opinion: Mexican drug cartels are worse than ISIL

Mexican drug cartels are worse than ISIL Musa al-Gharbi, Al Jazeera America

While there are other organized groups whose depravity and threat to the United States far surpasses that of ISIL, none has engendered the same kind of collective indignation and hysteria. This raises a question: Are Americans primarily concerned with ISIL’s atrocities or with the fact that Muslims are committing these crimes?

I agree and disagree with al Gharbi.

I agree that the long term threat posed by terrorist groups like ISIL and al Qaida, however deadly, is over-prioritized in the media in comparison to other long-term violence. The drug cartels operating out of Mexico kill more American civilians (along the border states) than terrorist political groups do every year. However, attacks performed by the political groups are given first priority by the press while attacks by criminal organizations are shuffled off as mere crime statistics.

I disagree that the current media focus on terrorist groups is primarily based on cultural differences. Were that true, then anti-Mexican rhetoric promoted by populists like presidential candidate Donald Trump would reign supreme and the media would prioritize violence by our southern stereotypical "Dark Skinned, Catholic" neighbors. This hasn't happened.

I believe that the real reason that the media prioritizes certain terrorist groups is taboo to say outloud and that the bigotry argument is the safe alternative to it.

That real reason for media focus is simple: Some terror campaigns are successful. If you hear and talk about it, the attack was a success. We're not supposed to admit that terrorism works, but often, it does. Ask the Irish.

The product and goal of terrorism is media attention. Media attention drives recruitment. More recruits increase the number/and or severity of the attacks. These attacks draw more attention, then more recruits, and so on.

Simultaneously, the media outlets that refuse to give full coverage to terrorist attacks that hit home or hit our historical NATO allies go out of business. The press is forced to prioritize the successful attack, which in turn provides positive reinforcement for future attacks, which the press will then, again, cover.

It's a vicious cycle. It's also hard to break out of as it is hard for the individual citizen to not focus on such sensational events.