Terrorism has been destroying people’s lives for many decades. Rebels in the middle east have found that in the modern day technological age, their power has grown. Social media has significantly increased recruiting, coordination of attacks, and methods of communication that can be instantly shown all over the world. Prior to this era, most of these problems were nonexistent. Eye witnesses of events can now show real accounts of what's happening. The amount of overall information and exposure the everyday person is shown has opened a world of news like we’ve never seen. When some kind of terror attack happens, it’s not just watching some video of an explosion anymore. you ‘ll see faces of those affected, family member accounts of those who have lost loved ones, editorials of people there describing in detail what it was like. Social media gives everyone a voice, and that voice is power. That power when used by these terrorists is what turns into something dangerous. 

The first picture in my project is a group of militants from the terror group ISIS. They are grouped together, like a team picture, with their flag and message of hate. The picture is showing how easy it has become to recruit other people to join this brigade. Young, extremely poor young men with no chance of a higher education or stable job life are easily tricked into joining. The lure is a sense of identity and a feeling of belonging. These boys see pictures and videos of these terrorists enjoying themselves and yielding great power. They have easy access to watch things that will in turn “brainwash” them. Leaders in terror organizations have access to things like Twitter and Facebook to further recruit more people. Social media apps give these awful people a voice, and that voice is talking to these young men asking them to “join the fight”. A relevant example of how videos and images can easily influence people would date back to 1915 in “The Birth of a Nation”. This three-hour film tells a story in the post-civil war south. As many blacks gained more power, These KKK members who seemingly restore order are portrayed as valiant and brave. The movie actually ended up being a recruitment tool for Klan members to expand. This is what's happening in Countries like Iraq and Syria. People are making videos that aren’t true depicting these terrorists as martyrs and not rebels, but heroes. Even though the message they are sending is so wrong, the demographic they are trying to appeal to is believing it. Even if the voice is wrong, it still has power, and is still being listened to. 

The second picture is of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the current leader of ISIS. He along with many others have taken complete advantage of expressing themselves to the world and what they have to say. A past perception of terrorists may have been someone like Osama Bin Laden hiding somewhere and conveying his message with some old video camera. Times have changed, and sometimes the messages get creative. Videos now are being made constantly which continues to promote their message. Back in August of 2014, ISIS posted a propaganda video of American Journalists being beheaded. The masked executioner speaking throughout the video is stating his belief and spreading his message of terror. This video went viral instantly, and was all over every news station and social media networks for months. Now that everyone is connected through these electronics, every single person has such an easier access to watch or hear about things like this. Now people like Baghdadi have videos to show everywhere all the time, which in turn continues to fuel the fire, and their power. 

My third picture is a couple holding each other frightened inside the Stade de France soccer stadium during the night of the attacks in Paris last November. These series of simultaneous attacks resulted in over 140 deaths. Five different attacks were carried out inside the city all within 45 seconds of each other. Coordination in planning attacks has also became tremendously easier with new forms of communicating. These terrorists have inner networks in which they can talk, update, and plan every second. That's very dangerous considering the extra damage that can be caused so much easier. Terrorist groups like ISIS use these images of destruction and evil as a token of success. Even when thousands of lives were changed forever that night because of those disgusting people, they still manage to boast of it as a success. In their brainwashing methods to potential soldiers, they make these innocent civilians out to be the evil ways, and rationalize the murders as achieving some goal. 

My two own illustrations and final pictures are of an AK-47 assault rifle, and a peace symbol. The AK-47 represents all the weapons that these terror groups have and flaunt. These weapons are used in propaganda videos that show explosions of buildings, murders, and destruction of cities. The weapons are the main reason why ISIS has grown so much, and it continues to gain access to more advanced guns. These young men watching these videos seeing these weapons of destruction and become impressed with the strength and power the group has. For the peace sign, I drew that in order to complement the effect social media can have when trying to defeat terrorism. As quickly and easily messages of fear and hate are spread, messages and organizations about solutions of peace can be broadcasted in the same way. In order for these terror groups to stop, there needs to be peace among those citizens, not political unrest. There needs to be change in thought, not just behavior. 

In this modern era, society is changing faster than ever imagined. Technology is the biggest change to this era, and this technology has many capabilities and functions that everyone uses. Social media and communication within modern day terrorist groups has proven to be an extremely serious situation. These groups are growing much faster, with social media being their main tool of communication and broadcasting. Each day, more and more young men in war torn countries are buying into terrorist propaganda they see on twitter or Facebook. For the next upcoming years, finding a solution to breaking down these terrorist networks will be a crucial tool to finally end the war on terror.       