Terrorized

7 Pages 1739 Words

Terrorism

With all the recent very publicized and ferocious acts of terrorism in the world lately, it has had a profound impact on those of us who were detached from its ugly face. The recent events have changed the way we look at terrorism forever and in fact have shifted the codes and conventions of terrorism as a whole. The sense of victory terrorist organizations have experienced at our expense has fueled their sense of power and strengthened their forces abroad and within our own borders. Dealing with this new and powerful enemy is perhaps the biggest challenge our governments have ever faced.
Terrorism has become a part of modern life. Highjackings, bombings, and assassinations throughout the world may seem like isolated attacks, but they reflect an easy reliance on violence as a way to promote social, political, and religious change. They are elements of a pervasive end followed to its most perverse conclusions. International terrorism has become the scourge of all democratic governments. These democratic governments which are accustomed to dealing within a legal structure, often find it difficult to deal with criminals and terrorists that routinely operate outside of the law. However, deterrence is just as much a part of justice as proper enforcement of the laws. Any governments that do not deter criminals inevitably spawn vigilantism as normally law-abiding citizens who have lost confidence in the criminal justice system and take the law into their own hands.
A similar backlash is beginning to emerge as a result of the inability of western democracies to defend themselves against terrorists. Terrorists thrive on media exposure. Most of you have seen weeks of coverage about the most recent terrorist acts on the USA. News organizations, not only in the U.S. but all around the world have been too willing to give terrorists what they crave, publicity. On the other hand, the people of the world have a right to know what is...