Terrorism Has Posed a Threat

Terrorism has posed a threat for society ever since the early ages when people have resorted to committing crimes against other people with the belief that such an act would better their condition. There are several factors responsible for influencing certain people in performing such criminal activities. In spite of the fact that it has been proved that terrorism brings no benefit to those that perform it, there are still people today that are fond of performing it and believe that the act is, in fact, effective.

Terrorism is something that mankind had always known, and, with the evolution of man, the act of terrorism has also evolved, too. The civilized society has struggled to isolate and abolish any thought of terrorism throughout the world. However, terrorism is thriving in the present, with acts of terror being committed across the world by fanatics. Terrorism stands against all that is good, as there can be no moral motives for one to carry out acts of terrorism.

The fight against terrorism has evolved as the years passed and it has now taken amazing proportions, with terrorist groups being pursued around the world as they plan their attacks. Terrorists are dedicated to fulfilling their missions because they consider themselves, and, the terrorist acts that they perform, to have a vital role for the well-being of their community. People have kept most of their basic concepts throughout time and terrorism had not changed much. "However, three interlocking trends have significantly changed the nature and degree of the threat: the globalization of commerce, travel, and information transfer, […]; the ascent of religious fundamentalism […], and the privatization of weapons of mass destruction"(Jeff Victoroff 2005).

For fighters against terrorism to be successful, they need to understand everything regarding to terrorist groups and to the reasons for which they act. Subsequently, the fight against terrorism can be more effective, with the authorities being able to better protect targets which seem to be appealing for terrorists.

The matter of terrorism is sometimes controversial, as some people actually encourage it, believing that terrorists fight for the freedom of their nations. In their opinion, the system is the real terrorist for oppressing certain communities and leading them to commit acts of terrorism.

Terrorism generally refers to acts of aggression being done by some people against other non-combatant people. Terrorists are believed to take action because of their belief that their struggle will influence certain groups in assisting the terrorists in their plan. Terrorists are certain that the aftermath of the acts that they perform is meaningless when compared to their goal. (Victoroff 2005)

Terrorist acts come under several forms depending on the reason for which people chose to resort to such methods. Such acts can be performed by groups such as nationalist-separatist ones, right-wing fanatics, religious extremists, and numerous other factions determined to do anything in order to reach their objectives.

It can sometimes be difficult to catalogue an act of terrorism, as in occasions like that in which a government authorizes paramilitary factions to oppress a certain group. Thus, it is possible for terrorist acts to happen in perfect legality and without anyone being able to intervene.

Terrorism can take place both in the form of an isolate group fighting against the state and in the form of supporters of the state fighting for its interests. Terrorist groups are generally formed in developing countries and terrorist acts generally take place in the western, more developed, countries.

According to Martha Crenshaw, there are causes for terrorism which are called preconditions, and, there are causes for terrorism which are called precipitants. All the events that take place within a period of several years in setting the right environment for terrorism to take place are called preconditions. In contrast to preconditions, precipitants are factors leading to acts of terrorism which happen in a short amount of time, just before the terrorist act. (Crenshaw 1981)

Preconditions can be either a set of events giving terrorists the opportunity to promote their ideals, or conditions which directly influence people in turning to terrorism. Precipitants and preconditions are somewhat similar in the cases when terrorists are directly influenced by a certain event.

The evolution that society has undergone has brought several new means that terrorists can exploit in order to succeed in their missions. The modern world has provided terrorists with numerous conditions for them to act. Terrorist acts today would not be possible without the help of explosives, aircrafts, or similar inventions which provide the perfect grounds for terrorists to make the most of. With the emergence of nuclear power, terrorist acts pose a threat for all of humanity. The fact that cities have became bigger only made them more vulnerable to terrorist attacks, as bigger cities meant that there were more targets to hit. There had even been some discussions relating to the fact that city life is one of the causes leading to terrorist acts.

In most cases, terrorists feel that they have every right to act, because they consider their actions to have a moral and justifiable basis. Traditions and customs can influence people in performing terrorist acts against their own people. Terrorist group leaders want to reach their goals through their actions and will not stop until they are destroyed their targets or until their demands are met. The Provisional IRA terrorist organization in Ireland operates from the early twentieth century, and, despite of the fact that their actions have proved to be inefficient, they continue to perform acts that violate the human rights. However, the violent acts for which the IRA is renowned seemed to have stopped in 2005 when its members decided that a political, non-violent, fight would be much more effective.

Governments throughout the world are inclined to ignore the threat of terrorism because their countries had not been affected by it until the time. The fact that authorities are not prepared to fight terrorism in certain areas also constitutes a cause for the thriving of terrorism. A reason for why governments prefer to ignore terrorism is that they consider that the costs that a fight against terrorism would require are too high.

Terrorists groups usually act depending on what their leader instructs them to, as hierarchy plays a major role in terrorist organizations. In some occasions, terrorist leaders are actually well-intended, however, the fact that they resort to committing acts of terrorism does not make them any different from other terrorists. There are some cases in which terrorists act alone and without belonging to a certain group. The majority of terrorist that perform terrorist acts on their own do so mostly because of material motivation.

In spite of their dedication to fulfilling their mission and achieving victory, most terrorists are being used by their leader. The self-imagined idealistic leader type is notorious for devoting his life to a particular goal which he believes to be absolutely necessary. The self-imagined messianic leader is the one that considers himself to have came as a savior that is bound to change history.(Victoroff 2005)

Most leaders of terrorist groups have their concepts based on an ethnic or a religious matter. They consider that the world has been unjust to their people, and, that if they commit terrorist acts, the attitude of the world might change.

There have been cases in which certain people and the groups that they presided over had been designated as being terrorists because the government in their countries did not appreciate any kind of change. The case of Nelson Mandela is certainly a very divisive one, as he fought for freedom and for equality among people. He initially went for a non-violent approach in order to achieve his goals. However, after reaching the conclusion that violence had been the only answer, he fought against the South African system and only managed to murder several non-combatants. Mandela's acts had been designated as being acts of terrorism at the time and he had been sentenced to life in jail. Even with that, South Africans had protested against Mandela's arrest, and, Nelson Mandela had been released from prison in 1990. (Whittaker, David G. 2004)

According to Victoroff, the archetypal terrorist image had changed over time. During the 1960s, the terrorist had been a common site in Europe, where well-educated young people fond of Marxism were planning terrorist operations. Subsequent to that, the world witnessed the rise of the Islam fanatics with poor and uneducated Palestinians joining terrorist ranks from an early age. Times have changed and now terrorists can come from practically any environment, as long as they believe in their cause.

In the present days, terrorism is something that the whole world fears, as no one knows what target terrorist groups would choose next. Terrorist acts like those in 2001 proved the fact that terrorism is by no means a conventional threat and a conventional war cannot be waged against it.

Even with the advancements that have been done today concerning the fight against terrorism, there will never be methods through which terrorism would be completely eradicated. As any crime, an act of terrorism can happen at any time and anywhere without anyone suspecting it. In spite of being unable to stop all terrorist acts from happening, the fight against terrorism has surely contributed to diminishing it.

After the 9/11 attack in the U.S., terrorism has been taken to a whole new level, as, the whole world has been traumatized. Most people regard terrorism as one of the greatest problems that humanity has to face in the present. However, as it has been proved, terrorism, when compared to other threats that the world has to face, causes very little damage. Furthermore, the chances of one becoming involved in a terrorist act are more than insignificant. As years passed, consequent to the events from 2001, the fear of an impending terrorist act did not pass, and Americans feel just as scared as they were right after the events. The chances that one has to become the victim of a terrorist attack are about the same with those of the same person to become the victim of an impact between earth and an asteroid. Despite that, people show no fear of dying from such an event. (Mueller, John 2007)

Terrorism has gain most of its fame also because of the media and of politicians promoting the fear of it among the public. Terrorism is exaggerated in the media, and, thus, people tend to be stressed from the fear that they might be the next victims.