As humans in the 21st century, we live in a state of fear. Whether it’s emotional, psychological or physical, we have adapted to live with a certain amount of suspicion. In places where we should feel safe like restaurants, schools or the workplace, we can no longer feel safe enough to fully let down our guard. Recent attacks like those in San Bernardino, Paris or Colorado all attribute to this feeling of vulnerability.
Terror itself is a mindset. The main goal of a terrorist attack is to inflict intimidation upon a group of people through the use of violence, and we are falling into this trap.
We see these major tragedies happening all across the world, and we see the world react in a similar way each time. It is our first instinct to point fingers. We want someone to blame. Someone we can point our finger at and say “get rid of them so we can feel better.” But far too many times we end up turning against ourselves in the process.
After the Paris attacks, the issue of gun control arose in full force, with many gun control challengers using the argument that Paris has some of the strictest gun control laws in the world, and that didn’t protect them from a terror attack. Facebook News Feeds were filled with opinions running heavy on each side. Americans were turning against each other.
The act of terror in Paris shook the nation, as it should have. But if we are so quick to begin blaming a singular event on one isolated law, the terrorists have won. They have shifted our focus from the tragedy itself and have turned us against each other. When we are so quick to point our fingers at gun control, we suddenly forget about all of the other major factors we have involved. We suddenly forget that in a lot of areas, poverty has a greater correlation to violent crime than access to firearms; or the fact that the level of education available and poverty are directly linked.
All of these facts are suddenly swept under the rug and the issue of gun control is plastered across every outlet. Instead of worrying about things on the structural basis of education and poverty, we are suddenly obsessed with worrying about our Second Amendment right to bear arms.
Or take the attacks in San Bernardino, for example. On Dec. 2, two assailants opened fire in San Bernardino at a holiday party. The attackers were married; one being U.S.-born and the other being a Pakistani national. These attacks were tragic, and nobody is arguing against the gravity of the situation. But again, fingers were pointed all too soon at what could have motivated the shooting.
Suddenly entire groups of people were targeted because of an isolated incident. Xenophobia washed across America, and it had no reason to. We were becoming fearful. We were filled with terror, and that’s what these terrorists wanted.
We started pushing against other religions and cultures because of the fear that we felt. We rushed to blame Muslims, letting Islamaphobia casually creep into our daily lives. We were filled with so much fear that we didn’t take the time to slow down, mourn for the lives that were lost and look at the facts.
Non-Muslims have carried out the vast majority of terrorist attacks on U.S. soil as well as in Europe. Since 1970, there have been 140,000 terror attacks, according to the Global Terrorism Database. Even if all of these terrorist attacks were carried out by Islamic extremists, which they were not, these extremists would only represent .0009 percent of the global Islamic faith.
So if this is the case, why are so many suddenly infected with xenophobia and Islamophobia? It’s because we are unwittingly fulfilling the terrorists’ objectives. After a tragedy happens, we don’t wait for the facts. Instead, we take to whatever outlet we can get to, and start voicing our opinions. Uninformed Facebook posts plaster the Internet; politicians take eagerly to Twitter to gain a couple of points in the polls, and ultimately, the terrorists win. We fall into the terror they created. We turn against ourselves.
If we want to win the war on terrorism, we can’t fall into their terror. We need to remember the facts; we have to stay informed. Before we start placing blame on a law, religion or culture, we need to manage our reactions to these tragedies.
Cal is a sophomore majoring in political science and communication arts. What do you think of his view of our imperfect responses to terrorism as a country? Is the major threat of terrorism in the fear it generates? Please send all comments to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
