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Andrew Astalos

May 4, 2015

ENG 1010

MWF 9:00 - 9:50

Professor Celestino

Argument Essay: Final Draft

Terrorism

Terrorism is a very broad and generic term used by people around the world. There are

many different types of terrorism devastating the world today. Todays term of terrorism mostly

consists of news head lines of, “ISIS Kills Another Innocent Man Today.” Yes, that is one forms

of terrorism but there are many more forms that get overlooked because of the, “more important”

forms of terrorism. Terrorism can come down to even, as “small” as violence in a household

family. With any terrorism in this world, there could be instances of repercussion because of the

one attack such as, the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Centers in New York City.

Since then the U.S has been battling a war in Iraq and Afghanistan for over 14 years. Everyday

people like you fighting to keep our country and civilians safe so that we can live a free life, a

life many other countries population can not. Living in the United States of America is a privi-

lege. When traveling over seas to other countries, it is not like the state or country we live in. The

countries are much different and it is an experience hopefully many people can afford to take to

realize how great and privileged we are. According to Webster’s Dictionary the true meaning of

terrorism is, “the use of violent acts to frighten the people in an area as a way of trying to achieve

a political goal.” No matter how great or small the terrorist attack is, it is still an attack that hurt

or endangered someone or a group of people.

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Terrorism today is a very generic term used by the media, civilians talking to one an-

other, political candidates, and political leaders. When one of them uses the term while speaking,

they are more than likely talking about the worldly terrorism surrounding us today. The worldly

terrorism meaning, attacks on a country or multiple or an entire city. Yes, that is terrorism, but it

is not the only terrorism that we have going on around us. What most people miss out is the other

forms of terrorism such as the small acts on family members within the family, or even an attack

on a local business trying to stay afloat from the big corporation companies that can afford to sell

their merchandise for a much lower price than the local business. Terrorism is an evil act that in-

flicts mental and even physical pain to others.

In many countries people have to live everyday in fear of being attacked in a large or

small way. Americans do not always have to live in fear like civilians of other countries do.

When attacks struck upon the country Lebanon, people had to change their entire lifestyle. They

had to be cautious of just going outside. They could not let their children play in the front yard of

their house or even go to the park to play like children in the United states can. “Two strategies

were employed. The first can be described as bracketing in time and space, which means that

people tried to benefit from periods they perceived as moments of reprieve, and that they defined

business and private space as safe havens. Bracketing can also be described as re-normalization,

i.e. as an attempt to return to the previous state of 'normality'. The other strategy can be described

as crisis normalization and means that the new evaluations of the risks and new patterns of action

adopted, which originally deviated from people's established routines, themselves became rou-

tinized” (Borell, Terrorism and Everyday Life in Beirut 2005). This quote is demonstrating a

form of ethos. Now this type of terrorism would fall under nation-wide terrorism or even global

terrorism since it did effect so many people.

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Small or domestic terrorism goes unheard of each day without anyone knowing except

for the people that it is happening to, of whomever is inflicting the act of terrorism. Domesic ter-

rorism can go under the category of, house violence, an abduction at a local shopping mall, or

even someone raiding a local religious center. As people want to instill more and more fear into

people to persuade people, the world gets that much more scary and violent due to this uprising

in terrorism each day. Now in everyday life the word, terrorism, is getting much more broad and

so this author will remind us what the word terrorism means, “terrorism is a form of violence that

attempts political influence or control through instilling fear (Pain, 2014).” Now, that is the true

definition of the word, and there is still truth to it, terrorism is still here in the united states and in

the world each day. Many people would argue that you must stick to the true definition, but in

right proportion without exploding the term to mediocre instances it is okay to use the word ter-

rorism for small attacks on people.

In the quote above, Pain, the author of the article states the “true” definition of the word

terrorism, and that promotes logos in the paragraph with not always agreeing that is should only

be used for that sense, without blowing the word out of proportion to its distinct meaning. Using

the word terrorism to explain an accidental car accident would be blowing the term or word out

of proportion. Using the word to explain a person from the opposing political party raiding the

house of a potential political candidate before an election could and should go down under the

category of terrorism. Not only is it an act of violence and an act of threatening, but it does in-

volve political reasons that would classify under the definition of terrorism. Terrorism is never

an act that should happen and more than likely always has recurring problems that could last for

days, months, or even years.

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A recurring problem that has been more than just a few years after the initial terrorist at-

tack would be the attacks on the world trade centers in New York City, New York, the attack on

the Pentagon, located just outside of Washington D.C, and the final attack that happened the very

same days as the first two in a field near, Stony Creek Township in Pennsylvania. The destruc-

tion not only affected people of New York, Washington D.C and, Pennsylvania, but effected the

rest of the world in the years to come. The attack started out just a nationwide attack of terrorism,

but soon turned into a global attack. Presently this attack thirteen yeas ago (fourteen years ago

this coming up year), is still relevant today with troops from around the world fighting against

the acts of terrorism everyday. It is important for Americans and even people from around the

world to know what happened on that very day. The devastation from the attacks left myself and

all of America in tears from what happened. Asking Americans that are old enough to have wit-

nessed these attacks, not only in person but just on television will tell vivid stories about that

very day. As a twenty year old student (seven years old at the time), remembering the attacks is

so clear, almost as if it were yesterday. Being picked up after school having my sister and parents

cowering at the television watching the news broadcast talk about the aircraft that had just

crashed into the World Trade Center, and out of nowhere a second plane crashing into the second

world trade center. Getting a call from a family member that happened to be in Boston, Massa-

chusetts, too close for comfort with attacks only a short distance away. She had arrived late to

the airport and missing her flight. In tears of sorrow for the destruction of the people on board

the flights that had gone down, but also tears or relief, praying and praising God that she had not

been aboard a flight that day. Soon after hearing that another plane nearly taking out the entire

Pentagon building and then a third, devastatingly never making it to its final location and crash-

ing into a field with no survivors and just debris and ashes from the aircraft blowing up on im-

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pact. The day of the attacks is a real life horror story that just continues for people living in prac-

tically war fields.

The day of September 11, 2001 began as a normal day, just like any other. Children mak-

ing their way to school, business men and women going about their day as any other, some even

traveling to other cities. It was early in the morning, 8:45 A.M to be exact on a Tuesday. Men

and women climbed aboard a large Boeing 767 traveling to California. It had seemed like any

other flight they had been on. The only difference between this flight and any other were the ter-

rorists from the terrorist group, “Al-Qaeda.” The leader, Osama Bin Laden, had sent the men

(nineteen to be exact throughout the four planes) to bring destruction to America. Soon after

take off in route to California, the plane had taken a sudden detour heading to the city of New

York. Not too long after the plane had crashed into the upper floors of the North World Trade

Center. A devastating view to see a large commercial airplane in side of the tallest building of

New York. Eighteen minutes later another airplane suddenly crashed into the second World

Trade Center, the south tower. Both on airplane strike hundreds of people died not only in the

plane instantly but also people working while the plane flew into them.

Roughly one hour later, a third plane, with hijackers aboard, flew to Washington D.C and

flew straight into the west side of the Pentagon building. Many were injuring and killed instantly

from the impact of the missal the terrorists had created out of the commercial airplane. At 10:00

A.M the south tower of the World Trade Center buildings collapsed. Crushing thousands of peo-

ple inside the building and civilians nearby. Innocent civilians were being crushed by debris and

people for miles from the site being covered in dust and smoke from the destruction. Within ten

minutes of the south tower collapsing another plane, no one is clear where it was going, but

sources have said that the hero’s aboard that airplane rushed to try and retake the plane. With the

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peoples help could not save themselves, but did save thousands of lives from the hijackers flying

the plane into another building. The plane ultimately flew straight down into the ground in a field

in Pennsylvania. All of the passengers were killed on impact leaving a giant pile of debris and

smoke from the crash. At 10:30 A.M only minutes from the plane that had just crashed down in

the field, the second World Trade Center Collapsed, killing many just the same as the first tower.

With all of the attacks concluded, all of America and people around the world being left in shock

from what had happened that day. It is important to remember what had happened that day.

With all that had happened, it is clear that, that was a true act of terrorism. Sources have

said that the attacks were brought on from a terrorist group but for political reasoning. The rea-

sons, were that the United States had become an ally of Israel, and supported the Israelis. With

the help from the United States military, in 2011 a group of Navy Seals had gunned down the

terrorist leader, Osama Bin Laden. That was a huge step in the war against the terrorist group. It

did not defeat the beast all together. Only in 2014 did President Obama pulled many of the sol-

diers out of the war zone to head back home.

Still today America fights battles against terrorist groups trying to destroy the country.

With the help of the United States Military, they keep our country safe for the people to live a

safe and free life. America has one of the greatest forms of military in the world serving the peo-

ple, and risking their lives for all of us. For the men and women fighting for our safety, even the

small terrorist attacks can be a big deal. Terrorists try to attack soldiers everyday, and they must

fight back. Global or domestic terrorist attacks are attacks that should not be taken lightly. With

technology being at its finest, it aids in helping not only the world with learning more on how to

stop these terrorists. The same goes for the terrorists as it aids them as well. “Since 9/11, extrem-

ists have utilized the Internet in many ways such as inspiring potential recruits through online

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communication and mobilizing them to act on radical ideology. In addition to aiding the plan-

ning and execution of terrorist attacks, one of the Internet’s most common uses today by terror-

ists is as a database of information to learn more about terrorist organizations and their causes

(Janbek, 2014).”

Terrorism, the use of violence or intimidation for the goal to gain in political aims. The

term should not be used lightly and just for anything. With the world using it with every incident

it is key to remember what the proper definition of the word is and use it accordingly. Big or

small, global or domestic, and act of violence for a political gain is an act of terrorism. The at-

tacks on New York’s World Trade Center buildings, Washington D.C’s Pentagon building and

the people aboard the aircraft that crashed in the middle of a Pennsylvania field is all apart of a

terrorist attack. A small domestic violence attack within a family can also be considered one with

the appropriate evidence at the scene. None should be taken lightly. Americans need to be in-

formed about the violence and terrorism around the world and should be notified about attacks to

better themselves in the event of another attack like on September 11, 2001. The American gov-

ernment, military, other heroes, and also the civilians of America do wonders keeping our coun-

try safe from terrorism each day.

Works Cited

Borell, Klas. "Terrorism And Everyday Life In Beirut 2005." Acta Sociologica (Sage Publications, Ltd.) 51.1 (2008): 55-70. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Apr.

2015.

JANBEK, DANA, and VALERIE WILLIAMS. "The Role Of The Internet Post-9/11 In

Terrorism And Counterterrorism." Brown Journal Of World Affairs 20.2 (2014): 297-308. Academic Search Premier. Web. 4 May 2015.

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Pain, Rachel. "Everyday Terrorism: Connecting Domestic Violence And Global Terrorism." Progress In Human Geography 38.4 (2014): 531-550. Academic Search Premier.

Web. 16 Apr. 2015. used in the third page.