A terrorist is someone who uses violence or the threat of
violence against the public to further their own agenda. When
one thinks of a terrorist, it is easy to picture a radical
ideologue making a martyr of themselves in a crowded place,
which creates an immediate increase in terror due to the
violence caused by blowing one’s self up. However, the lasting
effects of such terrorist acts – a heightened state of fear in
the minds of the population- is the purpose of terrorism.
Instilling a lasting fear is what they do… and these effects are
just as significant as the actual act of taking innocent lives,
perhaps even more so to those whose lives are not touched
directly by the people who are killed. When a politician uses
references to terrorism and terrorist acts, like when they say
‘In this post-9/11 world’, they are using fear to further their
own agenda. When it comes to politicians, their agenda is almost
always to maintain and gain power, and they do so by scaring the
population so that they give up some o