Examples of Self Fufilling Prophecy in Today's Media - Research Paper Example

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 seeds of war, injustice, and fan the fires of terrorism worldwide. Thus it has become a self fulfilling prophecy. The real proof that the anti terrorism campaign has become a self fulfilling prophecy is when we find ordinary citizens who are not in any way connected to terrorist groups performing terrorist acts. The recent bombing and massacre in an island in Norway killing 92 people did acts similar to the modus operandi of terrorists (bombing and shooting like in Mumbai) but acted alone.

The Oklahoma bombing was done by a US soldier but imitated the acts of those who he fought during the Gulf War. The psychological construct created by suicide bombing and rampant shooting has in fact created an image where deluded and frustrated ordinary citizens can really act out their violent fantasies. There have been many cases in school campuses where some student would attack and massacre many students using bombs and high powered weapons. Terrorism according to Zulaika is now "the dominant tropic space” in media, government, and all walks of life (Zulaika, 2009).

This is further fueled by the imagination of nuclear war initiated by terrorists creating an apocalyptic nightmare that in turn fan the fires of Christian fundamentalists. Note that the “terrorist” who killed 92 people in Norway was a Christian fundamentalist. In fact the use of torture against suspected terrorists in Guantanamo bay was largely unprotected because of this powerful image against suspected terrorists. The problem with the Anti terrorism campaign is that it was blown too much in proportion so that the US who is supposed to be the champion of democracy and human rights is now seen as a torturer and a blanket bomber of civilians, an illegal eavesdropper of its own citizens, and an espouser of war.

Indeed the War against Terrorism has not only been a self fulfilling prophecy but actually created the US as a number one terrorist as some critical groups contend. 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.