Anyone who has paid any attention to the news over the last three weeks knows about the attempted assassination of two ex-presidents, plus numerous Democrats and supporters as well as CNN with letter bombs. We also watched the reports of the massacre of 11 Jews in their Pittsburgh synagogue in the largest anti-Semitic violent act in U.S. history. At the same time as these events, an estimated 7,000 people in a caravan are traveling north through Mexico and intend to reach the U.S. border. The reaction to this caravan has been fear as some have called this an invasion or an attack.

The letter bomber and the shooter in Pittsburgh are unstable enemies of the U.S. Their acts are violations of state and federal laws and as such they are violators of the U.S. Constitution. We cannot excuse their actions, but it is perfectly reasonable to consider why they performed such despicable acts.

The current debate is whether the president, other politicians, and the news media have used the language of hate in an overt attempt to stir up fear. An example of this cultivation of fear surfaced in the last few years when it was common fare on talk radio and in the print media to claim Muslims were trying to pass laws which would allow for Muslim sharia law to become U.S. law. As we watched Muslim extremists take over Mideast nations it seemed that this threat was real.

The problem with this theory is that the U.S. Constitution prevents state and local laws that violate the Constitution from being enacted. For this to happen the Constitution would need to first undergo massive changes through amendments approved by votes in each state. The Sharia law claim was being made by people who do not understand our constitution and spread lies to generate fear. Fear of one group can easily turn into violence as ignorant people believe lies about that group.

The public must stop believing lies designed to stoke fear and use that fear to cultivate hate and hateful actions. We are better than that.

Jack Dragoni attended Boston College and served in the U.S. Army in Berlin and Vietnam. He lives in Chaffee, Missouri.