Reflection 8: Constructing the Terrorist Threat

Terrorism is something that is believed to be a major threat in our American society. Before watching the lecture "Constructing the Terrorist Threat," by Dr. Deepa Kumar, I tried to answer questions about terrorism and the middle east. I realized that although I have been taught to believe that terrorism is a threat, that I don't know much about these topics. In her lecture, Dr. Kumar, states that Trump introduced a travel ban on 7 Middle Eastern countries, Iran, Iraq, Chad, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen were included in the travel ban, yet, I couldn't give an educated guess as to where these countries were located on a world map. Furthermore, Dr. Kumar went on to explain that people from those 7 countries haven't killed anyone from the United States. So this begs the question; why are people from the middle east being banned from travel to the United States? The answer seems obvious to some but not to others. America has labeled certain races of people as villains, in order to put in policies and to scare Americans against a common enemy. This was used against Japanese-Americans during WWII, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. These people from Japan were citizens of the United States, yet they were pushed into internment camps and treated as though they were all the enemy. As Dr. Kumar explains, this can be even traced back to the beginning of the start of our country, when Native Americans were seen as the enemy, so the people of America could justify taking their land. Dr. Kumar then went on to challenge the idea of what terrorism has been defined as. This is the idea of creating a "radcialized other," basically creating this idea that a certain race is bad for America and is evil or a villain to normalcy. This was done with slaves as well as it was thought that they were a threat to the normalcy of plantations. This continues onto today when the "racialized other." is middle-easterns who have now become the poster child for "terrorism." In many peoples minds their idea of terrorism is a person of middle-eastern descent, coming over to America to kill Americans. When you look up pictures of just the word "terrorist," you get pictures of people in masks or brown people. Why is this the case, when those who are white and right-winged kill more people than these middle-eastern "terrorists." How come these white men aren't included in the definition of terrorism? When a section of the Department of Home Security tried to publish a paper that verified these claims they were shamed by conservatives and money was taken away from that section of the DHS. Terrorism shouldn't be thought of as just middle eastern people, it should include anybody who causes terror to a society through violent means, but the Government uses the idea of a foreign muslim threat as a means to put in certain policies. So Dr. Kumar argues that terrorism, in our society is misunderstood and thought to be something it is not. According to a study, Dr. Kumar explains that only 95 Americans have been killed domestically due to Jihadi Terrorists. Internationally only 15 Americans have died. That number while still tragic, is just not something to be completely and utterly scared of. Earlier in the lecture she shows a statistics that says of the Americans polled, what percentage believes that Jihadi terrorism is critically important. And 98% of those polled claimed it was. While terrorism, is a very prominent idea in media and our lives as Americans it hasn't always been this way. Before 1970, in America, many studies show that the word terrorism, was barely ever utilized. There were a slough of other words for the acts that the now "terrorist," is active in. Things like sky-pirate, guerrilas, and hijacker was used. Terrorist was not. This really began to change in 1972, during the Olympics in 1972. The Israeli team was taken hostage by a Palestinian group called Black September, and was broadcasted live to a audience of 100 Million. This idea of the terrorist continued to gain traction in media, as different plots that were connected to the Middle East, were shown as Terrorist plots. The media played a huge role in the idea of the terrorist and continues to do so today. While terrorism is a threat to society, the idea of the "brown terrorist," needs to change. It should include anyone that causes terror and violence to many people, this includes white people. These acts of violence shouldn't generalize middle easterns under one guise, while pleading that white people who are involved in acts of terror, should be looked at as individuals. The idea of terrorism needs to be changed.