Ever since the small country of Syria decided to have a civil war, the entire country has taken a turn for the worst but why are we involved?
The corrupt Syrian government has caused over a fourth of the Syrian population to become displaced. Also 6.2 million have fled across the border, 100,000 civilians have been killed, government losses total 13 billion, the economy has shrunken 35%, and Syrian heath-care has been reduced to just 20 hospitals. All this because in spring of 2011, peaceful protests turned violent from the government of Bashar al-Assad and eventually turned into a civil war.
Us as americans have the luxury of being able to do as we please. To feel safe in our homes, feel good about our country, and best of all not worry about our families and friends being killed in a violent civil war. The question I ask is why does the U.S. give over 5 billion dollars to help the Syrian people? The answer is quite logical and simple and actually relates to some of Smiths beliefs. The U.S. government and people help Syrians because we have good morals and can see how bad the syrian people are hurting. We could not imagine walking down the street and having somebody shoot at us. We as american people put ourselves in the syrian peoples shoes and realize how much help they really need. I believe we are helping the innocent people of Syria because if it was us trapped in a cross-fire, we would want them to help us.
The U.S. government gives that $5 billion dollars to the Syrian government in foreign aid who is then supposed to use that money to benefit the Syrian people. But as we take a step back, we realize that we are giving this money to the Syrian regime who is using chemical weapons against its own people, so how trustworthy really is the Syrian government? Should we really be giving it $5 billion in foreign aid? If we really wanted to help the Syrian people we would cut the foreign aid, making it harder for the Syrian government to oppress its people.
ReplyDeleteIt's clear that you read the PBS cheat sheet (careful, though, about getting in the habit of summarizing so much of other sources--it can lead to plagiarism if not careful). Where does the 5 billion figure, though, come from? It seems many people are talking about cutting off aid to Syria, but any aid that is flowing right now is not flowing to the Syrian government but to the opposition. I'm just curious where this factoid is coming from.
ReplyDeleteYour sympathy analysis is, it seems to me, exactly right. to an unusual extent, this is a war motivated by putting ourselves in the shoes of Syrian victims. Youtube makes this unusually easy. I wonder, though, if this is a possible case of sympathy gone too far?