It seems reasonable to state that today, there are many platforms that make it possible to express significant claims on various issues. Relatively recently, Aaronson and McCue have had their chance to deliver their speeches at TED regarding the problem of terrorism. Despite the fact that they had a different emphasis in their reports, the speakers both shed light on the issue from quite a unique perspective. Below, their positions – in the framework of their TED speeches – will be compared and discussed.
Aaronson’s main point is that in its struggle against terrorism, the US government has created more terrorists than the organizations like al Qaeda, al Shabaab, or the Islamic State (Aaronson, 2015, 00:00:01–00:00:14). His idea is that the FBI has established a superfluous web of searching and identifying terrorists. In fact, this web allowed the institution to accuse and captivate many individuals who are not likely to be terrorists, according to evidence, but who have gained such a status from the US government.
McCue’s primary point is that the right way to fight terrorism lies in the field of the so-called brand war between the dogmas of terrorism and Western democratic values. The civilized world is to promote its approach to living life and oppose it to the one offered by terrorism’s advocators (McCue, 2012, 00:02:36–00:03:11). His report allows assuming that the real war against terrorism is within humans’ minds, given that if one realizes the alternative to terrorism, it is very unlikely that they will be affected by its doctrine.
Hence, it seems apparent that the speakers approached the topic differently. Aaronson’s ideas show that the US system that was developed as a response to terrorism contains many flaws that are to be reconsidered and corrected. McCue, in turn, reveals that the war against terrorism is not just on battlefields and investigations but also in consciousness. What is similar in their speeches is that both Aaronson and McCue suggest rethinking the current means of defeating terrorism.
References
Aaronson, T. (2015). How this FBI strategy is actually creating US-based terrorists [Video]. TED. Web.
McCue, J. (2012). Terrorism is a failed brand [Video]. Web.