Naegelin 1

Tyler Naegelin
January 7, 2015
Period 5
Lundstrom
The Power of Fear
Franklin D. Roosevelt owns one of the greatest quotes over the topic of fear.
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Now having a so called fear can be very
traumatizing for people of many different ages, fear can range from anywhere to the
dark or to the eight legged creatures called spiders. Fear is something that can be
created through events that happened when you were younger or just from something
that happened recently. ISIS has created fear through the many attacks that have taken
place in the recent months. One of the more recent attacks took the lives of more than
130 people on November 13, 2015. This attack on Paris was heard world wide and
struck fear into millions. Some questions comes to mind when I think about the topic of
ISIS and fear. How can so much fear be created through these acts and what were
some other acts of terrorism that ISIS used to create this fear?
To start off the conversation let's begin with who the Islamic State are. The
Islamic state is a Salafi jihadist militant group that follows an Islamic fundamentalist,
Wahhabi doctrine of Sunni Islam. Going back to the topic of the attacks on Paris TIME
magazine had an article over the topic. During the article it is stated If the claim is
confirmed, it could be more evidence of a shift in the militant groups tactics toward an
approach that embraces more attacks that inflict massive civilian casualties outside its
territorial base in Iraq and Syria.

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The group said it was behind the attacks in a statement circulated online in Arabic and
French. An English translation was also distributed. This attack is the first of the storm
and a warning to those who wish to learn, the statement read. What these statements
mean are that ISIS has claimed responsibility over the attacks, and that this is just the
beginning. With these statements from the Islamic state, the world cannot expect what
will happen next. This scares many people, however it also prepares them for the worst.
Syrian refugees are attempting to enter surrounding countries to escape the
Islamic State. These refugees are fearing for their families and for their own lives. As
explained by TIME magazine in their article ISIS Wants Us to Think Refugees Are the
Enemy Madeleine Albright expresses her feelings toward the calls to shut her nation's
doors. I am deeply disturbed by the calls to shut our nations doors to properly vetted
Syrian refugees fleeing terrorism and persecution in their native land. These proposals
are motivated by fear, not by the facts, and they fly in the face of our countrys proud
tradition of admitting refugees from every corner of the globe and every faith
background. We have always been a generous nation, and we have in place a rigorous
process for refugee resettlement that balances our generosity with our need for security.
It works, and it should not be stopped or paused. This occurrence of countries shutting
out the fleeing refugees has been caused by the fear of being targeted next or by the
fear of what would happen next if we let them in.
Steve Ross of the Salt Lake Tribune has a powerful article over ISIS and the
impact over what might happen if we do not take action over these fleeing refugees.
"Divide and conquer" and "the end justifies the means" have been used as strategies

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and rationalizations in human affairs for ages, often by people whose psychological
health and personal agenda are suspect. Unless we maintain an accurate
understanding of Islam, are we not playing right into the hands of ISIS, who would love
to split the entire Muslim community from the rest of us? Such splitting would feed their
recruitment efforts and make our worst fears and negative stereotypes come true: All
Muslims are not to be trusted. If we allow this to happen, then they have won another
victory in their self-proclaimed war on the rest of us. In the article he explains that we
must not play into the hands of ISIS and we must defeat them. If we expel these
refugees then that gives ISIS more of an opportunity to recruit them for the fight against
us. Therefore causing the fight on the Islamic State to have an increase in manpower.
ISIS has caused fear throughout the world, leading to actions like shutting out
refugees fleeing from the same enemy that they/we have. Religion plays a huge part in
the fight on ISIS. Many religions are being targeted by the terrorist group. The Islamic
State of Iraq and Syria is notoriously hostile to Shiite Muslims, Kurds, Christians and
other groups that don't believe in its brand of fundamentalist Sunni Islam. The Salt Lake
Tribune held an article that discussed the problem of ISIS and religion. We had already
been introduced to the unspeakable cruelty of this group called the Islamic State, or
Daesh in Arabic. And it continued this year: Coptic Christians were slaughtered on a
Libyan beach in an act shown to the world in high-definition video. Jordanian pilot
Muadh al-Kasasbeh was locked in a cage and burned alive. But this year the
apocalyptic and iconoclastic streaks of this group came into full relief, with one terrorism
expert comparing its pull on Muslim youths to getting a chance to play in the World Cup
or Super Bowl. Jerome Socolovsky really does explain the topic of religion and the

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amount of fear these people could be feeling. ISIS should not be able to strike fear into
these people just because of their beliefs.
The book ISIS: a state of terror gives a background of how ISIS emerged and
where they are from. The world awakened to the threat of ISIS in the summer of 2014,
but that is not where its story begins. What we know today as ISIS emerged from the
mind of Abu Musab al Zarqawi, a Jordanian thug-turned-terrorist who brought a
particularly brutal and sectarian approach to his understand of jihad. Many diverse
factors contributed to the rise of ISIS, but its roots lie with Zarqawi and the 2003
invasion of Iraq that gave him purpose. Throughout the rest of the book it goes into
further detail of where ISIS came from and how it is created. During the introduction of
the book I noticed a couple of paragraphs talking about an American that was captured
in 2012 and then two years later beheaded in 2014. An american is dressed in an
orange jumpsuit, apparently intended to echo the garb of al Qaeda insurgents captured
and imprisoned by the United States. He kneels next to a man dressed all in black, his
face masked, a knife in his hand. As the introduction continues, it is said that the
American is later beheaded for a video, and then later he video is posted online for the
world to witness. During the video, the American is told to pass a message to President
Obama. The point of these paragraphs in the book ISIS: the state of terror is to give
examples of what ISIS is capable of doing and how they can create fear in their
enemies.
The terror master of the Islamic State are determined to get our attention.
Theyve humiliated the Iraqi Army and seized territory in Iraq that we had secured at the

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cost of so much American blood and treasure. They've beheaded American journalists
on camera in a direct challenge to the power and resolve of the United States. And now
ISIS is calling for city wolves across the United States to act on their dedication to the
Islamic States blood-drenched ideology and murder random Americans going about our
daily business. Who is ISIS? Where did it com from, and what is driving its successful
campaign of murder and conquest? Our government and our media alike seemed to be
blindsided by the Islamic States blitzkrieg-like advance, which forced American troops
back to Iraq, ISIS has conquered a territory roughly the size of the state of Indiana, rules
over eight million terrorized souls, and has even revived the practice of legal slavery.
In the book ISIS Exposed : beheadings, slavery, and the hellish reality of radical Islam
it gives an overview of how ISIS can create fear.
Many ways fear can be created. ISIS has shown the world that this is very true.
Through many attacks like the one that happened in Paris during November 2015. Even
the killings of many different religion groups. Through the power of fear, you can be
forced to do things you never thought you were able to do and/or whimper away while
these actions are still taking place.