Editorial – More Dangerous if we Don’t

I was head down in The Voice Magazine last week when the attacks in Paris happened, so the first I knew of it was when I started seeing the responses to it appear on Facebook.

In Canada, the attacks seem to be serving as a backdrop to the question of whether our government should follow through on its promise to bring some 25,000 refugees from ISIS occupied Syria into our country. Some people worry about the security concerns of bringing these people into Canada with little vetting, but I’d suggest this isn’t a terribly rational reasons. Will there be some bad eggs among the refugees? Of course. It just stands to reason. After all, if You’re bringing in 25,000 people in a short time, it doesn’t matter where they come from, some of them are probably going to be not very nice people. That has nothing to do with terrorism, That’s simply to do with human nature.

And It’s what we have police for.

But It’s not a reason to refuse these people who are fleeing from their homes and lives in fear of what ISIS may do to them. What the naysayers should remember is that every single person we refuse is one more person who may simply decide that joining ISIS is easier than living in fear of them. And yes, there are a lot of questions, such as how are we going to feed and house these people? Will they be competing with the rest of us for jobs? How will we pay for their medical needs? But those questions need to take a back seat to the question of “Do we want these people joining ISIS for their own self-preservation?”

That is how these groups tend to work, after all. Very few terrorists were happy and fulfilled people when they decided to become a terrorist. I can only imagine what a fertile breeding ground for the type of person who becomes a terrorist these refugee camps must be, and how much of an easier time ISIS will have getting converts if those refugees start thinking that people who could help, like Canada, like the U.S., have turned their backs on the suffering. We should bring those people here simply because It’s more dangerous if we don’t.

A couple of the articles in this week’s Voice Magazine also touch on terrorism, and in addition to those, we have a look at how to deal with the course from hell, some strategies to handle anxiety (especially for your exams), a look at the latest Council meeting, check it out if you want to see the latest news on the AUSU Executive wages, plus information about a possibility of home-invigilated exams, and pressuring AU to provide some cost savings for the move to e-textbooks. Also, if You’re in Calgary, you’ll want to check out the AUSU Update this week, which takes a look at the Bow Valley College building where AU is housed.

And of course we have our feature article, this week, we interview High River student, dad, and AUSU’s own VP of Finance and Administration, Brandon Simmons. He talks a little bit about what it was like living through the 2013 floods here in Alberta. And all of that is on top of our regular selection of news, reviews, advice, and other articles to keep you busy for a few minutes while You’re waiting for the AU website maintenance to complete. Enjoy the read!