Should The US Monitor Muslim Neighborhoods?

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Should The US Monitor Muslim Neighborhoods?




(From CNN)---Ted Cruz on Tuesday called for law enforcement to step up their policing of Muslim neighborhoods in the U.S. in the wake of terrorist attacks in Brussels, comparing it to police boosting their presence in areas with known gang activity. "If you have a neighborhood where there's a high level of gang activity, the way to prevent it is you increase the law enforcement presence there and you target the gang members to get them off the streets," the Texas senator told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "I'm talking about any area where there is a higher incidence of radical Islamic terrorism." Cruz also pointed to what he called the "successful program" in New York implemented by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, apparently pointing to the New York Police Department's controversial surveillance efforts targeting Muslims under his administration...Cruz said in a statement, "We need to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized," adding that the U.S. can no longer afford to "political correctness."



I cannot personally imagine that if I were a Muslim and a law abiding citizen, who worked, attended school, and paid taxes, that because I would happen to live in a neighborhood with a high Muslim concentration, I would now essentially be targeted simply because I'm Muslim. On the other hand, IF, there is proof that certain neighborhoods and areas statistically have bred home grown terrorists who then go abroad or do terrorist acts here, then it's hard to argue against upping security. There has just been so much carnage and people dying needlessly, and it absolutely sucks if you're part of that 1 million Muslims or so in the populous who are just living their lives peacefully and wouldn't hurt anybody. It's like being in school, and your teacher says, if one person doesn't follow the rules, no one gets to go to recess, and there was always 'that' kid, except this percentange are those kids that decide to kill people for their beliefs.



The danger in this war, domestic and foreign, is that as in previous wars and rhetoric before it, it can turn dangerous, it can breed hatred and racism towards individuals who are completely undeserving. It's already happening. You often have people in campaigns or in power using a situation to stir up a situation to something its not because people's emotions are heightened, they're watching the news, and they think less about the big picture, or long term effects, or putting themselves into someone else's shoes. It's easy to say this is a solution, but at this point, I don't think building a wall, or constantly policing a neighborhood, or putting out safety PSA's is going to have some massive effect on terrorism, because with the internet it and they can go and be anywhere. It's the 'war on drugs,' all over again. You shut down one grow house, you put away one king pin, and how much have you stopped the problem? And with terrorism, add to that now lone wolves and global connections, we're talking almost an impossible problem to clamp down on. There will always be a cost to somebody or some persons in this new era we live in, it's just a matter of who will that be this time or the next.



What are your thoughts?

Should The US Monitor Muslim Neighborhoods?
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