Terrorist Teen Takedown

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/24/world/asia/australia-terror-shooting-laws/index.html?c=world

Australian police shoot teen 'terror suspect'

By Hilary Whitman

Last Tuesday an 18 year old suspected terrorist was shot outside a Melbourne, Austrailia police station, after he had attacked two officers. He arrived for a preplanned meeting at 8 p.m., and suspect stabbed the officers when they approached. One officer is in critical condition and the other has a severe slash to his arm. We do not know which officer shot the suspect, but we do know he had two knives. I believe that the suspect had premeditated the confrontation and planned the attack. He was armed and ready for the officers when they arrived and planned the meeting right outside the department to create an atmosphere of frenzy. While this is not a large scale attack it will greatly impact the lives of the two officers , in how they see terrorisom and their daily life. I think that this was a single personal act of terrisom that was not part of a larger scale attack or organization. 

Misrepresentation in the Media

I first read the article published in our local newspaper Rapid City Journal "C-Span bus rolls into town, but students still skeptical of political process" in my AP government class on Monday after the majority of my class. My first reaction to the article resembled that of my other classmates, I did not agree with any of the statements that Ms. Colias discussed in her article. This is primarly because of the way she took the words of students and twisted them in a way to match the way she wanted to present her story. This minipulation should not be allowed in media, but sadly that is the way how our society functions. After rereading the article after school it no longer seemed as bad as I had originally thought, yes there were qutoes that should not have been used, but overall it was not a slanderous article. Ms. Colias was simply trying to portray an image of how teenagers are frustrated and disinterested in the way the governement is run, and sadly because of this some of the students that she interviewed were misrepresented. Overall I believe that those who were given a false portrayal of their views have a right to be upset, however we should all learn from this experience that we should be careful what we say around the media and that every word counts.