On Thursday, Feb. 23, the group Political Open Discussion (POD) had a panel in the Cinema of the Warch Campus Center at 8 p.m. The topic of discussion was terrorism. The four panelists, including the co-president of the group, junior Logan Kilsdonk, presented research they did concerning pre-written questions.
The panel discussed the idea that the U.S. should focus more on local threats, inside of ISIS and other faraway groups, who are not threatening the U.S.
One point of discussion was how terrorism starts and why it happens. In the beginning, they said that terrorism can be done by anyone, anywhere, given the right situation. People who get in with terrorist groups do so because they feel “isolated and unheard,” according to the panelists. They feel bombing and terrorizing people is the only way they’ll be heard by the government, which often isolates certain groups, such as Muslims.
Another point of the panelists was that many Middle Eastern countries dislike the U.S. because they feel like they were “invaded by foreign governments.” This interference by the U.S. makes the people of these countries feel isolated since the government is not controlled by them but by the U.S., who then leaves without any backup.
After the previously researched questions, it was opened up to the audience. The audience members could ask the panelists questions about terrorism. If the audience was still curious or interested in these types of discussions, they were invited to stop by a meeting.
