The biggest problem facing America today is not inequality, or immigration, it is still terrorism, and no one is doing anything about it. Terrorism has cost us so much that if we lose all control, our world would be absolute mayhem and we can not let it get to that point.
Although it is hard to pinpoint a certain number of casualties each year worldwide, the average number of casualties caused by terrorism from 2006 to 2017 is 17,939, according to The Statistics Portal. People do not really think about terrorism until something happens. Admit it, do you really think, “there could be a terrorist in this building and people may die?” The answer to this is most likely no. We do not think about it till something happens, then everyone freaks out about it for a while, and then it eventually subsides.
So, why is terrorism still our biggest problem? It’s because no one does anything about it and we do not really know what a terrorist acts or looks like, so it’s hard to prevent these attacks. According to an article written by Lizzie Dearden Home Affairs Correspondent, in the year to September, 40 percent of terror suspects arrested were white, 33 percent were Asian, 12 percent were black and 14 percent were recorded as other. This information shows that most terror attack suspects are not Muslims, which seem to be the ideal classification of a terrorist, but are really people who you would not consider terrorists.
The increase of terror attacks are not the only thing that have changed since 9/11; airport security, the economy, and many other things have also changed quite a bit. If you have ever been to an airport before 9/11, and then went to one now, you will be able to tell how drastically it has changed. There are specific rules they have and that’s only for our own safety. Although most terror attacks are bombings and shootings, if any type of aircraft was involved, that would have the potential to be more catastrophic. This is because terrorists seem to be evolving more and more everyday and are figuring out different, more elaborate ways to carry out these attacks.
It is hard to pinpoint who is a terrorist, because in all honesty, it could be anyone. We do not really know how a terrorist looks or acts, we just accuse people because of their religion, where they come from, etc. Senseless accusations that are being made are hurting other people; just to make you feel safe or better about yourself. Some accusations can be helpful and can actually stop a terrorist attack from happening.
An article written by Eleanor Busby Education Correspondent talks about how an eight-year-old boy was questioned by two counter-terrorism police officers and a social worker at a school in east London over alleged radicalization fears. The school said that there were no concerns raised about this boy, but they still questioned the boy because of concerns sparked by the father’s links to members of an Islamist group. Furthermore, even some of the youngest people in our generation are being questioned just because of their religion, which is insane. Unfortunately, in our society today, there are many other people like this boy, who are also falsely accused. We do not know who is innocent and who is guilty. We look at the statistics and the behaviors of people and assume that they are terrorists or not based on that information. This is not an efficient way to figure out who is a terrorist and end these attacks. There is a lot of work that needs to be done in our society to arrest the real terrorist and prevent these attacks from happening. In addition, an article written by Shappi Khorsandi talks about how people fear others because of their religion. This a very common issue in our society today. People are being wrongfully accused and convicted of terrorism, when in reality, it’s completely the opposite.
Because of the idea that has been drilled into our brains that most terrorist are Muslims, we fear them more than others, which in reality, it should be the other way around because of the information previously stated. The number of terror attacks committed by Muslims are comparatively low compared to others; although in some cases this argument is highly agreeable. For some people it may seem hard to agree with because they may feel like people are handling terrorism effectively, but is it really?
Most people who do not agree that no one is doing anything about terrorism would say that the FBI is doing everything they can to lower the rate and try to stop it. If someone truly thought this and saw it happening, then wouldn’t we see a change in these statistics? If we do not take control of this situation now, it will not be long until we see the damaging effects that terrorism will have on our world. We will spend more money and the damages will be even greater than ever before.
In conclusion, terrorism is still the biggest problem facing America today even though it may not seem like it. There are many people who are being wrongfully accused and convicted of terrorism just because they “fit” the description of how terrorist “acts or looks.” Also, religion plays a big factor in how people view others, if you are Muslim, most people will assume you are a terrorist, which is really disheartening. With all of these factors in play, it seems like terrorism will never stop. It seems like no one cares until something happens and then they forget about it and yet, no one is contributing to help end terrorism. Our world is suffering greatly from many different factors, and terrorism contributes to that. We have to start doing something now before it’s too late. If anything like 9/11 happens again, it will probably be bigger and more catastrophic; the attacks will increase and we will have lost all control of terrorism.
