Terrorism and Homeland Security - Essay Example

?Running Head: Terrorism Terrorism [Institute’s Terrorism Terrorism is a disaster created by man, which victimizes civilians inthe hope of fulfilling some religious or political motive. It is designed to catch the attention of those affected and those who witness the event, and to send a message about how important and urgent the terrorists consider their motive. People employed the use of this term widely until a few decades ago, using it to refer to terrorists with political, social, religious, or any other agendas, who would cause harm to people and property in order to make their voices heard. However, it has recently come to refer mostly to religious terrorists, who try to make their religious agendas heard by causing destruction and harm (Weinberg, 2006). Instances of such terrorism have been troubling several countries for the past decade, thus leaving several people who are either victims or people who are involved in damage control or contingency control for such incidents. For all such people, this indicates a major need to understand this fabricated disaster better, in order to be able to recover mentally from the trauma as well as to help prevent its reoccurrence. For these reasons, one should consider the in depth analysis of this disaster, encompassing its causes as well as its effects and implications. The threat of terrorism has been plaguing the safety and health of several countries ever since a few major terrorist incidents occurred. These incidents have not only caused a large amount of damage and loss to the people and areas in which they occurred. They have, in fact caused a two-fold effect, which included not only this damage, but also an altered mentality of all people affected as well as those in danger. This new mentality was one of panic, paranoia, and angst. This new mentality has had several implications for the people, affecting several aspects of their lives, such as the security in their home lives, the security at their workplaces, and government strategies and policies (Wessely, 2005). This has altered some lifestyles so majorly that the people have come to accept this presence of terrorism and the difficulty it brings as a part of their new altered lifestyles. Such is the case in affected countries, ranging from developed countries like the US to developing countries. An in-depth exploration of these changes, strategies, and lifestyles will help one better understand the true implications of this fabricated disaster. Additionally, it will provide information which may prove helpful to various parties, such a parties involved in damage control, terrorism prevention as well as those individuals who want to understand this disaster so that they are better equipped to protect themselves from it. For all these users, it is first essential to understand the different aspects, which a major terrorist incident can affect in a country. The incident of 9/11 occurred in the US in 2000, and brought with it several implications for the US citizens, which will continue to last for decades to come. The same citizens, who once prided their country for it symbolization of freedom and diversity, now live in fear of more brutal attacks (Wessely, 2005), and are paranoid when it comes to people from other religions. The largest observable changes to their lifestyles are visible in two main aspects: the heightened security measures and the altered priorities and strategies of the US government. As research shows, the government has been diverting a large proportion of its budget to its anti-terrorist strategies, or as some, they have termed it, the 'war on terror' (Pavlovic, 2009). A developed country, they could afford to increase their expenditure on this item without causing a deficit in any other aspects of their budget. Thus, the major implication of this step by the government is a positive one for the citizens of the US, who sees their government striving to tackle the plague of terrorism, which has been threatening their safety for several years now. In addition, after the thousands of lives that were lost in the 9/11 incident, the gravity of the situation has greatly increased for the citizens of the US, who are willing to take as many precautions as possible to prevent any such incidences from reoccurring. These precautions include the greatly heightened security precautions that are now being practiced all over the United States. One of the greatest areas in which precaution has increased is the security in air travel. Since the incident of 9/11 included the hijacking of an airplane, this has greatly increased the amount of precaution, which the US as well as other countries takes at airports and even during the air travel. They are especially cautious of devices, which could be used to trigger bombs during the air travel, such as remote controls, cell phones and other electronic devices (Nelles, 2003). Other than this, their suspicion of Muslim passengers on airplanes has also increased. However, these major changes only cover a fraction of the heightened security measures, which followed the incident of 9/11. There were also several social implications resulting from this terrorist incident. People often refer to the US as the cultural melting pot, because people from all over the world come to this country to avail the opportunities and lifestyle it has to offer. This has resulted in a significant proportion of the US population consisting of people belonging to the vast ethnicities and religions of the world. Now, however, there is a considerable amount of racial profiling amongst these people, which was not this prominent before. The same ‘melting pot’ has become particularly wary of Muslim citizens amongst its population, and has grown increasingly distrusting of the Visa applications received from countries (Nelles, 2003). This change in their previously welcoming nature is understandable, considering the massive damage and loss caused by the terrorists. Nevertheless, it is distressing to see how completely such an incident can alter the mentality of a perfectly diversity-tolerant society. This is a change, with which it is very relevant for victims of terrorist activities to be familiar. Those people present in the vicinity in which such disasters take place, as well as those who incur some direct or indirect loss from such incidents are all victims of terrorism. They experience the aftermath of such happenings firsthand, especially in terms of mental trauma, need for heightened security, and the above-mentioned change in mentality regarding certain minorities and strangers. These changes are a significant aspect of terrorism for all those who hope to understand the complete implications of this fabricated disaster. Similar fabricated disasters, such as war, are well known for the deep psychological trauma that they cause to individuals who happen to witness wartime incidents, especially the soldiers. A similar case is with the victims of terrorism, who often report to being haunted repeatedly by the events they may have witnessed years ago. This sometimes develops into post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can lead to major impairment for the individual (Combs, 2010). However, an important fact to note is that not every person who is exposed to such a traumatic incident goes on to suffer from PTSD, or even a milder form of psychological trauma. In fact, there are some important factors in the lives of some individuals, which protect them from psychological harm, even after they have faced a life-threatening incident. Such factors include having a strong social support group such as close family or friends, a strong religious belief or some other kind of ideological commitment. According to research (Durmaz, 2007), people with such factors present in their lives do not fall prey to the immense psychological damage, which traumatic incidents such as terrorist activity can have on people. This is a very important factor to note for people, who seek to protect themselves from the terrorist activity and its many negative implications. This research applies to many psychological problems other than PTSD, such as depression and hypertension. If one wants to protect them from the psychological damage that terrorism can cause, it is advisable for them to establish a strong social support system or to strengthen their religious beliefs. Research shows that these factors will help shield the individual from the psychological harm that could otherwise impair them. It is thus important for both, people seeking to protect themselves from terrorism as well as people involved in damage control for such incidents, to be aware of this psychologically protective factor. Another way of mentally preparing oneself to cope with any psychological stress or trauma that terrorist activities may cause is to understand the cause of these activities. This is because an experience is often traumatic to an individual who cannot mentally process the experience as something normal or within the bounds of rationality. People become mentally disturbed by the murders they witness during wars, because such killing on a mass scale is not a sight that they are used to, and is not an action, which they can place within the bounds of morality or rationality (Nelles, 2003). Thus, it is psychologically harmful for them to find that such actions still exist in reality, despite their having no place in the rational or moral side of human existence. These events would affect them less if they were able to understand the true causes, which drive people to kill so many others during war. It would also help if they were able to accept such actions as a part of human nature enough to be able to accept their occurrences as a part of reality. In the same way, it would be easier to prevent any negative psychological effects following a terrorist attack, if the witnesses had a better grasp of why the terrorists are committing the specific activities (Durmaz, 2007). Experts (June, 2010) have suggested different theories as to why these terrorists commit the terrorist activities. While all of these experts agree that these terrorists have the motive of highlighting their religious or other agendas to the public, they present different mental procedures or processes, which led the terrorists to consider such dangerous and harmful methods of perusing their goals. Many experts suggest that this violent terrorist mentality belongs to the nurture side of the nature-nurture debate. When studying the recruitment and training process which goes on in one of the most infamous terrorist organizations ‘Al-Qaida’, it is easy to understand the origins of this theory (June, 2010). This organization bases its recruitment on very young, who are still within their teens or even younger. This is because at this age, these young children are psychologically vulnerable to influence. Their minds can be more easily made used to violent and inhumane thinking and actions. Apart from this, they are often too young at this age to understand the true implications of acts like murder or suicide bombing. After feeding them enough motivational speeches, the leaders of this organization are able to motivate such youngsters and make them believe that they should obey everything these leaders command them to do. In addition, the religion is often wrongly interpreted to these young individuals to make it seem like God Himself has ordered them to perform violent acts that will harm others in order to convey a religious message, and that He will reward them for such actions in the afterlife (White, 2011). Such persuasion leads to these individuals developing a strong but hollow belief in the aims and objectives of Al-Qaida, and they are determined to assist the organization in achieving its objectives by any means necessary, even if it requires them to sacrifice their own lives. In addition, these organizations try to end the emotional ties that these children have with their parents or friends, so that they do not feel the need to seek their opinion or support. Instead, these children consider only the word of these leaders, and think of nothing beyond what their brainwashing has taught them. By this recruiting and training method, they are able to add perfect soldiers to their teams, who are completely motivated and committed to one purpose, and fearless about their own lives (White, 2011). Thus, they are able to make them commit murder and other sorts of violent acts. This makes it easier to understand why these young men commit such merciless acts of violence and terrorism even when they are fully aware of the damage and loss that their actions will cause. Thus, someone witnesses the terrorist activities of such people will be less likely to be mentally disturbed by the inhumane actions, because they will understand that such actions are a product of brainwashing young, impressionable minds (Downing, 2007). Finally, it is important to understand one of the major changes that terrorism brought with it, which are the changes in the strategies of the governments belonging to several different countries around the world. They have responded to the vicious terrorist activities and threats in the most urgent and effective manners possible for them, because security is a worldwide priority. One way they have done this is by giving financial assistance to countries, which are usually known for producing and harboring terrorists (Downing, 2007). This has been a well-planned strategy. This affected the people in these countries, who previously turned to terrorist activities because they could not afford to get a proper education and seek a lucrative and fruitful employment. Since their countries received aid to help make the lives of such individuals better, they were less likely to fall into such terrorism-related activities, thus greatly helping to curb the rate of terrorist threats prevailing in these countries. Another such strategy was to increase the controls administered at their immigration departments. Once these countries were more aware of the people who were entering their country, whether for migration or for visits, they were better able to stop any dangerous people from entering the country undetected. This was also a very helpful strategy, as it greatly screened out the immigrants for those who could be potentially harmful to the country. The negative side to this strategy was that this increased the hostility, racial profiling, and the suspicion involved in the immigration processes of these countries increased greatly, leading to a backwards effect on the cultural diversity that it took many years to accomplish, and led to further discrimination. There were also several other strategies which these governments employed to protect their citizens from terrorism, all of which represent how greatly the world has changed due to all these incidents. As is apparent, terrorism is a fabricate disaster which causes major destruction, trauma and change in the world, following every terrorist incident that occurs. It causes damage in terms of property, lives, as well as psychological health. Thus, the world has developed several defense mechanisms to protect the people from the negative effects of such events. These strategies include practices, which people have implemented on a personal level, as well as those strategies that governments have employed on regional and national levels. However, it is important for every individual to remember that every such strategy has some negative effect or implication for the diversity tolerance, which the world was headed towards. Thus, it is important to evaluate any such strategy thoroughly for both the positive and negative effects that it may cause, before implementing it. This will ensure that the world stays safe from terrorism without undoing its progress in the process. References Bowen, N. (2008). Terrorism and homeland security: thinking strategically about policy. CRC Press/Taylor & Francis Group. Combs, C. C. (2010). Terrorism in the Twenty-First Century. Prentice Hall. Downing, D. (2007). The Debate about Terrorist Tactics. The Rosen Publishing Group. Durmaz, H. (2007). Understanding and responding to terrorism. IOS Press. June, D. L. (2010). Terrorism and Homeland Security: Perspectives, Thoughts, and Opinions. Taylor and Francis. Nelles, W. C. (2003). Comparative education, terrorism, and human security: from critical pedagogy to peace building? Palgrave Macmillan. Pavlovic, Z. (2009). Terrorism and Security. Infobase Publishing. Weinberg, L., Eubank, W. L. (2006). What Is Terrorism? Infobase Publishing. Wessely, S. and Krasnov, V. (2005). Psychological responses to the new terrorism: a NATO-Russia dialogue. IOS Press. White, J. R. (2011). Terrorism and Homeland Security. Cengage Learning. Read More