Terrorism Course Reflection

Security measures drastically increased after 9/11. 9/11 was an act of terrorism that would change the way the country handled privacy. Americans needed to voice their opinions after this happened and have their own rights protected. The need to protect individual rights is the utmost important aspect in a thriving U.S. society.

Terrorism and the United States A cloud of anthrax spores looming in the sky of San Diego California

The fear of being racially profiled and being linked to terrorism is an issue for Americans ever since the attack on 9/11, and other residents that are in our country from other nations like Iran (Muslims). The Muslims or Iran is being targeted by any and everyone who seem to hold the whole nation accountable for 9/11 attack. But is racial profiling of their religious or other Muslims belief a reason that we should hide behind to justify profiling them? Within this discussion this learner will try to explain why this may or may not be right to fear Muslims or any other person who is from a different nation.

I personally have enjoyed this course. I was very nervous the first few months trying to make sure I didn’t miss any assignments and understood the reading material. I learn a lot about inequality, social injustice, social structure, social identity, and how to view things through a sociological perspective. This course has prepared me to observe various issue in society in a whole different way. We must educate ourselves about our history to know the differences, if not we will become a product of our environment. Therefore, “it’s easy to slide into the belief that things have always been the way we’ve known them to be” (Rosenblum & Travis, 2012, P.503).

In order to determine whether an action is a terrorist act or not, terrorism must first be defined. Terrorism is the use or threatening the use of violence as a weapon to influence a person or a group of people to change policies or influence decisions according to the terrorist’s desires. The terrorist can be a single person acting on personal wishes or a group of people with an ultimate goal. The goals of a terrorist are normally political, ideological, or religious in nature.

In the last two decades, the United States has experienced disastrous terrorist incidents. Including 9/11, the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, and the 2015 San Bernardino shooting, these incidents have varied in the scale, location, weapon used but have all had the same goal; to harm Americans and put fear the minds of everyone else. Before September 11th, 2001, there had never been a large attack on the continental United States of America. Our first responders have new threats and must be put through rigorous trainings in order to try and minimize the risks.

On November 9th 2016, Donald Trump was declared the president-elect of the United States. This announcement was quickly followed by mass protests in the streets. Citizens were outraged that a candidate, whose entire platform had relied on racist and misogynistic rhetoric, could win the presidency despite losing the popular vote. The protestor’s concerns are well founded. In the last year he has promised to create a Muslim registry, forcefully deport millions of people from the country, revoke citizenship rights, as well as implement other disturbing policies. There is an inherently fascistic and totalitarian element in Trump’s campaign which should influence a closer study into the history, creation, and continuation of different forms of political terror.

In all honesty, I had never read into this subset of terrorism in any great detail. However a glaring statement in some of our weekly reading caught my eye. "(A)groterrorism has remained a secondary consideration, and no documented attacks in the homeland have occurred since 9/11." (Olsen 2012). Perhaps the author sees things differently than I, but the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) has staged attacks since 9/11 - that is if one considers arson to be acts of terrorism (History Commons n.d.). Again, one person's terrorist is another person's freedom fighter. In this case, at least the FBI agrees with me that ELF and the similar group Animal Liberation Front (ALF) are domestic terror groups (FBI 2002). Granted, the ALF/ELF attacks that one could identify as agroterrroism is an attack where cattle hauling trucks were burned by ALF, but they have targeted fish farms in the past.

I interviewed three people for this assignment; a 74-year-old woman, a 74-year-old man, and a 52-year-old woman. I wanted to get answers from two different generations so I could compare and contrast their answers. I also added a few questions that pertain to this week’s discussion board posts which I thought would be interesting. All of the participants had general knowledge of terrorism prior to the 9/11 attack, but made it clear that they didn’t think it would ever happen in the United States. I then asked if they were worried about terrorism. The shared response was no, that they felt relatively safe and secure in the United States. None of the participants worked in law enforcement, so their everyday jobs did not change at all after the terrorist attack. When asked what

I learned various forms, perspectives, and policies pertaining to terrorism in this course. Some of the statistics about counter-terrorism, the source of terrorists, and the background of terrorist were expected. I expected terrorist to come from unstable homes. I even expected terrorist groups to be led by the upper middle class because of education and resources availability. The most unexpected information I learned in this course was how terrorist groups end. The government, as part of the War on Terror, makes it seem like the military is the most important aspect of ending a terrorist group. Our nation spends billions of dollars on the multiple branches of the military. Various resources, funds, time and agencies are utilized in the pursuit of counter-terrorism. Finding out that local policing and change in politics are the two top ways terrorist groups end was shocking. This was shocking because every time a successful counter-terrorism attack

In the beginning of issue guide it summarizes the Terrorist attacks of September 11th. How it set off of a chain of events and questionable efforts to deal with what occurred that day. The article explains after the attacks on the world trade center, our nation lost comfort in thinking our state of security was actually secure, that we were vulnerable. The government gave false impression to citizens that to overcome what happened that day was to come together, to show the strength and our allegiance to the U.S. This wasn’t an approach to deal with the issue but a distraction to what was really going on.

Terrorism is an intentional act of causing uncertainty and fear through violence which is not only experienced by direct affectees but also sometime experienced and effects friends and family of survivors and victim and those who got exposed to it through media. Similarly in this study, it is measured operationally in terms of frequency data of those respondents who have experienced terrorism directly or first hand, second hand and do not have any direct experience.

Have you ever had a fear for your family, your town, your country, or your world. How about the fear to have everything taken from you, destroyed, and not caring if it has hurt you or not? What about your fear and pain is, and can be someone else’s happiness? The fear of you being terrorized? That is terrorism. Someone else bringing fear and terrorizing you. That is a terrorist’s goal. Terrorism is common and is very difficult to stop. The government promises protection for the people, and their home, but they can not give that protection if they can not stop terrorism. Terrorism needs to stop to protect the live of the people, and their country.

The government can implement many new methods to increase security, or better yet give off the image of better security which is what they have predominantly done, yet ultimately there will always be a way to bypass or come up with a new way to infiltrate that measure. The government so far has done a variety of things ranging from the closing of the Dulles airport (permanently), working with the FAA on new security measures, having pilots carry handguns, and a not so specific, profiling.

The immediacy and the primacy of any truly potent force is the ability to perpetuate itself. Sharp and energetic outbursts have their place, and can be known to have great effect-cataclysmic forces, despite their maximum destructive potential, are temporary in their total effects in relation to some absolute goal. In other words, they are generally limited in scope, and well defined in purpose; there is a tactical objective, which is usually consummated quickly. The more dreaded force creeps along, escalating incrementally, and while it may abide a strategic goal, or even a policy, it is generally open-ended. This sort of ambiguity I am referring to differs from the flexible tactical necessity in that strategic outcomes are very much