History repeats itself. First we had 9/11. Now we have the Paris attacks. What the Islamic State does in the future is unknown.

What we do know is that the Islamic State has gained a global reputation. Its presence is boundless. IS defies borders, crosses seas and reaches all corners of the Internet. This organization has become the face of radical Islam and modern day terrorism.

What happened in Paris is another example of the physical and emotional devastation the Islamic State is capable of, but that devastation goes far beyond what we saw in this weekend’s papers.

The Islamic State is a group that uses three levels of weapons to make it harder and harder to stop. On the surface, they have explosives. Beneath that, they have a huge following. Furthermore they have a presence all over the world. The scariest part about IS has to be how deep its claws go.

The only way to rid the world of this terrorist group is to wipe it out completely, but IS is like a glacier. For every attacker we know of, there are huge networks of members waiting to be exposed in another act of horror.

The Islamic State has tuned into our online world. It utilizes social media to recruit members from places all over the world, America included.

People react to terror like the Paris attacks. We show support online, which is great, but we need to figure out a way to stop these attacks before they happen.

Its attacks always seem to catch the world off guard. When IS hits, it hits hard and that’s why its strategies are so successful.

The Islamic State also succeeds by playing off of the very thing that makes us human: emotions. It uses fear to shut down potential threats. Then it uses anger to gather supporters and spread more hate. Sure its militants have guns and bombs, too, but if they didn’t manipulate people’s emotions their physical weapons wouldn’t take them as far as they’ve gotten.

In an optimist’s perfect world, we can sit down after all the fighting is over and come to an agreement on peace, but realistically that’s impossible.

We have a threat that is going to exist even after we manage to take out all Islamic State members. IS has an entire generation of brainwashed children waiting to step up and join the fight. They’ve given guns to children and told them where to fire. What IS does in the future is unknown and that’s a terrifying thought.

Samantha Karam is an opinion writer for The Kent Stater. Contact her at [email protected].