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Will Terrorism Ever End?
Terrorism is a serious worldwide issue that is concerning many United States citizens. After the tragic day of September 11, 2001, people started to truly consider what the future would be like. Will there ever be a world world without terrorism? This question is worth investigating for both the safety and peace of our personal lives and nation. Many people have conflicting opinions as to whether or not terrorism will continue to occur. Although upsetting to hear, I believe that there will never be an end to terrorism for many specific reasons. To start off, it is crucial for when you are declaring an opinion on something, to look into the past, the present, and the future to aid you in gathering information. If you look back, terrorism has been present since long ago, and is still developing now with no signs of stopping. Additionally, when you consider terrorism, how do you ever control what other's believe? Finally, technology is always changing and becoming more advanced as years pass. With these gains, it will become easier and easier for terrorists to formulate and carry out these horrible acts of terror.
Believe it or not, terrorism has been happening long before you, your parents, your grandparents, or even your great grandparents were ever born. You may have only heard of a couple domestic terrorist attacks, but there are numerous throughout the world, and it started long ago. In "How al-Qaeda Began" by Toni Lee Robinson, ancient Greeks wrote about an early form of terrorism when their Roman Emperor Caligula used fear to force people to follow his rule. The word terrorism was initially created during 1793-94 in France, when new rulers used terrorism so people would accept their rule. Ever since then, 'terrorism' has been happening and is now a serious issue across the globe. Many horrific events have occurred up until 2013, significantly including the 9/11/01 al-Qaeda terrorist attacks. According to "Document B", part of al-Qaeda's Region of Terror Timeline, nearly 3,000 people were killed when four hijacked planes crashed into the twin towers in New York City, the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and a field in Pennsylvania (this plane was aimed towards the United States Capitol). Even after this terrible day full of cacophony, after the United States bombed the al-Qaeda base in Afghanistan, the terrorism continued, and it still is going on at this moment. Some other terrorism events included on the Region of Terror timeline, is a car bomb killing 182 people in 2002, a bomb at the US embassy killing 17 and injuring 100 people in 2003, in 2004, train bombs killing 200 people and injuring 2,000 in Spain, 88 deaths in Egypt because of bomb attacks at an Egyptian resort in 2005, and 74 people killed during twin blasts in Egypt at the Kampala rugby club/Ethiopian resort in 2010, just to name a few examples. It is sad to think terrorism has been around for an extremely extended period of time. We have tried for a while to stop and prevent terrorism, but it is not an easy task. Exploring through the past makes me even more inclined to regrettably report to you there will always be terrorism in our world.
Even though you sometimes may disagree with others' opinions, you can not control what other people around you believe in. If a terrorist believes there is something politically wrong with the world or your country, you can try to persuade them to change their mind, but they most likely will not. You can not simply change a terrorists' opinion. People have different thoughts on things, and they think that way because of what they are used to in their country. If it is what you grew up with, you don't know any better. If there are two people left in the world, they both might disagree on something and will not change their mind. In the article "What is Terrorism?" by Jennifer Kenny she writes, "It is intended to create massive fear and involves a planned attack for a purpose, often against something or someone." This shows that terrorists have such a strong disagreement with something, they put others in a fearful position. In reference to "Motivations and Methods of Modern Religious Terrorists", terrorists could think they have no other options, think the world has gone wrong, have cosmic war against the enemy, or disagree with what someone symbolizes. Also, these people have these beliefs embedded extremely hard into their hearts, minds and souls. Terrorists' beliefs may seem silly to you, but they feel strongly by them. There is always going to be that one person that disagrees, and you can not prevent that from happening. Even if they do not express their opinion aloud, it will still be there. Myself and other students can relate to this in the classroom. There is always that one misbehaved kid in class that does something negative, and ends up getting the whole class in trouble. The uncooperative student plays the role here as the "terrorist". He has his own opinion, and does something bad to show it. He ends up getting the rest of the innocent class in trouble, relating to how a terrorist hurts innocent Americans. Although this is an extremely light comparison, it represents that within a group there is always conflict between members.
Every day, technology advances, creating an abundance of improvements in our lives. This, as you may realize, can help us track down terrorists plotting events that are designed to hurt innocent people. However, it is vital to remember that it then becomes substantially easier for terrorists to attack others, including us. There are currently countless ways to interact and communicate with others via media. There is text, email, Facebook, Face Time, online chat rooms, Instagram, Twitter, email, Snap chat, Vine and Oovoo just to name a few. The scary thing is, technology is only going to improve and gain leverage. In twenty years from now we probably won't even have home phones, CD's, or DVD's. It's incredible what is ahead in the near future. Look how far we have come since merely fifty years ago! We can do so much more today, and it is a frightening thought to think about what terrorists will be able to do with it. At this moment, someone could be plotting a terrorist attack on the United States without us knowing. Surely in our future, there will be more strategies of secretly reaching out to others anonymously.
Truthfully, I would love to see a dramatic end to terrorism. However, this theory does not seem realistic to me for many reasons. If you look into the past it is already there, you can not control what others believe, and technology is always advancing. Seeing this combination of evidence makes me conclude there will never be a world without terrorism.
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I was inspired to research this topic and write about it after doing a terrorism unit in school. This thought-provoking topic really made me think about the world we live in, and how I can help cultivate a better world.