"It's amazing, we're going to take in all of these people from Syria,
but we have all these homeless people on our streets," said a few white
males I overheard the other day at a Starbucks. "You see, all of these
people criticize us, but they all want to come here."
Have to
say, very valid points. We do in fact have severe issues facing
Americans today from unemployment and poverty, to homelessness and
increasing disparity and more. The only problem is that most Americans,
like those middle-aged men at Starbucks, lack the proper context and
adequate information to understand all the dynamics at play, and just
how much emphasis our government places on things like war as opposed to
resolving our problems at home. For instance, if they knew that only
about four or five US-trained rebels are left on the ground in Syria
after the Defense Department spent $500 million to train and equip
people according to recent testimony
by General Lloyd Austin, head of U.S. Central Command, they might have a
more nuanced discussion as they sipped their lattes. But when
Americans are inundated with messages of 'backward Muslims', and public
discourse is infused with vile words from the likes of Ben Carson and
others, it's much easier to blame the refugees for their own plight, and
continue to act as if we're doing them a favor by allowing a small
percentage of the millions displaced into our country. Perhaps it's
time for a reality check.
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Source: The Huffington Post
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