Terrorism of America On September 11, 2001 life in America changed forever when terrorists crashed planes into the twin towers, pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania. Since the occurrence of those events the word “terrorism” has been part of the common vocabulary in our day to day lives. The threat of terrorism has brought about many changes. It has created tighter security restrictions, increased intelligence gathering, and for some a sense of paranoia. It has also created a hatred towards those who seek to terrorize the United States. One must ask what is terrorism exactly and why does it happen? The word terrorism was first used in the late 18th century. In Geoffrey Nunberg’s essay “The War of Words: “Terror” and “Terrorism” he uses French Revolutionary Robespierre’s definition of terror as “nothing other than justice, prompt, severe, inflexible; it is therefore an emanation of virtue” (Nunberg 433). Terrorism was the action of a people who were working for and ideological cause. It was a means of bringing about change. Whether the action was positive or negative was determined by the group defining it. While those acting to bring …show more content…
One could argue that our own country is founded on terrorism. While fighting the Revolution, the colonials often employed unconventional tactics that could be described as “guerilla warfare” to achieve their goal of freedom from imperial Britain. Rather than stand in a line on a field in face to face combat, revolutionaries hid and launched surprise attacks on unsuspecting British soldiers. Our rebellion against common practices and etiquette of war were act of terrorism. Even the violent destruction of property at the Boston Tea Party could be described as terrorism. These actions had a positive result for the revolutionaries, but were seen as very negative actions by the