Islamic Terrorism in Contemporary Drama

Introduction

Terrorism has sparked much debate around the world. It has been portrayed by media in various ways. Newspapers, television, radio and internet are filled with news and discussions about terrorism. It is the major cause of concern more the whole world. Media has portrayed the terrorism through different means, apart from the usual terrorism news, like in news discussions, columns in newspaper, web discussions and taking opinions on radio. Terrorism has also been a subject in contemporary drama. Major Directors have made terrorism the theme of their entire movies. After the 9/11 incidents, the theme of terrorism has become a major part of contemporary drama. Major movies have been made on the subject of terrorism in Hollywood, as well as Bollywood. This paper discusses Islamic terrorism, the influence of media and how terrorism is portrayed in contemporary drama.

Islamic Terrorism

The devastating September 11 attacks were an exceptional event, unparalleled in the history of terrorism, with consequences imposed all over the globe. Al Qaeda expected its terrorist campaign to inspire jihadist groups worldwide to take up arms. It failed to do so. Instead, al Qaeda turned to indiscriminate slaughter of Muslims, which provoked widespread anger and rejection. Al Qaeda after bin Laden is likely to be even more decentralized, its threat more dispersed (Burkhardt & Brass, 104). While he was alive, bin Laden was able to inflict unity to his fractious enterprise. Terrorism has been around a long time and often appears in poor second and third world countries. Terrorism is the unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons. Since terrorism has affected the world so hard recently, the United States and other countries are trying to find a way to end or limit terrorism as much as possible (Hoffman, 34).

The causes of terrorism are very similar if you compare one place prone to terrorism to another. Most terrorist groups are located in the Middle East. Iraq has always been prone to terrorism, with Saddam Hussein leading them. Recently Afghanistan's terrorist group Al Queda which is relatively close to Iraq has been in involved with Terrorism with Leader Osama Bin Laden being their key man. Other places where terrorism exists includes parts of South America and the Far East (Hart, 47). A low education level in a country can help lead to terrorism. In many low educated places children are taught to hate a specific race, religion, or country. Since they are taught this from a young age they know no better and have no choice to make their own decisions. Many of these terrorists who carry out the terrorist crimes have much incentive to do so. They often believe that they will go to a better place and are doing a great thing. Sometimes the leader of the terrorists groups will offer large sums of money to a ...