We’re all angry and in shock over the recent terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday, but we shouldn’t use that anger to cloud our judgement.
Islamic State group terrorized Paris and the western world by murdering 129 innocent people and injuring 352 innocent people, according to the Associated Press.
Seven terrorists were found dead after attacks carried out by three coordinating teams.
The victims of these attacks weren’t doing anything wrong. For them, it was just another Friday night. This was supposed to be another weekend of relaxation. They were listening to music at a concert, watching a soccer game and going out to eat.
The recent event shouldn’t be an excuse to blame Syrians or Muslims for something a minority orchestrated, and we shouldn’t bomb an entire country for one terrorist group’s act.
I can’t believe I have to say this in 2015, but not all Muslims are terrorists.
The Quran might have passages that promote violence, but the bulk of practicing Muslims understands the problem with taking everything in holy books literally, and Muslims from around the world publically condemned Islamic State group after the attacks in Paris. Muslims shouldn’t have to condemn Islamic State group anymore than Christians should have to condemn the former Pope for saying condoms won’t prevent AIDS.
I’ve seen people on Facebook ranting about how we shouldn’t take anymore Syrian refugees into our country because of the Parisian attacks. I understand we want to keep ourselves safe. We are our top priority.
But the bulk of Syrian refugees didn’t do this. The people fleeing Syria are trying to get away from these same Islamic State group attacks. We shouldn’t blame an entire group of displaced people because a few terrorists slipped through the cracks. I don’t think toughening the refugee policy to prevent terrorists from entering countries is unreasonable, but we shouldn’t completely close off our borders.
Three of the suicide bombers found were French, but no one’s talking about closing our border to France. No one is saying we should be cautious of the French. And we all know why.
French people look like us.
They share a similar culture and some of our religions. We’re so close to them we can distinguish the few terrorists from the rest of the population who want peace. Why can’t we do the same for the Syrian refugees?
I’m not saying go soft on world threats or that groups responsible for last weekend’s horrific acts should go unpunished. But we should be smart about this situation. That includes taking in refugees and not bombing innocent civilians in the Middle East.
We’ve bombed that region and conducted airstrikes for years. Nothing’s changed.
We still have enemies over there, and Islamic State group isn’t much weaker. Find the people who conducted the French attacks and strike back against them and only them. America and France should be as tough as it wants against terrorists, but they should also be smart in how they attack.
Cody Sibley is a 19-year-old mass communication sophomore from Opelousas, Louisiana. You can reach him on Twitter @CodySibley.