Editor’s note: This commentary is by Paul Manganiello, MD, who is emeritus professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. He lives in Norwich.
[W]hen reading about certain violent events unfurling in the news, I can become anxious, asking myself how I would act in a similar situation? For example, the recent stabbing to death of a man on a crowded Washington Metro train, and the report of the brutal death of the Eritrean asylum seeker killed in Israel by a mob that thought he was a terrorist. If I were there, would I have intervened? Would I have been so fearful that I would have gone along with the “herd” and watched what was happening but choosing to do nothing?
Living in Vermont, we might think those events would never happen here, but fear can cause us to act (or not act) in dehumanizing ways. If we were honest with ourselves, we would have to admit the fact that we are all capable of carrying out reprehensible behavior. I am especially saddened to see what is happening in Israel, how fear is causing ordinary people to do the unthinkable. Unfortunately, rather than seek to dispel that fear, too many Israeli leaders are finding it expedient to emphasize and play up the fears of the Israeli people. It is the continuing discord in the current Israeli/Palestinian conflict, which indirectly fuels the instability we see throughout the Middle East.
But what is of more concern to me, is what is currently happening at home here in the U.S. As I listen to the U.S. presidential candidates, I hear some stoke our fear of “individuals who are not like us”: undocumented aliens from Mexico and Central America; Syrian asylum seekers masquerading as Islamic terrorists; or any kind of Muslim, domestic or foreign, for that matter.
Such verbiage plays right to the script Islamic terrorists have devised, maligning the countless numbers of peaceful Muslims, and in so doing, encouraging more recruits from those who are disenfranchised.
Fear is what helps us at times to survive; it is fear of getting hit by a car that should prevent us from jaywalking in the city, or safely disposing of the hot ashes from our wood stoves out of fear of a devastating house fire. It is irrational fear, which we need to be mindful of. Not long ago many Americans were irrationally concerned about becoming infected with the Ebola virus from west Africa, while disregarding advice to be vaccinated against the far more infectious flu or rubella virus.
As exemplified by the recent terrorist attack in San Bernadino, we need to be constantly vigilant so as to be able to interdict before future acts of terror occur, but the recent statements made by some of our politicians advocating not only for Syrian asylum seekers not be resettled, but all Muslims be prohibited from traveling to the U.S., even U.S. citizens, is not helpful, and in fact dangerous. What other options will be floated: internment camps; profiling all dark-skinned individuals; require Muslims wear a red crescent? Such verbiage plays right to the script Islamic terrorists have devised, maligning the countless numbers of peaceful Muslims, and in so doing, encouraging more recruits from those who are disenfranchised. It was in 1932, as the Depression was worsening, that Franklin Roosevelt stated in his first inaugural address, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”
As a country comprised mostly of immigrants, the United States has incredible ethnic diversity. But we can see what happens when our fears of black males, Latino workers, and Muslims cause us to do unspeakable deeds. We can’t sit by and see this country become “gated” enclaves; we need to be able to look at all individuals we encounter and see them as fellow humans, deserving of the same respect we expect for ourselves. We need to speak out when politicians are looking for scapegoats for society’s ills. We cannot sit back in the comfort of the “herd” and do nothing.
