Terrorism 101 - continued

Terrorism is defined as the use of violence or intimidation for political gain. Intimidation is an attempt to coerce a person into doing something by using threats or by instilling fear into them. Bullying is a form of intimidation.

Social media is an effective means of communication. Almost everyone uses it. We are constantly viewing data. Sometimes what we view makes us laugh, sometimes it makes us cry. Sometimes it offends us and sometimes it outrages us.

Often, we share what we find with other like minded individuals  whom we feel will also laugh, cry, be offended or be outraged by what we have seen. Then, these people we share with, likewise share with their friends and their friends share with other friends and, in a matter of minutes, hundreds of people have viewed the data. In a few hours, thousands of people have laughed, cried, were offended or outraged. By the end of the day, the number might be in the millions. And most of them are completely unaware of the origin of the information. They shared it because someone they know shared it. They may not even realize that the reason their friend shared it was because one of his or her friends shared it. That's how social media works.

As a writer, I know it is wise to verify the source of information. For example, our government now is a recently elected government. There are numerous posts being shared on social media sites claiming that our newly elected leader is doing and saying all kinds of things that he is not doing or saying. Most people know the facts and they, like myself, disregard the information because it originates from an unknown and therefore untrusted source.

Just because someone says "I saw this on Channel 7 news!" doesn't mean it was on the news or that they themselves actually watched the broadcast. They are just reposting what someone else posted. I usually Google it to see if it was on the news and then read or watch corroborating stories from other networks. But, not everyone has time to do that and some people are just gullible. They believe it because they saw it on the internet. It never occurs to them that they are not getting all the facts. And, it never occurs to them that someone might be deliberately misleading them.

Thanks to this amazing tool known as the internet, I can capture special moments in photos and share those moments with family and friends in this country and in almost any country on the globe. Photos. Text messages. Whatever I want to share. And I can do it in the blink of an eye.

So, if you want to spread dissent, to subtly bully others into feelings of guilt and shame, cause them to doubt their political leaders or even their beliefs about what is right and what is wrong, you don't need to hold them at gunpoint. Just post a message on social media scolding them for paying too much attention to one tragedy and not enough to another. It seems to be working with the Paris vs Beirut vs Kenya tragedies. They blame the media, they blame you, they blame our governments, they blame everyone except the people responsible.

In the aftermath of these tragic events, what difference does it make which one of these nations I cried for the most. Who would even consider downplaying the Paris attack because there wasn't enough media coverage for the Lebanon attack. Someone who is trying to spread discontent over the way we run our lives or trying to disillusion us by pointing out how barbaric our governments are or how our media only shows us what they want us to see. Someone with an agenda. A terrorist, perhaps.

We don't spot this type of terrorism right away because there are no guns or suicide bombers. The weapons of mass destruction in this case are words. Words when wielded by an expert carry much weight.

The pen often is mightier than the sword. And in these times, we don't even need a pen. We just tap the screens on our phones, tablets, laptops, iPads, whatever device we use to communicate with.

So believe what you choose to believe. Grieve for whomever you choose to grieve for and feel no guilt or shame for being human. Do not let the terrorists win.

And I wouldn't worry too much about letting them into the country. Thanks to modern technology, they're already here.