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What Is Terrorism? By: Claire Greenlee

During class the question of, What is Terrorism? was brought to our attention. Terrorism means, I frighten people which is derived from its Latin roots. However, there is no real or accurate definition of terrorism. Terrorism holds a different meaning to each individual and each terroristic case is so different that it can hardly be measured to a scale. According to the dictionary, terrorism is described as: 1. the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes. 2. the state of fear and submission produced by terrorism or terrorization. 3. a terroristic method of governing or of resisting a government.

Do all terroristic attacks involve the government? I suppose if we follow the dictionarys terms then maybe so; yet if we direct our thinking towards the root of the word, then terrorism can be infinitely so. If your father is threatening to take your cell phone away because you talked back to him at the dinner table, is that instilling fear in someone? How simple or complicated is ones idea of terrorism? Your father may be a frightening man or you really could think having your phone taken away is the death of you, but is it terrorism? Most would probably say hardly. However, for this paper I wanted to expand the thinking of the definition of terrorism and put together some of its counterparts. Terrorism could be thought of as a greater discipline, the bigger bully, or the Alfred Hitchcock of the world- making ordinary things frightening. For instance: school, work, or a date at the movies. Based on these ideas I thought of what has happened in my lifetime that has put a perspective on fear that I could consider terrorism. I thought of the small town of Littleton, Colorado and that Tuesday morning on April 20, 1999. This small town was the site of the

worst school shooting in American history. Dylan Klebold, 17, and Eric Harris, 18 scoured the cafeteria and hallways of their Columbine High School killing twelve students and a teacher, as well as injuring many more. The impact of what those shooters had didnt stop at the victims and their friends or families, it affected the entire nation. Could this be terrorism? Psychologically speaking these events planted the idea of schools being a place to fear inside our heads, yet we dont know if that was the intentions of those men but it can certainly be considered an outcome- regardless of motive. Results of this fear has led to stricter enforcement on school campuses, necessity for picture I.Ds, video cameras, and lock down/safety drills. The wave of school shootings was a basis for people in the school system and now they can only fear what other sort of terroristic attacks can be made. We need to be prepared for wider-scale events, or things like food contamination, said Curtis Lavarello, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers, a nonprofit organization that trains law enforcement officers to work in schools. To prevent such things is nearly impossible considering the budget for schools funding is only represented by 10 percent of the federal government- which in turn has little influence on the safety procedures. It is imperative for school boards, parents, administrators, and teachers to coordinate in order to control such issues. What Columbine and Virginia Techs attacks have done is ridden the innocence of people. Can we trust everyone we have in class? Columbine is considered the most disastrous shooting spree, should we think that there is someone out there willing to compete for the spotlight? Is it fair to think that someone could inflict more harm on people when we have not been close to such tragedies? Sure, and that is terrorism. If we lay vulnerable, we are unprepared. If we are high on alert, we are still acting as victims of these attacks.

When most hear the words, terrorist attack, we think of the spiraling, smoking towers full of people crumbling to their death on 9/11. Many people probably see the same image which was plastered over the news for days and spread across the front of every newspaper. The media wasnt trying to scare the American people they were just doing their job of reporting what was high in priority that day. What people might not understand is that they were also doing the job of the Islamic terrorists and Osama bin Ladens al-Qaeda terrorist organization: frightening people. That image you are thinking of terrified everyone across this nation. People were scared to go to work, schools were being released, people were fleeing, not boarding airplanes, and didnt even know what was going on until we realized that this was an attack on American soil. We will never forget those images, the sadness, the anger, the pain, and hopelessness that the Islamic terrorists made us feel. The attack on 9/11 altered our thinking and overall, our world view. Once again, terrorism creates a vulnerability as well as alertness that cannot be explained by one simple definition; however, this act of terrorism did in fact include a motive to change government affairs by relying on violence. National Security was heightened, airport security and regulations changed dramatically, profiles were being made and investigated on a greater degree, International affairs were skewed, and a war had begun. Everything was, still is, and will always be affected by the events of September 11th. A third and more recent event that fits the obscure definition of terrorism is the attack made during the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises. Twenty-four year old James Egan Holmes opened fire and released smoke bombs during the premiere which left twelve people dead and fifty-nine others wounded. Holmes had reportedly painted his hair red and was calling himself, The Joker, which is the nemesis of Batman featured in

previous Batman films. Holmes was a graduate of a Colorado Medical School and was seen as a very intelligent and hard-working individual which surprised people everywhere and added even more shock to the event. Which is more frightening? The predator, how it occurred, or where it occurred? An FBI spokesman by the name of Jason Pack said that there was no indication in the investigation that connected this event to terrorists. However wouldnt James Holmes be considered a terrorist after that night in Aurora? In Colorado, it was the deadliest since the Columbine High School massacre. Coincidentally, Columbine High is about 12 miles from the theater. How does one measure the effect these people have had over the innocent citizens of Colorado? The people of Colorado had been struck twice by extremely vicious attacks that were not involved in government politics but were brought on to inflict physical and psychological harm. Isnt that terrorism? Across the nation the theatre shooting caused movie theaters to see a decrease in attendance, higher security in the theaters, and conflicts in different cities that mocked the crimes of James Holmes. Before the attack on the theater I would have never thought that I could possibly not make it out alive after going to see a movie. Therefore, this terroristic attack affected me on a personal level even when thousands of miles away. Media has been able to get the news out as quickly as it is occurring and what many of the victims friends and relatives were afraid of was that we would only remember the name of James Holmes. We should not build a fantasy for those who are on the verge of transitioning into a psychotic and dangerous state because that causes events like this. Terrorists can sometimes think that they are doing a service for their culture, making a positive statement, or can confuse infamy with being famous. This makes for a great concern for people because we may never know the motivation that can drive people to cause such destruction. Nobody can

know when a terrorist has come into their lives because there are so many different forms that terrorism becomes. Terrorists can be young high school students, a crazed medical school graduate, or people from overseas that crossed the same airport security that you did. In Tucson, Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords was a survivor of an attack that happened while she was meeting with her Democratic constituents. Seventeen people were shot and six of those passed away including a nine year old girl. Investigators identified the gunman as Jared Lee Loughner, 22, and said that he had refused to cooperate with the authorities and had invoked his Fifth Amendment rights. Because of the shootings, House Republicans postponed all legislation to be considered on the floor that week which included a vote to repeal the health care overhaul. Mrs. Giffords was shot in the head and remained unconscious through the weekend. Highly esteemed neurosurgeons were on her case and had aspired for a recovery, maybe not a full recovery but one that seemed like a miracle in spite of the circumstances. The news of Mrs. Giffords condition swept the hearts of many across the nation, regardless of any political stance. In this case the young shooter wanted to make a political statement but had failed at completing his mission. Investigators gathered that Loughner was targeting Giffords specifically. What we could question in this case is if he wanted the life of Gabrielle Giffords, why did he shoot seventeen others? We may assume that Loughner was also dedicated to making the Democrats involved in the hostile Arizona politics fear consequences if they succeeded. Once again, this is a case of a terroristic attack.

Reflecting on the events that have contoured Americas way of thinking and doing allows us to broaden our approach to terrorism. There are many types of terrorism in this world and while other events such as the attack of the Twin Towers on 9/11 resonate in our minds more often, it does not mean that other events have not affected us in our ordinary lives. When someone attacks a school, an office, or a movie theater does it automatically hinder how we feel about our own jobs, school, or theaters? Some people might think that we should have been provided more security to begin with so we would not have to think about these situations occurring in the first place. We can only base our needs on what has happened to us. Its important to keep the hope in Americans that all people are initially good within. If people are constantly living in fear then terrorists have fulfilled their duty and the only agreeable component of the definition of terrorism. Be aware of the many kinds of terrorism that we face on our society and keep it as a reminder of some realities we may have to face personally or from afar. We must agree as a collective group, and as a strong nation, that the horrible tragedies that individuals have caused cannot kill our pride as well.

Resources 1. "terrorism." The American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. 05 Dec. 2012. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/terrorism>. 2. Martin, Marie-Caroline. "Special Coverage: NBC News." Special Coverage: NBC News. n. page. Web. 5 Dec. 2012. 3. "History.com." History.com. n. page. Web. 5 Dec. 2012. <http://www.history.com/topics/9-11-attacks>. 4. FoxNews, . (2012): July. Web. 5 Dec. 2012. At least 12 dead, 59 injured in Colorado theater shooting during 'Dark Knight Rises http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/07/20/deadly-shooting-colorado-movietheater-dark-knight-rises/#ixzz2EDLqmNTp 5. Lacy, Marc. "NY Times." NY Times. (2011): Jan 8. Web. 5 Dec. 2012.