Of Ants and Terrorists
After several hours and extensive questioning of family and friends, I decided to write this analogy assignment on the vast similarities of ants and terrorists. I had several topics to choose from; however, I wanted to write about something that relates to our present times. There are dozens if not hundreds of similarities between these two. For example they both live in organized societies, they range in sizes from a very few to several thousands. You could also find both of these groups all over the world. These two “species” are well organized, very meticulous and determined. For these and other reasons, I decided to write this paper on this subject.
Lets start with the organization of these two. Ants operate in highly organized colonies. There’s a queen and every ant has a specific function within the colony. There’s the worker ant, responsible for the construction of the complex anthill; also, the farmer ant duty is to gather food and ensure of a vast supply of foodstuff for the queen. Now lets look at a terrorist group, for example “al Qaeda”, as we have found out from the last several weeks of media coverage, this group is also extremely highly organized. They have their “queen”, Usama bin Laden, which runs a pretty darn good structured outfit. This terrorist group is based on a chain command, with its captains, lieutenants and foot soldiers. The al Qaeda group has many branches like, ...
The inspiring documentary film, E.O. Wilson—Of Ants and Men, showcases biologist Edward Osborne Wilson’s passion for preserving the biodiversity of our natural world. E.O. Wilson not only values the fascinating creatures (particularly ants) that he comes across during his research and in his daily life, but he also takes action and participates in the Gorongosa Restoration Project at Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique, Africa. The destruction of Gorongosa demonstrates the call for us—Homo sapiens—to realize how critical it is to concern ourselves with protecting the very ecosystems that have molded us into the complex species that we are; according to E.O. Wilson, “We adapted over millions of years to wild environments…We really need them” (CITE?). The better effort we make to understand that we are a part of this large, interdependent ecological community, the better equipped we become in not only being
For approximately the past three decades, a terrorist group has come to plague the world with its activities (Gunaratna, 2002). This group is known as Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda, when translated means “The Base”. It is a terrorist organization that seeks to remove western influence from the Middle East and spread its radical Islamic views. Al Qaeda’s most prominent leader was Osama bin Laden, until his death during a raid upon his compound in Pakistan. The Al Qaeda’s motivation stems primarily from extreme and deeply rooted religious beliefs. Their most used method of attack is through suicide bombers and improvised explosive devices. This organization has also used chemical warfare and at this time is believed to still actively seek to utilize chemical and biological agents as means to battle.
Currie, Stephen. "Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda." Terrorists and Terrorist Groups. San Diego: Lucent Books, 2002. 69-83. Print.
We are the Ants is a story written by Shaun David Hutchinson. The main character, Henry, has a life that started out broken and continues to break. What I mean by broken is that his dad leaves, his mom does drugs to cope with pain, his boyfriend committed suicide, he is assaulted, his only stable adult has an unforgiving disease, he’s constantly bullied, and he gets abducted by aliens regularly. Henry has to deal with school, past and present relationships, and other people all while taking care of his mental and family problems. Nobody believes the frail, mentally unstable teenager when he says he has been abducted by aliens. The “sluggers” abduct Henry because he is special. They choose him to make a decision that could end the world as
Would you risk your own life and the lives of another 400 people just so you might have a chance at saving a coffee plantation? Well that’s what Leiningen did in the short story “Leiningen Versus the Ants”. And by doing so he has proved himself to be an over confident, persuasive, and sexist man. And is not a person to be admired.
Likewise, Goodwin illustrates how the use of categorical terrorism can be seem being used by Al-Qaida during the attacks of 9/11. Nonetheless, it is evident that Al-Qaida is unusual in terms of using terrorism to influence the rise of unity rather than trying to overthrow a standing state. For the purpose of instigating a pan-Islamic revolutionary movement, Al-Qaida tries to unite all Islamic people under one state to develop umma, or Muslim community. The logic of Al-Qaida remained that if their “revolutionaries” could illicit a reaction from the powerful US state, resulting in oppression of the middle-eastern region, that Al-Qaida could, as a result, unite all Muslims to counter this suggested oppression. Although the end goal of Al-Qaida clear failed, it does suggest the organization’s attempt at implementing categorical terrorism.
The production of new ideas spark momentum for thought, the fabrication of machinery paves the way for innovations, and the expansion of human connection has led to new forms of participation. Historically, eras have been defined by the highlights of its period: the Stone Age allowed the development of tools while the Gold Age refined methods already produced to be more efficient in their purposes. If these are the things that define these eras, what has defined the twenty first century? In the later parts of the twentieth century, new technology like computer software ignited the world in a way never seen before. People all around the world were given access to connect with one another through the click of a button, and from there, the possibilities
In the book We are the Ants, Henry Denton the main character is abducted by aliens. The aliens takes him out of his bedroom. Sometimes the aliens abduct Henry for a couple days at a time. One of his friends committed suicide. Henry has 144 days to press a red button if he doesn’t want the world to end.
Both Henry David Thoreau’s “The Battle of the Ants” and Virginia Woolf’s “The Death of the Moth” are about life and death, but they approach the topic with different perspectives. Thoreau writes about an exciting battle of ants and uses personification to relate it to the excitement of real human battles, while Woolf writes in respect about a moth who has death unexpectedly creep up on it and describes how little the moth is in comparison to the rest of life and how it fights to live. In both writings the ants and moth are fighting against death so that they may live, but the ants are fighting visible opponents that are trying to kill them and the moth is fighting natural death.
One of the most little known species of ants in North America is the leaf-cutter ant. This is mainly because it lives in tropical environments and it is not aggressive to animals or humans if not disturbed. The leaf cutting ant is a social insect. Alone the ant is virtually helpless but with the colony it can be a thing feared by animal and human alike.
Myrmecology has been around since the late 18th and early 19th century. Myrmecology is derived from the Greek word Murmek, which means ant. There are three main names that are most noteworthy: Linne who produced “Systemae Naturae” which he describes eighteen species of ants. Fabricius created five more genera and further described other species. Latreille was the most significant, he collected and studied the ants of Europe and described many species overlooked by his predecessors. In 1967 a fossil was found that was preserved in amber fossil which showed an extinct species of an ant dating as far back as the Cretaceous Age, near eighty million years ago (as cited in Ant Nest, 2005).
Ants, Little but Mighty. What is an ant? Ants are insects, they have six legs and each leg has three joints. Ants legs are very strong.