TOW #22: Losing in Battle, ISIS Gains by Attacking the 'Gray Zone' of the West

Following the bombings in Brussels in late March, the already fervent anti-ISIS hysteria in the U.S. has reached soaring new levels. It has precipitated a frighteningly acute Islamaphobia among tense Americans, which has manifested itself into intensifying anti-Muslim and isolationist political rhetoric. Even as ISIS loses large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq as reported by Karl Vick for TIME Magazine, America's fear of the amorphous jihadist group grows. Politicians, media and citizens alike fervently propose ways to stave ISIS's terror; however, this frenzy does not weaken ISIS but rather gives them exactly what they want--it helps them win.

A main goal of ISIS is to eliminate the "gray zone" (more on that later), and America's Islamaphobic response to ISIS attacks has catalyzed the "gray zone's" implosion. ISIS's online magazine describes the Gray Zone as "any society in which Muslims and non-Muslims coexist" and ISIS wishes to "destroy the gray zone." The Brussels attacks can be seen as a direct attack on the Gray Zone as Europe is largely a Gray area in that Muslims and Non-Muslims coexist there. The U.S. is also a Gray Zone. However, after the Brussels attacks, Paris attacks, and San Bernadino shootings, many politicians have proposed feigned protective strategies that would threaten America's "grayness" so to speak. Republican presidential nominees Ted Cruz and Donald Trump have both expressed their desire to homogenize the American population. Cruz proposed the policing of areas with high concentrations of Muslim citizens, and Trump went even further by proposing a direct ban on Muslim immigrants. These reactionary and fear-mongered responses do not help to assuage ISIS's terror but instead fan the flames of ISIS's war by separating Muslim people from peoples of other ideologies.

In the past, America has had a history of demonizing groups when faced with a foreign threat, and today is no different. It was Eastern Europeans in the first Red Scare and Socialists during the HUAC hearing, but today it is Muslims in the age of ISIS. This demonization and isolationism might create a veil of safety for Americans, but it is a false veil. America's fearful rhetoric hurts American citizens and strengthens ISIS's aims, fracturing the diverse population that characterizes the American ideal. So, if we want to make America great again, then we'll have to make America gray again.