Analysis Of Desensitization Of Terrorism By Asa Don Brown

Terrorist attacks have increased over the last twenty years, but one of the most remembered is the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. It happened on September 11, 2001; and is commonly referred to as 9/11. Americans grow up learning details about 9/11; but rarely do we learn about a personal experience. In Adam Mayblum’s email “The Price We Pay,” he tells the story of what happened to him, and others around him on the day of September 11, 2001. Mayblum explains in paragraph ten “If you want to kill us, leave us alone because we will do it by ourselves. If you want to make us stronger, attack and we unite.” He made an excellent point with that statement, because he is right. He provides us with imagery, thoughts on terrorism, and strong use of emotions throughout the story that brings us a very well written narrative.

The September 11th terrorist hijackings and attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon caught the United States largely by surprise. Once the dust had settled, and the shock and horror of such an unprecedented event had waned, the American public began to ask questions. Names such as Osama bin Laden, countries such as Afghanistan, and organizations such as Al-Qaeda were brought into the public's consciousness for the first time. Through newspapers, talkback radio and television programs the nation asked ‘why do they hate us so much?' Others, such as those in the government and public service, asked ‘what could we have done to have prevented this?' It is

On September 11, 2001, the terror attacks that struck upon the American people etched a wound so deep that will take years to repair. The whole world watched and mourned as 2,977 innocent lives were taken mercilessly away by the clutches of vile people. The group responsible for these attacks had malicious intent and animosity toward the people of the free world. They took their accumulated hatred and attacked the American people. The way the American people responded was not what the terrorist group had expected.Instead of cowering in fear from the attacks as presumed, the American people began to display more patriotism and exhibit a sense of unity. While 9/11 is a day we remember the innocent lives lost to terrorism and the new sense of togetherness it founded, it is also a day that birth the term Islamophobia and gave rise to mistaken-identity hate crimes.

America’s viewpoint on the Muslim group of people was significantly prejudiced by post 9/11. The entire Muslim community was vision negatively as of the events that was taken by Al Qaeda an international terrorist group formed by Osama Bin Laden. Soon, subsequent to the bombing of the twin towers, primary awareness of Muslims habitually originated from labels relating to the Middle East as a whole. According to “Affective Politics after 9/11” Todd Hall proposed that 9/11 was a sensitively prominent event that created an emotional shock wave. He believed the original place of influence were the countless effective reaction of people in the United States who has watched the series of terrorist attacks unfold and causes Americans to view Muslims

Attacks receive more coverage when they harm or kill victims, involve hijackings or aircraft, have known perpetrators, and select targets associated with Western countries. A study of transnational terrorism shows that attacks that inflict injuries are twice as likely to attract media attention as those that do not. The attacks in which the perpetrator can be identified are four times as likely to be reported in a newspaper and ten times as likely to be reported on television (The Media’s Role in International Terrorsim). Attacks in the Middle East or Europe are twice as likely to receive media attention as attacks perpetrated in Latin America (The Media’s Role in International Terrorism). There are very similar factors that influence media coverage of attacks that take place within the United States.

In the modern world, Terrorism seems like a daily occurrence. A bomb here and a shooting there is taken in stride, now. No more than a week and life is back to normal. There is no rallying cry. While most threats come from the outside, as is a hot topic recently, we also recognize that many attacks come from within our borders. However, there was a time when it was inconceivable that one of our own could think of hurting our country in such a way. We would have never thought that the ones we take a bullet for would be the ones behind the trigger.

The media today is full of coverage about terrorism. From terrorist threats to both unsuccessful and successful terrorist acts.

The Editorial Board believes that the media largely over-reports terrorism. However, to support this claim, they start out by presenting facts, stating that in a 12 year period, only 61 people were killed in the US by terrorists, while 204,753 were victims of murder. This immediate addressal to the counter argument makes the opposing side more likely to continue reading and consider their viewpoint. Providing these statistics make you realize how over-exaggerated this fear of terrorism is. It affects so few people that you’re more likely to be killed by a fellow American than a

Imagine going about your everyday life as per usual and then all of a sudden everything is completely disrupted. Terrorists are in your state, your city your life with an intention to hurt you, your friends and your loved ones. It’s a terrifying thought, and most of us would like to think that it is not very likely to happen. On November 13, 2015, the people of Paris were the unfortunate to deal with such an attack. This attack got the support and media coverage of what seemed like everyone. Sadly, what many might not know is that only one day before something similar happened in Beirut, Lebanon. Both the New York Times article by Anne Barnard and The Washington Post article by Brian J Phillips aimed to talk about

For the past months, watching non-stop media coverage of these tragic attacks has become one way for people to cope with such irrational information, as if it would help understand such atrocities. Until now, our societies were not familiar with this kind of violence at home and this may explain the constant need for answers. Here lies the risk for the media to use mental health as an explanation for terrorism. Many newspapers first reactions were to question the perpetrators’ mental well-being as an explanation to these acts of

This requires the involvement of either the attacker(s), the victims, or the effected parties to be from a different country of origin than where the event takes place. While transnational terrorist events are greatly outnumbered by domestic terrorist events, it is important for this study due to the potential difference in responses between the two types of events. In the post 9/11 world, both the public as well as the policymakers have been much more attentive to the potential threat that transnational events pose to the world and as such many steps have been taken in order to prevent these events from taking place. This has been most visible within the United States, who was most effected by the massive terrorist events that shocked the

9/11 accomplishment is not how many people they had killed, but is terrifying people through all the reports and images of the attacks and changing the way many people throughout the world live (Philip M Seib and Dana M. Janbekb,2011). People have the right to know what is happening in this world. Journalists have the responsibility to explain so that the news consumers would be able to build their understanding of issues. However, if the news coverage about terrorist acts take up too much space, people’s fear will be promoted. This might scare people away from certain activities, such as using public transports, traveling by air, and traveling to certain countries in Middle East.

September 11th changed the lives of many Americans, irrevocably. The horrendous attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon altered the way American’s viewed their positions within the world, not to mention their lives and their safety. The attacks brought terrorism to the forefront of national attention, in every aspect. The government became immediately immersed in an effort to understand and defeat terrorism, and simultaneously, the media, with its perverse fascination with violence and profit-driven espousal to round-the-clock, up-to-the-minute coverage, demonstrated an obsession with the attacks, by broadcasting almost nothing but the latest developments in the search and rescue efforts and investigations

“If the media were not there to report terrorist acts and to explain their political and social significance...terrorism as such would cease to exist” said John O'Sullivan, an editor of the Times of London.1 This is also the way many other people feel about the recent increase in terrorist activity; they feel that the media is causing it. The media is doing this by fulfilling the terrorists' need for publicity.2 Terrorists need media publicity in order to get their views spread to the public.3 Because of this need for publicity, terrorists are committing their acts of terrorism in areas where a lot of publicity will be gained; the United States and Western Europe are the most recent targets. The bombings of the federal building in

Purpose: To inform readers of the effects the recent terrorist attacks have on society today.