Extremists vs. Extreme Terrorists

The subject of terrorism; the way the media has portrayed it, the word itself is enough to incite a feeling of terror.

As cited in ‘Islamic State’ magazine, “Kill them on the streets of Brunswick, Broadmeadows, Bankstown, and Bondi. Kill them at the MCG, the SCG, the Opera House, and even in their backyards” (Stephens 2016).

As a public we are constantly bombarded with messages of the supposed Muslim terror threat and the increasing strangle hold these extremists have encroaching on our way of life.

But is this the case in the real world?

Australia has remained relatively unscathed from any such terror activity, much unlike our allies in the United States. However, for all the media hype and speculation a relatively low percentage of these attacks are in fact performed by Muslims and people of an Arabic background.

Source: Global Research

Allow me to offer you two facts that may adjust your perspective further than the above FBI findings:

1. There have been 140,000 terror attacks committed worldwide since 1970. Even if Muslims carried out all of these attacks, those terrorists would represent less than 0.00009 percent of all Muslims. To put things into perspective, this means that you are more likely to be struck by lightning in your lifetime than a Muslim is likely to commit a terrorist attack during that same timespan (Alnatour 2016).

If those numbers were a little hard to swallow, perhaps this will be a little more palatable.

2. 5 out of the past 12 Nobel Peace Prize winners (42 percent) have been Muslims (Alnatour 2016).

Alternatively, the United States government has a checkered history of invading foreign nations in the name of “peace”.  While it is commonly believed that following September 11 and the Bush administration America was no longer a warmongering nation, President Barack Obama ‘runs an unprecedented worldwide campaign of terrorism and murder by drone’ (Pilger 2016).

In Prague 2009, the President delivered a speech essentially promising to help rid the world of nuclear weapons and was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize of his own. However, ‘No American president has built more nuclear warheads than Obama’ (Pilger 2016).

Now I ask you what is more terrifying; some unlikely, extremist terrorizing your neighbourhood, or the horror of having your home country ravaged by the heavy hand of the United States government?

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References

Alnatour, O 2016, ‘Muslims are not terrorists: a factual look at terrorism and Islam’, The World Post, 15 June, viewed 23 September 2016, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/omar-alnatour/muslims-are-not-terrorist_b_8718000.html.

Global Research 2016, digital image, viewed 23 September 2016, http://www.globalresearch.ca/non-muslims-carried-out-more-than-90-of-all-terrorist-attacks-in-america/5333619.

Pilger, J 2016, ‘Silencing America as it prepares for war’, johnpilger.com, 27 May, viewed 23 September 2016, http://johnpilger.com/articles/silencing-america-as-it-prepares-for-war.

Stephens, K 2016, ‘New Islamic State magazine encourages lone wolves to kill Australians’, News.com, 7 September, viewed 23 September 2016, http://www.news.com.au/national/new-islamic-state-magazine-encourages-lone-wolves-to-kill-australians/news-story/c9460ccd304a7cafc598a09e13e11639.