Social And Political Stereotypes Of Terrorism In The United States

International terrorism aspires to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence the policy of a government, or affect the conduct of a government and transcend national

The terms terrorism and domestic terrorism are very similar concepts. There are, however, slight differences in each. Entities that are apart of the Government have slightly different ways of explaining what they believe to be the correct definition of terrorism and domestic terrorism. In this paper the author will offer definitions of the two terms and state which one they agree with the most. The author will also state how the two terms are best differentiated.

Wherever anyone goes, anyone is vulnerable to Terrorism. Terrorism exists as an incredibly horrific and violent act, and it affects everyone that goes through it and people watching news and reading newspapers. The effects of terrorism can be extremely dangerous; sometimes it can even be deadly. “In the last of a couple of years around 50 terrorist attacks have been in the United States and Around 200 in the world” (Barrett), just last week there was an attack on the London bridge. ISIS even has claimed that they planned the attack. For anybody that doesn't know who ISIS is they are a terrorist organization that people say " They are upon extreme than Al-Qaida or any other terrorist group in the world"(Tran). Terrorism affects the world in so many ways, and it isn't pretty. As People that travel a lot read the

Factors like social grievances, economic woes and other similarities, give rise to violent extremist groups. Areas with lawlessness and desperation cause people to argue and bring terror (Does Terrorism,178). Extremist groups are often welcomed in such places because they may offer more of basic securities than the state itself. On the other hand, terrorism could be a weapon of the strong, not for the weak. Stronger states are able to disguise it as a legitimate violence

Stereotypes exist everywhere. From styles of clothing to dishes of food, stereotypes exist because there is some truth in it. By social classifications and categorizations, people take small truths and instances from a small amount of people and generalize it into the broader population. The example given here shows that anyone that is Muslim or has a traditional Arab garb on can be considered a terrorist. This stereotype is taken from the event of 9/11. Since then, people have been calling anyone following the Muslim faith publically terrorists. In the video, one of the Jalal brothers throws a bag at people and they automatically assume it is a bomb. This presumption comes from the stereotype that all Muslims are terrorists. This creates a fear that would control one’s actions.

As Representative John Cooksey stated in response to the attacks on September 11th, "If I see someone come in and he's got a diaper on his head and a fan belt around that diaper on his head, that guy needs to be pulled over and checked”(Ervin). Linking people of Arab descent to terrorism is very common, and of course there is a reason this stereotype has become so popular. For example in 2013, “More than half of all attacks [57%] and fatalities [66%], and nearly three-quarters of all injuries [73%] occurred in three countries: Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan”(Statistics on Incidents). According to Statistics on Incidents of Terrorism Worldwide, the majority of the top ten countries with the most terror attacks were in the Middle East or Africa.

Political terror refers to two separate phenomena, state terror and terrorism. The fundamental difference between the two is that the former utilizes violence to legitimize its repressive structure while the latter utilizes it to oppose (and potentially overthrow) an oppressive institution. In order to understand terrorism it is important to first review the different elements of state terror. Different policies can constitute as active forms of state terror such as government surveillance, apartheid law, media repression, etc. However, special attention will be focused on the apogee of state terror: genocide which generally utilizes and encompasses all other forms. References to genocide in world history can be found

Terrorism in America tends to be a product of many issues, population as well as conflict that has co-existed within the nation's borders. Uniquely United State has been known for its ability to contain multitudes in relative harmony. According to investigations, majority of terrorism in the history of America is motivated by an extreme distrust of the ideal American democracy that has given opportunity for every individual to claim loyalty to, in addition to benefiting from American system. Nevertheless, the enormous variation in expressing terrorism, domestic terrorism have been explained severally as a violent claim over who or what is authentically American.

International terrorists can carry out their operations either in their host country or in a foreign nation. In addition, domestic terrorism is instigated by various domestic factors such as the state of the economy in terms level of GDP, its growth rates, level of education, and human development index; lack of political freedom and civil liberties that is measured by level of people’s participation in free and fair elections; and political instability caused by civil wars and riots occurring due to regime durability or during transition periods (Enders et al,

“Terrorism involves the use of violence by an organization other than a national government to cause intimidation or fear among a target audience;” at least, this is how Pape (2003) defines terrorism in his article “The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism” (343). The goal of this article by Pape is to discuss suicide terrorism and how it “follows a strategic logic, one specifically designed to coerce modern liberal democracies to make significant territorial concessions” (343). Similar to Pape, Bloom (2004) and Horowitz (2010) also delve into the exponential increase of suicide terrorism and why it occurs. Although Pape, Bloom, and Horowitz concur that suicide terrorism is increasing, they disagree why it is so prominent. While the

State terrorism is defined as, “terrorism committed by a national government, inside of its national borders and directed at its own people and sometimes visitors” (Taylor & Swanson, 2016 P. 162). Most military dictorships tend to maintain the power through terror; this paralyzes society through violence and threats. The scary thing about state terrorism is that the states themselves have the power to use violence in many ways that us as civilians cannot. The main purpose of state terrorism is to install this fear in citizens, this way they consolidate the living regimes power, and keep maintain the control over the country’s population. However, some do not see state terrorism as terrorism, if not just as a form of political violence.

In addition, the complexities of terrorism further encompass the discordances of defining terrorist groups. Not dissimilar to the disparities of defining terrorism, terrorist groups are identified through their predisposed choice of tactics and are labelled as non-state actors (Ramsey, 2015, p.220). Additional literatures (Arena and Arrigo, 2006; Sutton and Vertigans, 2006 Welch, 2006;) highlight the characteristics of whom is deemed to be a terrorist and/or who are the terrorist groups by state definition. The consensus here implies that those who commit acts which are not legitimised by the state become defined as a terrorist organisation. Significantly, in most recent years, the methods or weapons of choice are not dissimilar to

Terrorism in the twenty-first century has some similarities and differences from terrorism in the twentieth century. Terrorism is, in its broadest sense, the use or threatened use of violence in order to achieve a political, religious, or ideological aim. Also useful to remember that because the two entities involved, the terrorists and the terrorized, are on the opposite end of the political, religious or ideological continuum, the same act is viewed by them differently. There is much sense in the phrase one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.

The act of State Sponsored terrorism is when an organization that attempts acts of terrorism is fueled, funded, supported by a state. These acts of terrorism may be the scheming of a government; however, the government does not want to be directly doing the activity. Sometimes government agents are directly in charge of these acts of terrorism. Often governments use this type of terrorism to start a war, sway politics/debates, gain advantage, or make money.

Introduction: From the outset, the paper makes clarity of the key terms terrorism and media coverage. According to Magstadt (2009:506) terrorism has been defined in many ways, but the most definitions take into account several factors including violence’s, the desire for publicity, political motive and intimidation aimed at the civilian populations. Jerkins (n.d.) “terrorism is the use or threatened use of force designed to bring about political change”. As depicted from the above definitions activities of terrorism have gone through premeditation stage, implementation and more to be fulfilled. In 1983 the world woke up to the breaking news that terrorists bombed the United States Embassy in Beirut and killed 63 people. Other acts of terrorism followed and in 1995 the world was shocked to hear that members of the Aum Shinrikyo released deadly sarin gas in the Tokyo subway in five coordinated attacks killing 12 and severely injuring 50 and causing temporary vision problems for others and this is classified as domestic terrorism practiced within a single country by terrorists with no ties to another government. As if that was enough, in August 1998 a large car bomb explodes in the central district of Omagh, Northern Ireland killing 29 people and injuring 330. Dreadfully, four commercial jet airliners are hijacked from East Cost Airport, two were directed to crash into the