In response to the all too predictable backlash against Syrian refugees, Roy E. Finkenbine asks: “Why do Americans suffer these paroxysms of paranoia in times of stress? Why do we so often abandon our collective national values and target ethnic populations in the face of societal evidence to the contrary?”

With no real solution, Finkenbine observes: “As the nation, driven by fear rather than evidence, demonizes the Syrian refugees (and Muslims in general), one wonders how and when our collective sanity and sense of shame will return.” Let’s hope it’s sooner rather than later!