The American people are losing a war they never knew existed, yet have been the greatest players in for decades. This is a war like any other, involving the rich against the even richer, using resources as leverage; dollars are fuel, and religion as bait.

Conservative and moderate politicians alike, along with their supporting cast of giving billionaires, would have you believe that terrorism is the biggest threat to the American way of life and that terrorists hate each individual American because of their liberty and freedom to think for themselves, act as they wish, and pursue their own dreams and success. This, among other things, is a lie. It is true that terrorism is a threat, but there is not cookie cutter version of terrorism. The American government has been orchestrating terror attacks since its inception, as have every form of government since “civil societies” were first organized.

Acts of terror happen every day, in both large and small capacities; in fact, one might consider a corporate buyout as an act of financial terror, just as one might also consider the act of ignoring a homeless person begging for change, when the sound of coins in your pocket are too noticeable. One example of corporate terror just happened here in Madison, when Oscar Mayer’s interests were reduced from the Madison area, news of the plant’s closing made headlines, and thousands were suddenly awakened to the realization that their livelihoods were in jeopardy. Not unlike when a homeless person is forced to know that the man in front of him would rather conceal his loose change than contribute to starving man’s appetite.
Another act of terror happens when a man is prosecuted for a crime he didn’t commit, based on the color of his skin. Anyone in this country who resembles the look of someone even vaguely Middle Eastern is being persecuted, but not in the courts – in the streets in which they live. A 19-year-old Latino student at NYU, known only as Juan, was cursed at and spit on while walking down the street in New York, for appearing to a passerby as Muslim; a notion as absurd as looking at someone and assuming they must be Christian, based on their appearing to fit some socially obscure stereotype. “Juan” took to social media to make a compelling call of compassion for both those he knows as Muslim and of Middle Eastern descent, and for those who would be so foolish as to hate someone those reasons.

On Nov. 13, in Paris, France, there was another terrible attack, and innocent lives were lost, and we can all conveniently say who did it, and why, and push even harder against the so called “axis of evil” that has been manifesting in the Middle East for so long. Nevertheless, we have a stake in this, as a free nation, and one that looks ahead in these times of trial and tribulation, do we not? What can “we” do to dissuade these trouble times, and get the world back on track to good ol’ democracy? Well, first, “we” may want to look back, back when it was our government who broke apart a dictatorship, only to shove an unwanted democracy down the throats of a people who didn’t want it.

I’ve never known a Muslim I didn’t like, and, for the record, I don’t hate Christians, but I do detest anyone/group that scapegoats their beliefs as a means to exploit the fears of others. The Syrian people making their way through Europe, and now the world, are certainly not all Muslim, and even if they were would it make any difference if these refugees, these people seeking peace from chaos and terror, were Buddhist, Christian, or Atheist? What religion, or lack thereof, carries with it the most human value?

As we all learned recently, Christians, too, are capable of carrying just as much hate for those they believe defy the beliefs set before them by their God. As was made evident on Nov. 27, at a Planned Parenthood in Colorado, we have an issue that supersedes any political partisan or bipartisan squabbles, and we can no longer, and in good conscience, just apply “our thoughts and prayers” to this ongoing problem. What we are living in right now is a seemingly acceptable chaos, and at the very expense of the freedoms we hold so dear, we are sacrificing our liberties in the way of absolute fear. It seems that terrorism transcends religion and race; it is barbarism, and, at its core, more human animal than political or religious.

Therefore, when the good people of America begin to scream for the heads of terrorists, they should rethink what terror really is, and what it makes them to call for the same terror against their perceived enemies. ISIS is not a place you can just go to and blow up, and leave with your celebratory fist in the air, screaming “YAY USA!” The Islamic State is also not a single geographical location one could travel to, neither is The Nation of Islam, and neither is Christianity. The people and groups responsible for acts of terrorism are sick, savage people who are scattered throughout the world, and they make micro-percentages of the religions of which they claim to wage war for and the prophecies they claim to uphold. As a matter of fact, the Conquistadors, the Inquisition, and the Crusades, were all done in the name of God, the Christian God, to be exact, and looking back, I’m sure we can agree that the groups who propagated those terrible acts were not representative of the whole of that religion either.