The 10 Most Shocking Facts about Modern Terrorism
Americans have been lost in their minds and living in fear of just about everything that might hurt them following the tragic events of September 11, 2001. Terrorism remains perhaps the largest threat to modern life, and many people are afraid to even walk to work out of fear of being caught up in a shooting or bombing attack. It’s disheartening to think that, following tragedies such as those in Paris, terrorism is only getting worse. Here are the 10 most shocking facts about modern terrorism.
Islamic Terror
The reality of modern terrorism is that, despite what the media says, the majority of terrorist attacks have little to do with Islam. The terrorist organization the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia are actually a Marxist-Leninist group.
Western Terror
The people in the west are not the main victims of modern terrorism. The west is where we hear the worst stories of course, but most terrorist attacks happen throughout Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan. Around two-thirds of all fatal attacks in these places are by terrorists.
Separatist Terror
The Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris is one of the largest terror attacks, but even that attack has been surpassed by more recent attacks. Even though these attacks happen, most European terrorist attacks are done by separatist movements; such as the Irish Republicanism attacks.
Homegrown Terrorists
Recent studies suggest that homegrown terrorists from the United States will kill more Americans than the Jihadists ever could. Some 48 Americans have been killed as a result of right-wing extremism since the 9/11 attacks.
Left-Wing Terrorists
The values of people on the left-wing could hardly be associated with modern terrorism. Despite this, and popular belief, left-wing terrorist have been responsible for the majority of nonlethal terrorist attacks.
Organized Terrorist Groups
Terrorist attacks in the United States are rarely carried out by organized groups. Almost every terrorist attack on American soil – 90% – have been carried out by a “lone wolf” or a few people at the very most.
Attacks are on the Decline
Even though the media has us all terrified, the reality is that the frequency of attacks in the United States has been on the decline since the 70s. There have been over 450 recorded attacks since 1970. There are more mass casualty attacks, but there have been less overall attacks since then.
Terrorism is Ineffective
Government studies have shown that terrorism doesn’t really work. A study from 2009 showed that not one extremist group has managed to successfully conquer a state across the 475 recorded terrorism campaigns.
Religious Terrorism
Most people think that terrorism is about spreading the religion or ideology of the attacker. This is false. Most terrorists enjoy hurting people more than anything else, meaning that terrorists are generally more sadistic than they are religious.
9/11 Was Not the Largest Attempted Attack
Even though many people will claim that 9/11 was the largest recorded terror attack – an event that saw over 3,000 people killed – it isn’t the largest attempted attack on record. Back in 1997, four members of the KK planned to blow up a Fort Worth, Texas gas refinery. If the plan had succeeded then the resulting aftermath would have killed well over 30,000 people; ten times that of 9/11.