Anti-Terrorism as a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Anti Terrorism as a Self fulfilling Prophecy
The issue of war against terrorism has been a dominant theme in our media today. Terrorists have been stereotyped as Middle Eastern, Muslim, cold blooded and hard headed suicide bombers who are out to destroy all that standing in the western world. The gargantuan international effort on the War on Terrorism has created a psychological construct where Islamic fundamentalism and the Middle Eastern race are now considered as potential terrorists. There have been numerous circumstances where Muslims and Arabic costume and color precipitated discrimination and hate campaigns.
Movies and films of Rambo and Schwarzenegger portray terrorists as Islam fundamentalists triggering a host of discriminatory actions among the populace. Given the billions of dollars spent on the war against terrorism and the widespread and extensive media propaganda campaign, it should be logical to conclude that terrorism has been greatly diminished ten years after the September 11, 2001 tragedy. On the contrary, the War on Terrorism has become a self fulfilling prophecy where terrorist activity exponentially increased. To wit:
The Rand Corporation for the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT) reveals that there has been a 250 percent increase in terrorist activity from September 11, 2001 to September 2006 alone. If we divide post 9/11 into two phases until 2006, the first phase has 4772 fatalities from terrorist attacks and the second phase has 5177 fatalities (Conetta, 2006). Thus, all efforts to counter terrorism has only effected in their increase. The US war against Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Libya, North Korea and others in fact encourages ordinary citizens from these countries to launch attacks against the US comparable or even similar to terrorist’s acts. Instead of solving the roots of the problem such as creating an international atmosphere of peace and justice, anti terrorism campaigns have in fact sowed the
The issue of war against terrorism has been a dominant theme in our media today. Terrorists have been stereotyped as Middle Eastern, Muslim, cold blooded and hard headed suicide bombers who are out to destroy all that standing in the western world. The gargantuan international effort on the War on Terrorism has created a psychological construct where Islamic fundamentalism and the Middle Eastern race are now considered as potential terrorists. There have been numerous circumstances where Muslims and Arabic costume and color precipitated discrimination and hate campaigns.
Movies and films of Rambo and Schwarzenegger portray terrorists as Islam fundamentalists triggering a host of discriminatory actions among the populace. Given the billions of dollars spent on the war against terrorism and the widespread and extensive media propaganda campaign, it should be logical to conclude that terrorism has been greatly diminished ten years after the September 11, 2001 tragedy. On the contrary, the War on Terrorism has become a self fulfilling prophecy where terrorist activity exponentially increased. To wit:
The Rand Corporation for the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT) reveals that there has been a 250 percent increase in terrorist activity from September 11, 2001 to September 2006 alone. If we divide post 9/11 into two phases until 2006, the first phase has 4772 fatalities from terrorist attacks and the second phase has 5177 fatalities (Conetta, 2006). Thus, all efforts to counter terrorism has only effected in their increase. The US war against Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Libya, North Korea and others in fact encourages ordinary citizens from these countries to launch attacks against the US comparable or even similar to terrorist’s acts. Instead of solving the roots of the problem such as creating an international atmosphere of peace and justice, anti terrorism campaigns have in fact sowed the
Bibliography: Conetta, C. (2006, September 25). War & Consequences: Global terrorism has increased since 9/11 attacks . Retrieved July 24, 2011, from www.comw.org: http://www.comw.org/pda/0609bm38.html Zulaika, J. (2009). Terrorism: The Self fulfilling Prophecy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.