American Jihadists: The home-grown threat

Just about a year ago, “American jihadists: The home-grown threat,” first appeared in the December 12, 2015 print edition of, The Economist. The staff writer's attitude toward American Muslims is they are not a threat to society but instead provide valuable protection. The staff writers at, The Economist, discuss Donald Trump and his radical plan to ban Muslims from entering the country. Trump’s opinion on Muslims and his plan to defend America works against him with the hard facts that his ideas would severely weaken the country's defenses. The staff writers bring up the San Bernardino terrorist attack, of which the anniversary of the attack has just passed. It is touched upon on how these well-educated affluent jihadists, Syed Rizwan Farook and his Pakistani wife, Tashfeen Malik, seemed like everyday average, middle-class Muslim Americans that nobody would have suspected of having a sinister agenda. There are two opposing viewpoints in understanding and resolving this madness in the wake of San Bernardino. The first viewpoint, which is at least a little reassuring comes from President Barack Obama, in a speech made December 6th, 2015, in which he talks of how efficient the USA has become in stopping complex attacks on Americans such as what occurred on 9/11. The president speaks of how terrorists are relying on less complicated acts of terror such as mass shootings and the best way to foil the terrorist agenda is “to keep calm and carry on” (Obama). The second viewpoint is Trump’s rebuke to Obama that since radicalized Muslims are so difficult to detect, all Muslims should be considered suspect and should not be allowed to enter America. The staff writers give many facts in support of Obama's claim of the effectiveness of increased security measures. The staff writers go on to explain how American Muslims are not interested in becoming radicalized because of how much better off they are living in the U. S. of A. By living in a country at relative peace and enjoying privileges that may not be possible elsewhere in the world, American Muslims are richer (both morally and financially), better educated, and are much more in tune to the free American way of life than the war loving jihadi fundamentalist overseas. American Muslims are valuable to the protection of the U. S. because they are a part of the American society. They have the American pride and will to defend their country against all threats, both foreign and domestic. Citizens of the U.S. nationwide love America, it does not matter if they are white, black, Middle-Eastern, Christian, Buddhist or Muslim, Americans care for the safety of themselves and their neighbors.