CatBus said:
The idea that IS sprang forth from a quarter-assed arms campaign and not from the long-term blistering resentment of Arab populations to their own foreign-backed oppressive regimes is just something that’s too far out there for me.
Islamic State and other terrorist organizations thrive in the region because of the long-term political instability sowed by the United States and other foreign countries in the region. The United States has a long history of backing some dictators, and getting rid of other dictators. The idea that peace will ever come to the middle east through military means is horrifically misguided. Barack Obama said it himself many times, and he was correct, but then he proceeded to escalate war and death and destruction in those countries far beyond what George Bush ever did.
I don’t think there’s any doubt about the link between the Obama administration arming and funding and training rebels, and the rise of Islamic State. He decried meddling in the internal politics of other nations, and rightfully so, but then he proceeded to do just that.
I just want to know on what basis anyone could argue that it’s OK to be involved in Syria, but you know we never should have gone to war in Iraq! Or the even more dubious: “we’re not at war in Syria”…because you know, it’s ok if our troops aren’t there, and we only use drones and pay other people to do the killing.
CatBus said:
as is the idea that we should think twice about accepting refugees simply because 15% or so of our population is comprised of congenital bigots who might behave badly (and still not as badly as the people the refugees are fleeing, nor much more badly than the bigots were behaving before the refugees arrived).
If you have a house, and some poor unfortunate soul seeks refuge, and you take them in, it’s a good thing. You should be prudent, and take caution, so that you don’t wind up like Orgon and invite Tartuffe into your home, but all things being equal it’s a good and noble gesture to help out those in need. I’m all for it.
But then if you have a few more that ask to stay in your house, suddenly your resources are constrained. Can you afford to buy food for all of these people? Do you have enough beds?
Then what happens if suddenly twenty more show up and start breaking down your doors and trying to crawl through the windows. Would you be OK with letting all of these people live in your home as well? How will you care for them, how will you be able to keep the peace when they inevitably don’t get along and tempers flare among people who are stressed out and living like sardines?
It’s not as simple as just opening your border and telling everyone to come at will. Especially for the following reason: you ventured a number of 15% xenophobes as though it is a static number. I think instead, that number will vary according to many different social and economic factors. Certainly it will increase much higher, when failed policies are doubled down on, and more and more people decry the state of the nation and look to assign blame towards people who are not like them.
This is venturing a little off topic from refugees to illegal immigration now, but certainly the lax immigration stance of the U.S. government in the last generation or so has been one of the big factors in driving down U.S. wages and decreasing the average standard of living.