Hi Marilisa! First off I wanted to say awesome job on your title! This automatically brings the reader in and gets them questioning who the threat is and where it is coming from. I also love how right off the bat in the first paragraph you include a heavy statistic that 73% of terrorist related factalities come from far right extremists. This is a statistic that people really need to recognize as legitimate and understand. I completely agree with you that for a lot of people they believe that the biggest threat to terrorism lies outside of our borders when in fact the biggest threat is right at home. Therefore I really like the fact that you focused on this topic for your blog post. The post as a whole was filled with detailed facts, conveying points, and a lot of numeric statistics which only makes your argument stronger. I think the fact that you call out white supremacist groups, radicalization, and far right extremism is going to open a lot of peoples eyes to what we both believe is the true threat to the United States right now in terms of terrorism. The only thing that I think could have made your post possibly stronger was if you included hyperlinks. That way, readers can then click on those links and see all of the other sources that are saying the same thing as you, the real threat is within. This will only strengthen your point. I recently listened to a podcast put on by the organization RAND called “Exiting Extremism” where they highlighted how threatening extremism is to our country and how people end up in extremist groups and then how difficult it is for them to leave. I think you will really like it, I totally recommend you taking a listen! They had a few guests on there who were former members of white supremacists groups themselves so it will definitely help your future research
if you chose to continue exploring this topic further. Awesome job and I look forward to reading your future posts!
I really enjoyed your blog. I have yet to see many other blogs like this on the site, which is why I am glad you took the time to write about it. All of the points you make are completely valid. I think many Americans are quick to assume that radical Islamic terrorists are the greatest threat to our democracy, but as we have learned throughout this course it is actually white supremacy. The New York Times article you highlight (footnote 5) really caught my attention. Law enforcement, at all levels in this country, truthfully has not done enough to stop white supremacy. This article essentially states that law enforcement hasn’t been able to see the threat of white nationalism and now it is out of control, a point that you made throughout your blog. What I think is ironic about this article is that it was published in November 2018. Since then, as your blog is noted, terrorist attacks committed by white supremacists have only continued to grow. One of the most prominent of these attacks was to the US Capitol building on January 6. There was plenty of indication to law enforcement that the “stop the steal rally” could become out of control/ become a threat and yet it was not taken seriously enough. People died and our nation’s Capitol Building, one of the most fundamental symbols of our democracy, was under attack. How can law enforcement know all of this information, all of these outcomes that have occurred time and time again, and yet will sit back and allow white nationalists to continue to ruin and threaten our democracy? I really enjoyed your blog post and I think it’s a super important topic to bring up as we learn about eroding democracies. If our politicians, law-enforcement officers, and other officials are not willing to acknowledge and stop the spread of white supremacy, the state of democracy in the United States will most certainly remain threatened.
Hey Marilisa!
I really enjoyed reading your blog post — I feel like this topic doesn’t get enough attention. I believe it is easier for Americans to label other ethnic groups as terrorists because it allows them to ignore the true underlying issues within our system. Personally, I believe if white supremacist groups were targeting other white people then this issue would almost be resolved. I think it’s very important to note that the majority of fatalities caused by white supremacists are of people of color. America will not be able to combat this issue until we change our definition of “terrorism”. I liked how you mentioned how law enforcement has yet to see the true threat of alt-right groups — reading this blog (2 years later) made me realize that nothing has really changed. I find it ironic that law enforcement is not able to tell the difference between talk and action — why not consider any form of talk action? Would it not be better to be on the safer side? Why risk it? I believe a threat is a THREAT and every threat deserves proper investigation and punishment.
Hi Marilisa! First off I wanted to say awesome job on your title! This automatically brings the reader in and gets them questioning who the threat is and where it is coming from. I also love how right off the bat in the first paragraph you include a heavy statistic that 73% of terrorist related factalities come from far right extremists. This is a statistic that people really need to recognize as legitimate and understand. I completely agree with you that for a lot of people they believe that the biggest threat to terrorism lies outside of our borders when in fact the biggest threat is right at home. Therefore I really like the fact that you focused on this topic for your blog post. The post as a whole was filled with detailed facts, conveying points, and a lot of numeric statistics which only makes your argument stronger. I think the fact that you call out white supremacist groups, radicalization, and far right extremism is going to open a lot of peoples eyes to what we both believe is the true threat to the United States right now in terms of terrorism. The only thing that I think could have made your post possibly stronger was if you included hyperlinks. That way, readers can then click on those links and see all of the other sources that are saying the same thing as you, the real threat is within. This will only strengthen your point. I recently listened to a podcast put on by the organization RAND called “Exiting Extremism” where they highlighted how threatening extremism is to our country and how people end up in extremist groups and then how difficult it is for them to leave. I think you will really like it, I totally recommend you taking a listen! They had a few guests on there who were former members of white supremacists groups themselves so it will definitely help your future research
if you chose to continue exploring this topic further. Awesome job and I look forward to reading your future posts!
Marilisa,
I really enjoyed your blog. I have yet to see many other blogs like this on the site, which is why I am glad you took the time to write about it. All of the points you make are completely valid. I think many Americans are quick to assume that radical Islamic terrorists are the greatest threat to our democracy, but as we have learned throughout this course it is actually white supremacy. The New York Times article you highlight (footnote 5) really caught my attention. Law enforcement, at all levels in this country, truthfully has not done enough to stop white supremacy. This article essentially states that law enforcement hasn’t been able to see the threat of white nationalism and now it is out of control, a point that you made throughout your blog. What I think is ironic about this article is that it was published in November 2018. Since then, as your blog is noted, terrorist attacks committed by white supremacists have only continued to grow. One of the most prominent of these attacks was to the US Capitol building on January 6. There was plenty of indication to law enforcement that the “stop the steal rally” could become out of control/ become a threat and yet it was not taken seriously enough. People died and our nation’s Capitol Building, one of the most fundamental symbols of our democracy, was under attack. How can law enforcement know all of this information, all of these outcomes that have occurred time and time again, and yet will sit back and allow white nationalists to continue to ruin and threaten our democracy? I really enjoyed your blog post and I think it’s a super important topic to bring up as we learn about eroding democracies. If our politicians, law-enforcement officers, and other officials are not willing to acknowledge and stop the spread of white supremacy, the state of democracy in the United States will most certainly remain threatened.
Hey Marilisa!
I really enjoyed reading your blog post — I feel like this topic doesn’t get enough attention. I believe it is easier for Americans to label other ethnic groups as terrorists because it allows them to ignore the true underlying issues within our system. Personally, I believe if white supremacist groups were targeting other white people then this issue would almost be resolved. I think it’s very important to note that the majority of fatalities caused by white supremacists are of people of color. America will not be able to combat this issue until we change our definition of “terrorism”. I liked how you mentioned how law enforcement has yet to see the true threat of alt-right groups — reading this blog (2 years later) made me realize that nothing has really changed. I find it ironic that law enforcement is not able to tell the difference between talk and action — why not consider any form of talk action? Would it not be better to be on the safer side? Why risk it? I believe a threat is a THREAT and every threat deserves proper investigation and punishment.