MazI know, you’re probably sick of hearing about the Syrian Refugee situation. A situation introduced to the rest of the world via an image of a lifeless 3 year old boy being washed up on the beach. Clearly an attempt to expose the rest of the world to the reality of what people are trying to do to be safe but also encouraging the ferocity of people’s opinion on the matter as well, causing animosity between some people of the UK and the Refugees. The debate has erupted with a mass of people completely ruled by their moral perspective and the bile of people trying to express their concern for their country (some claim) in a completely inappropriate way by exploding with anger and nigh on racist bigotry.
Amidst the manipulative mess that is the media and certainly social media, so much has circulated about the Refugees that it is hard to filter out facts from fiction. What we do know is, David Cameron accepted to allow 20,000 Syrian refugees into England within the next 5 years. Obviously, not everyone agrees with this action.
A lot of people within the UK are fearing of the long term impact this will have on our economy as well as the fact the Human Rights of the Refugees are being prioritised before those already resident within the country whose Human Rights are not being respected. In 2013, it was estimated there were 9,000 Army veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan homeless after leaving the armed forces. Not only do they lack a roof over their head, they also have had no support with the long term psychological effects of being at War such as Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder and depression. So people heavily opposed to the idea of Refugees settling here, consider the human rights of those closer to home more of a priority than those coming from another country who already have received more support.
Army veterans are just the tip of the iceberg of course, there are those out of work, continuing cuts across the board for councils not only reducing jobs but also the dignity of the areas they represent, companies continuing to make redundancies, utility companies increasing their prices to the point some elderly people can’t afford, an overstretched NHS who can’t keep up with the demand of patients due to certain parts being sold off as well as cuts there as well, government cuts and tax reforms continue to negatively effect the majority population. Yet we have infinite funds to continue to go to war and to aid other countries? Bizarre. Although our economy may be slowly recovering (as far as we know at least), there are issues that contributed to its demise that have not been resolved or they have been reviewed, tried and has had little impact. In 2014, there were almost 1.1 million people on Job Seekers Allowance. Up to February this year, there were 786,000 people. An improvement, yes, on paper it looks better, yes, but how much does that improvement take into consideration of the zero hour contracts a load of employers out there get people to sign? The offer of employment is there but many hours of work there are is a separate issue. Although the economy might be slowly recovering, the amount of work has not exactly surged has it. So, due to Equality and Diversity, Refugees could potentially take what little work there may be, accepting zero hour contracts whilst still receiving some kind of benefits.
The recession, which by the way I personally think is a design of politicians and bankers, has long put this country in purgatory. People had less money, assistance became harder to get, things got more expensive, people no longer could enjoy the full fruit of their labour because they could not afford it. I think whilst dwindling in this no mans land, it has stripped some people of either their moral or ethical thinking. We are human beings. We are blessed to have the natural emotions of compassion and empathy as well as having the intelligence to reflect on our own actions along with having an opinion. Now, using both sides of our brains, instead of the debate exploding with extreme opinions using only one way of thinking, we should ensure that to have an opinion we must look at the situation with understanding and using the intelligence we are blessed with. With the many images and reports concerning this situation, some very biased, some symbolic to allow an individual to interpret what they see in whichever way they see fit. These images have been published and exposed to the world in such manner for it helps stories keep their momentum due to the controversy they cause.
Going back to my reference of our intelligence, our capacity to think should always override our natural need to react towards these sort of situations. A lot of people immediately jumped on the patriotic bandwagon although it’s not pride within their home country, rather a desperate plea through their belief, to prevent the refugees being a further contributor toward the continuous degradation of this once great country. Suspecting, due to the very genuine threat of terror, some people believe that this is simply a ploy because these people hail from the middle east so naturally they’re going to blow us all up. People with such ignorant views feel they’re further justified through the medium of social media spreading malicious memes as if they’re solicited facts. Only ignorant Neanderthals would use such flaccid means to justify their bigoted opinions. Others, were consumed by their overwhelming sense of compassion, not fully understanding the true realities that have had to drive these people from their homes but appreciating their desperation to find sanctuary in other countries. Of course, we would naturally react with the need to help the innocent amongst the refugees, for innocent families have suffered traumas we could never imagine, they have been forced from their homes and some have probably only left a legacy of rubble behind. The civil war in Syria rages hoping for some sort of elusive conclusion which will never come to be whilst there are civilians living in the line of fire. Of course these people would flee their home country.
During WW1 and WW2, the perseverance and determination of the people of this country were part of the reason the rest of the world respected our once great nation. Government lead by a great leader, a country with people of utmost strength and an unsurpassed tenacity being the beating heart bringing back this country to a glory that, at the time, seemed impossible. Although I do not doubt that the action of our people back then would not have been different, it does have to be said that this action was the only option they had. They could not have gone anywhere else. The refugees however, have options. They have somewhere to go. Many places. Maybe the reality is, our people knew that they would have a country to rebuild however unfixable it may have seemed, but the refugees are fleeing a country that is destroying itself.
Some people feel compassionate to help people in need, some people do not believe that the need of others should be put before those of their fellow country men and women. As humans we feel for them, absolutely, but our intelligence would tell us that currently it is not practical to contribute taxpayers money to bear the weight of more support for people who were not resident here.
Whatever your thoughts, however you may feel, our intelligence will tell us we can never change the corrupt people who lead this country and their decisions, as well as situations out of our control simply have to meet our acceptance. The refugees to some may be a nuisance, another cross to bare for the country, but at the end of the day, they are citizens just as we are. The fact that the elderly, veterans and any other misrepresented people from this country continue to be mistreated by the government of the country they served has nothing to do with the refugees. They would have continued to be tethered in the pool of misrepresentation by the very Government that are willing to help the refugees. Just remember, this Government are not doing that out of compassion, they are doing it to appear compassionate to other countries and nations that could potentially be allies. The fact that people such as veterans are being mistreated, is unfortunately, a situation that we can only accept unless we have means to help them ourselves.