This post attempts to rationally outline the significance of the so-called “Muslim Ban” announced Friday. It is quite difficult to find an objective perspective on such politicized events; doubly so since the rise of “alt-right” movement. This, coupled with the mainstream media’s apparent welcoming of “alternative facts” makes it neigh impossible for someone reasonably interested to inform themselves. I highly recommend checking out some of the more reputable journalists who have severed ties with traditional media as a jumping off point for your own research. Let’s start with discussing what the “Muslim Ban” actually is.
On Friday, United States President Donald Trump signed his twelfth executive order. This executive order attempted to immediately halt entry of all immigrants and visa holders from several countries for the next 90 days (Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen). Additionally, it bans refugee admissions for 120 days and halts Syrian refugee admissions indefinitely.
Morality issues aside proponents of the ban endlessly repeat a few, easily refuted, talking points. I’ll address the major ones below:
Muslim Ban is a misleading term, Trump is simply halting immigration from countries we know to be dangerous
To clarify what is happening, Muslim Ban is a short phrase which happens to effectively capture the underlying racial hostility which has come to define the Trump / Bannon administration. It touches on something that proponents of Trump are quite insecure about: their (un)conscious belief in white privilege and the societal need for a racial totem pole. Sound bites are how key points are transmitted in a television dominated world and Muslim Ban happens to be a very effective one. “Build a wall” is an example of one which was recently used in an inverse manner.
Trump didn’t even choose the countries, that was Obama
Objectively correct but representative of a tactic has been overused as of late. This singular, cherry picked, fact used in an attempt to invalidate a much broader issue. The point itself is factual but attempts to frame the issue in an inherently bias manner. The issue is not so much with just the “Muslim Ban” but the way Trump has acted within his first week of talking office. Think of this last executive order as the straw that broke the camels back as opposed to the only thing wrong with the Trump / Bannon administration.
These protesters only come out when it’s a Republican in charge, it’s hypocritical that they never protested “similar measures” which Obama took while in office.
A variant of the tacit described above; true yet missing the point entirely. Yes, many “liberals” were asleep over the past eight years as they were placated by Obama. This does not excuse Obama from his multitude of infringements on basic human rights. In fact, many are starting to wake up to the dangers of the precedents Obama set; footsteps the Dictator in Chief
may soon follow in. In fact, most progressives are quite disdainful of Obama and his “legacy”; in many ways the current Democratic establishment is at fault for allowing the rise of Trump.