What is Terrorism?
Terrorism is not new and even though it has been used since the early times of recorded history, it can be relatively hard to define terrorism.
Terrorism has been described variously as both a tactic and strategy; a crime and a holy duty; a justified reaction to oppression and an inexcusable abomination. Obviously, a lot depends on whose point of view is being represented. Terrorism has often been an effective tactic for the weaker side in a conflict. As an asymmetric form of conflict, it confers coercive power with many of the advantages of military force at a fraction of the cost. Due to the secretive nature and small size of terrorist organizations, they often offer opponents no clear organization to defend against or to deter.
That is why pre-emption is being considered to be so important. In some cases, terrorism has been a means to carry on a conflict without the adversary realizing the nature of the threat, mistaking terrorism for criminal activity. Because of these characteristics, terrorism has become increasingly common among those pursuing extreme goals throughout the world. But despite its popularity, terrorism can be a nebulous concept. Even within the U.S. Government, agencies responsible for different functions in the ongoing fight against terrorism and extremism use different definitions.
The United States Department of Defense defines terrorism as “the calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological.” Within this definition, there are three key elements—violence, fear, and intimidation—and each element produces terror in its victims. The FBI uses this definition: "Terrorism is the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives." The U.S. Department of State defines terrorism to be "premeditated politically-motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience".
Outside the United States Government, there are greater variations in what features of terrorism are emphasized in definitions. The United Nations produced the following definition of terrorism in 1992; "An anxiety-inspiring method of repeated violent action, employed by (semi-) clandestine individual, group or state actors, for idiosyncratic, criminal or political reasons, whereby - in contrast to assassination - the direct targets of violence are not the main targets." The most commonly accepted academic definition starts with the U.N. definition quoted above, and adds two sentences totalling another 77 words on the end; containing such verbose concepts as "message generators" and "violence based communication processes". Less specific and considerably less verbose, the British Government definition of terrorism from 1974 is "...the use of violence for political ends, and includes any use of violence for the purpose of putting the public, or any section of the public, in fear."
Terrorism is a criminal act that influences an audience beyond the immediate victim. The strategy of terrorists is to commit acts of violence that draws the attention of the local populace, the government, and the world to their cause. The terrorists plan their attack to obtain the greatest publicity, choosing targets that symbolize what they oppose. The effectiveness of the terrorist act lies not in the act itself, but in the public’s or government’s reaction to the act. For example, in 1972 at the Munich Olympics, the Black September Organization killed 11 Israelis. The Israelis were the immediate victims. But the true target was the estimated 1 billion people watching the televised event. Those billion people watching were to be introduced to fear - which is terrorism's ultimate goal. The introduction of this fear can be from the threat of physical harm/a grizzly death, financial terrorism from the fear of losing money or negative effects on the economy, cyber terrorism harming the critical technological infrastructures of society and psychological terrorism designed to influence people's behaviour. Terrorism is designed to produce an overreaction and anecdotally, it succeeds at that almost all the time.
The Black September Organization used the high visibility of the Munich Olympics to publicize its views on the plight of the Palestinian refugees. Similarly, in October 1983, Middle Eastern terrorists bombed the Marine Battalion Landing Team Headquarters at Beirut International Airport. Their immediate victims were the 241 U.S. military personnel who were killed and over 100 others who were wounded. Their true target was the American people and the U.S. Congress. Their one act of violence influenced the United States’ decision to withdraw the Marines from Beirut and was therefore considered a terrorist success.
There are three perspectives of terrorism: the terrorist’s, the victim’s, and the general public’s. The phrase “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter” is a view terrorists themselves would gladly accept. Terrorists do not see themselves as evil. They believe they are legitimate combatants, fighting for what they believe in, by whatever means possible to attain their goals. A victim of a terrorist act sees the terrorist as a criminal with no regard for human life. The general public’s view though can be the most unstable. The terrorists take great pains to foster a “Robin Hood” image in hope of swaying the general public’s point of view toward their cause. This sympathetic view of terrorism has become an integral part of their psychological warfare and has been countered vigorously by governments, the media and other organizations.
More at http://www.terrorism-research.com/
Discuss this is also one of those stuff that happens often today.
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Terrorism
Moderator: Userbase Moderators
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Re: TerrorismThis is one of the biggest problems in todays society. The always-in-some-degree of ignorance to justify the spilling of blood for the "greater good". Its a very, very near-sighted concept in my opinion. The ever present concept of "fear for your children" is the main tool of any side. What these groups always fail to recognize is that innocent lives are always the first to be taken. As for the "general public" view, which I would classify myself in, can NEVER under any circumstance condone the act of murdering innocents for a "greater good". Mankind must learn to stop fighting for the will of a few men.
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Re: Terrorism>long-ass post with grammatically correct sentences
>"Discuss this is also one of those stuff that happens often today." Also I think anyone with half a brain knows what terrorism is, especially in this day and age, and if they haven't, what the hell are schools teaching kids? Advanced Quantum physics? |
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Re: TerrorismI have always believe in this concept: Not that I'm asking you guys to relate it, I believe conflict happens because we have different beliefs. Yes, they teach us Advanced Quantum Physics  . |
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Re: Terrorism8bitmushroom, please take this topic seriously, it is a massive problem for everyone, and your just moking and making fun out of it, that is very offensive for the countrys that are going through it. Terrorism isn't something you should laugh or make jokes about, it is a serious matter and problem to the world, please don't make fun of it. I think that the groups of terrorists are just unfair, nasty and cold hearted people that don't deserve a good life, their lives should be ruined, then that would make it fair. |
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Re: Terrorism[quote="8bitmushroom"]>"Discuss this is also one of those stuff that happens often today."/quote]
Still making fun of me i see alright no offense taken also. We just had a discussion about terrorism way back in the last week and argued about the 9/11 incident. Also yeah guys it would be great to take this serious and not be like the standard smbx community who doesn't cooperate with anyone. Thats why most topics got locked. |
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Re: TerrorismITT: Terrorism is bad.
Everybody gets that. What more is there to be discussed? |
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Re: TerrorismTerrorism isn't a huge problem to the world, nuclear warfare is, and yet still, both of those things aren't even problems at all, just a fraction, because you're forgetting about extraterrestrial threats, such as the possibility of meteorite colliding with Earth on a traumatic scale, the eruption of a super volcano, Global Warming, etc. Terrorism isn't going to wipe mankind out, natural disasters will. Yes, Terrorism is bad, but I think having my house crushed by a space rock about half the size of our moon is a little more devastating. And for the recording, I wasn't joking about anything, so that downrep was a little unnecessary. Most topics get locked because they don't garner actual discussion. This doesn't garner any discussion because there isn't really anything to discuss on the matter other than "oh its bad". |
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Re: TerrorismWhat the fuck! Terrorism IS a big problem, plus I think we have a higher chance of dying by war n' shit than a meteorite that would get crushed by the earths atmosphere. |
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Re: TerrorismTerrorism isn't as big of a problem as the media and you are making it out to be. Yes, it's bad, but it's not a big problem. Another thing you seem to be misinterpreting is terrorism itself. It isn't war, it's an act of terror on a large population, a great example would be 9/11. Yes, it started a war, but it was never one to begin with. Plus, a meteorite of large enough scale won't just burn up in Earth's atmosphere. Do you remember that close fly-by of a huge meteorite we had back in 2013, and then suddenly a meteorite slammed into Chelyabinsk? The energy of the explosion was estimated to be about 300-500 kilotons of TNT, and that's a lot. There are other things that threaten humanity in itself, some war isn't going to do that unless it is taken to a nuclear scale. |
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Re: TerrorismTerrorism or as i call it "MY RELIGION IS BETTER!" Even though all of the religion should be the same and just believe in god and don't let your religious beliefs become the better of you, like don't force a religion on someone. People MY RELIGION IS BETTER suicide bomb attacks get forced or just want to please god but really in the truth of the fact, God has abandoned humans due to what we do just to please him and try to say who is better, ego is the only thing that matters somehow in this world.
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Re: TerrorismI think you may have inadvertently sparked a religious debate lol! I hear you though. That's mankind's story thus far. My god is better than your god, lets start a war. Its ridiculous. This is why I abhor religion. All of them. We are all people yet extremism has created the biggest atrocities of humankind all in the name of their invisible and impotent sky daddies. Why would a god create us to do this to one another? His entertaining social experiment? Please. WE are people. WE are organic. WE are animals killing as they do in the wild only on a sophisticated and utterly horrifying level. |
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Re: Terrorism>Implying that's the religion's fault and not the churches's fault >Implying all religions are focused on "being better" than the others. Seriously though, it's not the religion's fault that people do stupid shit. |
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Re: TerrorismI was raised 15 years in the system before opting out. I know theres a lot of good people. I also said extremism has created the biggest atrocities. Calling them impotent sky daddies is only showing my disdain for gods who do nothing to help mankind as a whole on a daily basis. |
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Re: TerrorismThats your choice. You'd also be doing what every faith has been doing since the idea of a higher power dawned: creating a god that fits your views and paying homage to your own ideals. Which isnt wholly bad. |
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