In Brief
Dissecting Terror
- Whereas earlier researchers focused on the political roots of terrorism, many of today’s investigators are probing the psychological factors that drive adherents to commit their deadly deeds.
- Most terrorists are not mentally ill; rather they rationally weigh the costs and benefits of their actions and conclude that terrorism is profitable.
- Group dynamics and charismatic leadership play powerful roles in convincing people to embrace the expansive goals of terrorism. Terrorist groups often provide their members with a sense of belonging and empowerment.
On June 30 two men drove a dark green Jeep Cherokee into a set of doors at the Glasgow airport in Scotland, producing a burst of flames that officials deemed an act of terrorism. They linked the crash to a broader plot that included two cars in London that contained explosive materials.
The foiled plan is just one of the tens of thousands of terrorist pursuits that have pockmarked the globe in recent decades—including the 1972 murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, the 1975 hostage taking at the OPEC headquarters in Vienna, the 1995 sarin gas attacks in Tokyo, and the September 11, 2001, strikes in the U.S. Although terrorism includes a diversity of actions, all of them, by definition, are intended to harm innocent civilians—and perpetrate fear—in the name of political, religious or other ideological goals.
This article was originally published with the title Inside the Terrorist Mind.
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4 Comments
Add CommentErnest Becker, author of Pultizer Prize winning book "Denial of Death" 1975 and Otto Rank author of Will Therapy (1929-31), Psychology and the Soul (1930) and Art and Artist (1932) identified a major source of terrorist violent behavior. They found much of violent behavor arises in terms of defending unconscious symbolic sources of immortality on which we depend to sooth our anxiety of death. Most of the theories identifying violent behavior are true but narrower observations of this broader phenomnea. Its time we come to some conclusion about evil...rather than pretending it is inscrutable.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Although terrorism includes a diversity of actions, all of them, by definition, are intended to harm innocent civilians--and perpetrate fear--in the name of political, religious or other ideological goals."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBy this definition, couldn't the use of nuclear weapons in Japan, the firebombings of German cities, and the use of V-1 and V-2 rockets against Britain be considered acts of terrorism?
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Edited by jgarcia at 12/21/2007 6:28 AM
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Edited by jgarcia at 12/21/2007 6:30 AM
In this excellent analysis of the terrorists behaviour, Annette Schaefer refers several essential points to understand the terrorist way of thinking: 1- in the majority of cases terrorists rationally calculate the costs and benefits of their actions and have no evidence of mental illness, 2 - terrorists commonly have a willingness to subordinate the individual to a collective identity, 3 - have the conviction that what they were doing was right, and 4 - some terrorist leaders like Bin Laden, regularly referred verses of the Koran to validate acts of extreme violence. The last point deserves more attention.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIndeed, the Koran , has many statements that promote and justify violent actions. A simple search of wards like war, kill, or fight at an electronic version of the Koran (EBook #16955 at:http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16955/16955.txt), will find a lot of statements like this: 002.191: And kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from hence they drove you out, for persecution is worse than slaughter, and do not fight with them at the Sacred Mosque until they fight with you in it, but if they do fight you, then slay them; such is the recompense of the unbelievers.
Finally, as Wessely (New England J Medicine 2007, 357: 635-637) refer, the terrorist's action only makes sense, considering that the end justifies the means.
Fernando Martins Vale.
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Edited by Fernando M Vale at 01/02/2008 3:53 PM
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Edited by Fernando M Vale at 01/03/2008 1:14 AM
There is no such thing as a "terrorist," simply those who want the American way of life, to stay in America. It's called blow back. And if you're too ignorant to realize that, like most gun-ho Americans, then you deserve to learn the hard way. As sad as the loss of lives were, the United States got what they deserved on 9/11. Not the killing of innocent Americans, but the message to America. Stay out of the lives of the Middle Eastern world. "Terrorists" understand the evils of Western Civilization's politics and corporations, always trying to milk the population of their wealth and power, the people of the Middle East don't want to become slaves like the Western world has become.
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