Question: Utilizing the following peer response and the below questions.
The first speech occurred on October 29, 2004.
Osama bin Laden says he will fight back with any means necessary if the United States continues to meddle in affairs of the Middle East. He had an eye for an eye mentality. He wants to lead his followers to believe that no good will come to the western world.
What Osama wanted us to believe is that not only has the United States caused injustices to other countries, but they are causing injustices to the citizens of this nation as well. Osama wants everyone to turn against the government, so we would have fighting amongst ourselves. They must be laughing at us now.
During the first speech he tried to show the difference between Muslims and Western religions by making it seem that there are not any believers in religion here and the damage caused is what Allah wants. Most people would not agree with that. We have many different religions here that are worshipped, including Islam.
To Osama bin Laden; his actions have been pure retaliation. He is saying that terrorism is the only way they can fight back. He said these events happened because he was protecting his sanctuary. Bin laden wanted to show his followers how much capital it was causing us to lose by what they were doing.
He spoke knowledgeably and informed about what is going on. It sounds like he used the media around the world to learn about our reactions. He mentioned what President Bush was doing, talking to a girl about a goat, instead of putting his focus on the towers.
I have to say it is tough to counteract such rhetoric. Many Americans are unhappy with how things are going for them. They blame the government. As Bin Laden has voiced about President Bush, people think the fight was all about the oil. "But the darkness of the black gold blurred his vision and insight, and he gave priority to private interests over the public interests of America" Information, 2004). It is easy to see how someone's empathy could sway them to these thoughts.
From another speech in 2011 he speaks of all the wrongs he believes we have committed against man and compares what happened in World War II Germany to what is happening now.
He wants us to turn against each other. He spoke of the Jews and how they would have been saved had they turned to the Middle East during the World War. He talked about that it is against his religion to burn people, which is ironic when you think of 9/11. He wanted the American people to see that President Bush was fighting for his own agenda and not that of the people.
In this second speech he tends to separate Muslims from everyone else in the world. Then to compare stereotypes he even states that Jewish people are safe in Morocco and they will not "incinerate" them. What a terrible thing to hear. Hearing him speak would not cause me any comfort. He keeps comparing things to the Holocaust.
He wants the Muslim listener to believe that everything American is trying to rid of them. In the 2011 video he wants his supporters to fight the capitalist system, which he says is evil.
Listening to his message, he wants the listener to join Islam and to be a true believer.
In tape two, he wanted to make it perfectly clear that the violence against us is our own fault. He tries to show the world why they should be against us. He was talking about how corporate money is running this country. He even used the term "money talks" in reference to corporations owning the politicians.
His purpose is to gain followers and have the people turn against the United States. He says "realize that you have lost confidence in your democratic system and begin to search for an alternative, that this alternative is Islam" (Youtube, 2011).
One of the ways that we could counteract the effects of the tape is to be more transparent in what we are doing and showing what is going on. This country has to be more proactive against terrorism; we always react after something happens. It seems that we are too busy covering things up to move forward. Let the American people understand and be part of the decision making, not just voting for someone to be placed into any office.
Unlike what most people think, there are some steps we have to take for people to feel safe again here.
Review and reflect on the Terrorist Goals and Stereotypes Discussion Board. Based on your review and reflection of new learning in this course, write at least 400-600 words on the following:
What have you learned from others'' responses?
What were the most compelling points from the interaction with your fellow students?
How did participating in this discussion help in your understanding of the Discussion Board task?
What approaches could have yielded additional valuable information in the students'' networking?
What is still unclear after the discussion with your classmates that needs to be clarified?