Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Rylan McClelland
UWRT 1104
Terrorism has been an issue for many centuries, occurring in many places around the
world. It has caused several wars throughout known history and changed the relationships Deleted: many
between groups of people. Recently, terrorism has become a big problem in the United States of
America. It has caused several changes in American culture to the point where the general public
has become desensitized to horrific news of lives lost during an attack(Dastagir). There has also Deleted: the
Deleted: that comes from these attacks
been a culture shift from believing that the US is invincible and nothing can stop us to now
believing that we are so vulnerable that we are just waiting to be the victims of the next attack on
the US. This paper goes through the events that started this culture shift from the 9/11 attacks up Deleted:
9/11 Attacks
The War on Terror all started after the September 11th attacks in 2001 when members
of Al Qaeda hijacked several planes with the intent of harming many people. Two of the planes Deleted: on
Deleted: people
were flown into the North and South towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. Deleted: .
Another plane was flown into the Pentagon building in Washington D.C., the nations capital.
The final plane was believed to have another building in D.C. as its target, like the White House
or the Capitol building. However, the brave men and women on the flight were able to take back
control from the hijackers and crash land the plane in a field in Pennsylvania. Meanwhile in New
York City, the fires in the Twin Towers caused by the planes started to make the structure of the
McClelland 2
towers collapse in on themselves, resulting in a huge pile of rubble in the middle of this city. By
the end of the day, there were around 2,977 deaths. Deleted:
This attack was devastating to all Americans. No one saw it coming and many people
believed that the attack would continue in other regions of the country. Although the US has
been attacked before like the WTC bombings in 1993, this was different because it was a
surprise attack and the scope of the attack was bigger than the American people had ever seen
before. So this attack is when the American people began to develop a fear of terrorism. This Deleted: T
fear fueled many things, such as changes in the government and ethnic group relations. After the
attacks, the United States military began to send troops to the Middle East to find those
responsible. The military searched through Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and several other countries
for the perpetrators of this heinous attack. On December 13th, 2001 a video was released by the Formatted: Superscript
Taliban/Al Qaeda and their leader, Osama Bin Laden, who took responsibility for the attacks that
occurred in September.
While the military was searching, back home the American people began to turn on each
other. People began to fear those that came from Middle-Eastern families or those that were
born in the Middle East(Woods). Many hate crimes were committed against them and people Deleted: there
looked down upon them. On November 19th 2001, the US government created a new Formatted: Superscript
Deleted: T
organization to ensure another attack like the 9/11 attacks would not happen again. The Deleted: tool
Transportation Security Administration or TSA put new security procedures in place and
screened all those who traveled through airports in order to protect everybody that decided to
The TSA has a negative connotation due to the added time it puts on getting through the Deleted: in
airport as well as the fact that they are accused of racial profiling against those who are of
McClelland 3
Middle-Eastern descent. The United States government also passed the Patriot Act on October Deleted: However, the TSA has been proven to be very
useful because it has ruined many terrorist plots.
26th 2001, which allowed the government to have surveillance over all U.S. citizens in order to Formatted: Superscript
keep the country as a whole safe from more attacks, but it also violated many civil liberties such
The US military faced several problems while in the Middle East. They discovered that
many countries there were unhappy with the United States and some were really dangerous. In
2003, the military took down Saddam Hussein who was the President of the Iraqi government, Deleted: an
which the U.S. government believed had access to Weapons of Mass Destruction. Many of the
terrorists we did find in pursuit of those responsible were captured and sent to Guantanamo Bay,
a prison facility for terrorists. Through torture and other means, the U.S. government was able to
find out where the mastermind behind the 9/11 plot was(Peralta). Deleted: o was
Eventually in 2011, the government found Bin Laden and had him killed by Seal Team Formatted: Left, Indent: First line: 0.5"
Deleted: the man, Osama
Six, a counter-terrorism force that performs missions for the U.S. government; this pleased many Deleted: ,
Americans. After Bin Ladens death, the fighting in the Middle East began to die down. The
United States government believed that the war was over after this and they began to bring the
troops back home. The vacuum of power that was created after the troops left allowed for a new Deleted: ing
and dangerous terrorist organization to develop, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant or as
On April 15, 2013, two bombs went off near the finish line of the 117th Annual Boston
Marathon, that killed three civilians and wounded more than 260 other people. Two pressure-
cooker bombs that were packed with shrapnel sitting inside backpacks were placed along the
finish line of the marathon. Several of the people that were hit by these bombs ended up losing
McClelland 4
some of their limbs. Many were taken aback to this attack that came out of nowhere. However,
this tragedy caused the community to work together to find the perpetrators of this attack.
Less than two days after the attack, the FBI was able to discover two male suspects that
they believed to be the ones responsible by searching through thousands of videos and
photographs taken from security cameras in the area where the attack had occurred. The FBI then
released images of these men in order to help with the search and on the 19th, a manhunt was
After an intense search for the suspects throughout the day, police were able to capture
one of the bombing suspects, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, while his older brother, Tamerlan had died
after he was wounded from a shootout with law enforcement. Before he was captured, Tsarnaev
reportedly wrote a note that the Boston bombings were committed in retaliation for U.S. wars in
Muslim countries. Investigators have suggested the Tsarnaevs were motivated by extremist
Islamic beliefs but planned and carried out the bombings on their own and were not connected to
Like 9/11, these bombings also changed the way America was. In order for the FBI to
track down the two suspects, they had to follow leads towards other suspects as well as use any
methods necessary to find the true culprits. They violated many peoples civil liberties by going
after suspects that were not even involved and shutting down the whole city of Boston, but at this Deleted: but
point Americans had grown use to this(Contributor). Eventually, they found out who caused this Deleted: ,
attack. The discovery of the true identities of the culprits also sent another wave of anger in
people due to their Chechen ethnicity. People once again began to commit hate crimes against
immigrants from the Middle East because of these two men and their own radicalized views Deleted: only
Deleted: radicalized
against the USA, which brought up reminders of what happened after 9/11.
McClelland 5
Although this attack was similar to 9/11 in some ways, a big difference between the two
events was the technology of the time. Since 2001, new inventions have changed the way
Americans live their lives. Smartphones allowed the bystanders to record videos or take pictures
of the attack that could then be placed onto a social media site where more people can see what
has happened and can try to get involved in helping. Media coverage had also changed from
2001 because the news stations became more involved in stories like this one, so there was 24/7
coverage throughout the whole manhunt that took place on April 19th(Bommarito). Deleted:
Halloween Attack
There have been several attacks since the Boston Marathon bombings. Throughout the
world, the terrorist organization ISIS has attacked many places. They have claimed responsibility
for attacks in the Middle East as well as the ones that have happened in Europe. They have had Deleted: many
attacks in other major world cities like Paris and London, which were as shocking to the citizens Deleted: London
of those cities as 9/11 was to New York citizens. They have also attacked the United States
several times at places like in San Bernardino, California and at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando,
Florida.
The most recent attack occurred in New York City, only a few blocks away from the
new World Trade Center building on October 31st, 2017. Eight people were killed and almost a
dozen were injured when a man, now identified as Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov, drove a rented
pickup truck down a busy bicycle path and into a school bus before exiting the truck and
shooting off a fake firearm. The man was stopped by police and is currently being investigated.
A note written by Saipov was found at the crime scene claiming that the attack was made in the
name of ISIS. At this point in time, most Americans were expecting another attack to happen
sometime soon and many were so desensitized to this tragedy that they went on with their lives
McClelland 6
In conclusion, American culture has shifted into one that no longer has people with
shocked reactions towards terrorist attacks. Hate plays a big part in the spread of terrorism in
society and new technology can be helpful in preventing future attacks. Americans who wish to
live safe and normal lives will have to realize that they need to change their attitude towards
terrorism. They need to stand with the government and repel these terrorist organizations by
getting more involved and being educated about current terrorist threats. Not allowing terrorists
to have more surprise attacks also helps fight terrorism. Otherwise, attacks will keep on
Works Cited
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Contributor, Quora. During the Boston Lockdown, What Would Have Happened If Someone
Refused to Let Police Enter a Home? Slate Magazine, Slate Magazine, 9 May 2013,
www.slate.com/blogs/quora/2013/05/09/boston_bombing_lockdown_could_you_have_re
Dastagir, Alia E. What Does It Mean If Terrorism No Longer Terrorizes Us? USA Today, Formatted: Font: Times New Roman, 12 pt
Green, Matthew. How 9/11 Changed America: Four Major Lasting Impacts (with Lesson
https://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/2017/09/08/13-years-later-four-major-lasting-impacts-of-
Liptak, Adam. Civil Liberties Today. The New York Times, The New York Times, 6 Sept. Formatted: Font: Times New Roman, 12 pt
Meet 'Seal Team 6,' The Guys Who Killed Osama Bin Laden - And Whose Members Are Now
Peralta, Eyder. 'Torture Report': Did Harsh Interrogations Help Find Osama Bin Laden? NPR, Formatted: Font: Times New Roman, 12 pt
Rappaport, Gary. What You Can Do. MINNESOTANS AGAINST TERRORISM, Minnesotans
Nov 2017
September 11th Terror Attacks Fast Facts. CNN, Cable News Network, 24 Aug. 2017, Formatted: Font: Times New Roman, 12 pt
US Terrorist Attacks Fast Facts. CNN, Cable News Network, 1 Nov. 2017,
www.cnn.com/2013/04/18/us/u-s-terrorist-attacks-fast-facts/index.html. Accessed 05
Nov 2017
Woods, Joshua. "The 9/11 Effect: Toward a Social Science of the Terrorist Threat." The Social
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