The American Jihadi Serial Killer No One’s Talking About
Lately I have delved into the mind of Michelle Malkin. She is an opinionated American conservative political commentator who has contributed to Fox News and more recently joined Newsmax TV in 2020. She doesn’t try to hide her beliefs, and as an Asian-American woman brings up the topic of race frequently. The topic that she brings up in several of her columns that I decided to focus on, was race and its effect on the legal and political system.
In the latest article I looked at, The American Jihadi Serial Killer No One’s Talking About, she delves into a story where different groups of people started killing others just because of racial and religious differences. She doesn’t even try to hide her view on the topic by saying almost right away “enough with the whitewashing” while talking about how we as a society ignore certain issues that we don’t view as connected to our small bubble of a world and make excuses in order not to connect it to bigger issues. Malkin talks about attacks made against “innocents” as a result of groups of people wanting “vengeance” while these attacks are just passed off as random spurts of violence and the reasoning behind is lost. She states that, ”The admitted killer will be cast as just another “lone wolf” whose familiar grievances and bloodthirsty Islamic invocations mean nothing” while talking about several terrorist style attacks.
One of Malkins main points that she likes to make in several of her articles is that the world is now either too afraid to confront others because of differences and the fear of offending someone, or is willing to kill in order to keep the world the way they wish to view it. Has this affected the way that we view politics? Malkin surely believes so, claiming how we have put labels on people that to some are seen more as a classification but to others are seen as a death sentence. Until the world can put aside their differences and step up to do what is right instead of what looks good we will never know what we can do together because we will destroy each other.
Discussion Question: Do you believe that people’s opinions and fears affect the way we live with one another? If so, for the better or worse?
I believe our opinions and fears definitely impact our interactions, affecting our nation as a whole. Though it could be for the better, it is often times for the worse. The topic Malkin brought up was a good example of how racism or religious differences often lead to violent crimes on innocent people, and because of it, we are less united. Once people are given stereotypes, or treated differently because of their race, religion, ethnicity, etc. our democracy is threatened and it creates a negative environment where certain communities are not granted equal opportunity and/or freedom. This weakens our government because we are unable to trust our communities; it shifts our focus onto problems that shouldn’t even exist. Even on our opinions on each other can have an effect on entire countries.
I do believe that the fears we obtain and the opinions we share affect the way people live together on a daily basis. Sharing opinions with each other may be helpful in a situation that involves fashion or even something to eat, but other times opinions can cut deep into a person and make them feel ashamed of something they have done or said. These opinions like Malkin shared can even be about race which makes people than live in fear about their identity and who they truly are. These fears are generated or created because of people that can live care free and not afraid of being stereotyped or treated like a criminal just because of their skin color. With all of these downsides to opinion and fear there is no reason for it to be better for the people, it would only make sense if these things were for the worse in order to make communities and our nation realize of the outstanding problem people face each day.
Our opinions and fears definitely affect the way we live with each other not just on a global scale, but also within our own families and communities. Having a fear that we feel strongly about will affect the way we act and the way we interact with people. Like for example if someone has a very strong fear of dying, they might be more inclined to put others around them in the spot of risk during situations, even if it’s during a small action. Opinions also play a massive role in the way we interact with each other. If someone has a very strong belief regarding someones race or sexuality, they will be more inclined to treat you differently than others because of their opinion. This may not be in a big way, but there are subtle differences in how they treat people that could circle back to their opinions. So many people are blind to this fact even when the actions are being performed by themselves. We all subconsciously have our own opinions that seep into our day to day life that we may not even be aware of their impact.
Every day people are grouped and stereotyped by their appearance. I think the answer to this question is an extremely obvious yes, people’s opinions and fears affect the way we live with one another, and yes, it is definitely for the worse. Negative opinions and fears about certain groups can lead to discrimination and unfair treatment based on stereotypes. Different opinions and fears can lead to conflicts and divisions within society, which slows or prohibits collaboration and progress. Ultimately, allowing prejudices and irrational fears to exist can increase societal challenges.
Fear can be a weapon of destruction, or something that pushes people together. However, for many years, people’s opinions and fears affect the way we live with one another, which most of the time, it’s in a negative way. Stereotypes are not an uncommon thing, and often still lead to conflict to this day. Fears against each other can create devastating groups. It’s hard to find an example of how fear of each other created something good, which I suppose the only thing that was good and that came out of it was learning that we shouldn’t be afraid of each other, as we are all people at the end of the day. This isn’t a problem limited to the US, as it is a global problem. Fear can also be used to manipulate people to purposely fear others under false information. Overall, we have always been affected by the fear of others in a very negative way, and we have for a very long time. It shaped our world and the way we live.
The different opinions people share and our fears definitely affect the way we live with one another. We see this through our day to day lives whether that be in our family, at school, or even on social media. People are put into groups and set to certain standards just so they feel like they “fit in” or belong. I believe this comes from people voicing their opinions and people feeling fear if they don’t “fit” into that person’s opinion. Everyone should be able to have an opinion because everyone isn’t going to think similarly about everything. Opinions can be helpful in different situations, I just wish there wasn’t a standard everyone has to accomplish. Malkin is extremely brave to come out with these opinions of hers and feel no shame. Many people today wouldn’t want to speak on controversial topics like the ones Malkin talks about. I give her props for speaking her opinions on these situations. With all that being said, none of this would be for the better. The opinions and fears only show a negative effect on people today. People are split up because of the color of their skin, the clothes they wear, or even their physical features.
I definitely believe that people’s opinions and fears affect the way we live and interact with other humans beings. Although opinions can be used in a positive manner, such as giving a recommendation or giving advice, in this day and age, it is unfortunate that people’s opinions and fears are used in a more negative approach. Opinion leaves space for discrimination and racism and an example of this is stereotypes regarding race or a certain minority group. In relation, fears do the same thing. If one group fears another group, then conflicts and problems would rise. Although people are affected by other’s fears and opinions and problems occur, this means that new solutions can be created to further shape our world to a more positive light.
People’s fears and opinions definitely affect the way that we live with each other and often in a negative sense. For example if I am out trail running alone my reactions to a man and a woman passing me are very different because of my fears. Also people tend to change themselves in social situations due to fear of rejection of their peers. They try to make themselves more personable so that people don’t think badly of them. These things make the world worse as a whole. People should be able to be themselves without fear of rejection and people should be able to live their lives without fear of violence anywhere in the world.
I do truly believe that people’s different opinions and fears affect the way we live with one another day to day. When thinking about if these feelings help for the better or for the worse, it needs to be deeply thought about. While yes, I may ask for opinions on my clothing or if my essay sounds good, I would expect the type of feedback I receive from those questions to be constructive and helpful. However, there are situations where other opinions can be unwanted, like in times when debating a big decision or situations that could have either a positive or negative outcome. Fears are created in scary situations when something has put you in harms way. I do believe that in present day, more fears around the world are stereotyped from past stories or rumors made up about them, instead of personal experiences with the feared item itself. Although people have all different opinions and fears, any and all people should be able to live their lives without the fear of being judged or harmed, no matter their race, religion. sexuality, and more.
I believe that people’s opinions and fears definitely impact the way we interact with one another. This is seen on social media, in school, and many different communities across the globe. This is mainly on a negative scale as stereotypes are very common in society. Unfortunately, based on people’s looks, beliefs, and opinions they are looked at as different groups and roles in society. This overall leads to discrimination as people are treated differently based on these aspects. This creates a negative environment since some groups have more privilege than others resulting in unequal opportunity. Fear has also led to negative interaction as well. People can act differently based on who they are with due to the fear of being unaccepted. Every person wants to be liked by people they are surrounded with so that they are looked at in a positive way. Overall, I think that these are both negatively impacting the way we live and they bring the divide between people all around the world.
In my beliefs, people’s opinions and fears certainly do affect humankind. Yes, there are positive aspects when it comes to these actions but in the reality of our generation, it’s usually negative. Saying opinions that can help others are perfectly fine but ones that can genuinely hurt individuals are a different story. When negative opinions form like stereotypes about people’s race, religion, sexuality, or judgment about their looks, what they like, etc. it will cause them to be fearful. This is because people’s comments will make them feel poor about themselves and cause them to do actions such as trying to fit in to be someone they truly aren’t. With all the points I discussed about people’s opinions and fears, it unfortunately will affect the way we live for the worse. It’s very damaging to us because people’s opinions could make us fearful and we may use those emotions to project off of others creating a domino effect. Everyone deserves to be who they are without the fear of having to be discriminated against but sadly, our world full of humans is built on these opinions and fears.
I think that opinions and fear do affect how we live our daily lives and this is almost always for the worst. People’s opinions and fears are often not based on personal experiences, but on things that they have heard from others and seen on social media. Discrimination and stereotypes are at the forefront of this problem. Because of these pre-determined thoughts, it makes it hard for different groups to be intermingled without some sort of conflict. We must learn as a society that these stereotypes and opinions do not shape who someone is as a person.