A video clip shows a well-dressed man falling story upon story to his death. It’s hard not to be affected by this clip of people jumping out of the windows of the World Trade Center before its collapse, a by-product of terrorism. Jim Jacobs, professor of International Relations, spoke about the Psychology of Terrorism on February 27th. He showed many disturbing images, such as suicidal bombers’ decapitated heads lying on a street in the Middle East in the aftermath of their detonation. Jacobs mentioned that some parents have such pride in their religion that they dress their babies in suicidal bomber costumers, such as this picture below:
These visuals were shocking, but truly showed the horrors of terrorism.
A photograph of a smiling Middle Eastern man holding his two toddlers fills the screen, then Jacobs goes on to tell us that hours after this picture was taken, this man would commit suicide by blowing himself up in a mall. Why would a happy man with two beautiful children do this? Jacobs analyzed these reasons throughout this lecture. I learned that, according to a psychological survey, terrorists are neither “crazies” nor criminals – they are, as a wide majority, normal people who want to avenge family members deaths, show their religious devotion, or believe they are creating a better world for their children.
Knowing the psychology behind terrorists’ actions makes it easier to understand why they commit the horrendous things they do. This is in no way condoning what they do, but it makes you really step outside of your frame of reference when you see terrorism from another point of view.
“It is better to attack an enemy’s mind than to attack his fortified cities.” The author Sun Tsu’s quote, written over a thousand years ago in The Art of War, summarizes the ultimate goal of terrorism. Terrorists’ aim is not necessarily to physically destroy our world, but to bring our minds into an inescapable state of fear, so that we begin to change our way of life in order to gain power. Terrorism is something that will most likely never stop in the world as we know it, but it is something that we need to try to understand in order to cope with the horror and suffering it brings.
2 comments on The Psychology of Terrorism - Cultural Event
Add a comment
To add comments without entering your email and image verification, you must be logged in. Login or Join Blogster
Fascinating quote from "The Art of War." And so true. Thanks for sharing.
"Jacobs mentioned that some parents have such pride in their religion that they dress their babies in suicidal bomber costumers" whatever that's been mentioned about people have a pride in their religion so they dress their children like this is wrong, tottaly wrong. there is no religion on face of earth that supports terriosm. obviously, this picture is one of the worst i've ever seen in my life because it involves almost all kind of child abuse such as emotional abuse. i would really like to point out that those actions of those weried people have nothing to do a religion. as long as we are talking about middle east where i come from there are three major religions. and none of those religions support such actions.
good report although i don't agree with what the speaker started with :)