In history class, we had a very good discussion over the attacks on Paris, done by the seemingly unstoppable terrorist group: ISIS. The discussion not only focused on the actual events of the attack, but it also raised questions of why this attack happened, and what it might mean for us in the future. The key term involved in these questions is: “us”. Who is “us”? Who are the ones being affected by the attacks, and for what reason? I had never questioned the ingenious strategies of this radical assembly, but I’m assuming ISIS never went in without a plan nor an agenda.

It turns out, from what we concluded in our history discussion, that ISIS is actually targeting… us. And by us, I mean young western adults. Many 20-30 year old Europeans and Americans can fit into this category, spending money to splurge in their first-world interests and activities. ISIS is not only targeting our generation for what we idealize in as a culture, but they are also trying to strengthen their numbers with an influx of Western followers. They are striking fear into the ones that do not follow their group, while encouraging the ones who might be on the fence or looking for a “better life” in joining their “war efforts” against the “Christian crusaders”. However, the scary thing is that they are actually becoming successful. The attacks on Paris ended up being allocated at venues and districts where many young western Parisians would be spending their money in order to have a fun and memorable weekend, such as a concert or a soccer game. Especially with Syria’s messy past with France in regards to the bombings, these attacks caused “an act of war”, which is ironically what ISIS wanted. It gives them an actual reason to intensify their numbers and create a bigger following. The crazy thing is that people are actually following!

People from western Europe and even the United States are picking up their young families and moving to the lands of Iraq and Syria in order to start this “better life” that they are promised as a result of their dedication to ISIS. But how are they being convinced be people who are either undercover in their own community or half way across the world? The answer is social media and technology. In our discussion, an interesting point was made that ISIS is one of the first terrorist groups to totally take over technology and social media in order to either distill fear in other cultures across the globe or create a following outside of its own borders. The assembly’s videos and messages through youtube and the news are not going unnoticed, and it makes us, whether we want to or not, keep their presence in the back of our minds.

As a conclusion of our discussion, we contemplated if ISIS is being successful in controlling us and our actions. At the time of the discussion, many disagreed with their successful control because many of my classmates’ disregarded the safety precautions recommended, especially in a place like New York City. However, that took a turn this weekend, as many threats were directed towards New York City through… you guessed it… social media. I, a person that also disregarded the safety precautions, had plans to go out for my friend’s birthday, but those were even shot down as soon as our friends heard about the potential danger. It’s sad to say this is a world we live in today, and a radical group of dangerous political aspirers is succeeding in the one thing they strive for: changing our behavior through distilled fear, which could eventually lead to an even scarier possibility: conformity.