On Twitter and in Facebook pages ISIS was making appeals as well as threats, attracting recruits and soliciting funding online" (Siegel p. 5). By allowing stories such as these to appear on our news channels are we fueling their fire? Would they be less powerful if we refused to give them the attention that that they are seeking? .
The use of media is so mainstream that it is almost unfathomable to imagine a reality without it. ISIS is the first terrorist group to use social media as a way to recruit and threaten other nations. As a result of this, the western world inevitably plays a role in their expansion and popularity. ISIS has set a precedent on how other terrorist groups can become apart of other cultures everyday life. ISIS targets impressionable children and adults from ages eight to twenty four in hopes that they can motivate them to change their beliefs. People with social media accounts or people that have access to the Internet, have the ability to expose themselves to anything that they want or even do not want. As Americans, it is our prerogative to protect our citizens from feeling threatened or unsafe. Media gives those with harmful intentions the satisfaction that their plan is working.
When it comes to social media, there is a fine line as to what can be considered useful information and what is not. A Time magazine article states that the reasoning for our media exposing ISIS is that, "our target audience is not the extremists, it's the people the extremists are talking to, trying to influence. It's people who have not yet become terrorists" (Altman p. 1). Some say that by giving people all of the information, we are warning them and better preparing them. Social media is a double-edged sword in the idea that everyone now has a voice. As a nation, we have never been more concerned with the perception that other countries have on us, as well as our perception on them.
