Private Life, Public Terror Buildings crashing and falling down piece by crumbling piece, skies blackened by debris, smoke filling airways and making its way into lungs of those watching in horror, screams of children petrified in the wake of disaster, and tears cried for the very last time of lives taken much too soon in attack that will later be known as the worst to ever occur on American soil. This depiction was reality over 15 years ago when America experienced the attacks of September 11th. Today, we can still feel the repercussions of those attacks. While some civilians are hesitant over the thought of “losing” privacy, monitoring of cell phone and internet use is crucial in preventing further terrorist attacks like those of 9/11,
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Attacks can be damaging to the economy and the mental well-being of those effected. Recovering from an attack can cost a country millions of dollars and social corruption. Even without personally witnessing the attack, watching news coverage or following the social media reports has been proven to heighten anxiety (Silke). Alongside the increased anxiety levels, 40% of Americans live with the fear that someone within their family may become a victim of a terrorist attack (CNN Political Unit). However, terrorist attacks can also serve to rally a country together. American’s felt obligated to donate blood and as a means to give back after the occurrence of 9/11. Within just two weeks of the attacks, donations to charities hit over 500 million dollars (Denee). The social effect of terrorism helps to bring those surrounding the area for a common purpose and spread pride in their country (Silke). The day after 9/11, Wal-Mart alone sold over 88,000 American flags (Denee). Likewise, after the Paris attacks in November of 2015, Facebook created a temporary profile picture filter to show support for the country in their time of trouble. If we are willing to publicly support counterterrorism efforts with social media awareness and patriotic symbols, we must also be willing to allow the government to monitor phone usage in an attempt to prevent attacks from happening in the first …show more content…
“With Al-Qaeda weakened abroad, but self-taught, Wi-Fi empowered Jihads increasingly a threat at home, balancing freedom and security is an old problem we’ll have to get used to again” (Calabresi 28). Isis is the first known terrorist group to hold both physical and digital grounds in an effort to spread their violent views (Cohen). With that being known, it is important to monitor social media accounts of all Americans, not just Muslim Americans. The marketing of terrorist’s toxic ideology has been fundamental in their efforts to grow abroad. Online propaganda can be used to spread radicalistic views on social media to American born civilians. Primary contact of many new recruits with the Islamic state’s belief has been made through the connection of the internet. The International Centre for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence reports that Isis now has recruited over 20,000 members, 4,000 of which originally come from western countries. Surprisingly enough, this makes them the number one recruit of foreigners (Cohen). “[H]omegrown terrorists can be detected not through travel records and financial transactions, but only through the more opaque realm of online activities and religious attitudes”, (Calabresi).
Social media accounts that spread radicalistic ideas should be suspended. 46,000 Twitter accounts had stated their open
Attacks can be damaging to the economy and the mental well-being of those effected. Recovering from an attack can cost a country millions of dollars and social corruption. Even without personally witnessing the attack, watching news coverage or following the social media reports has been proven to heighten anxiety (Silke). Alongside the increased anxiety levels, 40% of Americans live with the fear that someone within their family may become a victim of a terrorist attack (CNN Political Unit). However, terrorist attacks can also serve to rally a country together. American’s felt obligated to donate blood and as a means to give back after the occurrence of 9/11. Within just two weeks of the attacks, donations to charities hit over 500 million dollars (Denee). The social effect of terrorism helps to bring those surrounding the area for a common purpose and spread pride in their country (Silke). The day after 9/11, Wal-Mart alone sold over 88,000 American flags (Denee). Likewise, after the Paris attacks in November of 2015, Facebook created a temporary profile picture filter to show support for the country in their time of trouble. If we are willing to publicly support counterterrorism efforts with social media awareness and patriotic symbols, we must also be willing to allow the government to monitor phone usage in an attempt to prevent attacks from happening in the first …show more content…
“With Al-Qaeda weakened abroad, but self-taught, Wi-Fi empowered Jihads increasingly a threat at home, balancing freedom and security is an old problem we’ll have to get used to again” (Calabresi 28). Isis is the first known terrorist group to hold both physical and digital grounds in an effort to spread their violent views (Cohen). With that being known, it is important to monitor social media accounts of all Americans, not just Muslim Americans. The marketing of terrorist’s toxic ideology has been fundamental in their efforts to grow abroad. Online propaganda can be used to spread radicalistic views on social media to American born civilians. Primary contact of many new recruits with the Islamic state’s belief has been made through the connection of the internet. The International Centre for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence reports that Isis now has recruited over 20,000 members, 4,000 of which originally come from western countries. Surprisingly enough, this makes them the number one recruit of foreigners (Cohen). “[H]omegrown terrorists can be detected not through travel records and financial transactions, but only through the more opaque realm of online activities and religious attitudes”, (Calabresi).
Social media accounts that spread radicalistic ideas should be suspended. 46,000 Twitter accounts had stated their open