The Terror Tactics of Terrorists
The reasons terrorists use terror tactics are varied and debatable. By
explaining tactics many people believe that terrorism becomes
justified. This is not true. Through understanding the motives of
terrorists we can begin to fully realise the causes behind the
actions.
There are many causes behind terrorist actions. One of which is
publicity. Many groups use their actions to create publicity to
promote their beliefs. An example of this was 'the Dockland bombings
in London' February 6th 1996. The IRA had been set up to rid Irelandof
the British government control. Initially the IRA set out to bomb the
protestant areas, but when the policy was not effective the IRA began
to target mainland Britain. Publicity was an important reason for the
IRA attack on CanaryWharfin Londonin 1996. The IRA felt that the
British government was ignoring the situation in Northern Irelandand
felt that the publicity that would be gained from bombings would
re-focus the British government and people. In a very similar way,
Palestinian terrorists took hostages at the MunichOlympics in the
1970s to bring world attention to Palestinian Arab troubles with
Israel. Acts of government terrorism usually set out to avoid
publicity. For example Hitler did not want publicity of his mass
slaughter f the Jews. This is the same with Saddam Hussein, he did not
want his mass killing of the Kurdish people to be brought into
What is the goal and objective of terrorism? The use of violence to influence a mass population to add hear to a set ideological, political, or criminal reason. Our case study has both of these elements. If we are to be more specific the group is labeled as a Home Grown Violent Extremist Group. This type of group is one of the hardest to detect due to their assimilation into our society. They do not stand out in any way or glaring fashion.
They give speculative answers as to possible reasons why, including provocation and gaining support, but they do not go further into the history of the IRA and The Troubles. Using Crenshaw’s model on the Causes of Terrorism (1981), I will look at the varying factors that led to the formation of the PIRA and subsequently the Belfast
aims. This is because in most cases, it is the only way they can be
Over the past century, terrorism has advanced from random killings to enormous plans for terrorist groups. To understand terrorism, you must first define it. Terrorism as we all know it is hard to define and understand, and has many different definitions as it is used widely. The word "terrorism" stems from the word "terror", which means to instill fear in. People become terrorists when they take the actions towards instilling fear and terror upon people to prove a certain point or agenda.
Many analysts, researchers, and professors have tried to define the purpose of terrorism. Some believe that can only be achieved when we know how the mind of a terrorist works. The Encyclopedia Britannica describes terrorism as, “The systematic use of violence or threat of violence by organized groups to achieve specific goals. Terrorist activities may be directed against individuals, organizations or governments. Terrorism is employed by radical groups to obtain concessions from established governments, such as a change in policies unfavorable to them or the release of imprisoned members of their organizations…” (Encyclopedia Britannica. “Terrorism” 1987 T-169)
In “ V for Vendetta “ Fear became the ultimate tool of this government”. Adam Sutler is able to create a constant fear factor in the citizen’s mind by filtering everything that the media broadcasts. The attack on Old Bailey and Jordan Tower was deemed a “terrorist” act. V was labeled as a “psychotic terrorist”. The media claimed that V used explosives and weapons against unarmed civilians.
Terror management theory (TMT) asserts that human beings have natural tendency for self-preservation if there is threat to one’s well–being (Greenberg, Solomon, & Pyszczynski, 1997). It notes that we are the cultural animals that pose self-awareness on the concept of past and future, as well as the understanding that one day we will die. We concern about our life and death but aware that it is unexpected by everything. The worse matter is that we become aware of our vulnerability and helplessness when facing death-related thoughts and ultimate demise (Pyszczynski & Greenberg, 1992). The inevitable death awareness or mortality salience provides a ground for experiencing the existential terror, which is the overwhelming concern of people’s mortality and existence. In order to avoid the continued existence of threats, people need faith in a relatively affirmative and plausive cultural worldview and meaning of life (Greenberg, Pyszczynski, & Solomon, 1995). Cultural worldview is a perceptual construction in the society which explaining the origins of life and the existence of afterlife. We have to invest a set of cultural worldviews by ourselves that are able to provide meaning, stability and order to our lives and to offer the promise of death transcendence (Solomon, Greenberg, & Pyszczynski, 2004). On the other hand, we hold a belief that one is living up to the standards of value prescribed by that worldview and social norm shared by a group of people. This belief is derived by self-esteem of individual. We maintain the perception and confident that we are fulfilling the cultural prescriptions for value in the society and are thus eligible for some form of personal immortality (Landau & Greenberg, 2006). We Together with the assump...
Group participation is a way that terrorist groups are able to complete certain difficult goals similar to gangs or other groups that are involved in deviant behavior together (Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990). Attacks like 9-11 would not be possible without the groups working together. There are key elements that go along with group crime such as group mediation, and environmental conditions of potential targets (Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990). Crime also happens when people do not have “belief” in the norms and values of society and also don 't respect authority (Hirschi & Stark, 1969). Terrorists are motivated by having different values of American society and see it as being immoral. They see our government as being corrupt and rationalize their actions because of this. It is important public policy makers know how to limit this extremist ideology and not make it worse by isolating Muslim
Terrorism is used around the world to create fear and influence the public on political views (Siegel, 489). There are four views of terrorism including the psychological view, socialization view, ideological view, and the alienation view. A religious terrorist would most likely fit under the ideological view. In this view the terrorist feels the need to change a wrong opinion and believes that, because they are sacrificing themselves for something they believe so strongly in, it justifies the damage and harm done to innocent people (Siegel, 490). They use terror to create fear in anyone who opposes them and attract followers to their religion. In short, terrorism is widely used for political reasons but religion has been linked to the violence as well.
Many may agree with the old saying that “beauty is only skin deep,” but does beauty come in a particular shade of color? This question is very debatable for many, but the fact of the matter is that human beings are born in array of skin tones. These differences in skin tone are used to categorize people into different ethnic groups. Lopez proposes that“ethnic identity is a type of group identity that is related to a better outcome because it provides a sense of belonging or cultural embeddedness.”(p.102) Dr. Ronald Hall (2006) suggests that in America minorities or people of color are called black in relative terms to the majority who are of European descent i.e. white. Some studies have discovered that a more “ethnic appearance” is usually assessed by a darker skin color i.e, black and is associated with a worse outcome in life (Lopez, 2008) In contrast, beauty, wealth and overall appeal are associated with physiological proximity to the white power structure i.e., light skin. (Hall, 2006) It appears as though desirable skin complexions are culturally relative.
Black September’s target, however, was greater than just the Israeli athletes. They inflicted a worldwide terror. When defining terrorism, one must realize that the message is often the goal of the attack. The U.S. Department of State 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”. Whereas the Belgium Red Cross says that terrorism is committed “for the purpose of intimidating the population, forcing a third party to act or establishing or destroying the fundamental structures of a country or of an international organization”.
The Palestinians turned to terrorism because of the volatile surroundings palestine after first Intifada and because of how other governments had failed. Terrorism is so successful because people have the threat of bombings and attacks if they are not handled carefully and respectfully.
In my opinion, the most persuasive cause of terrorism would be what Martin describes as sociological causes, particularly the theory of relative deprivation. This theory means that people turn towards acts of collective violence due to the belief that they are being deprived of certain rights or are being treated as second-class citizens. The rights that people may be derived from can be anything from social rights such as personal security to basic rights like food and shelter. When people in a particular area who have a sense of being repressed in some manner unite, they may begin to act collectively to achieve their goals. The relative deprivation theory works well in that it is not too broad, yet it still is narrow enough where one can argue that most terrorist feel that they are being prevented from exercising what they believe to be their rights. For example, people in the Basque region in Spain fight for their right to preserve their national identity whereas Palestinians in Israel fight for their nation and their rights as Israeli citizens which are denied (Martin 50,51). This shows the broad range of reasons why people may take up arms as terrorists
This is evident in many cases throughout history. Ultimately, terrorism isn’t a means to an end, and the sacrifices for success are too great. Many terrorists aren’t able to accomplish their ill-minded goals, and people’s lives, businesses, beliefs, among other factors, will completely be in vain. To this end, it seems like terrorism cannot be justified.
Terrorist organizations have been committing atrocities against innocent civilians throughout the world for hundreds of years. Terrorism has evolved in many different forms and from various motivations such as religious protest movements, political revolts, and social uprisings. Regardless of the motives for terror, the problem is the financing of terrorism and terrorist organizations themselves. Recent global terrorist attacks using high technology and extensive networks have shown that money is essential to provide the means behind all terrorist activities. Individual terrorists plan terrorist operations and require resources to live, prepare, and implement their plans. The use of money laundering and financial support schemes are the root of the cause. If money laundering were curtailed or even eliminated, and financial supporters of terrorism were identified terrorism would decrease dramatically. To achieve these goals would take monumental efforts. The United States, United Nations and all sovereign nations would need to take cooperative action that has never been accomplished. Terrorism, its' history, concepts, reasoning, methods, and financial roots are object of this research.