Taylor James Snyder

Humanities 11 AM
Current Event Comparison

ISIS, the group that is also known as the Islamic State, is lead by Abu Bakr AlBaghdadi and has struck the world with many terrorist attacks. Recently they have
created fear throughout the world with rumors of torture and other horrible acts
that have been orchestrated in the last few months. There are many untold stories
of ISIS and what they have done and will continue to do. The threats issued by ISIS
have made people all over the world question the safety their homes, whether that
be in the United States or elsewhere in the world.
This issue is clearly extremely important in our world today because they are
endangering the lives of innocent people throughout the entire world. However the
task of bringing these terrorists to an end is no simple task. The objective of the ISIS
group is to force their beliefs and view of conservative Islamic traditions on the rest
of the world. ISIS believes that if you do not abide by their beliefs than you deserve
to be executed. The public crucifixions and beheadings have terrified millions of
people all over the world. ISIS uses social media to post and spread these events.
Recently we along with many other countries have conducted airstrikes on ISIS
military areas. These attacks have slowed the progress made by this terrorist group,
but they are still growing rapidly, so more must be done to stop them.
An article I found on ABC News titled Months of bombing makes small
impact on ISIS military capabilities left me with an uneasy feeling. The article
stated that after three months of airstrikes and bombing at the cost of 8 million

dollars a day has made very little progress. Despite the attacks, ISIS military is still
growing and expanding. This article comes from the perspective of a well-educated
American journalist who is simply stating facts about what is going on over there
and what the US is doing in response.
The next article I came across was an article called What ISIS leaders really
want. This article basically told the story behind the Islamic beliefs and religion
more. It didnt talk as much about the actual attacks and threats as much as the first
one did. After reading this one it seemed to me that the other one had some biased
involved. The first article was clearly written by an American who was basically
stating what ISIS was doing wrong and how the US was dealing with it. As opposed
the to the second having less bias.
Finally, the third article I found was done by BBC, and it was titled Syria
Iraq: The Islamic State Military group. This article talked a lot more about the affect
this has on the middle east and surrounding countries directly impacted by ISIS.
There was no bias in this article what so ever I thought. This one simply just relayed
facts of what is going on over there. Nothing about who was wrong or right. It also
discussed where the Islamic State is getting its money. Their revenue was based
solely upon generous donations made by ISIS supporters, but recently they have
gained control over many oil fields that now fund their escapades.
The one thing that is similar about all these articles is that they are informing
people of what is really happening. They were all very informational but about
different things. The first one was definitely going more for an emotional appeal. It
targeted what the IS group was doing to innocent people to try and get the readers

to respond to it. It also told how much effort and money the United States alone had
to invest into it. The one thing that I found differed from the second article by New
Republic was that it seemed they had a greater interest in telling the background
story. It talks a lot about caliphs and what they have to do with the Islamic state and
how some believe the caliphate is established. I also feel that all three in a way are
trying to say these groups of people need to be stopped. They are a threat to human
beings all over the world. It intrigues me that each article may be written by
different journalists throughout the world, but many of them use the same tactics to
get people involved in the cause.
The first reading I want to relate this topic too was titled United Stated
Strategic Bombing Survey: The Effects of the Atomic Bombs. In this reading it starts
out by say all the effects and damage of these two bombings. It also goes deep into
detail of what eyewitnesses had to say about the bombs. It discusses how big of an
impact these bombs made in moving towards the end of the war. Many say that
these bombs are what lead to Japans surrender. Others also say these bombs were
unnecessary. Either way, this reading related to what is going on with ISIS. These
people need to be stopped and not doing anything will not do it. Although the world
has not brought this terrorist group to a stop yet, the bombings we have done so far
are believed to be positive and a step in the right direction. I think there are times
when someone just needs to put their foot down on certain situations and I believe
this is one of them. The US as well as many other countries is attempting to end this
issue before anything massive happens. Much like the bombings on Japan, we are
attacking ISIS before the situation escalades more than it already has.

The other reading I found that related to my topic was some Diary Excerpts
found on page 209. Basically, what I found similar between these two topics was the
idea of genocide. The excerpts are diaries discussing what terrible things were
done to innocent people under the order of Hitler who believe in a supreme and
dominate race, and anyone that didnt fit the criteria deserved to die. ISIS is
essentially the same thing. These people believe there way of religion is the only
way and if you dont follow it you should be killed. Mass murder and extermination
are a large part of both cases. Much like the holocaust, some one outside needs to
step in and take action with this Islamic State. Who knows how far Hitler and the
Nazis would have gone if allies and other countries didnt step in.
After researching this topics for a while I found that there is more out there
going on than most of us realize. This terrorist group needs to be taken very
seriously. It seems to me that news articles go out with the purpose of informing
society of what is going on so that they will do something about it. Every body needs
to become more aware of what is going on in the world. I know we sometimes think
that just because its on the other side of the planet that it too far away to affect us. I
support the bombings that have been taking place the last few months. Serious and
severe threats were sent out by ISIS that are not to be taken lightly and thats exactly
what we did. I found reading the different articles cool. To see authors and
journalist from such different backgrounds discuss the same things was interesting.
Not even knowing there background at all you could just see how the approaches
varied but were also similar. For the most part I felt the authors did a good job at
leaving bias out. They are focused on attacking facts and statistics. Nobody knows

how much longer this issue will last or what the Islamic States next move is but its
good that we are taking action now before it is too late.

Works Cited
Windrem, Robert. "Months of Bombing Makes Small Impact on ISIS'
Military Capabilities - NBC News." NBC News. Web. 23 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/months-bombing-makessmall-impact-isis-military-capabilities-n252066>.
Wood, Graeme. "What ISIS's Leader Really Wants." New Republic. Web. 24
Nov. 2014. <http://www.newrepublic.com/article/119259/isis-historyislamic-states-new-caliphate-syria-and-iraq>.
"Profile: Islamic State Group." BBC News. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-24179084>.