Nowadays, facing a globalized world, terrorism is a proposition which is very worth to discuss. Whenever it comes to terrorism, whether it is the state or people, there are different opinions about it, especially in morality. The debate about the morality of terrorism has become a hot topic today, and a common question is caused whether terrorism is justified or whether it is always wrong. One the one hand, some thinkers believe that sometimes terrorism is moral and justified such as utilitarian thinkers, political realists. The political realist supports terrorism is justified if people take effective violence to protect the interests of the state. At the same time, utilitarian thinkers also believe that sometimes this behaviour that citizens take terrorist attacks against foreign governments is moral because they want to get fair treatment in this way. On the other hand, other thinkers claim that terrorism is always wrong, and they oppose any form of violence. The absolute pacifist is one of the representatives. The absolute pacifist holds people should adopt a more peaceful approach to dealing with problems rather than using violence. These two debates inspire more philosophers to study war and terrorism. For example, through the analysis of the morality of war, a philosopher Saint Thomas Aquinas concluded that “although war is not a good thing, it is morally justified under certain conditions” (Velasquez, 2017, p. 640). And Aquinas also came up with a just war theory to
In today’s society domestic terrorism is one of the biggest threats to the United States. Some of these recent terrorist attacks include. Domestic Terrorism is when U.S. citizens carry out terrorist acts against other U.S. residents or groups.Many people think that the biggest threat of terrorism to the U.S. is from a foreign country, when in fact, the bigger threat is closer to home. Domestic terrorism is becoming a bigger threat to the U.S. than international terrorism and we need to find a way to prevent these attacks.
In the article “Is Terrorism Distinctively Wrong?”, Lionel K. McPherson criticizes the dominant view that terrorism is absolutely and unconditionally wrong. He argues terrorism is not distinctively wrong compared to conventional war. However, I claim that terrorism is necessarily wrong.
The word “ terrorism” is used a lot in the world nowadays. The definition of a terrorist is someone who uses intentionally indiscriminate violence as a means to create terror or fear, in order to achieve a political, religious, or ideological aim. Some example of what we have establish as terror attacks are the Twin Towers in New York on the 11 of september 2001 or the Paris attack on november the 13 2015. The attacks were done by two different groups of terrorists, but what people tend to ignore is that these terrorist groups did not come to life from the unknown. What people tend to ignore or maybe just don’t understand or don’t know is that in this case, Al Qaeda was a creation of the United States of America, a country which was colossally
As paradoxical as it may seem (to most), it proves difficult to condemn terrorism and have a consistent, non-hypocritical way to judge it. Most definitions of terrorism lack the applicability of all instances of terrorism, there seems to be borderline exceptions which fall within the gray area of such definitions. Stephen Nathanson, in an effort to establish what makes terrorism wrong, bases one of his main arguments on that terrorists are thought to be dreadful because they intentionally seek innocent deaths, while others who kill innocents do so unintentionally (15). In this essay, I shall argue that Nathanson’s definition of innocence, which is mostly used as the core gauge of why terrorism is morally unjustifiable, is badly restricting in that it excludes the cases of political assassinations. Consequently, this insinuates that when using his definition of innocence, attacks on political figureheads may be morally justifiable if it is done for a just cause. To support this thesis I will argue that, although, political assassinations do not involve the killing of innocents they are, in most cases, morally unjustifiable contrary to what Nathanson’s argument insinuates. Moreover, I will consider how Nathanson may reply to my contention by objecting that political figureheads cannot be innocent given their political position and will address his rebuttal by demonstrating that within the context of society most of us are not innocent.
This paper will discuss religious terrorism in particular. Religious terrorism can be defined as “the terrorism [is] carried out based on motivations and goals that have a predominantly religious character or influences.” (“Religious Terrorism”) An example of this will be the 9/11 attacks. It was “a series of four coordinated terrorist attack launched by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda upon the United States in New York City and the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.”(“September 11 attacks”) This attack had led to a serious causality, “almost 3000 people dies in the attacks.” (“September 11 attacks”) Osama Bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, declared a “holy war against the United States” (“September 11 attacks”) In his “letter to America”, he stated the motives as follows: In opposition to western support for attacking Muslims in Somalia; supporting the Indian oppression against Muslims in Kashmir; the Jewish aggression against Muslims in Lebanon; the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia; U.S support of Israel and the sanction against Iraq. (“September 11 attacks”) The disastrous attack leads to a serious attention of re-constructing the old version of counter terrorism strategy, which had failed to protect the citizens against terrorism. However, ‘terrorism is far to complex for one solution to be effective in dealing with all the possible threats.” (Lygutas 146) Therefore, some of the measures have difficulties in balancing the rights of
Have you ever wondered why there are so many terrorist attacks in the United States? Why did the United States spends so much money on the military? This all happens due to a reason that the United States keep interfering into others countries’ problems, but most of the time nothing come out of it. Sometimes, the United States even make the problem become even worse. Just like the war in Iraq. The decisions made by the Presidents cause the problem getting worse day by day. Helping people out is a good thing, however, we should think about if that person need help or not. Which out the intervene of the United States, Iraq will not be in a situation like today. The United States will be less in debt and more money to fund other programs. There are more negative effects than positive effects when the United States meddles into others countries’ problems, so the United States should just ignore and stop worrying about those countries.
The equation of dealing with terrorism on an ethical level is complicated by its components not connected to an official state. Just War theory sets a list of checkpoints before a just war can be declared (Snauwaert 2004). This list is known as the Jus ad Bellum and is comprises, but not limited to: just cause, right authority, right intention, proportionality, reasonable hope of success, and last resort (Snauwaert 2004).
In America we have a lot of domestic terrorism. Domestic terrorism didn’t become a problem until the 9/11 terror attacks on September 11 2001 in New York City when planes were hijacked hit the buildings and killed over 3,000 people. Since then there have been over 10 major terror attacks in the United States. Five of which have been been the most effective to the United States the five are Pulse nightclub shooting, the two church shootings, Las Vegas massacre, San Bernardino California shooting. Domestic terrorism started in New York when a bomb exploded on Wall Street in the financial district in the 1950s and 1960s. The pros to domestic terrorism is that it makes our country stronger and knows what to
The war on terrorism is vast and intense. Most of the media and public are focused on the international threats and groups plaguing the globe, however there is a true and real concern for the terrorism in our backyard and the government has taken notice. How exactly can a government so fragmented and already stretched so thin take on another hardship with such high stakes? By restructuring the system with a more narrowly tasked counsel, the Domestic Terrorism Counsel (Carlin, 2015), to focus all involved, bridging the gaps between vertical intergovernmental relations, from federal to local levels, and the horizontal cross-sector collaboration of multiple organizations, like the FBI, the Attorney General’s Office, and the SPLC. (Carlin, 2015)
Terrorism has had a negative effect on the world. In the United States the role of terrorism is steadily a growing, creating new issues and situations which the United States government must battle. The department of Home land security has an active and significant role on ensuring the security and safety of the United States of America. Acts of terrorism differs in every region, what one might consider terrorism the other might not. Terrorism comes in several forms such as domestic, international, bioterrorism and cyber terrorism. Every law enforcement agencies has a different approach to terrorism. Strategies for battling terrorism in multicultural communities are different compared to communities inhabited by a less diversified group.
There are different elements clarify why terrorism is ethically wrong, regardless of the possibility that different types of murdering are every so often passable. Notwithstanding, terrorism slaughtering considers whether the utilization of different sorts of fear for political as opposed to military use makes terrorism altogether off-base. A few good qualifications that may be critical to the ethical quality and reasonable portrayal of terrorism are incorporated.
They focus on the traits of terrorism that cause most of us to view the practice with deep moral repugnance: (i) violence (ii) against non-combatants (or, alternatively, against innocent people) for the sake of (iii) intimidation (and, on some definitions, (iv) coercion). In highlighting (ii), they relate the issue of terrorism to the ethics of war and one of the fundamental principles of just war theory, that of non-combatant immunity. They help distinguish terrorism from acts of war proper and political assassination, which do not target non-combatants or common citizens. It does not matter very much whether the victims of terrorism are described as “non-combatants” or “innocent people”, as each term is used in a technical sense, and both refer to those who have not lost their immunity against lethal or other extreme violence by being directly involved in, or highly responsible for, (what terrorists consider) insufferable injustice or oppression. In war, these are innocent civilians; in a violent conflict that falls short of war, these are common
President Reagan quoted from French political thinker Alexis de Tocqueville that “America is great because America is good. And if America ever stops being good, America will stop being great.” Mr. Tocqueville may never have said this but whoever said this is absolutely right. Now that this great nation is under the threat of terrorism we need to show the world that United States is still a great.
“It's not frightening to me," he told Williams. "If I have one bullet left, I'll take my own life before that happens. I'm not gonna get put on YouTube by ISIS, and let them put me on my knees and cut my head off for publicity."(Jeremy).We as Americans have seen innumerable things that are disturbing and incomprehensible but what we are seeing coming from ISIS is far from cruel. They have taken a woman hostage made them wives and even killed children who denied to convert to Muslim, they have assassinated husbands, brothers and fathers all in front of their families with no remorse. ISIS posted these videos so Americans could fear for their lives or join ISIS in their attacks. Although Americans are helping to fight against ISIS we also have
As the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria continues its jihadist rampage across the Middle East, a possible genocide is unfolding that few in the West seem to notice. With all eyes on the recent Israeli offensive in Gaza, ISIS has continued its own offensive in Iraq virtually unchallenged, leaving thousands of Christians and Shia Muslims dead in its wake. Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq and a historic site for Middle Eastern Christians, fell to ISIS in June, forcing thousands in the area to evacuate for fear of their lives.