On July 7, 2005, four bombs shook London. After making sure my parents were safe, I began to wonder: When will the world stop being obliged to suffer the plague of terrorism? Never, I concluded. We have been trapped in a vicious cycle. We can scrutinise our every intimacy in an attempt to ensure our safety-modelling our societies in the image of Orwell's 1984-until our lives are filled with thought police and telescreens-we can infringe upon our liberties, but we will never completely rid ourselves of terrorists.
The word "terror" lives in language, and even if we removed it-through some form of newspeak-the concept would still exist. You cannot win a war against a concept innate in every human being.

"Terrorism" can infect anyone. Whether it is Timothy McVeigh or Osama bin Laden, terrorists may claim their acts in the name of religion, but they have only one faith: terror.

There is evil in the world, and it just so happens that this evil currently uses Islam as its vice to trap people. People are gullible, and can be convinced to commit atrocious acts, but Muslim extremists-carrying out acts of terror-aren't the only ones who have fallen into the trap. We have all been trapped by an endless cycle of terror.

BBC News reports that within the three weeks following the attacks on London, there were 269 religious hate-related crimes-which is a sixfold increase from the same time last year. No matter what the retaliation, a religious hate crime or a police raid, these terrorists have succeeded in trapping the world. In the shallowest sense, terrorists have accomplished turning much of the West against Islam, which gives terrorists a reason to fight their war in the name of Muslims who have-and want-nothing to do with them.

This is how the world has become the number one recruitment center for terrorism-scrutinizing Islam and abusing it through misrepresentation, daily physical and verbal abuse and not-so-random searches carried out by security officials in London. Racial profiling is unfair, but if Al Qaeda claims that they're going to attack London, then it is unlikely that the person executing this evil will have blonde hair and blue eyes. It is possible, just not very probable. Racial profiling-even if it is justified-still perpetuates the cycle. Terror, retaliation, terror, retaliation, terror ... and the cycle won't be broken.

Security officials in London are obviously not at war with Islam, but it can certainly seem like it. It is the perception of this bias that will undoubtedly recruit more gullible people and, in the minds of terrorists, warrant further attacks. Hours after the attacks on London, The Secret Organization Group of Al Qaeda of Jihad Organization in Europe claimed responsibility for the bombings. They warned that "all crusader governments ... will be punished in the same way if they do not withdraw their troops from Iraq and Afghanistan." (The expression "crusader governments" implies that the West's only interest is in destroying Islam.)

We will never rid ourselves of the cycle. What we have to do is find some sort of middle ground between safety and oppression. I wonder how much of ourselves we're going to give up before we feel safe-because in reality, we will never be safe.

We can limit terror, but the price is high, and we may have already gone too far. As I walk around London, I know very well that there are 500,000 cameras strategically watching the city. High powered satellite imaging, cell phone location devices, and the growing unpopularity of saying anything bad about the government make me wonder if one day I will wake up and realize myself in a totalitarian dystopia painted in conformity. We will have managed to destroy what we were supposed to protect-freedom-and the terrorists will have won.

Terrorists will always influence our society because such desperation cannot be stopped-and sadly we cannot threaten punishment on someone who is already dead.

Welcome to the cycle. Choose your terror and keep in mind that on the other side lies oppression-to be free of either is not an option.