Terrorism is a very big part of today’s average life and is only becoming an even bigger factor. Never has this been more apparent than after the recent terrorist attacks on Paris and San Bernardino. Now, almost daily we are presented some type of terrorist act that takes the life of many people. In response, many people talk about avenging those who died. However few actually do respond to the terrorists with more than words. I believe that this can be traced to a theory called “Diffusion of Responsibility” and the way to overcome this has already been shown to us, but we just haven’t noticed it. If we plan to overcome the many terrorist groups that take so many lives a year, we have to become aware of all the concepts in this text and use them to our advantage. These concepts include personal responsibility, not doubting your ability as an individual, and finding the correct combination of impulsiveness, logical reasoning and gut feelings.
I want to start be explaining what diffusion of responsibility means. According to Oxford Dictionaries, the definition of diffusion is “the spreading of something more widely” and one of the definitions of responsibility is “The state or fact of being accountable or to blame for something.” So how does the spreading of accountability have anything to do with the average person’s response to terrorism? The answer to this question is shown in the many intriguing results of the experiments of John Darley and Bibb Latane as well as other
1.) Asa Don Brown, the author of “Desensitization of Terrorism,” focuses on how the influence of the media and social media have desensitized us when it comes to terrorist attacks. Brown directs the article toward an audience who questions why they are no longer as surprised by terrorist attacks when they occur as they used to be. This seems like an extremely odd feeling to have when several people are killed and hundreds are hurt, however, it is the strange reality these days. Terrorist attacks have been happening for years and years now and while we would love to just stop them from occurring, this is blatantly impossible to achieve. He emphasizes in the article, the idea that when terrorist attacks and the terrorists themselves are
In the 12 years since the terrorist attacks on the world trade towers in New York city, thousands of hours of research and interviews has been conducted, scores of books have been written, and countless documentaries and films have been produced in an effort to help us understand how and why terrorists were able to carry out the massacre of nearly 3500 people. Despite the plethora of religious and nonreligious beliefs represented by the friends and family of those who died, one universal belief binds them all: the belief that an unspeakable act of cruelty has changed our nation and our people for all time. The name ascribed to this act of terrorism is debated widely. Some call it evil. Others call it nothing more than supreme cruelty.
Domestic terrorism has played a major part in shaping the societies of the United States. The ideologies of individuals can become radicalized. This can lead to a movement. This movement involves the infliction of fear upon the communities, in attempt to make it a better world. It is critical to examine the events created by one man’s extreme ideologies in effort to better understand.
Many Americans do not understand the implication and role of terrorism in the modern world. Terrorism is not a something that can be measured or held in hand. It is a theoretical idea that has many different meanings to many different people (Aziz, 2014). U.S. Citizens in general need to understand the full effect of modern terrorism. Blinded by media coverage and dramatized by slow-motion video replay of terrorist attacks,
In the aftermath of the worst terrorist attacks in American history, the September attacks of the world Trade Center in 2001, Americans are obligated to look at the mistakes that were made before and after the attacks, especially in recent lite of increased acts of terror globally. A critical mistake made before the attacks was the neglection of terrorism as a top priority in President George W. Bush’s administration. And after the attacks, inaction would also have been viewed negatively by the public, and so the government acted swiftly in retaliation to the attacks, resulting in the death of many brave American soldiers and a huge cost to the American taxpayer.
Much has been made of terrorism and political crime lately. Since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center buildings and the Pentagon most have asked questions such as: How could this happen? Why would someone do this to so many innocent people? And possibly even more importantly, how do we prevent this from happening again? The attacks on that tragic day weren’t the first in our country though they were the most devastating to date. They were devastating in accordance with casualties and also emotionally for the whole country. One could only hope they would be the last, though this has not been the case. Before one can begin to analyze how the United States should combat such a horrific form of warfare and political change, one must first start to understand a few key elements. One must begin to understand what terrorism is, where it came from, and why terrorism exists.
As a society, our government has tried to minimize domestic terrorism attacks and the impact that it causes should it occur, such as taking steps to acquire due diligence. Prior to the recent years, society lacked the preparedness programs and security plans, that could have prevented these ongoing attacks. Moreover, although we cannot put these attacks to a halt, we can surely put a plan into action that can prevent the widespread of these attacks. Nevertheless, these terrorists are becoming bolder ad bolder as the times go by, it seems as if the message of the government not allowing them to continue their rampage/destruction on the masses has not stuck. Prior to the recent years, we have seen high-profile attacks on major cities across the globe that has kept all individuals on their toes. Terrorist individuals/groups are no longer hitting specific groups of individuals or symbolic sites, but are more so hitting and putting cities and countries under siege, with the help of recruits they have acquired from poor and marginal neighborhoods all over, this type of recruitment is called
Although the victims related to terrorism on American soil is only 3360 including 911, is considered negligible comparable to the victims of gun violence for instance, which is 406,469 (2001-2013) . However, they refuse to abandon the second amendment related to gun possession. Conversely, despite the “low number” of victims, the amount of fear generated by terrorism is what driving the populace to change. Significant that, the threat for the safety and the security of a nation does not come from the immeasurable loses caused by that threat, rather by the amount of change that threat impose on the values and principles of the nation. Accordingly, the implications of the war on terror drove US to challenge its own values and change its approach to its principles. To point out, I will explain how terrorism has challenged American approach to its
Living the United State when one thinks of a terrorist attacks often their mind will first go to a larger scale attack such as the events of September 11th 2001. “September 11, 2001 changed the United States forever, the terrorist attack that day marked a dramatic escalation in a trend toward more destructive terrorist attacks which began in the 1980s. It also reflected a trend toward more indiscriminate targeting among international terrorists. The vast majority of the more than 3,000 victims of the attack were civilians. In addition, the attack represented the first known case of suicide attacks carried out by international terrorists in the United States.” (Waston, 2002) However as the years have gone by we have come to learn that terrorist attacks are not always on a large scale and that even one person who is inspired by the ideologies of a terrorist group without being directly connected to them can carry out attacks. Those that engage in this type of terrorism are referred to as lone wolf terrorist. A recent example of such an even was the mass shooting at the San Bernardino Inland Regional Center in December of 2015.
Terrorism is one international political issue that has been significant in US society since the end of the Cold War. Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, America’s sense of security has been destroyed and continued terrorist attacks in other parts of the world targeting Americans, as well as other allied nations further fuels a sense of anxiety. From Bin Laden, to Saddam Hussein and ISIS the fear of further terrorism attacks is
Lone wolf-terrorism is perhaps one of the most widely misunderstood and opaque phenomenon currently threatening United States national security. In December 2015 during a White House press conference, President Obama expressed the difficulty preventing the self-radicalization of lone-wolf terrorists and indicated the emerging threat of lone-wolf terrorism to domestic security. The specific threat of lone-wolf terrorism is not necessarily an uncommon event as current trends suggest an increasing threat. With the rise of lone-wolf terrorism, it is important to realize that the fatalities and injuries are relatively similar. In fact, sociologist Ramon Spaaij contends that while lone-wolf terrorism may be on the rise, the perpetrators are not becoming more violent or more effective. Instead, Spaaij argues that the extent to which an individual would commit an act of terror is significantly mitigated due to the difficulty to translate theory into action; the need to overcome confrontation; and the psychological difficulty to rationalize the fear and stress for the individual as they lack a support
The event of September 11, 2001 has left Americans afraid and the government on edge when it comes to our national security. Many individuals are wondering how individuals could use themselves as human bombs or would want to sacrifice themselves to kill thousands that they have never met or talked with (Post, Ali, Henderson, Shanfield, Victoroff & Weine, 2009). Since 9/11 happened, there has been an emotional change in the American public, which results in long term effects of mental illness. While dealing with the reaction of the American public, the government had to also think about the security of our citizens that has led to individuals being labeled as terrorist or being watched for terrorist activities. Therefore, this essay will show reasons why the United Sates should not negotiate with terrorist. By discussing how freezing the funds of terrorist, understanding the use of laws and security, and by noticing the emotional effects that terrorist and terrorist activities has caused the American public.
As we all know, our vision and our hearts were imprinted by the heinous acts of violence on 9/11. The USA was assaulted by terrorist, and these acts of violence’s have continued ever since. It is like cancer, once you think you have parts of it under control it rears its ugly head and sprouts up somewhere else. The USA and other Nations like England fight against terrorism is always an overriding priority for the Department of Justice. They spend every waking hour, devoting all their resources to weaken, try to eliminate, and weaken their infrastructure, but just like a mythological creature, we cut off their heads and another one just grows back. The main issue that cause the terrorists attack was “our failure to talk about the possibility of such an event before it occurred, and it was identified by many professionals as creating a climate which made us more vulnerable” (“Schools & Terrorism”, n.d.). The next thing on our list is trying to develop a strategy to combat this, and in my conclusion I am going to explain why this is an impossible idea, based on my train of thought.
Terrorism, also all-too-familiar for millennials, festered and opened up again in way most Americans had not anticipated. Seeing the devastation and quick responses of these attacks led me to analyze American responses to this tragedy.
Societies will always have problems that cause some sort of reaction from individuals who believe that their social stability is being endangered. There have been a number of moral panics which have captivated society in terror and more often than not, owing to unfamiliarity. This essay will discuss the perception of a moral panic and will look at the case of the September 11th Terrorist attack against the United States of America, which triggered a colossal conflict of morality within modern day society. This essay will also analyse terrorism as a perceived deviance, the role of the moral entrepreneur and folk devil, in order to develop a level of understanding to the causes of this particular moral panic and its effects on society.