After reading this article, explain what you think the key issues are that are being discussed. In your answer, be sure to fully describe the social problems you see reflected in the story. The key issues in Mark Berman’s Washington Post article about Boko Haram, is the violent actions that the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram takes in order to further their agenda against Western education. Boko Haram is an Islamic extremist group whose name translates to Western education is sinful with extremist views they distort the Quran to justify their terrorist actions.
In doing so, they have recruited hundreds, maybe thousands of people in order to incite terrorism in Nigeria. Another issue is the lack of Nigerian government involvement in order to stop the Boko Haram abduction of girls from school. This is a key issue because the Nigerian government had a 4 hour notice prior to the attack yet we’re still unable to prevent the abduction of women from school. With a military base only one hour away from where the abduction has occurred, the Nigerian military should have been able to mobilize in order to prevent this.
Also only a few months prior Boko Haram, in February, set thousands of buildings on fire and killed more than 200 people. Boko Haram has also attacked a United Nations headquarters, kidnapped French tourists and shot more than 100 people in Benisheikh. After all of this Boko Haram has proven to be a formidable threat against peace, yet the Nigerian government was still unable to respond to a 4 hour warning of their impending attack, allowing more than 300 girls to be kidnapped. #bringbackourgirls has been floating around social media like Facebook and Instagram which is bringing the Boko Haram abduction to the global news.
The #brings back our girls has incited rallies held around the globe which has prompted action around the world to help resolve this crisis. With this hashtag going around social media it has also sparked support with the British Prime Minister David Cameron as well as the first lady Michelle Obama, who hold signs up with the hashtag in order to show their support. I believe that this sort of public outreach helps to bring awareness of global issues to common people because it comes up in their everyday lives on social media rather than having to go on different news outlets in order to hear the news.
By doing this it allows global issues to circulate quickly and effectively throughout social media and into the minds of citizens throughout the globe. This is shown because even though after the initial abduction, there was a very large global rallying for governments to come together and combat this terrorist group, throughout the following months support for the Global intervention to fight Boko Haram was still high which is sometimes uncommon because issues that don’t directly affect people tend to be forgotten as time passes but because of social media constantly reminding people of this attack support for intervention remained strong.
This is baring fruit in that now he’s the United States, France Britain and Israel have all offered support to help Nigeria combat Boko Haram and free the abducted girls. When you reflect on the story, why do you think these problems exist? I believe these problems exist because of the lack of education and the cycle of violence and misfortune can corrupt people and cause the flourishing of extremist ideals which perpetuates more violence. Islamic extremist terrorism shows how the misconstrued Quran can be used as a tool for violence.
There are terrorist groups they have misconstrued religious ideals to justify terrorist actions Boko Haram is only one example of this. Boko Haram is the embodiment of the lack of education and the cycle of violence all manifesting in a single body. By lack of education I mean the misinterpretation of what is supposed to be good religious ideals, but instead use those ideals of violence. An obvious example of this would be taking a religion class at USD which in class we are taught how to interpret Catholicism and the Bible as a means for good.
Without this basic education of the Bible, it can be constructed as a tool for violence instead simply by taking a literal translation of the Bible, namely the Old Testament, which can be used to justify murder to an uneducated person that is easily impressionable as well as accustomed to violence. The cycle of violence is an easy way of saying that violence begets violence. Everywhere around the world violence is a problem, whether it is a first world country or a third world country violence is inescapable. From the beginning of mankind violence has always been an issue in this world; no matter how far back do you go in history.
This constant violence has always been motivated by an external factor whether it is competition, greed, for as little as being different than one another the justification for violence can be anything because humans are prone to violence. The combination of a lack of education and violence atrocities like have come about through Boko Haram is made possible. One of the most effective ways to combat violence is simply education. By teaching everyone the value of an education they can use that knowledge instead of violence.
Through education there would be no need for violence that is so common in today’s world. By using education impressionable minds can be molded for good rather than allowing a person’s natural situation of violence and misfortune to mold them into a being of violence. The major theme the Cycle of Violence is the concept that violent actions lead to humiliation and that humiliation leads to a violent response. This cycle has been like an old television realistically that won’t stop playing in the history of mankind. Yet despite all our advancements there hasn’t been a way to stop it with a non-religious means.
Through Catholicism we are taught to turn the other cheek, but that may lead to even more unethical outcomes. So the hardest yet clear choice would be to find a way not to respond violently to a violent action yet still prevent humiliation from being passed on. This is the hardest and the option that is never used on a global scale. Even so no one in particular is to blame still, but the resurgence of using this style of peace keeping can be part of the healing process of this world. Who do you think is responsible for these problems?
Explain how they are responsible as fully as you can. I don’t think anyone is personally responsible or any organization is responsible for these problems. I don’t believe anyone is responsible because there’s no single body that is responsible for the entire world and all of its inhabitants. It is no one’s duty to police the entire world, nor is it anyone’s duty to take care of everyone in the world that is an illogical and impossible task. Terrorism is rooted, simply, in the fact that different ideologies don’t agree and one party uses violence in order to further their own ideology.
Is not illegal or a crime, you have a different opinion or a different outlook on the world, people are made different, people have different views of how they and/or others should live their lives that principle is what the United States was founded on. It is only when a single opinion is used to cause violence that terrorism is formed. Shown time and time again in our history books people are naturally violent beings there’s no reason or explanation simply that it is human nature to be violent. This isn’t to say violence is unavoidable, it is simply to show that every human being is capable of violence.
Through this it is said that violence is unavoidable because human nature is unchangeable. Of all the wars that humans ever waged or atrocities that have ever occurred differences of ideologies or appearance or any small difference was the root principle or violent course of action. Whether it is World War 2 or the United States Civil War both we’re rooted in the simple fact that two parties disagreed. In World War 2 Hitler believed the Aryan race with the supreme race and in believing so he subjugated the rest.
His reasoning for the mass murder of all the other races and religions is what caused the rest of the world to destroy Germany. The United States Civil War the South believed that black because they simply look different than white people have no rights and should simply be slaves. The North didn’t agree with this which plunged the north and the south into war. Both of these instances time and time again are periods in history over thousands of years. Who is the culprit, then? Who is responsible for the same problems that occur over thousands of years?
The answer is simple, no single person is at fault nor group of people. It is simply the nature of man, no matter how much we progress as a species the problems that we are having now in the problems that we have had in the past is one the same. These wars and justification for war are no different than what is happening with Boko Haram. Boko Haram’s terrorist’s actions are rooted in the same opposing ideologies that time and time again have led to war. No one is responsible for what is happening today just how no one was responsible for the wars of the past.
