By now you’ve heard of the Canadian government’s decision to give Omar Khadr 10.5 million dollars and a formal apology from the government for his mistreatment in Guantanamo Bay and the government’s subsequent mishandling of his case. You’ve probably heard both sides of the debate. On one side, we hear the conservative appeal to reason and outrage over giving a convicted terrorist millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money. On the other, we hear the more liberal appeal to empathy for a child soldier that was pushed into bomb making at an early age. You are probably expecting me to take a side in this debate, but instead I would like to give a different perspective.

Here’s the thing. I’m from a small town. And like a lot of people from small towns, I have heard miniscule Trump-isms coming from the people around me my entire life. Some things are as innocent as “I’ve heard it’s really dangerous to travel to (insert any unknown country)" to overtly racist comments from your neighbour’s Uncle Bill that I probably shouldn’t repeat. I blame it on ignorance. See, it’s easy to fear something that you don’t understand. When you have a leader who plays on those fears and promises to protect you from the unknown evil in the world, it’s easy to support him.