Con

With the recent events of the Islamic State, there has been a lot of controversy over whether or not the United States should accept or deny Syrian refugees—those living among members of the very threatening group known as ISIS. It is incredibly hard for me to wrap my mind around the idea of these people coming over and invading our land. This may sound harsh, but ISIS members are tactful. In the attacks in Paris, some of the perpetrators escaped with ease past law enforcement. If it is this easy for them to mask their identity and who they work for, why should we take the risk of them entering our country? We have enough domestic problems as it is; we certainly do not need to add this to our concerns.

It is imperative that we remind the rest of the world that the U.S. isn’t always going to pick people up when they fall. We cannot lend a helping hand to every nation’s conflict. Consider ISIS as a disease. Diseases spread and can sometimes be hard to detect. Why should we welcome this disease into our country- our disinfected country?

Some may say this is a selfish and heartless perspective, but I prefer the terms cautious and practical. ISIS lives to scare the rest of the world and if we allow these refugees into the U.S., we allow them to overpower us. We allow them to take over and control the entire nation of Syria. ISIS, as hard as it is to admit this, is scary. How will we ever be able to feel safe in our everyday lives if we live with this uncertainty? How will we be able to ever leave our homes with the possibility of ISIS launching an attack? The answer is we won’t. I will acknowledge that it is terribly unfortunate that these people have to suffer, but who said that this was our responsibility? Who said it was our job to intervene? If countries do not allow refugees, ISIS will have no way to cross the border. If countries completely close their borders ISIS will diminish, and that is the objective of all nations.

Samantha Barnes, Social Media Editor

Senior Samantha Barnes is the Social Media Editor of the 2015-2016 Colonel. She is the secretary of Student Congress and competitively horseback rides.