Knowing the Enemy

Flames and smoke everywhere. Debris falling out of the ski. People running around in extreme chaos evacuating the Twin Tower buildings. This is what was going on during the September 11th attacks. Nobody quite understood it at the time, was this intentional or an accident? Why did a plane just crash into the World Trade Center. Then soon after, bang! The other building was destroyed. And soon after that, well, we all remember what happened that day. It was a sad day for all Americans, and an extremely traumatic one for those directly involved. I cannot imagine what some of those innocent people had to go through. I think the biggest question we all had that day was "why?" Why take extreme measures to carry out a plot to kill. Why kill thousands of innocent people? Why America? A lot of these questions can only truthfully be answered by the people who did it, but through a little bit of research we can come to a lot of conclusions on our own.
It is very unfortunate that we live in a society that is hyper judgemental and stereotypical of those different from us. The term "xenophobia" applies perfectly here; we are afraid of what we don't know. I would have to guess that a very large percentage of Americans know little about Islam, yet there are jokes and stereotypes that knock them everywhere. Again, we are afraid of we do not understand about there religion. For me, I look at Muslims as believers in a God that I do not personally understand, they seem to value education and kinship, and a very small group of them believe in the use of violence.
Followers of this group are known as "Jihadists." Jihadism believes in the use of violence towards anyone who is a non believer or anyone who may pose as a threat to them. Al Qaeda, for example, is an example of a Jihadist group that doesn't hesitate to use violence to achieve their goal... global Jihadism. They are very organized and without the modern technologies that advanced countries have, they still are able to exist and operate. They use morally controversial tactics such as suicidal attacks. This is when a Jihadist may strap a bomb to his or her self and not only kill themselves, but take the innocent lives of others around them. Another way they can survive is that they hide underground, beneath innocent civilians. This makes it quite difficult to pin point their location, but even if we can we are not willing to attack because of collateral damage; we are not willing to take the lives of innocent Muslims even if it means killing the enemy.
The peaceful followers of Islam have no control over the Jihadist movement. They can't stop it, and in some cases, escape it. Unfortunatley, these extremists have, to a degree, destroyed the perception for all the other humane followers of Islam. Overcoming stereotypes and discrimination, even if held internally and not expressed, will be tough to overcome, but I believe if we can educate ourselves on their beliefs then maybe, just maybe we might be able to put our fear aside and earnestly accept these people as we would anyone else.