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Brett Turner
Mary Martin
English 110
1 December 2015
Stress of terrorism
In most recent events a new significant stress that has come upon us is the threat of ISIS. ISIS is
a fairly newly founded terrorist group founded in 1999 by the Jordanian extremist Abu Musab alZarqawi. Within five years, al-Zarqawis new group chose to associate themselves with Osama
bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. They are considered to be Islamic extremists, Islamists or Jihadists,
closely linked to the concept of Jihad or struggle. Various similar groups, such as the Taliban,
Boko Haram, Al-Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah have also made the news for decades, but ISIS
appears to be in a league of its own.
By early 2014, Al-Qaeda officially dissociated itself from ISIS, and the new group became a selfsustained entity. Al-Qaeda refused to be held responsible for ISIS actions which they deemed to
be too extreme in some cases. ISIS has proven to be a growing force to be reckoned with. They
have lived up to their barbaric reputation. They continue to advance in the Middle East,
spreading their grip on a terrified, ill-prepared region.
ISIS has a very effective recruitment system. They produce high quality effective videos
that display horrific beheadings and barbaric acts that install fear into the world and cement the

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groups reputation and dominance. They are extremely media savvy and employ experienced
media and marketing people, even having entire media companies backing them supporting their
video production and distribution like the Al Hayat Media Center. They have even masterfully
utilized instagram, Facebook, and twitter, drawing in the younger population. ISIS makes sure
not to exclude potential female militants in its recruitment efforts. Since the group prohibits
women from fighting on the frontlines, the group uses other incentives to entice them to join, like
sexual comfort roles and the promise of a committed husband.
They have been known to conduct public executions, beheadings, live burnings, rapes, and most
recently have been involved in multiple mass shootings like Paris and even right here on our own
soil, San Bernardino. They have executed American citizens outside of our country on multiple
occasions. Those civilians and soldiers that were executed and videotaped in another country was
horrific for us to have to watch here were nothing compared to the fact that ISIS has now made a
stamp on the US with San Bernardino. We are now terrified and people are stressed all across the
country.
With the threat of public attacks it is obvious that people would become stressed with large
public functions and celebrations. Lets take for example the triumphant win of the royals as the
World Series Champions. The fear that someone might choose that occasion to set off a bomb
and do a mass murder probably caused people not to go to the celebration Downtown.
Thankfully it turned out to be a wonderful celebration. It is sad that celebrations cause people so
much stress these days because they can turn into a mass attack by these terrorist organizations.
These events have greatly stressful effects on the Muslim population living in the United States
and the Refugees. They dont feel safe because they dont feel trusted anymore. They feel

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scrutinized, singled out, and targeted. Could these problems possibly lead to world war three?
How long may these issues take and will this turn into the United States Reestablishing the draft?
How will this affect the Muslim population and refugees?

Works Cited
"Bustle." Bustle. Web. 7 Dec. 2015.
"Ministry News." A Brief History of ISIS. Web. 7 Dec. 2015.
"San Bernardino Gunman Obsessed with ISIS and Israel, Dad Says." Fox News. FOX News
Network, 6 Dec. 2015. Web. 7 Dec. 2015.
"Obama: 'This Was an Act of Terrorism' - CNNPolitics.com." CNN. Cable News Network. Web.
7 Dec. 2015.