Terrorism

Freedom is the right of individuals to act as they choose. Our freedom is taken away from us though when terrorism strikes. Terrorism implants fear in to the minds of all and disrupts our everyday actions. On September 11, 2001 a tragedy occurred in New York City, at the World Trade Center. Two hijacked airplanes were flown straight into the twin towers killing over 6,000 people and injuring the minds of all Americans. This violent act of terrorism was masterminded by the Al-Qaida leader Usama Bin Laden. After the attacks, various freedoms were taken from us. For example, the freedom of flying in an airplane without fearing it being hijacked, opening a letter in the mail without the fear of it having anthrax in it, and the simple freedom of taking a tour through the White house because it was temporarily shut down to tourists after the attacks. If we cannot put a stop to terrorism then the lives that we lead will be stricken with the fear of not knowing if we are safe to fly in a plane or take a ride in a bus. America is now in a war against terrorism and we are going to fight until the end so we can insure the safety of all Americans and so we can put a stop to this undying threat of terrorism that has been a problem facing the United

With terrorism being so secretive and having no forewarning, it has been

Terrorists commit acts at specific places and in certain ways to gain large publicity. When a terrorist has publicity as his main goal, he is known as a "modern" terrorist; this type of terrorism has been around for a long time, but not until around 1968 was it widely known (Sobel 38). As new media technologies have been invented, terrorist groups have been able to publicize their views to a bigger audience than they had ever imagined possible. Terrorists stage an event that will gain news coverage and then try to get their views publicized by threatening drastic actions. This strategy of terrorism is causing the media to produce many serious problems. One problem with the media's coverage of terrorism is that it can instigate future acts of terrorism. This is called the "contagion hypothesis" (Terrorism 2). This is caused mostly because the actual acts of terrorism usually receive more media attention than the punishments. People only see the successes of terrorism, not the consequences. If more attention was put on the punishments, it could prevent similar acts of terrorism by showing the consequences. In a study of newspapers in the United States and Europe, it was found "that stories focusing on the punishment of terrorists receive less then 5 percent as many column inches of space as stories pertaining to the actual crimes with which the terrorists are charged.” Also, the incidents were on the front page, while the charges were near the back (Terrorism 3). This factor can be seen in hijackings. They usually occur in "clusters"; the terrorists see the success of other terrorists and then gain enough courage to perform similar attacks (Sobel 40). Besides contributing to the expansion of terrorist activities, the media may also cause the acts to be bigger. This is called the "immunization effect." It can be seen in Robert G. Bell's study on skyjackings. He found that a "saturation of media coverage led to public apathy robbing the terrorist act of its publicity effect" (Nicholls 119). This is where the public begins to accept terrorism because the media show it to them all of the time. The public get used to seeing the same thing so they don’t make a big deal about it so then terrorists have to attempt bigger acts in order to gain attention. Also, more people get involved in terrorism because it is more publicly accepted than before. Another problem that constant media coverage can cause is the "climate of intimidation." This is where the media's coverage of terrorism causes the public to fear an attack (Nicholls 119). This happens when the media make terrorists seem stronger than they really are. They do this by treating the terrorist like he is someone of great importance. When the public fear an attack near them, they want the government to step in and quickly solve the problem. This can cause ineffective laws to be passed. (Terrorism 3) This happened after the bombing in Oklahoma City. The public was afraid of another attack and wanted the government to quickly find a solution. This caused President Clinton to urge Congress to pass new laws, most of which were not even effective. They passed the Terrorism Prevention Act. The bill did nothing but take away rights of normal citizens and stiffen the punishments of the offenders; the bill would not have prevented the bombing in Oklahoma City from occurring (Sobel 42) In a way the media causes more problems than just plain terrorism does.

Another active terrorist group that is a threat to the United States is a group called Aum Supreme Truth. They are a threat to the U.S. because of their shocking use of germ warfare and their intent to take over the world. Shoko Asahara established this cult in 1987 and the Aum aimed to take over Japan, then the world (Nicholls 84). Approved as a religious entity in 1989 under Japanese law, the group ran candidates in a Japanese parliament