Muslims are terrorists. It is a fact, ask anyone. Just turn on the tv, read the newspaper, go outside. Do they like attention? What is the benefit of harming the innocent? Along with these quarries we also have to ask ourselves one; How much do we know about Islam, Muslims, and terrorism? Is it fair for us to label all Muslims or even just Muslims as the “terrorist”?
Growing up as a practicing Muslim in the twenty-first century. I can not believe what people say about my religion and its followers. Is it fair to label myself and fellow Muslims as things we are not. What have I done? Who have I harmed? Who have I killed? Who have I made fun of? Who have I oppressed? Whom do I force anything on? Nobody. It is I that has been harmed. It is I who lives in fear. It is I who takes the fault for things that I have no correlation with at all. Why can I not be Muslim? Why can I not get the same respect I give others? Yes, we are different,
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I guess it was not as obvious. It must have been due to his lack of an accent, or the modern close he wore, or even the fact that he doesn’t have a beard. Whereas I wore a hijab, but should that make me a direct target? If I get searched to ensure others safety then I am okay with that because I know very well you will not find anything planted on me. I fear for my safety too though. Will every person I feel is a threat to me get searched. No. Muslims are not terrorists. Terrorism comes in one shade and that shade is unknown. It is because anyone can become a terrorist at any moment. Anyone that causes direct terror on people can be considered a terrorist. However, the general term for a terrorist these days is Muslim. Simple. The first big terrorist attack on united states soil was 9/11. I was an infant in Atlanta, Georgia. Why will I have to live the rest of my life in fear? Fear of oppression, criticism, and hate. Fear of the unknown effect being Muslim will have on the rest of my
When we think of terrorist, we might think of radical Islamic individuals or groups who would take pride in killing anyone who is not Muslim. Even more, there are antagonistically people who want nothing more but to destroy the lives of innocence people because of their belief system. Take an individual like Theodore Kaczynski for instance; he was a former University of California at Berkeley math professor. Otherwise known as the “Unabomber,” he was indeed a terrorist because he used explosives that killed three people and wounded eighteen others in a span of almost two decades. Even more, his brother David Kaczynski was responsible for his capture.
On September 11, 2001 terrorists crashed two American airline airplanes into Twin Towers, killing thousands of people. It was the worst terrorist attack in American history and it showed us that we are not protected by Atlantic and Pacific. It showed us that we could be attacked by anyone at anytime. It showed us that if we will be attacked again that we can only depend on each other and not on other nations to help us. The 9/11 changed people forever, some lost family members or friends, others lost their jobs even so called “American Dream.”
In today’s society the word “terrorism” has gone global. We see this term on television, in magazines and even from other people speaking of it. In their essay “Controlling Irrational Fears After 9/11”, published in 2002, Clark R. Chapman and Alan W. Harris argue that the reaction of the American officials, people and the media after the attacks of 9/11 was completely irrational due to the simple fact of fear. Chapman and Harris jump right into dismembering the irrational argument, often experienced with relationships and our personal analysis. They express how this argument came about from the terrorist being able to succeed in “achieving one major goal, which was spreading fear” among the American people (Chapman & Harris, para.1). The supporters of the irrational reaction argument state that because “Americans unwittingly cooperated with the terrorist in achieving the major goal”, the result was a widespread of disrupted lives of the Americans and if this reaction had been more rational then there would have been “less disruption in the lives of our citizens” (Chapman & Harris, para. 1).
On September 11, 2001, since the terrorist attacks, many American Muslims have been stereotyped negatively in the United States. Salma, a Muslim woman, says that the way Muslims have been recognized in the media has played a big role in the antagonism directed at her. “I don’t know how many times I heard my classmates accuse me of being al-Qaeda or a terrorist” (Mayton 2013). Salma, along with other Muslims, even after a decade, are still struggling with trying to find their “American” and “Islamic” identities, while facing verbal attacks for their ethnicity. Too often, the general Muslim population gets lumped in with the immoral acts of a few because of the lack of knowledge about their culture.
“Many people who were detained on suspicion of their connection to al Qaeda or other anti-American terrorists groups were innocent.” (Belanger, Newton 2). The patriot act weakens the right from protection of unreasonable searches the searches may be racist based on the person’s image. The people who were suspects of terrorism were accused of wrong doing. They had their civil rights taken away and they turned out to be innocent. It is not fair for people getting accused because they look a certain way....
Over the past century, terrorism has advanced from random killings to enormous plans for terrorist groups. To understand terrorism, you must first define it. Terrorism as we all know it is hard to define and understand, and has many different definitions as it is used widely. The word "terrorism" stems from the word "terror", which means to instill fear in. People become terrorists when they take the actions towards instilling fear and terror upon people to prove a certain point or agenda.
Since 9/11, there have been several attacks considered as hate crimes towards Muslim-Americans and Sikh-Americans within their own community because of the conflation that exists between both cultures, to be mixed or confused together which is the source of the similarity that they both share in the religious image. Prabhjot Singh, an Assistant Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and a Resident in Internal Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital was violently attacked due to this conflation. Maria Alvarez, a writer for Newsday, states in article that, “The professor, whose lower jaw had to be wired, said he heard his attackers yell ‘Get him!’ and ‘Osama.’” (www.newsday.com). This makes him pariahs because they are attacked due to their image for being religious.But Singh only responded to his community and attackers by expressing his concern of the religious image that is targeted...
In America, there is a hatred lurking around in almost every corner of the nation; a discrimination and social bias that preys on the lives of innocent Muslims. Some people fear for their lives when they see a Muslim board a plane that they’re going to go on. Politicians are using that fear to fuel their popularity in elections. This prejudice even started to become a form of patriotism in the eyes of a concerning number of Americans. A lot of Muslims fear for their own lives in America because they are being looked down upon and even targeted by some people. This fear and hatred against these innocent Muslims are defined as Islamophobia. I believe that this amount of Islamophobia that is happening in America
The Jihad is probably one of the most misunderstood and feared terms in modern day America. Ever since the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City on September 11th, 2001, the Muslim religious duty of Jihad has had only negative connotations. Of course, seeing two trademark buildings collapsed and mangled on the groundwith thousands dead all in the name of religion would have anyone jump to a negative conclusion. But what most people don’t understand is that the meaning of the term “Jihad” is one greatly left up to interpretation. Each sect of the Islamic religion has a different take on this religion duty and the expectation that go along with it. Therefore, the idea of Jihad that America has learned to fear might not be the true meaning, concept, and intention of the word at all.
Terrorism is used around the world to create fear and influence the public on political views (Siegel, 489). There are four views of terrorism including the psychological view, socialization view, ideological view, and the alienation view. A religious terrorist would most likely fit under the ideological view. In this view the terrorist feels the need to change a wrong opinion and believes that, because they are sacrificing themselves for something they believe so strongly in, it justifies the damage and harm done to innocent people (Siegel, 490). They use terror to create fear in anyone who opposes them and attract followers to their religion. In short, terrorism is widely used for political reasons but religion has been linked to the violence as well.
Being that the rate suicide terrorism has amplified globally and has taken many lives in the process it can be seen why this issue may be of significance. Furthermore this issue is of relevance because this method of resistance kills more than any other tactic (Ashworth, Clinton, Meirowitz, and Ramsay, 1). Therefore it can be seen as to why this issue is of such important. Many have speculated as to what exactly motivates such behavior. Robert Pape defines suicide terrorist as one who is willing to sacrifice his life as well as the lives of others in hopes to coerce his opponents. Experts , including Pape, have wondered what causes an individual to take such drastic measures. Others have also proposed possible solutions to this issue. It will be seen as to what those solutions are and the possible issues that these solutions may be comprised of.
These acts we 're committed by similar perpetrators, inflicted a similar Number of deaths, and had extensive National News coverage. While both act were similar the motivations to commit the acts of terrorism were different. The Charleston Church shooting was committed by an American white supremacist in an attempt to effect change in the form of a race war. The Boston Marathon bombing was committed an American citizen and an American resident, in an attempt to stop the accidental killings of Muslim civilians in many parts of the world, by changing US policy. Following the Charleston Church shooting the reactions of the government agencies and the people, are seemingly rational and what could reasonably be expected after such an act of terrorism. However following the Boston Marathon bombing the actions of government agencies and the people appear, in almost every way, to be much more severe particularly in the apprehension of the suspects. As motivation is the only major difference between these two acts of terrorism, it is reasonable to come to the conclusion that in the United States, acts of religious terrorism are met with much more extreme action then secular
Osama Bin Laden was on the FBI’s most wanted list for 10 years. He was responsible for the deaths of thousands of American soldiers and American citizens, as well as the 9/11 terrorist attack. The American Special Forces have been trying to track him down for a long time and have not succeeded, until May 1st, 2011. The mission that killed Bin Laden was called “Operation Neptune Spear” and that mission changed American history forever.
The concept of terrorism is exceedingly difficult to define. Author Gerald Seymour first said in his book Harry’s Game that, “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter”. Each individual may view terrorism in a different light. Because of this, there is currently no universal definition of terrorism. However in recent years, it has become increasingly more important to form a definition of terrorism, especially while working in the media.
Post September 11, 2001 the life of a Muslim women living in America changed forever. Islamophobia is the prejudice against Islam or Muslims. Islamophobia is not a new concept, it has roots hundreds of years ago, however after 9/11 it became much more prevalent in America. Following 9/11 Western media used Islam and Muslim women who covered to inflict fear in American citizens. Western media framed Islam as a dangerous and hateful religion that needed to be stopped. At the same time the media became obsessed with Muslim women who veiled and wanted to save these women from their oppression. However, these articles written about the oppressed Muslim women did not feature Muslim women and their experiences veiling. They were not given a voice