English Language IIB

Debate 12: Terrorism and Religious Intolerance 

Owner:

L-LIIB-G12-1

Members:

ST-LIIB-G12-1

Discussion Leaders:

DL-LIIB-G12-1

 

·        L-LIIB-G12-1

 

FORUM debate 12/Terrorism & Religious Intolerance
Group Name:
Group members:
Discussion leader(s): DL-LIIB-G12-1
STEP 1
Individually write and post an introductory paragraph about yourselves together with four icebreaking questions to get started. Make sure you answer some of the questions posted by the other members of your Google+ community.

 

·         DL-LIIB-G12-1

Hello everyone, my name is DL-LIIB-G12-1, and I am 23 from South Wales, and am one of the discussion leaders for this topic. I study French and Spanish at the University of Bristol and I am here for 6 months as part of the Erasmus scheme. Before I arrived in Spain, I was a student at the Sorbonne in Paris, where I lived for 6 months (also as part of the Erasmus scheme).
I am loving Valencia, but cannot wait until the weather is warmer so that I can finally head to the beach and get a tan! I would love to know more about you guys, so would everyone post something about themselves?
Would you guys want to do an Erasmus year? And what do you love about Valencia? Are there any places I should visit during my stay? Don’t hesitate to ask me anything you want to know!

 

·         DL-LIIB-G12-1

Hey guys, I’ve been reading a couple of articles that discuss society’s perception of terrorism. What are your initial reactions to the word ‘Terrorism’? What does that word mean to you?
For example, recently in America, Donald Trump imposed a travel ban on certain Muslim-majority countries such as Iran, Iraq and Syria in order to supposedly prevent acts of terrorism.
However, this article from Vox highlights that in fact white American men from within the country are a bigger domestic threat than any external one. For example the article states: ‘in between 2001 and 2015, more Americans were killed by right-wing extremists than by Islamist terrorists, according to a study by New America, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, DC.’

Please give the article a read and give your thoughts thinking about the following things:
• How do we define terrorism?
• The article refers to “right-wing extremists” and “Islamic terrorists.” What is the difference between them? Or is there a difference?
• What is the point of view of this article? Do you agree with this point of view?

As this is a very sensitive subject I feel that everyone should be respectful in their responses, and I will do my best to answer all questions that you may have, please get back to me! J DL-LIIB-G12-1. Respond with 150 words.

vox. com/world/2017/10/2/16396612/las-vegas-mass-shooting-terrorism-islam

 

·         ST-LIIB-G12-1

Hello everyone, my name is ST-LIIB-G12-1, and I am 19. I’m from Xàbia, a beautiful and turistic town between Valencia and Alicante. My hobbies are doing sports (preferably teamwork sports), playing videogames, watching videos and series and reading historical or fantasy novels.

I joined this group because despite terrorism is not always appearing on the news or press, I think it is a nowadays topic, which affects all people around the world (especially in Arabia and Europe).

The terrorism that we are suffering nowadays is not a coincidence, it appears because of the past, errors which were commited by european countries like the Great Britain or France, who after the WWII took for them and divided the territories where nowadays is placed Siria and more countries, something that was done because of the oil wealth that has this area. While they were doing that, they didn’t mind about the local population, which was living in poverty and in precarious conditions.
So the feeling of anger towards the european passed from fathers to sons, that’s the reason why nowadays we have all these problems of terrorism, because that hate passed through generations and it is getting bigger.

Another problem, which if we solve it we will finish with the most of the terrorism, it is to stop selling weapons to countries which will resell them to the terrorist or simply not selling them to the terrorists directly, and that’s is being done by the same countries that are suffering the terrorism.

So I can say that this situation is very difficult to be corrected because our politicians and governments are indirectly responsibles of the terrorist attacks.

So for finishing, what do you think about the reaction of the governments against terrorism?
How would you try to solve it?

 

English Language II E

Debate 7: Terrorism and Religious Intolerance

Owner:

L-LIIEG.6-G7-1

Members (G.6):

ST-LIIEG.6-G7-1
ST-LIIEG.6-G7-2
ST-LIIEG.6-G7-3
ST-LIIEG.6-G7-4
ST-LIIEG.6-G7-5
ST-LIIEG.6-G7-6

Discussion Leader:

DL-LIIEG.6-G7-1

 

·         L-LIIEG.6-G7-1

FORUM debate 7/Terrorism and Religious Intolerance
Group Name: Terrofighters

Discussion Leader(s): DL-LIIEG.6-G7-1

Group members: (G.6):
ST-LIIEG.6-G7-1
ST-LIIEG.6-G7-2
ST-LIIEG.6-G7-3
ST-LIIEG.6-G7-4
ST-LIIEG.6-G7-5
ST-LIIEG.6-G7-6

STEP 1: Breaking the Ice:
– Write and post an introductory paragraph together with four ice-breaking questions. Make sure you answer some of the questions posted by your group mates and the discussion leader(s).

STEP 2: Initiating the Discussion:
– With the guidance of the discussion leader assigned to your group, write 4 or 5 posts of about 200 words each during this month (try to write at least one post a week).

 

·         DL-LIIEG.6-G7-1

Hello everyone, my name is DL-LIIEG.6-G7-1, and I am 23 from South Wales, and am one of the discussion leaders for this topic. I study French and Spanish at the University of Bristol and I am here for 6 months as part of the Erasmus scheme. Before I arrived in Spain, I was a student at the Sorbonne in Paris, where I lived for 6 months (also as part of the Erasmus scheme).
I am loving Valencia, but cannot wait until the weather is warmer so that I can finally head to the beach and get a tan! I would love to know more about you guys, so would everyone post something about themselves? Would you guys want to do an Erasmus year? And what do you love about Valencia? Are there any places I should visit during my stay? Don’t hesitate to ask me anything you want to know!

 

·         ST-LIIEG.6-G7-5

+ DL-LIIEG.6-G7-1 Hello! I’m ST-LIIEG.6-G7-5, I’m 21 and I’m studying French and English. This is my last year of University. I have already done an Erasmus in Nancy and, as I really loved France, I would like to come back to live in there. According to Valencia, what I like the most is strolling in El Carmen because i sincerely believe that is where Valencian essence lies. I recommend you doing it. Nice yo meet you!

 

·         ST-LIIEG.6-G7-6

Hey, here’s ST-LIIEG.6-G7-6! I saw recently some new information about the attack this summer on the London Bridge, that’s why I decided to write about this topic:

A few months ago, we all known about a terrorist attack on the London Bridge. Everything is supposed to have happened really fast, anyway the chaos spread. It was about three men driving a van, with which they knocked down some pedestrians. Then, they went out of the van and knifed the people who came across. Moreover, one of them wore a fake bomb vest to scare even more, if it was possible. It is believed that they shouted it was because Allah. Thus, the attack was quickly attached to terrorism.
Unfortunately, these serial attacks have become usual in the last years. This has provoked a hate and a rejection to Muslim people or to Moroccan people (as the perpetrators of the attack were). The problem is that people apply this hate indiscriminately when an innocent person is linked to these characteristics. In some way, people judge blindly because of the fault of other people, it is like we tar everybody with the same brush, we make no distinctions. This racism should be stopped, but maybe we should start stopping the racism of the terrorist attackers who killed, also indiscriminately, innocent people. How do you think we could stop this wave of racism in both ways? Do you think it is possible or it is rather a utopia?

 

·         DL-LIIEG.6-G7-1

+ ST-LIIEG.6-G7-6 Super interesting questions ST-LIIEG.6-G7-6, I unfortunately do not have the answers, as if I did, I would be sending them to the UN or something in order to stop terrorism once and for all.
Yes, you’re right, these serial attacks have definitely provoked in some people a sort of indiscriminate hate towards Moroccan people which is incredibly unjust and awful. I do not understand this mentality but I do believe that the goal of some terrorism is indeed to play on this fear and mistrust between people in order to further separate and marginalise certain groups within society. I feel that if more people knew the that this was an intension, maybe they would educate themselves and realise that answering hate with hate is never the answer.

 

·         DL-LIIEG.6-G7-1

Hey guys, I’ve been reading a couple of articles that discuss society’s perception of terrorism. What are your initial reactions to the word ‘Terrorism’? What does that word mean to you?
For example, recently in America, Donald Trump imposed a travel ban on certain Muslim-majority countries such as Iran, Iraq and Syria in order to supposedly prevent acts of terrorism.
However, this article from Vox highlights that in fact white American men from within the country are a bigger domestic threat than any external one. For example the article states: ‘in between 2001 and 2015, more Americans were killed by right-wing extremists than by Islamist terrorists, according to a study by New America, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, DC.’

Please give the article a read and give your thoughts thinking about the following things:
• How do we define terrorism?
• The article refers to “right-wing extremists” and “Islamic terrorists.” What is the difference between them? Or is there a difference?
• What is the point of view of this article? Do you agree with this point of view?

As this is a very sensitive subject I feel that everyone should be respectful in their responses, and I will do my best to answer all questions that you may have, please get back to me! J DL-LIIEG.6-G7-1 Respond with 150 words.

vox. com/world/2017/10/2/16396612/las-vegas-mass-shooting-terrorism-islam

 

·         Yehet Lord

First of all, sorry for not answering for so long, I was trying to understand how this works.
That aside, great remark, DL-LIIEG.6-G7-1. I agree on the fact that hate only brings hate and I don’t understand the reason behind their actions (religious books always say extreme things, that doesn’t mean you should always follow them). However, exactly because of this fact, we, as a society, shouldn’t marginalize the muslim community just because of the actions of a few.
We should take into account the hate that they face just because of their religious beliefs, almost invisibilizing all other acts of terrorism like political or sexist terrorism for an instance (not as predominant, but still present).
For example, we have all the mass shootings happening right now in the USA which are taken as the acts of “lone wolves” or people with “troubled pasts” instead of clear and blatant terrorism by extremist groups or just entitled youth.
I do think this act of excusing their actions is a matter of racism and xenophobia, but there isn’t much to do with a white male-controlled society as is, that protects its own (as is happening with all Trump scandals).
Maybe I come off as radical or whatever hahaha but I just have my thoughts on these kind of topics all the time, being someone of mixed race that can’t tolerate hate just because of traits from birth that you can’t change.

What do you think about all this?

 

·         ST-LIIEG.6-G7-5

Hello! People should admit that there is a kind of xenophobia or racism when considering terrorism as an exclusive Islamic attack, as you have mentioned. Nowadays, the major fact is that terrorism has a defined religion and skin colour, whereas this word is defined by Oxford dictionary as ‘the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims’. I couldn’t ensure if this fear spreding is intentioned by mass media in order to control people or nobody has realised about this use. However, in my opinion that extremes touch each other and human being prefers blaming foreigners, despite having bigger problems at home. We can easily find out news in which the word is used at people’s convenience, usually by political thinking. In this perspective, the recently revolt of Oscar Pérez against Maduro’s communist dictatorship was called ‘terrorism’ because it agrees with the definition given. Nevertheless, why do you think that in the United States we define authors’ shootings as ‘lone wolves’? Which is the difference?
Here you have the article about Oscar Pérez : Agencia EFE. (2018, March 21). Venezuela confirma la muerte del piloto que se alzó contra el Gobierno chavista, Óscar Pérez. Madrid: Antena 3 Noticas. antena3.com – Venezuela confirma la muerte del piloto que se alzó contra el Gobierno chavista, Óscar Pérez

Venezuela confirma la muerte del piloto que se alzó contra el Gobierno chavista, Óscar Pérez

antena3.com

 

·         Yehet Lord

+ DL-LIIEG.6-G7-1 It’s a very interesting article that sheds light on a fact most people already know, but decide to ignore.
In regard to the questions:
Terrorism is indeed what ST-LIIEG.6-G7-5 defined above, I quote “the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims”. But I believe it’s not only ‘political aims’ but also ‘to prove a point’. To cause fear to show that their group is “superior” in some way (it does fall in the spectrum of the previous definition).

Now, the difference between right-wing extremists and islamic terrorists is only their aims. On everything else, they are a book definition of terrorism. Sure, ISIS is a better organized group and some of the right-wing extremists act on their own, however I do believe the main difference lays on society’s perception of them.
ISIS for an instance is something to be feared, and on the eyes of the media, an external threatening problem.
Right-wing extremists are a local and well-known problem, seen as a group of few people, not a threat. Sometimes their actions are even justified under the excuse that “they’re using their freedom of speech”.

The reason behind this is that the government (mainly old white men) don’t feel threatened by racist attacks or school shootings for an instance. Let’s just say they’re not in the targeted demographic so they excuse the actions of their own. However, the “foreign threat” does affect them and their families, and that drives them to xenophobia and general racism (which lead to for example the muslim ban).
This is only taking into account these two types of terrorism, but the same falls into other kinds of attacks.

An example of this is the group of the Black Panthers, which was a black terrorist group that wanted to take action against the KKK and police violence. The government rushed to action to disarm “the black threat”.
However, when it came to attacks by groups of white people they didn’t move a finger. They tried to cover up everything so that it didn’t personally affect them (and their guns).
This is looking at the NRA trying to arm teachers as a solution (when some shooters have been teachers) instead of having better gun control, for example, when there have been more that 20 school shootings already in less than four months.
Sometimes they even excused the actions of other racist folks because they didn’t entirely disagree with them.
In this article, it speaks about how they defend their “freedom of speech” during the Charlottesville neonazi march: qz.com – The case against free speech for fascists

Anyway, back to the VOX article, it’s point of view is definitely from a liberal (or left-wing) standpoint that clearly is against islamophobia. But it certainly only shows facts, so I agree with everything included in it.
Sure I do believe terrorism is not the right way to defend what you believe. But we should take into account all the facts to properly fight all types of terrorism.

The case against free speech for fascists

qz.com

 

·         ST-LIIEG.6-G7-1

Hello!, I’m ST-LIIEG.6-G7-1, sorry for taking too long to answer. I would like to talk about the xenophobia thing. It is a fact that, unfortunately, nowadays, people link terrorism to the muslim community, black people and other communities which aren’t white people or christian people, without even realize that they’re being xenophobic and racist, since this is a thought that has been spread out and almost no one asks why, they just accept that things are like that. But no, things are not like that, and I think that trying to make people change their opinion about non-white-and-christian people could be a startline to change all of this. No color skin is better than others and no religion is better than others, if we all start by assuming this, maybe we could stop some (though it is a low percentage) terrorism groups that try to prove to the world that they are better than the rest of us. But instead of this, the government and powerful people in this society try to fight hate with more hate, and help to spread the thought that all non-white-christian-people is dangerous and we should take care from them. As Ceci said before, there have been more than twenty school shootings in four months, and all of them (or at least the majority, I am not really sure) have been executed by white people. But government keeps spreading the idea that terrorism is linked to skin color or beliefs.
·         DL-LIIEG.6-G7-1

Thank you all for your interesting and thoughtful input on this quite difficult and heavy topic of terrorism. It is true that it is incredibly difficult to fight terrorism, and I can’t recall a time in my life when acts of terrorism haven’t dominated the news.

We have suggested some ideas about to stop it, and of course the President of America Trump has suggested bringing back torture to “fight fire with fire” as his personal solution to the crisis.

For me answering violence with more violence won’t solve anything, but please give the following article a read.

I feel it would be interesting to imagine yourself as a world leader, and then formulate a plan on how you would tackle the problems of terrorism and religious intolerance in not only your country but in other countries also.

All the best,

DL-LIIEG.6-G7-1

Edition .cnn .com/ 2017/01/25/politics/donald-trump-waterboarding-torture/index.html

 

·         ST-LIIEG.6-G7-6

+ DL-LIIEG.6-G7-1 It is really difficult to find a solution to the end of terrorism but, for sure, “fight fire with fire” would be my last option. Donald Trump claims that bringing back torture to battle terrorism problems would “absolutely” work.
If I were the president, I would try banning any use of arms and detonators. For this, I would attempt to end with the already current arms and I would completely forbid to create new ones. In my opinion, not allowing people to travel to Muslim countries (and vice versa) would not really help because we live in the Internet era. We can contact with people who are thousand kilometers away.
Thus, what Donald Trump has said now is something that is already happening. For instance, we know about France that they have been attacked several times, but we do not know that they have bombed Muslim countries in order to “fight terrorism”, without “civil deaths”, of course… In fact, they are following the Trump’s maxim, fighting fire with fire. However, it is not interesting to be told in the mass media…

Do you think the role of the mass media is really important in this type of topics?

Happy Easter!

 

·         ST-LIIEG.6-G7-4

Hi, I’m ST-LIIEG.6-G7-4! Sorry for not having participated before, but I could not.

I totally agree with ST-LIIEG.6-G7-6 and linking her question I would like to share with you my opinion.
We are so used to believing that what the media says is the only truth that we do not even try to look at from a different point of view. It is clear that the great majority of people think on one group in particular when they hear “terrorism”, but media contribute to this. If we listen to the news or read any newspaper we can easily find articles about massacres carried out by Muslims, what increases the hate to them. But, what if they published news about the sale of weapons to terrorist groups by governments of many countries, for example? I guess this is not convenient to be told, because they would lose many of their sponsors. Thus, I think we all should compare the information we receive about topics like these before making an opinion and what is worse, to judge a certain population. By the way, we should keep in mind that what we hear about terrorism is no more than the tip of the iceberg and that there is much more behind what we believe.

 

·         ST-LIIEG.6-G7-5

As you said, finding a solution is highly complicated. Assuming the fact that every one thinks differently, when tackling terrorism problems and religious intolerance, the measures won’t please everybody. From my point of view, fire shouldn’t be fought with fire, but how can we stop it when the vast majority of Americans have voted for that? In this perspective, mass media has a crucial role since it is bound to mobilise other countries in order to shed light on this arcane measures. For instance, the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) may exert political pressure on Trump. Nevertheless, it depends on citizens outrage and thereby on the importance gained in mass media. We have to be engaged with global politics as well as social problems, propagandising our indignation against every kind of unfair measures and thoughts. Fortunately, social networks are a strong weapon to prove this point. Moreover, as the article explains, ‘the practice was ineffective’ and maybe it is only a dissuasive measure to threaten the jihadists. However, I would like you to put yourself in executioners’ shoes, since it has been demonstrated alongside history that people who has killed other people during war would undergo mental illnesses. Are we machines or are we cold-blooded? I feel strongly about we shouldn’t play them along and follow the current constitution. In other words, neither revenge, neither torture, just law.

 

·         Yehet Lord

+ ST-LIIEG.6-G7-5 I feel like the only way we can really address this problem is by having the same kind of reaction or response to all kinds of terrorism. By saying this I mean we should be taking care of all issues at once and not steering the mass into hatred.
Of course all kinds of terrorism need different approaches and measures; however, we shouldn’t be focused on just terrorism that doesn’t occur that often, but is still fairly dangerous, and completely ignore other kinds that are more prominent (taking for example the action of fascist neo-nazis).
Instead of promoting hate, we should be promoting education as to inform all people who could be misguided in the wrong direction. Personally, I feel like most people who are racist, xenophobic or just hate something in general, do so because they are completely alienated from these people and have and idealized an evil version of them that won’t go away until they actually meet them and realize they are, in fact, people as well.
I do know it is really easy to just offer solutions, and there will always be some remnants, but our objective here is to at least minimize the damage with simple steps like gun control or airport security.
I will always believe the best way to fight hatred and ignorance will be education.

 

·         ST-LIIEG.6-G7-6

+Yehet Lord I totally agree with you, ST-LIIEG.6-G7-3. The most logical way to fight terrorism could be education. However, as you have said, there are always some remnants.
On the one hand, education can be used as a measure, but also as a weapon. We could not control education everywhere and, in fact, to control it would involve a lack of freedom in some way. Otherwise, education can be turned into a persuasive speech. Actually, it comes into my mind the film called The Wave, where we can see how easily could people be manipulated. Moreover, when we have this type of indoctrination, it is quite difficult to go back or to stop it. We are not aware of the power of the words in the minds of other persons.
On the other hand, education is a subject which is not equally received everywhere. Thus, even for all them who have the luck to acquire an education, it could be understood totally different from some cases to others.
Despite everything, I would have a go at spreading education and tolerance, which doesn’t mean to agree with everything, but at least to allow some divergences.

 

·         ST-LIIEG.6-G7-1

+ ST-LIIEG.6-G7-6 I can see your point. As you said before people can be easily manipulated and that is why we need to educate people. I am not talking about educating people in schools (which I think that is totally necessary), but educating people everyday, in real life.
We have said before that the main reasons for terrorism to happen are racism and xenophobia, so we have to try changing people’s mind. For this, we could make use of social networks like Twitter or Instagram since almost everyone uses at least one of them.
In these social networks, unfortunately, we can see informative accounts which manipulate their contents to manipulate people who are not informed about this issue, so we could start by making people see that they are being manipulated by them.
I am aware that not averyone can access to one of these networks, but a lot of poeple can do it, and if we could change their minds, it would be easier to keep educating more people everytime.
Going back to the school thing, we could give more talks to the students, create informative workshops, etc. to promote tolerance and make them aware of the situation.
Once I read “to have a tolerant society, we can’t tolerate intolerance”, what do you think about this?

 

·         ST-LIIEG.6-G7-5

+ ST-LIIEG.6-G7-1 I have to admit that education would be the best solution. Nevertheless, there is a crossroads on this. Firstly, what we have to reinforce, or even teach in some cases, to students is a part of philosophy called logic. This subject teachs students how not to believe in fallacies and discover when someone is trying to persuade or deceive you about something which is a half true or not true at all. Additionally, the contrast and correct use of source information are major tools that not everybody uses or doesn’t know how to use them correctly. Schools should encourage students even more to read and widen mother tongue vocabulary, because I am increasingly convinced that the vast majority of this problems lies in a linguistical factor. Secondly, we cannot ‘control’ what is teached in every school. Furthermore, there are as many ways of thinking as people, because basically every one thinks differently. In terms of respect, liberty of thinking and equality, we are not allowed to say that our thought is the right one, due to the fact that there is not an absolute truth. With this I am not trying to do an apology of terrorism but a sort of ‘comprehension’ of their way of thinking. If we force students or scholars to follow our thought, this won’t be called anymore ‘education’ but ‘indoctrination’. There is a subtile nuance in words that is not as subtile in facts. All in all, the meaning of ‘education’ from my point of view is giving the tools and teaching how to use them correctly without falling into brainwashing.

 

·         ST-LIIEG.6-G7-2

Hello, my name is ST-LIIEG.6-G7-2, I’m sorry that I have not been active.

First of all, for me terrorism means any act that causes terror and goes against the most basic right of human beings, the right of living. As all of you have said, it is an incredibly complicated topic to deal with but we must take measures. 

I think that the biggest problem of terrorism is the indiscriminated threat that it means for every single one of us, but unfortunately, that is not the only issue related to it. As all of you have discussed, this current situation we are living brings to the world even more racism. Sadly, we already have too much to deal with in our society. Why should we be discriminated just because of our skin colour or our roots? It is not fair at all, but citizens are scared of terrorism, and since they feel this way, they tend to generalize and say that Muslims are terrorists, which is false. I do not believe that the Islam supports any kind of hate, but this is the famous excuse used by terrorists, that they do it for Allah, which is something that creates misunderstandings.

Here it is where islamophobia begins and we need to fight against it, we need to spread worldwide that Muslims are not terrorists just because of a few people, because as the first article said, there are actually more cases of white people killing innocents in an indiscriminated way than muslims.

 

·         ST-LIIEG.6-G7-2

I cannot help but agreeing with all of your opinions on how we could stop terrorism. First of all I do not want to be negative or sound hopeless, but I do think that terrorism is an issue that probably will never come to an end. By this I mean that, even though we come up with hundreds of innovative methods, it would still be very complicated to completely eradicate.

On the other hand I must say that we should do our best to try to reduce it to a minimum. As some of you have said, I do believe the best option is always education and information. If we spread how reality is and we are taught from a very young age, it could help spread awareness about this big problem. Nevertheless, we cannot totally control the media and the education, and this, unfortunately, leads to a stage where, maybe, something that should be positive and good could end up being harmful and manipulative. As you also have said, it is known that not everyone everywhere has the same accessibility to these rights, so this makes the situation ever harder to deal with, besides there are always going to exist people who do not mind harming innocents.

Even if my speech was not the most encouraging  one, I do believe it is realistic. We should try to fight terror with  education, knowledge, civilization and not fire. It may be difficult, but if we fight with our hearts, we will be able to speak the truth to at least make citizens be more aware so that terrorism could be reduced.

·         ST-LIIEG.6-G7-4

+ ST-LIIEG.6-G7-2 I can see that we all agree that education is the best weapon to combat terrorism. As you say, ST-LIIEG.6-G7-2, it is very important that we grow up being tolerant of all cultures and respecting them. Apart from that, I also think that we should be outraged by the attacks that are taking place not only in Europe or the US, but also in African or Eastern territories. It is a fact that most people get alarmed when terrorists cause an attack in countries near us, but every day in countries like Syria, bombs are thrown or even chemical weapons are used. The difference is that in these latter cases the perpetrators do not use vans or guns, but other types of methods to inflict the same or even more damage and panic in the few remaining inhabitants. Possibly acts like these are not termed as terrorism as itself, but it certainly approaches the end that pursues, causing terror. I wish I could find an effective solution to end all these attacks. Nevertheless, I think it is very difficult and it will take time to extend and make everyone understand the idea that ending the lives of others has no benefit, or in real life nor in the supposed “paradise” in which some religions believe.

 

·         ST-LIIEG.6-G7-1

+ ST-LIIEG.6-G7-4 I’m glad that you talked about this, ST-LIIEG.6-G7-4. As you said, people tend to inform themselves about what happens in Europe or US, but just a minority of people take the time to search what happened in countries which are not from these territories.
Also, social media gives a lot of information about Europe and US but they don’t give much information about what happens in African and Eastern territories.
I think this happens because we all are used to hear news about terrorism in these places, so people don’t see these attacks as important as they used to before, so they don’t worry so much about these territories.
I can understand that European people get scared when any terrorist attack is done in Europe, since that means that probably, another attack will occour in another European country but we can´t know which one will be.
On the other hand, I can’t understand that people get used to terrorism in any place of the world and stop worrying about what happens in countries which are not near to theirs just because they don’t see it as a threat.
To educate everyone and reduce terrorist attacks, we have to be aware of what happens in every country and show it to the world, not ignore it because we think that it doesn’t concern us. And, of course, we can’t get used to any kind of terrorism just because it happens everyday, on the contrary, we have to make this more visible to the world and think of anything that could help these countries.

 

·         ST-LIIEG.6-G7-4

+ ST-LIIEG.6-G7-1 Taking into account all the points of view commented on terrorism, the best option for me would be to give talks in different high schools, in this case in Spain, in the same way that we find talks that raise awareness about drugs and bullying.
Perhaps it is not the most effective solution, but it is one that makes possible the knowledge of the subject in young people in order to prevent behaviors of hate, racism or homophobia. In this way, the main motives of terrorist acts could be made known and analyzed to distroy the theories defended by those who perpetrate them. For example, one of the primary causes of these attacks is the distortion of religious values, used to convince themselves that if they carry out killings they will have a better life in the great beyond.
Following the issue of religions, these talks would emphasize the common points of these beliefs and thus demonstrate to students that they should not face, but respect. The most important objective of these talks would be, however, to show students that terrorism (either with an excuse of religion, politics, racism or homophobia) aims to cause hate and fear, “terror”, but also that they do not achieve anything if we show them that instead of separating us the only thing they do is unite us and encourage us to beat them with love. Because that is the best weapon, not to allow rejection or hate, but to attack them with signs of solidarity and, despite the attacks, more love than ever.

 

·         ST-LIIEG.6-G7-2

As ST-LIIEG.6-G7-1 said, it is true that we do not hear much about what is happening in Syria every single day. They are continuously being attacked, it is more than obvious that their situation is critical and other countries which could assist them are not even thinking about doing so. But the thing is, are “we” really used to seeing those atrocities because they constantly happen? I do not really think so.
In fact, the actual truth is that no one could ever get used to something like that, it is just that all these countries’ governments and citizens are acting as if they were blind, not because they see the situation as a normal thing, but because they just do not care. Human beings are selfish in general and since all of this is happening far away from home, it is not a threat for them, so it is like it never happened and this is also why we do not really hear about it in the news. However, when a terrorist attack occurs in a nearer country everyone starts to panic because then it is when they realize that it is actually something real that anyone could experience.
Thanks to social media we have access to much more information that we could ever be given on television and we must use it to solve this lack of empathy and realize that any life matters because we are all together in this battle against terrorism. The more we are together, the stronger we become, so we should tear prejudices apart. Only by that, education and, as ST-LIIEG.6-G7-4 said, love, we will be able to defeat terrorism.

 

English Language II E

Debate 8: Terrorism and Religious Intolerance

Owner:

L-LIIEG.7-G8-1

Members (G.7):

ST-LIIEG.7-G8-1
ST-LIIEG.7-G8-2
ST-LIIEG.7-G8-3
ST-LIIEG.7-G8-4

Discussion Leader:

DL-LIIEG.7-G8-1

 

·         L-LIIEG.7-G8-1

FORUM debate 8/Terrorism and Religious Intolerance
Group Name: Warriors

Discussion Leader(s): DL-LIIEG.7-G8-1

Group members: (G.7):
ST-LIIEG.7-G8-1
ST-LIIEG.7-G8-2
ST-LIIEG.7-G8-3
ST-LIIEG.7-G8-4

STEP 1: Breaking the Ice:
– Write and post an introductory paragraph together with four ice-breaking questions. Make sure you answer some of the questions posted by your group mates and the discussion leader(s).

STEP 2: Initiating the Discussion:
– With the guidance of the discussion leader assigned to your group, write 4 or 5 posts of about 200 words each during this month (try to write at least one post a week).

 

·         DL-LIIEG.7-G8-1

Hello everyone, my name is DL-LIIEG.7-G8-1, and I am 23 from South Wales, and am one of the discussion leaders for this topic. I study French and Spanish at the University of Bristol and I am here for 6 months as part of the Erasmus scheme. Before I arrived in Spain, I was a student at the Sorbonne in Paris, where I lived for 6 months (also as part of the Erasmus scheme).
I am loving Valencia, but cannot wait until the weather is warmer so that I can finally head to the beach and get a tan! I would love to know more about you guys, so would everyone post something about themselves? Would you guys want to do an Erasmus year? And what do you love about Valencia? Are there any places I should visit during my stay? Don’t hesitate to ask me anything you want to know!

 

·         ST-LIIEG.7-G8-1

Hello DL-LIIEG.7-G8-1, I am also waiting for the warm weather! I hate Winter and I love spring and summer. I really want to do an Erasmus year, because I love travelling and knowing new cultures, I want to go to many places…From Valencia I love the weather, having dinner in a restaurant near the beach in summer, I love fallas and all the things that we do in fallas. If you like the beach I think that you would love a place called La Marina.

 

·         ST-LIIEG.7-G8-1

And these are my ice-breaking questions:
-How much time would you spend in an Erasmus year?
-Do you prefer winter or summer?
-Where do you spend your holidays?

 

·         DL-LIIEG.7-G8-1

+ ST-LIIEG.7-G8-1 Hey ST-LIIEG.7-G8-1, thank you so much for your reply! I also hate winter and the cold, summertime is definitely much better. I will have to go to La Marina then and I will let you know what I think.
In response to your ice-breaking questions, I spend a whole year doing Erasmus. For example, I have just spent 6 months in Paris and now I’m here in Valencia for 6 months. I really do prefer the summer as I hate being cold. As for my holidays, I usually go to Dubai as that is where my dad works, so I go there to visit him. Do you have anywhere that you like to go on holiday?

 

·         ST-LIIEG.7-G8-2

+ DL-LIIEG.7-G8-1 Hi DL-LIIEG.7-G8-1, I can not wait to live in another country, I love traveling and I would like to visit as many countries as possible. I am from Madrid but I have been living here almost all my life. However I am still in love with Madrid, so if you can and you haven’t visited Madrid yet, I would recommend you to go. In Valencia there are also a lot of places where you can go, there is a village called Sagunto where you can find a lovely castle and a Roman theatre where they do shows about mythology.

 

·         ST-LIIEG.7-G8-2

I would like to know:
– Which countries have you visited?
– What do you like most of traveling abroad?
– Do you like watching series in another languages?

 

·         ST-LIIEG.7-G8-2

+ ST-LIIEG.7-G8-1 I prefer winter rather than summer, but it’s true that in summer you can do more things. However, I love Christmas, it’s my favorite time of the year because all my family live away from me so in Christmas is when I can meet them.

 

·         ST-LIIEG.7-G8-4

+ DL-LIIEG.7-G8-1 Hi, my name is Celia and I am 18 years old. I live in Valencia and I love it because is a beautiful city full of life. I hope you spend a great time here.

 

·         ST-LIIEG.7-G8-4

My questions are:
-Is it difficult to be apart from your family?
-Which is your favourite spanish meal?
-In which places have you been?

 

·         ST-LIIEG.7-G8-3

+ DL-LIIEG.7-G8-1 Hi, I’m ST-LIIEG.7-G8-3and I’m 19 years old. I live in Valencia. I play the clarinet and the piano and I love travelling and going to the cinema. I really like Valencia because the weather in winter is not too cold and I love “Fallas” as well. It’s our local festivity and as you are here you should enjoy them ahahah.
I’ve never done an Erasmus but when I was 14 I studied 2nd of secondary in Ireland and since then I go there every summer for a month.

 

·         ST-LIIEG.7-G8-3

My questions are:
-What is your favourite thing about Valencia?
-What is the biggest difference between Welsh culture and Spanish culture?
-Have you ever tried Valencian typical food?

 

·         DL-LIIEG.7-G8-1

Hey guys, I’ve been reading a couple of articles that discuss society’s perception of terrorism. What are your initial reactions to the word ‘Terrorism’? What does that word mean to you?
For example, recently in America, Donald Trump imposed a travel ban on certain Muslim-majority countries such as Iran, Iraq and Syria in order to supposedly prevent acts of terrorism.
However, this article from Vox highlights that in fact white American men from within the country are a bigger domestic threat than any external one. For example the article states: ‘in between 2001 and 2015, more Americans were killed by right-wing extremists than by Islamist terrorists, according to a study by New America, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, DC.’

Please give the article a read and give your thoughts thinking about the following things:
” How do we define terrorism?
” The article refers to “right-wing extremists” and “Islamic terrorists.” What is the difference between them? Or is there a difference?
” What is the point of view of this article? Do you agree with this point of view?

As this is a very sensitive subject I feel that everyone should be respectful in their responses, and I will do my best to answer all questions that you may have, please get back to me! : DL-LIIEG.7-G8-1 Respond with 150 words.

vox. com/world/2017/10/2/16396612/las-vegas-mass-shooting-terrorism-islam

 

·         DL-LIIEG.7-G8-1

+ ST-LIIEG.7-G8-1 Hello ST-LIIEG.7-G8-1, thank you for getting back to me, and thank you for your recommendations! I will definitely be going to visit La Marina. In response to your questions, for Erasmus in the UK we usually spend a year abroad. For example, I spent 6 months in France and now I’m spending 6 months in Spain. And for my holidays, I usually go and visit my dad who works and lives in Dubai. What about you? Where do you spend the holidays? And do you prefer warm or cold weather?

 

·         DL-LIIEG.7-G8-1

+ ST-LIIEG.7-G8-2 Hi ST-LIIEG.7-G8-2, how interesting! I’ve never visited Madrid but I would love to, what’s the best thing about it? is it the nightlife or the museums? What do you like doing there? I will definitely be going to visit Sagunto then, I love the sound of visiting a medieval castle!
I have visited quite a few countries, my dad works for an airline company and so I’ve travelled a lot because of that. I really like the culture and history of different places, so I love to visit different historical sites when I go travelling. and Yes! I’m watching loads of series in Spanish, most recently Sé Quien Eres. Do you know it? Also i’ve recently posted an article link, would you please check it out and let me know what you think!

 

·         DL-LIIEG.7-G8-1

+ ST-LIIEG.7-G8-4 Hey ST-LIIEG.7-G8-4, in response to your questions, I would say I don’t find it too difficult to be apart from my family because we always skype when we can and I’m used to it, because we’ve always travelled for as long as I can remember.
My favourite Spanish meal is paella of course, but only the seafood version. And I’m not sure, what is typical Valencian food?

 

DL-LIIEG.7-G8-1

+ ST-LIIEG.7-G8-3 Hello ST-LIIEG.7-G8-3, wow it’s amazing that you can play all those instruments, I can’t play any so I’m very envious of that! I think my favourite thing about Valencia is that it is close to the beach, and of course the food – I love tapas and paella. The biggest difference between the cultures is hard to pinpoint, because there are so many! I will say the eating times here are vastly different, it’s crazy to me that people here eat at like 20h-21h at night! And what is typical Valencian food? Also I’ve posted an article, please let me know what you think of it 😀

 

·         ST-LIIEG.7-G8-2

+ DL-LIIEG.7-G8-1 Currently, terrorism is a popular topic, people all over the world are afraid of terrorists because they are attacking all the time in our countries.

Explaining terrorism is not so easy but it could be defined as an act done for one hand, by people who use their religion to kill innocent people, they do it in the name of their god because they do not like people who do not follow their beliefs, On the other hand, there is terrorism done by people who only want to create fear and terror killing normal people.

From my point of view, the main difference between right-wing extremists and Islam terrorists is that the girts ones kill people because they are racists and they only kill people of other races and Islam terrorists do not matter where people are from they only want to create terror as I said. One similarity is that the both kill innocent people, which is a very unhappy act.

In my opinion, countries should avoid terrorist attacks but I do not think that imposed a travel ban will work. However, Donald Trump should also be aware of what right-wing extremist are doing and do not encourage them with his racist words what they do is increase their hatred towards people from other countries.

 

·         ST-LIIEG.7-G8-1

Nowadays, terrorism has become an important topic to discuss. Terrorism has been present in many countries of Europe and, also in United States, Canada, etc.
In my opinion, terrorism is a way of violence. It does not matter from who comes. For me, terrorism based on religious beliefs is the same as terrorism based in racial beliefs. I strongly believe that all kind of violence is terrorism.
There is no doubt that religious terrorism is having a big impact in our societies, but I think that it is not different to other ways of violence as right-wings extremists. They also attack people only because they are different to them. This article says that there are more deaths caused by right-wing extremists than deaths caused by Islamic terrorists, and Donald Trump has prohibited the entrance to EE. UU. to people that come from muslim countries. However, Donald Trump does not do anything to protect people from right-wing extremists. I think that the Donald Trump´s idea of not allowing muslim´s entrance in EE. UU. is extreme because all the muslims are not terrorists, and Donald Trump should be also worried about American people that also practice violence against their own neighbours.

 

·         ST-LIIEG.7-G8-3

+ DL-LIIEG.7-G8-1 These days, the word «terrorism» is frequently heard on the news, TV… because of the religious wars and the terrorist attempts that have been recently taken place.

There is no universal agreement on the definition of terrorism. Each government use different definitions. Generally, we often use this word to talk about the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.
Also, we can say it is terrorism the fact that some people, in the name of their god, use violence and kill people to defend their beliefs.

From my point of view, «right-wing extremists» and «Islamic teorrist» have things in common, because both are against and killl people who are not like them or who do not have the same beliefs. For example, righ-wing extremist kill people who are not the same race beacuse they think they are superior and stronger than other races.

Personally, I do not think that Donald Trump is doing a good job imposing a travel ban. He is explicitly ecouraging racial attacks instead of trying to avoid those kind of attacks and trying to create a better world without terrorism and xenophobia.

 

·         DL-LIIEG.7-G8-1

+ ST-LIIEG.7-G8-2 You’re right, there is no easy way to define the word “terrorism,” however I feel you know it when you see it. Yes, all types of terrorists kill innocent people in the name of something, race, religion or gender. In my opinion I fear a travel ban will only create a more disastrous situation for the world. People will be trapped in countries they are trying to flee, more and more people will be trapped in countries where they are in danger, and where they are at risk from extremist ideologies. I obviously have no idea what would be the best to get ride of terrorism as if I had the answer, I’m sure terrorism would be on its way out.
But a very thoughtful response and thank you for opinion.

 

·         DL-LIIEG.7-G8-1

+ ST-LIIEG.7-G8-3 I completely agree with what you’re saying. Violence of any kind in this sense is terrorism. Both groups definitely have things in common, and both are a real threat in the current world. In regards to the travel ban, I personally think it is insane. He is blocking people who are attempting to flee for their own safety from dangers that are present in their respective countries. Trump does in fact seem to be inciting violence, not only in his country but in other parts of the world. Do you think we’ll ever have a society without terrorism?

 

·         DL-LIIEG.7-G8-1

+ ST-LIIEG.7-G8-1 Yes, no matter who it comes from, this type of violence is always terrorism (in my opinion).
Yes of course, I agree, Trump’s muslim ban seems that it is only going to bring harm to the world rather than do anything beneficial for it. He is blocking innocent people who are trying to escape dangers that are present in their respective countries.
Yes, Trump should definitely look inwards at his own country, and have a look at gun laws, as every year there are 100s have shootings across America, due in part to how incredibly easy it is to access a gun.

 

·         ST-LIIEG.7-G8-1

What do you think about refugees? Are they suffering the worst part of terrorism?

 

·         ST-LIIEG.7-G8-2

+ ST-LIIEG.7-G8-1 In these years, refugees is one of the major problems that nowadays we have to face. For me it is obvious that they are suffering the worst part of the terrorism.

Syria, for example, has been in a middle of a war for more than 20 years, and now it is worst, people had to run away from the country, there, most of the buildings such as schools, town halls, houses… have been destroyed, a lot of innocent people have been killed and there is almost no one left.

Refugees is a global problem that affects to the governments in Europe and America. Some people agree that these governments should help the refugees, the main reason is that is impossible to ignore what happens in the world, but, some governments only help them for economic interests. However, it is truth that host refugees support racism and prejudices from Europeans and Americans.

In conclusion, from my point of view, governments should take into account the problem of the refugees but it should be some restrictions , for example, to punish racism actions, to host a restricted number of refugees… We must make a global effort to provide them aid to solve the problem.

 

·         ST-LIIEG.7-G8-1

I agree with you ST-LIIEG.7-G8-2, as you said nowadays refugees are a global problem that we need to solve.
On one hand, refugees need help. They don´t have houses, hospitals, schools…because terrorism and the war have destroyed everything. They need a place to live. However, when they arrived in another country they can´t pass. Governments have breached the agreement of accepting a quantity of refugees.
On the other hand, accepting refugees has disadvantages. You must spend money and you have to prepare places for them. It´s a big effort to accept that big quantity of people. There are also problems with the cohabitation between refugees and the people who lives in the country that admit them.
In conclusion, they need us. There have been many wars in the world and we have to help each other, is a question of humanity. Nobody knows what can happen and maybe we would need that help in another moment of the future.

 

·         ST-LIIEG.7-G8-2

How can people respond to terrorism?
Should they be afraid?

 

·         ST-LIIEG.7-G8-1

+ ST-LIIEG.7-G8-2
That question is very difficult to answer, in my opinion there are many ways to response to terrorism.
First of all, there are people who are very afraid of that and they are always thinking about a terrorism attack. It is very frequently terrorism attacks in airports, buses stations, metros… places where there are many people. And that kind of people often avoid being in that kind of places, because for them it is very risky, especially weekends and holidays.
However, there are people who do not think about that and they use everyday public transport. Also, they go to places that are overcrowded as concerts or something like this. They live every day without thinking about what can happen.
I firmly believe that you should live every moment and every day, because you cannot know what will happen. Terrorists want us to be afraid of them, so we must face them keeping with our lifes.

 

·         ST-LIIEG.7-G8-2

The fear of terrorism is something that people cannot avoid, but we should. Some people decide to do not go out to home and avoid go to important places only because they are afraid.
In my opinion, we should not be afraid, we should go out and demonstrate them that we want to live free. If we show them that we are afraid they will increae the desire to kill and they will feel superior.
They only want to terrorize us, they do not kill only people by injuring them with the attacks, they also kill people by generating a psychological impact. The number of victims that leaves is much greater than that of the victims killed or wounded in an attack. I would say that first of all we need to know more about how the terrorists buy the arms and which countries subsidize them and we will found that Europe has almost all the blame
To conclude, to the question of how to act against terrorism, I strongly believe that we should support people who is suffering a lot, also we have to be united and give solutions to try to finish with this war.

 

·         ST-LIIEG.7-G8-3

+ DL-LIIEG.7-G8-1 This is a hard question to answer. From my point of view, we will never have a society without terrorism beacuse it is hardly impossible everbody thinks the same and there is not anyone who wants his thoughts to be accomplished and tries to do something to get it.

On one hand, living in a society without terrorisn would mean that all the people accept each other faith and they all are aware that violence is not the right path to fight. But, it also would mean that there are not right-wings extremists, poverty, wars… and we are extremely far to get rid of all these things.

On the other hand, trying to eradicate terrorism or violence would need a radical society change. Begining with children education and endind with extreme laws. Everything must be raised again.

In my opinion, getting a non-violence society would be really incredible but it is an impossible dream. It would need a big change and an enormous work to all the countries. But, I am still in the position that it would always be someone who is against something and it would want his belief accomplished.

 

·         ST-LIIEG.7-G8-3

+ ST-LIIEG.7-G8-2 Terrorism is a current issue that everybody is worried about. Specifically, 2017 was a year with many terrorist attacks in all the world. But, it is extremely difficult to foresee and plan to cope with any specific terrorist act.

Firstly, the nation must make efforts to deter such acts and, when that is not possible, they must minimize terrorists’actions. Also, every country must support and assist the country attacked.

As I have already said, many people live with the fear of suffering a terrorist attack. They do not go to crowded places such as concerts, fotball matches, demostrations… They do not take any bus, metro, train or any plain either.

In my opinion, all attacks generate behavioral, attitudinal and emotional response in the populations affected, specially if a relative suffered them. Although it is very hard to avoid these type of attacks, we should try to live with no fears, show that we are together to face terrorism and try to do our best to make a change, beggining with children education.

 

·         DL-LIIEG.7-G8-1

Thank you all for your interesting and thoughtful input on this quite difficult and heavy topic of terrorism. It is true that it is incredibly difficult to fight terrorism, and I can’t recall a time in my life when acts of terrorism haven’t dominated the news.

We have suggested some ideas about to stop it, and of course the President of America Trump has suggested bringing back torture to “fight fire with fire” as his personal solution to the crisis.

For me answering violence with more violence won’t solve anything, but please give the following article a read.

I feel it would be interesting to imagine yourself as a world leader, and then formulate a plan on how you would tackle the problems of terrorism and religious intolerance in not only your country but in other countries also.

All the best,

DL-LIIEG.7-G8-1

Edition .cnn .com/ 2017/01/25/politics/donald-trump-waterboarding-torture/index.html

 

·         ST-LIIEG.7-G8-4

+ DL-LIIEG.7-G8-1
There is no universally agreed-on definition of terrorism. At best, we have a most universally accepted definition of terrorism, which I could say is the following: terrorism is the use of violence to create fear for political, religious or ideological reasons. The meaning of terrorism is socially constructed. Terrorism could be divided between two groups: Old terrorism (that strikes only selected targets) and New terrorism (which is an indiscriminate terrorism).

We can see in this article the difference between Old terrorism and New terrorism that is represented by “right-wing extremists” and “Islamic terrorists”. The right-wing extremists are the ones who have selected targets and they believe in racial supremacy whereas Islamic terrorists do not have a direct objective based on the race.

In my opinion every way of violence should not be accepted or justified and should be eradicated, however, this is quite difficult. I think that the solution Donald Trump gives is not the best one and we all have to take part in this decision.

 

·         ST-LIIEG.7-G8-4

+ ST-LIIEG.7-G8-1
Recently the refugees have been in the spotlight and they appear on TV, magazines and newspapers. Because of the war every day there are more refugees that need our help and people do not really see the advantages of helping them.
First of all, the country that accepts refugees and take good care of them is definitely up voted in a moral aspect, also you safe lives and help them to restore. Governments should take this into account and help them, also you can help children that might have any illness or they are living a bad moment because they have emigrate of their country.
Refugees are suffering the worst part of terrorism because they have to choose in between fleeing their country and may not be accepted by another one, or stay in their country and may die because they are in war. In conclusion, refugees need our help and comprehension because who does not like to be helped?

 

·         ST-LIIEG.7-G8-4

+ ST-LIIEG.7-G8-2
Nowadays, terrorism is a topic that appears in every newspaper of all around the world. There are places that have to face terrorists attacks every day but who should the people respond?

On one hand, civilians are usually afraid because they can be hurt by terrorists because they generate violence and deaths. Due to recent attacks people are afraid of going to different places such as: concerts, supermarkets, stadiums… we are used to see a lot of news about terrorism which produce fear and insecurity on people. Because social media some people make fun and cruel jokes about this problem.

On the other hand, the governments should not be afraid however, they have to be very conscious about terrorism. Politicians should provide new laws in order to protect civilians of terrorist attacks in concentrated places. In Spain they have been some attempts in cities like Barcelona and Madrid.

In conclusion, on balance, terrorist attacks are random and they could happen anywhere and that should not affect our daily routine.