by Mark Yang
Applicants for the 2010 West Windsor Human Relations Council scholarship were asked to submit an essay on how the world should deal with terrorism. Mark Yang, winner of the award at High School South, submitted the following essay:
“If our messages had been able to reach you through words, we wouldn’t have been delivering them through planes.”
— Osama Bin Laden; commenting on the attempt to blow up an aircraft on Christmas Day, 2009.
We humans are deeply emotional creatures. When we make decisions, we weigh our rational and irrational feelings, and often, our emotions play a heavy role in our final decisions. What makes terrorism so effective is that it plays upon these emotions — specifically fear. After 9/11, the number of airline customers declined significantly, even though driving is 24 times more dangerous than flying. Even when presented with such facts the feelings of fear are often greater than any level of comfort from statistical fact.
Targeting this weakness in man’s character, small groups of extremists throughout history have controlled the actions of a much greater majority. The Ku Klux Klan effectively controlled the voting of African Americans through lynching. Zealots randomly carried out the assassination of Jews in support of Roman occupancy.
Although the spotlight has recently been on terrorist groups driven by religious zeal, the fundamental causes of aggressive behavior lie in one’s surroundings. Terrorism, at its heart, is a political act. As Levitt and Dubner describe in Super Freakonomics, “Think of terrorism as civic passion on steroids.” When a person feels that their opinion does not matter and feels oppressed by a majority, they will instinctively try to make their voice heard; however, in certain situations, some will turn to terrorism to do so. Driven by jihadist religious teachings and their mutual feelings of oppression by the West, groups such as al-Qaeda have used terrorism to make their political point.
Political action constitutes many different types of expression, one being terrorism. Nevertheless, other forms of political action, including civil disobedience, have not only been more successful, but have also been much less damaging. However, many of the terrorist organizations in the modern day world are based on a deep hatred or religious fanaticism, which makes the use of civil disobedience extremely rare. In this case, where other types of political action such as voting or civil disobedience are not plausible, we must look at the roots of terrorism in order to achieve peace.
When examining the history of terrorism in the Middle East, many factors seem to have a heavy influence on the prevalence of extremist groups. Greatest in effect, however, is lack of a stable government, whereby citizens would be able to peacefully make their opinions heard through voting and independent advocacy groups. Terrorism feeds off instability, so in order to truly end acts of violence, stability must be achieved in Middle Eastern countries. As U.S. troops slowly withdraw from Afghanistan over the course of the coming months, Afghanistan’s government, and ultimately stability, will be put to the test. If Afghanistan can act as a model of stability and peace to other Middle Eastern countries, perhaps then it’s possible to dream of a Middle East without bloodshed, and without terrorism.
Yang, South ’10 and a Plainsboro resident, is attending the University of Michigan to study pharmacy.
