Fear of Terrorism Essay Example for Free

Fear of Terrorism Essay Since September 11th, 2001, the world has witnessed a radical change in the world order. Fear, anxiety, sentiments of repugnancy and hate, and, mostly, a deep sentiment of great uncertainty took their place and dominated, and still dominate, problematic, issue. There has been much discussions and debates about the events that has taken place in the fatal date and consequent repercussion acts. The images of the two hi-jacked planes crashing into the Twin Towers, has a major part in producing all the sentiments that certainly all of us felt, and will continue to feel as of today. That is what this research paper will explain. It is a very contemporary issue and, many believe it is interesting looking at it, studying, and analyzing it. In the next pages, this research paper will focus on the definition of terrorism, history of terrorism, and the effects it has on society. Defining Terrorism Terrorism beams into our homes through television screens, it assaults us in newspapers and magazines, and it sometimes touches our lives in more direct manners. People do not seem to worry about the definition of terrorism at such times. They simply feel terror when they see the violence. Sometimes it seems as though the event itself defines terrorism. For example, when a plane is destroyed by a bomb, it is frequently called terrorism, but when military forces shoot down a civilian aircraft, it can be deemed an unfortunate mistake. The United States may launch missiles at a suspected terrorist base and claim it is defending national interests. Yet, it may condemn another country for doing the same thing in another part of the world. Dual standards and contradictions lead to confusion any time the term terrorism is employed. The term terrorism has spawned heated debate. Instead of agreeing on the definition of terrorism, social scientists, policymakers, lawyers, and security specialists often argue about the meaning of the term. H. H. A. Cooper (1978, 2001), a renowned terrorist expert from the University of Texas at Dallas, aptly summarizes the problem. There is, Cooper says, a problem in the problem definition. We can agree that terrorism is a problem, but we cannot agree on what terrorism is. There are several reasons for confusion. First, terrorism is difficult to define because it has a pejorative connotation. Pejorative means that it is emotionally charged. A person is politically and socially degraded when labeled a terrorist, and the same thing happens when an organization is called a terrorist group. Routine crimes assume greater social importance when they are described as terrorism, and political movements can be hampered when their followers are believed to be terrorists. Further confusion arises when people intertwine the terms terror and terrorism. The object of military force, for example, is to strike terror into the heart of the enemy, and systematic terror has been a basic weapon in conflicts throughout history. Some people argue that there is no difference between military force and terrorism. Many members of the antinuclear movement have extended this argument by claiming that maintaining ready-to-use nuclear weapons is an extension of terrorism. Others use the same logic when claiming that street gangs and criminals terrorize neighborhoods. If you think that anything that creates terror is terrorism, the scope of potential definitions becomes limitless. One of the primary reasons terrorism is difficult to define is that the meaning changes within social and historical contexts. This is not to suggest that one person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter, but it does suggest the meaning fluctuates. Change in the meaning occurs because terrorism is not a solid entity. Like crime, it is socially defined, and the meaning changes with social change. History of Terrorism Terrorism has been around since the days of ancient Egypt. People have been killing leaders of countries to try and overthrow the government, and for the past one hundred and twenty years terrorists have had new weapons of mass destruction, such as bombs. Many political figures in the past were assassinated: King Tut in Egypt, who was poisoned and hit in the back of the head by a political rival, the members of the Roman Senate and Brutus, his best friend, killed Caesar. John Wilkes Booth, a southerner who was angry about the way the Civil War turned out assassinated Abraham Lincoln; and Lee Harvey Oswald killed John F. Kennedy. But terrorism in revealing itself in new forms in this modern world, such as massacres, hijackings, attacks on U. S troops, and hostage taking. But there is a difference between a criminal and a terrorist. A criminal is after money or drugs, while a terrorist is after the long-term disruption of life in a country, and to attempt to overthrow its leaders. There are many causes of terrorism, hate, religion, politics, and power. Modern terrorism originated from the French Revolution (1789–1795). It was used as a term to describe the actions of the French government. By 1848, the meaning of the term changed. It was employed to describe violent revolutionaries who revolted against governments. By the end of the 1800s and early 1900s, terrorism was used to describe the violent activities of a number of groups including: labor organizations, anarchists, nationalist groups revolting against foreign powers, and ultranationalist political organizations. After World War II (1939–1945), the meaning changed again. As people revolted from European domination of the world, nationalistic groups were deemed to be terrorist groups. From about 1964 to the early 1980s, the term terrorism was also applied to violent left-wing groups, as well as nationalists. In the mid-1980s, the meaning changed again. In the United States, some of the violent activity of the hate movement was defined as terrorism. Internationally, terrorism was viewed as sub national warfare. Terrorists were sponsored by rogue regimes. As the millennium changed, the definitions of terrorism also changed. Today terrorism also refers to large groups who are independent from a state, violent religious fanatics, and violent groups who terrorize for a particular cause such as the environment. It is important to realize that any definition is influenced by the historical context of terrorism. Media Many times on TV after a terrorist-attack the news will announce that this person had terrorist connections in the past. Now if they had terrorist connections, why were they allowed to live freely, where they could plan terrorist attacks? If the government had a monitoring service to keep track of people with suspected histories of terrorism, or possible connections to terrorists, the FBI could make a careful watch of a person s communications. This would help prevent terrorism from happening by not allowing correspondence between the suspect, and the organization. Many argue that the realm of politics has a particular and controversial way of broaching, analyzing and, thus, conceptualizing â€Å"terrorism†. In Murdock’s view and many certainly agree with him. Politicians always try to limit and simplify the definition of terrorism in the name of the state’s political interests. Jeanne Kirkpatrick, former U. S. representative to the United Nations, simply identified and defined a â€Å"terrorist† as a person who â€Å"kills, maims, kidnaps and tortures. His victims may be schoolchildren†¦ industrialists returning home from work, political leaders or diplomats†. (Quoted in Graham Murdock, 1997: 1653). On the other hand, and mostly due to their special deontology and the specific rule of impartiality, journalists are said to broach and use the term terrorist â€Å"when civilians are attacked† (Murdock, 1997: 1653). David Paletz and Danielle Vinson, in â€Å"Terrorism and the Media†, analyze and describe the theme of terrorism in a very interesting way. Thus, they identify many forms of terrorism. The ones they believe to have most renown and prominence are: State Terrorism, waged against inhabitants of a state; State Sponsored Terrorism, against the people of the other states; and Insurgent Terrorism, also called by Schmid and De Graaf asâ€Å"Social-Revolutionary, Separatist and Single Issue Terrorism, aiming at the top of society†(Schmid De Graaf, 1982: 1), where the â€Å"violence is mainly perpetrated for its effects on others rather than the immediate victims† (Schmid De Graaf, 1982: 2). Schmid and De Graaf also argue that because the word terrorism has, by nature, such profound negative connotations, maybe a more neutral term would be preferable. They suggest the word insurgent. As far as I’m concerned, my argument is clearly this: western society, most dominated and influenced by the North American Culture and North American International Policy, constructed the term â€Å"terrorist†. Many argue that such construction is merely the reflection of western’s strategic political interests versus the Eastern ones, and most particularly, the Middle East’s cultural power. Impact of Terrorism on Society and Economy Terrorism poses a serious law and order problem and leads to disintegration of society. The incident of murder, torture, mutilation, kidnapping, arson and extortion create atmosphere of suspicion, fear and panic all around. Life becomes uncertain. The terrorists kill unarmed civilians including women and children. Organized crime and violence cause social disharmony. The inter relationship among various insurgent groups and their foreign linkages bring illegal money and encourages smuggling. Many insurgent groups collect certain percentage of money from the employees and businessmen on regular basis. Economic development of the area comes to an end. Our government has to make heavy expenditure to meet the challenges of terrorism. Ways to Control Terrorism A way to prevent terrorism is gun control. Gun control will prevent terrorism by reducing the number of weapons accessible to terrorists. Violent crimes and urban terrorism has dropped over 33% since the introduction of the background check. (Philips, 15) Something as simple as having a waiting period at gun shows can help reduce terrorism. It is possible for a group of people to go into the show separately, purchase three or four weapons, and then use them to rob a bank, or take hostages. Currently at gun shows, as long as you are 18, you can buy a variety of weapons, and ammunition. Although a full ban on guns would not stop weapons from coming into this country illegally, it would limit the guns accessible to criminals and possible terrorists. Many times on TV after a terrorist-attack, the news will announce that this person had terrorist connections in the past. Now if they had terrorist connections why were they allowed to live freely, where they could plan terrorist attacks? If the government had a monitoring service to keep track of people with suspected histories of terrorism, or possible connections to terrorists, the FBI could make a careful watch of a person s communications. This would help prevent terrorism from happening by not allowing correspondence between the suspect, and the organization. Although the person would not be a prisoner, he would be on parole so to speak, so he could lead a normal, productive life. However, if he made a large purchase of any possible bomb making materials his house would be searched. This can help prevent attacks because the person would not have any opportunities to plan any attacks. Some other preventive measures can be taken to stop bombings from occurring. One way is to put two-foot concrete pillars around federal buildings to prevent drive up bombings. Nevertheless, there are other ways to cause mass killings. Biological warfare is one of the most feared forms of terrorism in the world. Capable of killing thousands within a few days, and constantly spreading, it is the most effective form of terrorism there is. (Gaines,15) All it takes is someone with a small flask of anthrax in a powdered form to get on a subway, spread the virus, and get off. In the powdered form, the dust would spread into a fine dust, and then would be breathed in by hundreds of passengers. (Snow, 15) Now some things like that cannot be prevented, but a way to keep the people from getting sick is to make sure everyone born has vaccinations for any disease that can be spread, such as anthrax, and Ebola. However, there are not enough shots to go around. There is only one dose of anthrax vaccine per four people. The government needs to produce enough vaccine for everyone in the country. Terrorism against the United States in other countries continues to be a serious problem. The United States has not been able to effectively deal with terrorism directed at its embassies, personnel, or military installations. The United States has put up concrete barriers around its embassies to protect Americans from suicide bombers. In many cultures, religion and politics are intertwined; it is a great honor to die for your country on a suicide mission. It happened during World War II with the Kamikaze pilots and it happened again most recently with the attack on the U. S. S. Cole. The suicide bomb is most often used in the Middle East. Terrorism can be reduced with prevention, detection, and action. The problem will not go away if people just sit there and not take any action against it. Society needs to create a team to counteract terrorism, have better gun control, and monitor high-risk people. With these simple steps we can reduce terrorism.

sterilization Essays -- essays research papers fc

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The only way to ensure that sterilization has occurred is to use the biological monitoring methods. This is because these are the only tests done which show whether or not actual microbial life has been killed. Biological methods are the only ones which are recommended by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the AAMI (Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation), the AMA (American Medical Association), OSHA, and OSAP (Office Safety and Asepsis Procedures Foundation)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Biological monitoring is basically evaluating a sterilization process by rendering highly resistant bacterial spores biologically inert. The highly resistant bacterial spores used varies depending on what kind of sterilizer was used. For example Bacillus stearothermophilus spores for steam and chemical vapor sterilizers, Bacillus subtilis spores for dry heat and ethylene oxide sterilizers. These specific Bacillus spores are used because they are more resistant, and present in greater numbers than are the common microbial contaminants found on patient care equipment. If it is proven that these spores have been killed, it is strongly implied that other potential pathogens in the load have also been killed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In this method, living spores which are resistant to whichever sterilizing agent is being tested are prepared in either a self contained system, such as dry sp...

Linear Model of Communication Essay

It is a one way model to communicate with others. It consists of the sender encoding a message and channeling it to the receiver in the presence of noise. Draw backs – the linear model assumes that there is a clear cut beginning and end to communication. It also displays no feedback from the receiver. †¢ For example; a letter, email, text message, lecture. There are two main linear model which are used to explain the human communication process. They are †¦ †¦ †¦ †¢ Shannon and Weaver Model (1949) The original model was designed to mirror the functioning of radio and telephone technologies. Their initial model consisted of three primary parts: sender, channel, and receiver. The sender was the part of a telephone a person spoke into, the channel was the telephone itself, and the receiver was the part of the phone where one could hear the other person. Shannon and Weaver also recognized that often there is static that interferes with one listening to a telephone conversation, which they deemed noise. The noise could also mean the absence of signal. †¢ Berlo’s SMCR Model (1960) In 1960, David Berlo expanded on Shannon and Weaver’s linear model of communication and created the SMCR Model of Communication. The Sender-Message-Channel-Receiver Model of communication separated the model into clear parts and has been expanded upon by other scholars. Shannon – Weaver Model Claude Elwood Shannon (April 30, 1916- February 24,2001) was an American mathematician, electronic engineer and cryptographer.He is known as â€Å"the father of information theory†. He was a student of Michigan University. He was a graduate in both engineering and mathematics. He worked in Bell laboratories, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Institute for Advanced Studies.He got IEEE Medal of Honor, Kyoto Prize, Harvey Prize awards. [pic] Warren Weaver (July 17, 1894- Nov 24, 1978) was an American Scientist, Mathematician and Science administrator.He is widely recognized as one of the pioneers of machine translator and as important figure in creating support for science in US. He was a student of University of Wisconsin- Madison. Introduction: Shannon- Weaver model is mother of all model in communication. The theory based on how a concept goes to a place from another. It is also known as mathematical theory of communication. Shannon published â€Å"A Mathematical Theory of Communication† article in two parts in the July and October numbers of the â€Å"Bell System Technical Journal† in 1949. The book co-authored with Weaver â€Å"The Mathematical Theory of Communication† reprints Shannon’s article. Later Weaver explained the model and popularized it. Formula: C = W log2(1+S/N) where, C – Channel capacity W – Bandwith S – Signal level N – Noise power This model is specially designed to develop the effective communication between sender and receiver. Also they find factors which affecting the communication process called â€Å"Noise†. At first the model was developed to improve the Technical communication. Later it’s widely applied in the field of Communication. Communication model: The process of Shannon- Weaver model is as below †¦ †¦ †¦ [pic]Some key points of this model are given below †¦ †¦ †¦ †¢ Information source chooses desired message among a set of possible messages which can be mixture of any form of written or spoken, image or sound. †¢ Transmitter changes the message into the signal, also known as encoder. †¢ Message is the thing which is sent and received and all communication is about. †¢ Channel is the path that message passes through from the transmitter to the receiver. †¢ Receiver is the reverse transmitter which changes the signal back into the message, also known as decoder. †¢ Destination is the target place of the transmitted message. †¢ Noise is any unwanted additions to the transmitted signal which cause distortion or error in transmission. [pic] Shannon Weaver model of communication Requirments: There are eight (08) requirments of Shannon- Weaver model. They are †¦ †¦ †¦ †¢ Source †¢ Encoder †¢ Message †¢ Channel †¢ Decoder †¢ Reciever †¢ Noise †¢ Feedback Example: Mr. Khan made call to his assistant â€Å"come here I want to see you†. During his call, noise appeared (transmission error) and his assistant received â€Å"I want† only. Again Assistant asked Thomson (feedback) â€Å"what do you want Mr. Khan?†. Sender : Mr. Khan Encoder : Telephone (Mr. Khan) Channel : Cable Noise : Distraction in voice Reception : Telephone (Assistant) Receiver : Assistant. Due to transmission error or noise, Assistant can’t able to understand Thomson’s messages. Criticism: There are also criticism of Shannon- Weaver model. †¢ One of the simplest model and its general applied in various communication theories. †¢ The model which attracts both academics of Human communication and Information theorist to leads their further research in communication. †¢ It’s more effective in person-to-person communication than group or mass audience. †¢ The model based on â€Å"Sender and Receiver†. Here sender plays the primary role and receiver plays the secondary role (receive the information or passive). †¢ Communication is not a one way process. If it’s behaved like that, it will lose its strength. For example: Audience or receiver who listening a radio, reading the books or watching television is a one way communication because absence of feedback. †¢ Understanding Noise will helps to solve the various problems in communication. Conclusion: Basically Shannon made this model not for the human communication. Rather he conceived the mediated communication, to be explicit the very phony conversation. Later human communication scholars began to use it to explain the unmediated human communication, as it is very simple and not far away. Berlo’s SMCR Model [pic] Dr. David K. Berlo (1929- 1996) was an American communication experts. He is called as â€Å"the father of modern mass communication†. Dr. Berlo explained his model as an expansion of Shannon- Weaver model in 1960 in his book â€Å"The Process of Communication†. He was a professor of department of communication, Michigan State University (MSU). Introduction: The model of David Berlo is known as â€Å"Berlo’s SMCR model†. The meaning of SMCR is †¦ †¦ †¦ Source Message Channel Reciever Communication Model: [pic] Elements of communication S – Source The source in other words also called the sender is the one from whom the thought originates. He is the one who transfers the information to the receiver after carefully putting his thoughts into words. It is done with the help of †¦ †¦ †¦ ââ€" ª Communication Skills ââ€" ª Attitude ââ€" ª Knowledge ââ€" ª Social System ââ€" ª Culture M – Message When an individual converts his thoughts into words, a message is created. The process is also called as Encoding. Any message further comprises of the following elements: ââ€" ª Content ââ€" ª Element ââ€" ª Treatment ââ€" ª Structure ââ€" ª Code C – Channel Channel actually refers to the medium how the information flows from the sender to the receiver. Some are †¦ †¦ †¦ †¢ Hearing. †¢ Tasting. †¢ Seeing. †¢ Smelling. †¢ Touching. All the five senses are the channels which help human beings to communicate with each other. R – Receiver When the message reaches the receiver, he tries to understand what the listener actually wants to convey and then responds accordingly. This is also called as decoding. The receiver should be on the same platform as the speaker for smooth flow of information and better understanding of the message. He should possess good communication skills to understand what the speaker is trying to convey. He should have the right attitude to understand the message in a positive way. His knowledge should also be at par with the listener and must know about the subject. He should also be from the same social and cultural background just like the speaker. [pic] Example of SMCR model Weak Point: †¢ No feedback †¢ More unilinear Strong Point: †¢ Save money †¢ Save time †¢ Easy to pass †¢ Repeatation †¢ Replication Conclusion: Though there is no feedback but Berlo’s SMCR model has a in development communication.

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