1/17/2018 - Fear and Loathing in Homer and Rockville

In this fascinating radio story from This American Life, which is one of my favorite NPR programs, Ira Glass looks into the problem of the arrival of illegal immigrants, or lack thereof, to the small town of Homer, Alaska. At the beginning of the first Act, Fear, Ira Glass' guest, Brian Reed, introduces a Homer native named Ben Tyrer. Although he describes himself as a man who loathes politics and is a moderate he falls victim to the fear of immigrants rampant in Homer despite there not being any.

Unlike many people who simply accept their fear and let it control them, Ben used it to fuel research of the migrant crisis in Europe. He spent hours on the internet researching to become more informed. He admitted his biases but kept enough of an open mind to absorb information. What is so troubling to him during his research is that he is new to combing through news sites and as such he tries not to allow himself to fall victim to the biases inherent in news sites. Although this is noble and indeed advisable while doing research, for Ben, it causes some internal struggle as he floats between liberal and conservative media, unable to find a happy medium.

When I conduct research I take many precautions to make sure my sources are credible. One of the biggest steps for me is not to rely at all, or at least very very little, on news sources. All news sources are subject to some kind of bias due to funding, ownership, or what have you. They are flawed sources for conducting research. It is of paramount importance to use scholarly, peer-edited sources that are from reputable sources. If that isn't enough then you can look at reviews for your sources. Most journals and databases offer reviews of texts so you can make sure that you are using the best source possible.

Everyone brings some sort of bias to the table when they discuss controversial topics. For example, in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict I lean more towards supporting the Palestinians as well as favoring a one-state solution. This is totally OK. What is not OK is participating in a discussion without an OPEN MIND. To have meaningful conversation we must be able to allow ourselves to be sympathetic to the counterarguments.

I will be spending time researching the Palestinian refugee crisis and the community itself. I believe that fear was what originally drove my interest in the Palestinian community. Jews in America are not necessarily educated to support the Palestinian cause. Additionally, American media is heavily biased towards rejecting the humanity of the Palestinians and lionizing the Israeli government and military. However my fear turned to fascination and passion in Arabic culture, allowing me to sympathize with Palestinians and their struggle. This has allowed me to take a unique stance on the conflict as a Jew who loves Israel and its people but also as an Arabophile and humanist who supports the rights of all people to live peacefully, happily, and with the right to self-determination.