Homegrown Terrorist and Extremist Living in the Heartland - Research Proposal Example

Homegrown Terrorist and Extremist Living Amongst Us in the Heartland A Research Proposal This research is aimed at identifying where terrorism springs its roots and leads its neck out into the society. It is also aimed at providing a detailed conception of how terrorism and lone extremists are being raised within our own country and to clear the misconceptions that people have about terrorists that theme only from other countries and only from poverty stricken people. It is to be noted that all the research and results that have been posted in this research paper are based only on facts given out by government approved organizations like the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The main subject of the research is explained with examples of three terrorists or the so called lone extremists who have inflicted sufferings on the American people in the past. The research deals with their life history and how they turned out to be damage inflicting people, live right next to us. With all the research and findings, the research paper is aimed at proving the fact that homegrown terrorism is evolving as every day goes by and its links to lone extremism are getting stronger day by day. By this research, it can be proved that the heartland is under immense threat from terrorists and terrorist groups and to show that people have to be more cautious about even their surroundings with lone extremists rising from every corner of the streets these days. Purpose of the research The purpose of this research is to force people not only to think about other countries or other terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda when the word terrorism is spelt out, it could also be a person who is living right next to you. Anyone living in your neighborhood could turn out to be a terrorist who could inflict sufferings to other people. The purpose is also targeted at all commoners living in this country and it does not divulge into topics that bring out the diversities in people. It only concentrates on the possible facets that a human could take for the purpose of living and what are the possible results for each of these facets. The paper also deals about the facts that separate a lone extremist from a terrorist group. Though the paper defines as both of them to be people who inflict damage on others, it aims at bringing out the basic differences on what creates a lone extremist and a group and what are the precautions that heartland people have to take care of in order to identify the lone extremists at the root stage itself. The paper also aims at bringing out how horrific and damage causing each act of terrorism could result in. With more detailed research, the purpose of the paper has broadened to include topics such as the acts performed by the US government, like the war of Iraq and its implications on how it is leading more and more people to join the act of terrorism. With US proceeding its way into resolving conflicts among eastern people, this hasn't gone well with the natives of the east. This has led terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and Taliban to inject more number of people into their group to inflict damage not only to US, but to other countries that support the cause of US. So, it basically has moved out from a nation based activity to an internationally warned activity. All these facts and information have increased the purpose of the paper to include all possible faces of causes that lead to the act of terrorism. Hypothesis There are several reasons that can be put forth to explain the core subject of the paper. The articles that are chosen to explain the same have almost the same theory behind the evolution of lone extremists. It can be shown that it is not a new phenomenon that is occurring throughout the world, it has been a thing of the past, an everyday evolution that has been happening and still it is, without being given much importance. But the time has come to bring the topic into limelight ad reveal its identity to the common man. The detailed description of the life history of three lone extremists who are considered here: Timothy McVeigh, Gary Nettles and Theodore Kacynski show that all have become victims of terrorism only because of certain unfortunate occurrences and mishaps in their early life that changed their mental attitude towards society and fellow human beings. It has to be noted that only acts of mass damage, acts that are equivalent to that of terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda and other such terrorist groups are considered to be the base on which the lone extremists are being identified. Individual killings, a lone murder activity, etc are not considered to be acts of lone extremism. With the study on the three activists and the damages that they inflicted it should be noted, that each person's life is in danger once they get out in the world. Such is the state of the contemporary society. It is also to be noted that the hypothesis stated here is based on the life history of three individuals and it is not mere assumptions or guess. The main aim of this proposal is to identify the causes that are leading to the development of such people in day to day world. Some also cite reasons such as terrorist groups take advantage of people affected with their personal loss and convert them into terrorists. Such incidents are not dwelled in detail in order to concentrate only on the core subject of this paper. Key Research Questionnaires The key questionnaires that are answered through this research are discussed below. The first question that is answered through this research is the definition of the term 'lone extremist'. Who actually are the lone extremist, their purpose, their intent and their acts are catapult together to explain the reason for calling them by this term. Also, different perceptions be renowned critics are put forth to explain the reason behind the development of this term of late. The next question that is answered through this research is how these extremists are getting linked with other terrorist groups such as the Al-Qaeda. A detailed description of these groups taking advantage of people who get personally affected with government wars and with the fast paced life of contemporary society is provided. Also, the ways in which they are being pulled into the terrorist acts is also detailed. The research is further enhanced with the detailing given about how terrorist groups work actively in the homeland with the help of these lone extremists. The next question that is explained is about the details of Homeland security. A brief description of the organization itself, how it was formed, and the reason begin its formation and what made it to be such an integral part of day to day life is detailed. This is followed with a detailed description of the reason behind the change of the names from 'terrorist' to 'lone extremist'. An explanation of why the past people who were considered to be terrorists were changed to 'lone extremist' and what advantages it has brought in categorizing them in these ways. Arguments by Maxwell - response What do readers need, to better understand your topic' In order to understand the topic better, three real life examples are given to showcase the damage that can be caused by lone extremists. Also, in order to make readers gauge well to the topic, an initial fact based data released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation is provided to show the damages caused by these lone extremists. What do readers know little about in terms of your topic' With terrorism staging its acts frequently, most of the people are aware about the aftermaths of terrorism and the reason it is being followed by many terrorists. Thought their overall idea about why terrorism occurs and from it occurs may not be right but their conceptualization of the overall topic is far better with day to day publicity about the precautions that each one has to take in their day to day life. What do you propose to study' As mentioned in the subject of this proposal, the main aim of the research is to create awareness among the readers that terrorism is not only followed by terrorist groups across several countries, it is also being promoted by people who are living right next to us and because of that we are endangered to live in a more dangerous society that is full with the throttle of danger. What is the setting and who are the people that you will study' The setting of the paper is around the contemporary life that people are living and the people that are being studied are those who have performed extremist acts in the past twenty years and the reactions that we have taken in response to those acts in order to protect ourselves. What methods do you plan to use to provide data' With an exploration into the life history of three lone extremists and the damages caused by their acts, the data that is being gathered is from relevant sources sucha s the reports published by the government and other research paper published by several renowned authors. How will you analyze the data' The data is analyzed through the real life examples , their impact on the study , an exploration in terms of metrics used and with relevant facts of data proposed, a deeper analysis is made to what sort of reactions are taken to avoid the terrorist attacks in the future. How will you validate your findings' Since the findings are based on the data that has been approved and published by government based organizations, the findings are implicitly validated and proved to be right. Moreover, there are no guessing games that can be played with such serious topics. What ethical issues will your study present' The research is done in such a way that it is non-biased to any one in any way and this is done by taking into account only resources that are based on facts and avoiding those which are based on only opinions of others. What do preliminary results show about the practicability and value of the proposed study' The preliminary results show that there is larger than concepts that can be researched about with this topic as the base. The findings show that people are associating to terrorism in the age old stereotypical way and even the federal agents follow the same way. Hence it is important to know that the person who could kill many could be living next door to you. So it is important to be up to date with relevant activities that are going on in the world. Proposed paper outline As discussed in the subject of the research and in hypothesis, the outline of this research is to identify the details of lone extremism and to create awareness among the public about the different facets of terrorism that are being actively evolving in our day to day life and the need to show the caution it deserves from us. Preliminary list of references Anti Defamation League (n.d.). The militia movement and Timothy McVeigh. Retrieved from www.adl.org/mcveigh/background.asp Federal Bureau of Investigation (2006). Protecting America from terrorist attack: The case of the homegrown terrorist. Retrieved from www.fbi.gov/page2/aug06/homegrownterrorist_080206.htm. Federal Bureau of Investigation (2008). The Unabomber. Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/page2/april08/unabomber_042408.html Ferreira, B. R. (2007). Business and industrial security: Past, present and future. Security Journal, 20, 31-34. Fletcher, H. (2008). Militant Extremist in the United States. Council on Foreign Relations, 1-6. Hatchett, D. (Aug/Sep 1995). The militia movement: The new Klan' Crisis, 102, 6-22. Kohlmann, E. F. (2008). 'Homegrown" terrorist. Theory and in the war on newest front. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 618, 1, 95-109. Nimmo, K. (2009). Are You an Anti-American Lone Extremist' Conspiracy Planet The Alternative News and History Network, 1-4. Sherrow, V. (1998). The Oklahoma City bombing: Terror in the heartland. USA: Enslow. Read More