How the Syrian refugee crisis shows the hypocrisy of ‘All Lives Matter. Interest in the RP community's thoughts on this one.

2015-11-23T19:19:28-05:00

Resist the urge of a knee-jerk response. Read the article and let your opinion(s) be known.

From FusionNet

“All Lives Matter” may be the most disingenuous phrase to fall out of the mouths of politicians, pundits, and media critics in recent times.

At face value, it’s a beautiful, if not obvious (and therefore unnecessary) statement. It conjures an image of inclusion and harmony. But the truth behind the sentiment is far more insidious than the crowds of right-wing semantic magicians want you to realize.

As a retort to the Black Lives Matter movement, the phrase is a political catch-all designed for privileged majority groups to lessen the perceived threat of minority groups’ dissatisfaction with remaining at the bottom of the societal food chain. It serves as a smokescreen for politicians to hide behind while further marginalizing, for instance, the very existence of black people in America. It does so under a false notion of inclusivity.

Unsurprisingly, many of the same politicians riding the “All Lives Matter” wave are often the same people who now, in response to last week’s terrorist attacks in Paris, seek to block Syrian refugees from settling in the United States. It appears that the definition of “All” in “All Lives Matter” is subject to interpretation and convenience.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican nominee for president, has criticized the Black Lives Matter movement, saying, “I think they should change their name maybe—if they were All Lives Matter, or Innocent Lives Matter. Commandeering the microphone, and bullying people, and pushing people out of the way, I think really isn’t a way to get their message across… they need to go somewhere else, and they need to rent their own microphone.”

Paul’s views are a bright illustration of the common view of the majority’s discomfort with the necessarily disruptive tactics that are often employed by protesters.

However, it appears that Sen. Paul’s desire to protect “innocent lives” does not include Syrians fleeing wars, as he has introduced a bill intended to suspend new visa issuances to refugees from Syria and up to 30 more countries deemed by him to be high-risk.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz—who characterized Black Lives Matter not as a call for justice, but a war on police, and “the fruit of the divisiveness and vilification of law enforcement that we’ve seen throughout the Obama administration”—has taken Paul’s rhetoric of caution at the border a step farther, suggesting that Christians seeking refugee status in America should be subject to less-strict security protocols than their Muslim compatriots.

Cruz (the son of a Cuban political refugee father who delivered the opening prayer at an All Lives Matter rally in Alabama) either can’t see, or more likely chooses to ignore, his own divisiveness as he chooses to vilify Syrian Muslims and punish them for attempting to run away from the threat of death in their homeland. To Cruz, black cries to end abuse and murder at the hands of police are problematic, but the notion that Syrians should be tested to prove their Christianity before being allowed into the country makes perfect sense.

By Kevin Brown
Former Arkansas governor Mike “Wake up and sm
ell the falafel” Huckabee has said that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would be “appalled” by Black Lives Matter, and has completely missed – or willfully chosen to manipulate – the organization’s objectives, saying, “When I hear people scream, ‘black lives matter,’ I think, ‘Of course they do.’ But all lives matter. It’s not that any life matters more than another,” which is odd proclamation to make when none of Black Lives Matter’s guiding principles come close to proposing any idea of black supremacy.

However, Huckabee’s demands for change in American immigration policy following the tragic events of Paris make it painfully clear that he sees the lives of Syrians—and all Muslims—as mattering very little. Huckabee and the 26 governors who want to illegally refuse Syrians the opportunity to settle in their states have made very damning, and flatly un-American designations about what people they believe deserve to be protected by the United States.

Huckabee and his cohorts are joined by other major political figures like Ben Carson and Jeb Bush, who have both proposed exclusionary, anti-Muslim immigration reform, while simultaneously insisting that “all lives matter.”

The problem with these proposed changes to border policy is that not only does it single out a specific group of people in a way that isn’t just unconstitutional and immoral, but also has no logical basis. There is no evidence to support the idea that the United States’ current border policy puts the country’s security in any undue peril.

More importantly, these politicians, and like-minded people throughout the country, have chosen to forsake the victims of what may be the world’s most devastating ongoing humanitarian crisis. They are opting to turn their backs on the people who would most benefit from everything that America purports itself to be. Though politicians like Huckabee and Bush will publicly claim that their reluctance to accept Syrian refugees is a matter of national security, their pattern of actions as it relates to the value of non-white lives shows that they place a very different value on the existence of people different than themselves.

Even more perplexing are people like Carson and Cruz who have failed to consider their own personal histories and experiences and turn it into basic compassion for others. The Syrian refugees these folks are so eager to reject are just the latest in a long history of America’s ugly pastime of using the vulnerable as political tools. Lives don’t seem to matter nearly as much when they’re Middle Eastern, Muslim, and fleeing the horrors of war and famine. Sadly, we’ve seen this game one too many times.

http://fusion.net/story/235529/the-lives-of-syrian-refugees-matter/

How the Syrian refugee crisis shows the hypocrisy of ‘All Lives Matter’

It appears the definition of “All” is subject to interpretation and convenience.

Response by MSgt Curtis Ellis made Nov 23 at 2015 8:00 PM

2015-11-23T20:00:02-05:00

After reading, and giving this some thought, the only part of this that stood out to the point that I couldn't deny was this statement:
"It appears that the definition of “All” in “All Lives Matter” is subject to interpretation and convenience.".
Even as I type this, I will be the first to admit that I am for the "All lives matter" principal as I know it, over the "Black Lives Matter" principal as I know it, but I would be lying if I didn't concede my initial thoughts on my selection did/does not include illegal aliens and refugees.
Is it unconstitutional and immoral? It depends on your view as this does single out a specific group of people in a way that is considered unconstitutional and immoral, and though there is no evidence to support the idea that the United States’ current border policy puts the country’s security in any undue peril, but neither is there evidence that supports that it wont.

Response by MSgt James Mullis made Nov 23 at 2015 8:30 PM

2015-11-23T20:30:30-05:00

I know you asked us not to but my knee jerk reaction to the article is what a bunch of (insert appropriate expletive).

My considered response to the first half of the article is: All lives matter, regardless of race and to make a statement that is different is, if not in and of itself racist, it shows a complete lack of understanding of the english language. You can't change the meaning of words because you want to create a catchy phrase.

As for the second half of the article, it is my considered belief that what Huckabee, Cruz, Carson, and almost the entire Congress and Senate are asking the President to do is not religious discrimination, it’s risk preference. It's done all the time.

I listen carefully when our highest security officials tell us that they cannot vet every refugee. Do I believe that some Islamist terrorists might mingle with the refugees with the intent to commit massacre on American soil? No, I don’t believe they might; I am absolutely certain they will. Why wouldn’t they?

As the Media often reminds us, Christians are not the only ones to die at the hands of Islamic terrorists. Islamic terrorists everywhere have slaughtered far more Muslims that they have killed of any other category of people. The real tragedy is that there was nothing special about the massacres in Paris (FYI: many more Russian tourists died only a week before). However, I'm glad that the atrocities have broke most of the West out of it's malaise related to Islamic terrorism. Unfortunately, President Obama seems unphased.

That said, its clear that many good Syrians and Iraqis, actually need a humane place to live away from guns, bombs and Islamist terrorists. I also believe that we cannot allow terrorism to turn us (Americans) into someone other than what we are. Which is a compassionate people made up of religious, economic, and social refugees from around the world (Notwithstanding a, shameful loss of nerve in the 1930s with respect to Jewish refugees from Germany). We can’t let a small bunch of flea-ridden savages in the Middle East change this. So, I recommend that we hold the male refugees in camps (preferably in Syria) until they can be vetted. While we let the women and children refugees in. I am also greatly comforted by the fact that I am that nearly all of the refugees would have happily immigrated to the US even before the wars in Iraq and Syria started.

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made Nov 23 at 2015 9:23 PM

2015-11-23T21:23:51-05:00

Good Point as Always CPT Ahmed F. All Lives Matter except if you are "Syrian" "Muslim" "Gay" "Liberal" "Trans" "Black". I am so thankful that I was raised in a Mixed Community, Irish German, Black and have lived in some locals where I was the Minority (I'm still not fond of that "Lets Run the Howley off the Road" Game).

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 24 at 2015 12:14 AM

2015-11-24T00:14:23-05:00

For the most part all lives do matter with a few exceptions. Like pedophiles, murderers, rapists, and terrorists. Other than that all lives do matter, but to me, not equally. American lives will always matter more. Look after our own first. Once that has been accomplished then we can extend help outwards.

Response by SN Greg Wright made Nov 24 at 2015 12:29 AM

2015-11-24T00:29:56-05:00

CPT Ahmed Faried Captain, it's with heavy heart that I respond to this query of yours. You are someone who generally holds a different viewpoint than me, but, because you are articulate, thoughtful, and non-confrontational, you are also someone that can change my mind, someone who's words I consider before (or if at all) dismissing, like I do some posters here (I won't name names). Here's why:

I'm a proponent of all lives matter. And because I'm human, I firmly believe that MY life matters as much as the next guys'/gals'. Despite being a middle-aged white male.

I'm going to address this from the Refugee angle, alone, because this issue is so complex that no single person (I believe) can ever be RIGHT about the ENTIRE issue: all lives matter, and so I don't want to endanger the lives of my family, my friends, my countrymen, by the -increased- risk, relative to OTHER groups of immigrants, that this particular group of refugees represents. To me, it boils down to cold, hard, logic: we can take 100 refugees. XXX group of refugees do not adhere to an ideology that MIGHT (depending upon the individual refugee) call for the killing of my children, while YYY group does adhere to that (admittedly) potential ideology. To me, this is an easy, and a clear choice.

Lastly, I'll say this: there is no getting around 'Black lives matter'. They do. And there's no getting around 'All lives matter'. They do, too. If that somehow means I'm an insensitive racist....well. That's not what is in my heart.

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made Nov 24 at 2015 1:37 AM

2015-11-24T01:37:58-05:00

Response from "FOX".

Fox's Pirro Lies About Syrian Refugees While Begging Obama To 'Be Honest For Once'

No, this is not a parody from The Onion, and yes, this woman has allowed all the Botox in her face to bleed directly into her brain.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 24 at 2015 12:03 PM

2015-11-24T12:03:39-05:00

CPT Ahmed Faried (This is not directed at you)

I'm so tired of the "Black lives matter" "All lives matter" "Blue lives matter".... rhetoric. All of this rhetoric is being used to divide and conqure our nation. I hold this to be of the highest concern that we should be looking at. We are being taken apart a piece at a time. Why why why does there need to be a "White student union" a "Black cultural center". We are not different beings we are all of the human race. Inside we all look the same.

Response by MSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 24 at 2015 12:27 PM

2015-11-24T12:27:02-05:00

The fact that things like "All Lives Matter", "Black Lives Matter", "Police Lives Matter", etc just shows the moral decay of our country......the mere fact that we need to be reminded that "LIFE MATTERS" is utterly ridiculous for a supposedly advance society.

Response by PO1 Todd Cousins made Nov 24 at 2015 1:44 PM

2015-11-24T13:44:38-05:00

Capt I will stay out of the fill in the blank lives matter side of this. My opinions on the subject are I am sure different than yours and I truly believe the whole argument is just a further way to push people apart purely on the color of their skin.

That said something you need to consider is what constitutional right does a foreign national have? My answer to that I none. Allowing or not allowing refuges in our country has nothing to do with our constitution. This document is there to protect American citizens not the world population. I also believe it is a duty to protect those citizens no matter their color, religion, sex or sexual preference. I don't have a good answer for this problem but till there is a good one I lean towards better safe then sorry.

Response by MSgt Michelle Mondia made Nov 25 at 2015 10:31 AM

2015-11-25T10:31:03-05:00

Yes!!! The automatic retort "all lives matter" is not only hypoticitical, it's a down right lie...and the people saying it know it. But they go unchallenged. Clearly...not all lives matter. It's a slight taken at the politically active. If all lives mattered people wouldn't tolerate the escalating level of violence in our country. If all lives matter, then the environment should matter, animals should matter, agriculture should matter, people would be paid a living wage, we would accept refugees fleeing a civil war, our tax $ would go toward a war on poverty not drugs, but it doesn't. People are afraid to be accountable, we are afraid to look at how we are contributing to violence, stereotypes and economic oppression globally. It's a harsh realization. People enjoy their bubble, don't disrupt their personal ecosystems. The Holocoast happened because of people like us. People who appeal to the authority on matters of human rights. As human beings we have a predisposition for Empathy and compassion. We have no fangs, no claws, our ability to reason and cooperate is surly what has advanced our civilizations and kept our species around. But when people get fed fear they learn to mistrust and then they rally behind a protector who uses their irrational fear to commit horrific acts of violence on any one they can scape goat. History is repeating itself...

Response by Cpl Jeff N. made Nov 27 at 2015 8:28 AM

2015-11-27T08:28:52-05:00

Almost all political slogans could be viewed disingenuous as they all exist to convey a large message in few words. Why is that, because most Americans will not read anything longer than a bumper sticker for information (maybe a t-shirt). This is the 21st century of American thought. 5 Words or less please.

Black lives matter is in the same category. Does the black lives matter organization mean ALL black lives matter or just the ones here in the US? They don't appear to concerned over what happens in Africa on almost a daily basis. Using the writers same logic against all lives matter they would be equally guilty. The ALL in all lives matter is relative to the BLACK in black lives matter. We all know the black and the all refer to America. That is the scope of the argument/discussion. It has nothing, zero to do with Syrian refugees. The attempt to tie these two together is folly.

Our immigration policy is a separate discussion than one regarding domestic/internal civil issues. The All and Black are Americans. Syrian refugees are not. We need to have a sane policy that ensures, to the best of it's ability, the security and liberty of Americans living here today. We have allowed hundreds of thousands of muslim immigrants in over the last decade. To act as though we are not is a lie.

It is a shame that everything must be politicized in the manner this article attempts to do but that is par for the course. We cannot have a civil conversation without an immediate trashing of anyone that might oppose. It is not an impossibility that black lives matter, all lives matter and that we have a coherent immigration policy with focus on ensuring we properly screen people.

I know no one that would exonerate a police office for an excessive or illegal use of force on anyone. When the police break the law they need to be held to account like any other citizen. Just look at the recent events in Chicago. Why does it take a year to figure out this is a bad shooting? The family had already been given a settlement and yet a year for charges to be filed. We need to evaluate the political leadership (which is who normal runs the law enforcement orgs) in places like Chicago. What is the delay? Why can't we move faster? Why was this cop (who appears to have had many infractions) still on the street. Cops are citizens/human beings. They are as capable as anyone else to act poorly or criminally.

If we hope to survive as a society we will need to do much better in treating everyone with respect. Respect is earned it is not a gift that is given to the undeserving.