Terrorism as a Threat to Society: How It Affects Our Lives

Terrorism has been around for thousands of years. Domestic terrorism and destructive terrorism are the two main types of terrorism. Domestic terrorism is the committing of terrorist acts in the perpetrator's own country against their fellow citizens. An example of destructive terrorism is 9/11. Before 9/11 no one ever talked about terrorism because it wasn’t such a big deal. A terrorist act had never happened in the United States so no one thought much of it. When 9/11 happened, everything became extremely strict, for example, airports. Thousands of people died that day and not only did it affect the United States, it affected the whole world. It was an eye opener for the whole world and it showed how dangerous terrorism was. Terrorism is a threat to society because it endangers people lives, affects our economy, and we can’t stop it.

Terrorism endangers people’s lives because it is an act that we can not predict. An example of a terrorist that was not predicted and took many people’s lives was the Pulse Orlando shooting. A 29 year old man, Omar Mateen, killed 49 people and wounded 53 others. If anyone would have known that Omar Mateen pledged to ISIS and was planning to kill all those people, he would have been arrested before hand. We do not know when a terrorist act is going to happen. The people that were at pulse that night were out having fun and did not know that they were going to be shot, tortured, and killed by a terrorist. According to Mateens parents he became outraged when he saw gay coupled together but they never thought that he would take his hate to that extreme. 'We know enough to say this was an act of terror and act of hate,' President Obama said in an address to the nation from the White House. Matern exchanged fire with the club’s security guards and as more officers arrived on the scene, shots continued to be exchanged. Mateen then ran to the bathroom, where he took hostages and told the police he had explosives. “Everyone get out of pulse and keep running.” Pulse posted in their Facebook. Another example of how terrorism endangers our lives and how we can not predict it is the Boston marathon bombing.

On April 15, 2012, two sibling of the ages 25 and 19, placed two bombs near the finish line of the Boston marathon. The two bombers were named Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Two pressure cookers were used to make the bombs that they used in this terrorist attack. In total, 281 people were injured, 127 people received care at a trauma center, 12 amputations, and 3 people died. “While victims of the bombing lay in the hospital and learned that they would have to have their limbs chopped off to save their lives, the defendant pretended that nothing had happened,” Assistant U.S. Attorney William Weinreb said. This quote shows the after mass and the people in the hospital suffering from the act of terrorism in the Boston marathon Bombing. The two brothers were motivated by Islamic beliefs but they were not apart of any extremist groups. 'He believed that he was a soldier in a holy war against Americans,' Assistant U.S. Attorney William Weinreb said. They wanted to defend Islam from the United States. Another reason why terrorism is a threat to society is because it affects our economy.

Terrorism affects our economy in many ways. Even though the deaths of the people greatly impact us, the economic damages cost us a lot of money. In 2014, the global economic impact on terrorism rose to $104 billion US dollars. One of the main reasons why it affects our economy is physical destruction. Terrorist destroy many things like existing plants, machines, transportation systems, buildings, workers, and other economic resources. An example of a terrorist attack that gravely affected our economy was the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks. The damage of 9/11 was an estimate of 2 trillion dollars. No one knows the exact cost of the damages because it was so much damage that it is incalculable. Just one terrorist attacked like this can cost billions of dollars to repair. Big companies and buildings are not the only things that affect our economy. Small businesses like coffee shops or restaurants can also be very expensive. The costs for these small businesses add up in every attack that there is and the costs end up being very expensive. Some people might think that all insurance companies cover the costs for terrorist attacks but most of them do not. Insurance companies do not like to take the risks. Trade is also a big reason that our economy is affected.

Another way that terrorism affects our economy is trade. The United States is the world's largest economy and the largest exporter and importer of goods and services. Trade is critical to America's prosperity. Terrorism increases the costs of traded goods, slows the flow of goods, and increases the costs of doing business. After 9/11, security measures went up and trade became more expensive. Increasing the delivery times of the goods made the prices go up a lot. For example, after the twin tower attacks, the US borders were temporarily closed. Before, it would take minutes for trucks cross the border from Canada to the United States, but it took 20 hours or more. Closing down borders to trade and immigrant workers reduces the size and diversity of economic transactions and limits productive resources. Another reason why terrorism is a threat to society is because terrorist don’t seem to think that terrorism is wrong.

Terrorism is a threat to society because we can’t stop it. Terrorist think that their actions are correct. This is a very serious topic because Islamic extremist think that Allah tells them to kill whoever gets in the way of their religion. As much as the government and the military try to prevent and stop terrorism from happening, it is always going to be around. Terrorism is never going to go away because even though the act is inhumane, terrorist think that it is correct. These people take the lives of innocent civilians and that will never be okay. For example, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the Boston Marathon bombers did not practice the Muslim faith but once he gave up on being a professional boxer and had no job, he found that bombing the marathon would be a heroic action for Islam. Al-Qaida and ISIS are the two main groups that kill and torture people for going against them and not believing in their religion. ISIS’s goal is to make a Caliphate, which is an Islamic ruled state. Many journalist have been killed on tape when these terrorist find out that they work for the United States or when they find out that they do not follow the Islamic religion. Another reason why terrorism is not going away is because of the internet.

The internet is a new way for terrorist to brainwash people into joining their extremist groups. These websites are the most effective way to spread propaganda and to recruit members. They send videos and picture of what they practice and recruit new members from around the world. ISIS well built online propaganda has lured in thousands of fighters from the United States and other places. “Terrorist are now able to bypass traditional print and broadcast media via the internet through inexpensive but professionally produced and edited video tapes, and even their own dedicated 24/7 television and radio new stations”. Terrorist websites train whoever is watching the videos by having tutorials on how to make bombs, firing surface-to-air missiles, shooting at U.S. soldiers, and sneaking into Iraq. Cyberterrorism is typically defined as the use of the Internet as a vehicle through which to launch an attack. Terrorism is one of the most serious topics in the world right now and it is a threat to society.

Terrorism is a threat to society because it endangers people lives, affects our economy, and we can’t stop it. Terrorism endangers people’s lives because we can’t predict it. Almost every terrorist stick that has happened has not been predicted. Many people die and are tortured because of terrorism. Two examples of terrorism that was not predicted was the Pulse club shooting and the Boston Marathon bombing. Another way terrorism is a threat to society is because it affects the economy. Repairing what is destroyed in a terrorist act is very expensive and can cost millions of dollars. The repairs for 9/11 were around 2 trillion dollars. Trade also affects the economy because it was slowed down. The slower it takes for the trade to take place, the more expensive it is. Finally, the the last reason why terrorism is a threat to society is because we can’t stop it. Terrorist think that what they are doing is correct and will not stop until they get what they want. Another reason why we can not stop terrorism is because of the internet. The internet is a big source of propaganda for them and they recruit new members through the internet.

Work Cited

• “Benefits of Trade.” Summary of the U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement | United States Trade Representative, ustr.gov/about-us/benefits-trade.
• Iags, and Institute for the Analysis of Global Security. The Cost of September 11, www.iags.org/costof911.html.
• Roser, Max, et al. “Terrorism.” Our World in Data, 28 July 2013, ourworldindata.org/terrorism.
• Ross, Sean. “How Terrorism Damages the Global Economy.” Investopedia, Investopedia, 26 Oct. 2018, www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/080216/top-5-ways-terrorism-impacts-economy.asp.
• “Terrorists and the Internet.” Council on Foreign Relations, Council on Foreign Relations, www.cfr.org/backgrounder/terrorists-and-internet.