity, the reminders of other attacks that had gotten less attention. But there was one big difference: the explosion of vitriol targeted to Muslims. It’s ugly to see and it has me thinking about the sheer number of people who are, in some way or another, aligned with such hate.
Consider this:
There are 220 million people eligible to vote in the US. 92 million of them “lean” Republican. Using current polling data for the 2016 race for the presidency, that means that there are:
— 23 million people who support a candidate (Trump) who thinks we should consider closing mosques, wants to set up a national database to monitor Muslims and had no substantive response when asked how his proposals differed from Nazi tactics
— 20 million people who support a candidate (Carson) who thinks Muslims should be disqualified from the presidency and compared refugees to rabid dogs
— 15 million people who support candidates (Cruz and Bush) who think Christian refugees deserve help, but not Muslim refugees
— 8 million people who support candidates (Kasich, Huckabee, and Christie) who think Syrian refugees should be barred from entry. Kasich even said we should have a Federal agency to promote Judeo-Christian values around the world.
These are all profoundly un-American, even anti-American, ideas. Yet, 66 million people in the United States support candidates who openly espouse them and another 11 million people support a candidate (Rubio) who refused to distance himself from Trump’s idea of closing mosques. That’s a lot of people standing up for hate. And let’s be clear. If you vote for Donald Trump, you’re voting for everything he espouses: the wall to keep Mexicans out, the Muslim watch lists, all of it. To take a more subtle example, if you vote for John Kasich because you like what he did as a Congressman and a Governor, you’re also voting for his New Crusades.
Don’t get me wrong. Not all the hate is coming from Republicans. The Democratic mayor of Roanoke, Virginia invoked the internment of Japanese-Americans in suggesting the need to contain ISIS. And 50 Democratic Congresspeople just voted with the whole Republican caucus to add more barriers to Syrian refugees coming to the United States. But at least the Democratic presidential candidates solidly rejected the xenophobic responses and called on the country to stand by its ideals.
The attacks in Paris were tragic and disgusting. Just as tragic and disgusting as the many acts of savagery committed by ISIS against Syrians who are now fleeing their country and their homes. And there are plenty of legitimate responses to ISIS. I think a Western coalition bombing ISIS is a bad idea, but I respect that others disagree and have good reasons for it. I think we need to take on the root causes of terrorism, but I respect others who want to focus more on the immediate situation. But can we please at least draw the line at sticking to the ideals on which our country was founded? Enough of the hate already.