Jim Feldkamp Provides Insights On How To Talk About Terrorism With Students

Jim Feldkamp

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Terrorism affects the life of just about all people, irrespective of their age.  It is important that students are taught about subjects like terrorism in the college or university itself, so that these young minds are able to better understand the world around them. Jim Feldkamp mentions that matters relating to terrorism should always be discussed in a calm, thoughtful and rational manner. James Feldkamp essentially is a professor who teaches terrorism history, and helps his students to acquire a better understanding of terrorism and its roots.

Jim Feldkamp talks about enabling students to acquire a better perspective of terrorist activities

Everyone knows that terrorism is a bad thing that should be eradicated from society at all costs. Due to the sensitive nature of this topic, not many are comfortable about going deep into the subject of terrorism. Jim Feldkamp, however, marks that it is vital that students also try to get a grasp on the factors from which terrorism stems from. A number of brutal terrorist attacks have been taken place across the nation over the years, in addition to knowing about the weapons and plots involved in it, it is also vital to know what were the factors that ultimately led to such devastating situations. James Feldkamp also underlines how various terrorist activities have been less about attacking people and more about instilling fear among them.

In his classes, Jim Feldkamp often discussed the Cuban revolution where the students learned how Che Guevara and Fidel Castro overcame the fascist Batista, and subsequently placed their nation under the communist rule. While learning up this incident, a lot of questions crop up in the minds of the students, such as whether these two leaders were actually freedom fighters or terrorists. The thin line present between terrorists and freedom fighters at times becomes much more evident to the students in this scenario.  The students of James Feldkamp mention that in these cases they often were filled with guilty empathy about terrorist organizations that fought for freedom, rather than vengeance.  Feldkamp always maintained that acts of unlawfulness and violence should never be unexpected, but also encouraged the students to learn about history from all the angles.  His approach to teaching played a major role in enabling students to get a better perspective on terrorist activities.

While discussing the features of terrorism, Jim Feldkamp talks about the propaganda that goes with such activities. He mentions that there often is a strong propaganda present on both sides of a terrorism situation, which results in creating a concern that does not actually exist. James Feldkamp highlights that there are many cases where particular groups take “credit” for terrorist activities that has nothing to do with them. He also mentions how domestic attitudes can often be manipulated by the media, so as to seek out certain long term governmental goals. Due to this reason, Professor James Feldkamp always advises his students to try to look beyond propaganda and focus on the real issues.