Fear Not

Sept. 25, 2015

Are you afraid yet? Which frightens you more, the Muslim terrorists or the raping and murdering illegal immigrants?

Politicians have always used fear and blame while groveling for votes and it would seem this election cycle will be no different.

Donald Trump claims Muslims in the United States are a "severe problem," and we're all familiar with his clumsy references to illegal immigrants from Mexico.

Dr. Ben Carson, who really should know better, says he doesn't think a Muslim should be president because their religion isn't compatible with our constitution. Uh huh. If such a thing existed, Dr. Carson would surely be nominated for the Nobel Prize for irony.

It was, of course, his comments that were wildly incompatible with the Constitution, which is explicit and clear on the subject. Article 6, paragraph 3 concludes "... but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."

Politicians and celebrities alike decided there was nothing wrong with suspecting a 14-year-old honor roll student of being a terrorist because he made a clock and is a Muslim. Clocks can be used to set off bombs, you know and, well, he's a Muslim.

Good grief. Is the problem here the threat of Muslim-related terrorism or people making us believe it's so?

The FBI says there have been 37 deaths in the United States from Muslim-related terrorist activity since September 11, 2001. There have been 60 deaths from non-Muslim-related terrorist activity.

New America, a Washington-based research firm, counted 26 deaths linked to self-described jihadist terrorists and 48 to home-grown terrorists.

Those aren't really fear-inducing numbers. During the same time period, 180,000 Americans were murdered the old-fashioned, non-terrorist way. More people were killed by lightning strikes (about 400) than terrorist attacks. In 2013, the Boston Marathon bombing took three lives. That same year five people were accidentally shot and killed by toddlers handling a firearm.

This is not to equate intentionally blowing up people with the actions of a toddler, but to question the actual level of threat. You are literally more than ten times more likely to be struck and killed by lightning than to be the victim of terrorism.

But surely we have a real problem with the "flood" of illegal immigrants...?

Best current estimates put the number in the U.S. at about 11.2 million. That's a bit less than 4 percent of the population and down from a peak of 12.2 million in 2007. The number of new illegal entries and de-portations and people just leaving of their own accord has reached a near equilibrium.

To be sure, any group of more than 11 million people is going to have its share of bad apples and very bad apples. Just what level of threat are we talking about?

According to the American Community Survey, annual research conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, about 1.6 percent of foreign-born men are currently incarcerated compared to slightly more than 2 percent of American-born men.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) doesn't keep detailed records but believes there are fewer than 100,000 illegal immigrants incarcerated for non-immigration offenses in a prison population of more than 2 million. Most have committed crimes against other illegal immigrants, the people with whom they have the most contact.

The politicians count on us to listen to them while ignoring the actual numbers. Their strategy believes your fear translates into your vote for them. They need some-one to blame.

The notion of jihadist terrorists running amok within our borders certainly generates fear, the spectre of 9/11 always fresh in our memories. It is possible some new act of mass murder will occur by the time you read this. But it is statistically highly improbable.

You are many, many times more likely to be killed by a friend or family member, in an automobile accident, in a boating accident, by drowning, electrocution, slip and fall in your bathroom... the numbers would put death by terrorist attack below being killed by a dog.

We see the same phenomenon with verbal attacks on illegal immigrants. The old claims that they are taking our jobs have given way to the implication they are violent criminals.

Truth is, you are significantly more likely to be the victim of crime committed by an American citizen than an illegal immigrant unless you're an illegal immigrant yourself.

There is no question there are those among us who believe they can achieve some end through violence. Government vigilance that doesn't crush our Constitutional rights is essential.

But the current fear-mongering demonizes entire groups unjustly, offers no real solution to any problem, encourages discriminatory behavior and takes what passes for political discourse to ever-lower levels.

It's becoming clear we have more to fear from politicians trying to make us afraid than from the targets of their ignorance.