Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Keep Muslims Out?

The controversy over Donald Trump's latest statement about Muslims deserves comment. In case anyone hasn't heard, he said we should not allow any Muslim immigrants into this country. (He actually worded it as, “Donald J. Trump is calling for...” I shall not at present comment on his tendency to describe his statements in the third person instead of just saying, “I am calling for...” However the psychologists may be able to make something of that.)

While we clearly need to keep terrorists out of our country, and his statement has created justifiable controversy, that controversy has not yet mentioned one salient fact: Trump's proposal is essentially unworkable. To do it, we either have to stop all immigration, or find some way to determine who is and is not a Muslim. No, we cannot just ask them.

The sad fact is that the terrorists who would enter our country are world class liars. To them, lying in pursuit of their objectives is not only acceptable, it is expected, regarded as a positive good. The terrorists wanting to come to our shores will simply claim to be Christian, or even atheist or Jewish, and we have no way to determine if they are telling the truth. Trump's proposal would keep out the honest Muslims while allowing in the fanatic terrorists.

2 comments:

OregonGuy said...

I don't know how many Muslims you know, but from my experience, I think beginning with the question "Are you a Believer?" will evince a substantial number of positives.

And asking "Are you Christian?" will evince few false positives. And anyone familiar with the languages of these communities will be able to separate Yazidi, Christian and Jew from Sunni and Shiite. Have a Sunnit interview the candidate, then have a Shia interview the candidate.

Westerners have a great deal of tolerance for differences. So great, that having this debate on Muslims centers around the question of "Who we are." How can we boycot entry to our country for Muslims? Is that who we are? Well, ask yourself, how many Christians, Yazidis and Jews are looking to gain entry to our country in order to kill those who disagree with their religious views?

Was it Malcolm X, or Jeremiah Wright, who warned us about "chickens coming home to roost"? There are Fellow Travelers here, in the United States, who view the introduction and increase in a view of radical Islam as benefiting their beliefs. As a good thing. As a fundamentally transforming thing.
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Hal Lillywhite said...

Well, OregonGuy, I suspect we usually agree, but not this time. We are not talking about ordinary Muslims here, but about the terrorists who have already shown themselves to have a rather extreme understanding of Islam. That religion normally prohibits such things as attacks on non-combatants but the terrorists glory in such. They also have used deception frequently to try to reach their goals.

I suggest Mary Habeck's book, "Knowing the Enemy." She provides an excellent, well-documented description of the fanatic wing of Islam.