Last edited Wed Feb 1, 2017, 02:56 PM - Edit history (1)
I realize that I'm not expressing my point clearly enough. My message got removed and re-instated. I never did completely persuade my husband, but my son called me back this a.m. after we had a similar conversation and said he'd decided that I was right, that the media who use the phrase "7 Muslim majority countries" are inserting their opinion (motivation was religious) with a fact (7 countries are banned.) Let me try again. But, so DUers will actually read this, let me emphasize some things first.
1. I hate Donald Trump
2. I think the current travel ban is outrageous. It is unfeeling and stupid and makes us more at risk from terror.
3. The Trump world is awash in Islamaphobia and Trump himself foments it. Note insistence on using "Muslim extremists" instead of "Jihadists."
4. I have posted a lot on DU. You can review my creds.
That being said, one of the fights DUers have been fighting all year is the tendency of the MSM to skew their reporting in a way that drums up controversy, therefore viewership. It made us furious when such behavior hurt either Bernie or Hillary.
Since there are dozens of other Muslim majority countries in the world, the largest being Indonesia, and the second largest India, adding "Muslim majority" to the headlines implies a motivation that isn't evident from the facts. The identities of the countries comes from a 2015 law:
"In December 2015 Congress passed a law - created by senators from both parties, and supported and signed by the White House - that removed waiver benefits for foreign nationals who had visited certain countries since March 2011."
bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38798588
In this age of fake news it is ever more important that we have reliable news sources. We need to be able to point to them with confidence and say "See, so-and-so says this, so I believer it." So even if the skewing helps our cause we should ask that it stop. I've sent an e-mail to NPR objecting to "7 Muslim majority nations." I did a search for 'NYT Muslim majority' and discovered that they, too are participating in this.
There are many people who are very afraid of terrorism who are not Islamaphobic. The phrase "7 Muslim majority countries" implies that if they agree with the ban the ARE racist. How can we move beyond our current polarization if our news media foments division?
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