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The Cold War and the War on Terror

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Submitted By weezerrox101
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Eerily, it seems that during the Cold War and the War on Terror, many of the feelings that citizens felt were the same, but what America called the enemy was different. Following the September 11th attacks, there was a feeling of paranoia felt throughout America similar to the paranoia felt during the Cold War. Americans did not feel safe, and an attack could come at any time. The fight on the home front looked different during the Cold War and the War on Terrorism. During the Cold War there was more of a correlation between fighting Communism, and buying consumer goods. During the war on terrorism Americans were asked to give up some of their rights in order to maintain their safety. There is an abundance of similarities between the Cold War and the War and Terror. In Echoes of the Cold War, Elaine Tyler May says, “The war against terrorism, like the struggle against Communism, defines the enemy as a worldwide conspiracy…with operatives infiltrating the United States.” In both wars, America was not just fighting a group of people; America was also fighting an idea. In the Cold war, America was fighting of Communism. The USA believed they were truly free, and that in order for other countries to be truly free they had to embrace capitalism and consumerism. America tried to spread capitalism to Vietnam and Korea by fighting in those countries, similarly to how America tried to bring Democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan. In the War on Terrorism, the idea that America was fighting was the idea of Terrorism. America was fighting a group of people who hated us because we were free. Their reasoning for disliking the American way was similar to the Communists’ reasons; their tactics and numbers were much different. There were still some differences between the Cold War and the War on Terror. The war on terror was on a much smaller scale than the Cold War.

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