Terrorism Part 1

Terrorism was once a word closely associated with fear. Now over the years it has now nearly become synonymous with anger. The anger does not come from the terrorist, but from they people they are trying to terrorize. That anger has become primal and few would disagree that it is inappropriate.

The word terrorism first came into our lives quite possibly during  the1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, when members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage by Black September, a group with ties to Yasser Arafat’s Fatah organization.

From that time forward seeing and hearing about terrorism has become more frequent, and often if not always associated with the Muslim religion with the exception of a few home grown terrorists like Timothy McVeigh in April 1995. There is one primary difference, Timothy McVeigh’s attack was based on anger at the government, the other attacks are almost always about real estate.

The frequency of terrorist attacks had achieved such a level that they essentially were becoming ineffective as people were simply becoming numb to them. The terrorist responded by making there attacks much more gruesome by cutting peoples heads off and employed the Internet to show them off. This had the desired effect however that too is becoming a numb sensation to the rest of the world. The rest of the world being never have been there or not knowing the person the terrorists killed. However as the feeling of terror fades the feeling of anger grows.

Anger against terrorists in the USA peeked on September 11, 2001 when the World Trade towers were attacked. As soon as the initial shock was over virtually every American was ready to climb on a ship or other means of transportation and go and kick some terrorist ass.

However over time every organism tries to heal itself including our minds. As a result we simply avoid looking at those painful images in an effort to forget and place a form of self induced amnesia over the tragic events. Various bans and broadcasters electing not to show those horrific images again are all a result of that subconscious desire to heal.

This is exactly why the terrorists say and very correctly Americans don’t have the stomach for a prolonged battle. Americans simply want to forget it ever happened, and then pressure their politicians to get out of wars and other conflicts because they only see the body count going up and have forgotten the reason why.

There terrorist on the other hand are regularly shown what they see as horrific acts against them to keep that anger and motivation at it’s peek. Only a few of our more alert politicians worldwide are aware of this fact, and after a while they are voted out of office more or less because of that awareness. In this case the terrorist clearly win the psychological game hands down every time.

So to simply put it, people need to be regularly reminded why the conflict was started to keep up the motivation to want to stay in the game and defeat the enemy. The problem is it will eventually turn into a never ending battle like what is going on between the Jews and Palestinians. A person really has to sit down and think what started it all. As many have forgot, now only the images of horrendous acts feed the conflict.

Next part 2.


One Response to Terrorism Part 1

  1. Jack Dawson says:

    Terrorism is a euphism coined by those with superior military capabilities use to define an enemy that they cannot fight on their battlefield, and can never defeat.

    If one employs the tactics of “terror” , they are not fighting fairly, or are “fighting dirty”. It is also an extremely powerful propaganda tool, designed to instill fear and hatred in the “sheep” that are required to keep the elected fools in power.

    Committing an “act of terror” is the single most powerful example of Western ideaological hypocrisy of our time.

    If America sends 3 billion US dollars a year worth of Apache, gunships, F-16 fighters, Caterpillar bulldozers, radar systems etc. etc to poor little Israel who, in turn use this charity to demolish Palestinian homes, schools, infrastructure, murder children, women, the elderly, build segregation walls, checkpoints, cut off water and electricity etc . etc., all the while Jewish “settlers” continuing to steal more and more and more Palestinian land, this is considered to be “righteous” and “just” and is necessary for “security” for the State of Israe.

    If a Palestinian with no tanks, gunships, F-16’s has enough courage and hatred within him/her to build a homemade explosive device, wrap it around him(her)self and kill as many of his/her oppressors that he/she can, knowing full well that they will die…..this is terrorism?

    I call it courage.