Syrian Refugee Crisis a Hoax?
Recently Osama
Abdul Mohsem, the refugee who was tripped by the Hungarian
camerawoman Petra Laszlo was discovered to be a football coach back
in Syria and was taken in by a football academy in Spain to come and
work as a coach. This wonderful humanitarian act would not have been
possible without the media's constant repeated reporting of the
seemingly awful story of the Hungarian camerawoman's actions.
However, how many people have stopped to think about why the
camerawoman tripped the man in the first place?
The Syrian refugee
crisis is perhaps the most reported and continued news story that
we've had in a while. But is the way that the media portrays the
crisis actually truthful? Is the tale of the “Syrian refugees”
truly as sad as we have been demonstrated it is? Part of it is. It is
undeniable that Syria is right now going through a time of crisis and
that the conflict has caused large displacements of the population
both within the country and outside of it. But is the flood of
refugees in Europe we've been hearing so much of actually made up of
fleeing families?
It turns out that
the media has been skewing our perception of the refugee crisis in
Europe. While it is true that tragic stories like that of Osama Abdul
Mohsem are a reality, the media focuses far too much attention on
stories like this.
Out of all the
“Syrian” refugees arriving at Europe, it is quite often that as
many as 90% of the refugees claiming to be Syrian do not actually
have the documents to prove it. As a matter of fact, the vast
majority of Syrian refugees that are interviewed by the media state
that the thing that they want the most is to return to Syria, so that
their lives can go back to normal. If that is the case, then why are
there so many refugees making the perilous journey all the way to
Germany, when the UN's convention relating to the Status of Refugees
states that countries are obligated to grant asylum to anybody who
declares a refugee status in the first country that they report in?
Clearly Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt are already over-saturated, with
refugees, so then considering that the Arab Gulf states don't want to
offer any help to their Muslim brothers, the next option in line is
Europe. But why go all the way to Germany when all the other
countries are capable of providing asylum? Eastern Europe may not be
economically developed enough to provide optimal conditions for
refugees, but neither are Lebanon and Egypt, at least in comparison
to the likes of Germany. It is obvious that these “refugees” are
looking for more than just a place to stay in until the conflict
subsides. They are looking for a country where they will be showered
with money.
Despite this,
countries like Hungary have received a tremendous backlash in the
media for not accepting refugees. But with a real calamity waiting
behind the floodgates, one can truly understand the reasoning behind
Hungary's decision. The culture that all these refugees carry with
them is completely opposing to the standards of European culture. It
would be extremely difficult for any country to not be gravely
affected by the sudden massive influx of refugees. There have even
been reports of a school in Germany close to a refugee camp having to
ban miniskirts for the fear of possible rape by refugees. And this is
in fact not as far fetched of a statement, considering that there
have already been rapes of women and children within a refugee camp
in Europe.
The massive, rapid
influx of refugees means that the refugees are not having to adapt to
Europe; Europe is having to adapt to the refugees. These refugees,
who could easily be Pakistanis or Jordanians who threw their
passports to the sea and then claimed to be Syrian upon arrival, are
bringing in a massive and abrupt change to the European way of life.
Perhaps it is about time for the media to begin to understand that
Syria is not the only country with problems. As the saying goes: “You
can't take care of others if you can't take care of yourself.”
Perhaps it is time that the NATO affiliated countries stopped
complaining about Russia and Bashar Al Asad, and found a way to stop
the violence once and for all so that the senseless mass migration
can stop and Syrians can go back to where they truly want to be:
“Home.”
Rationale:
The article was meant to go against the ideology of Al Jazeera regarding the Syrian refugee crisis about how the refugees are victims and anybody who doesn't want to offer them help is the enemy. The article is a continuation to all the series of news stories regarding the reporter that tripped the refugee, so it is following the ideology of the refugees being victims and the non-conforming Europeans being the aggressors.
The main idea of my article is to shift that focus and, while still keeping the idea that refugees are victims, show that the European states have a point when they say they don't want to accept refugees. The ideology in my article does not go against the Syrian refugees, but rather it goes against Western media in general, by claiming that their focus on the problem is not only ignoring the negative aspects of that the refugees are bringing to Europe; but also portraying their focus in the media as "wrong" and not focused on where the real issue lies: in the governments' incapacity to cooperate together.