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The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) recently published an article, The Domestic U.S. Terror Threat: What to Know, related to our personal freedoms and terrorism. According to the CFR Expert, Bruce Hoffman (2019) stated:
The United States is clearly facing an unprecedented crisis. Gun violence is already tragically commonplace. And, with what now seems a depressing regularity, individuals inspired by self-perpetuating online echo chambers that peddle malignant, exclusionary ideologies and conspiracy theories have taken up arms and perpetrated a chain of lethal copycat assaults. The attacks are a product of twenty-first-century social media platforms that reach wide audiences, and racists, anti-Semites, xenophobes, and conspiracy junkies use them to appeal to and target like-minded individuals who are acutely susceptible and responsive to their violent entreaties.
The challenge is that, unlike in the past, this violence is not fueled by identifiable terrorist organizations or terrorist leaders. Rather, it is driven by these individuals’ wanton embrace of conspiracy theories and ideological diatribes against immigration. These rants have now found their way into the mainstream of political discourse via campaign rallies, tweets, and similarly calculated diatribes by President Donald J. Trump and other political figures. Coupled with the availability of highly lethal firearms, the inevitable outcome is tragedies such as those in Pittsburgh and in Poway, California—and, this past weekend, in El Paso. Approaches used to counter threats from groups such as the self-proclaimed Islamic State or al-Qaeda will not necessarily work. Any new domestic terrorism legislation will therefore have to frame a new approach to threats that emanate from sulfurous internet platforms.
This Lesson’s Discussion Assignment: Prepare a 100–200 word discussion response answering the following question:
How much of your personal freedoms, such as privacy, speech, and press, are you willing to sacrifice in order to be more secure from terrorism?
As always, make sure that you cite any references that you may use.
