A hilarious case of a denizen of a deeply consumerist society projecting his trivial, childish preoccupations on the world:
The purpose of terrorism is not to kill or maim or destroy. For the attackers, such crimes are merely tactics, on the way to a different goal, which is to terrorize. The strategic ambition is to use attacks and atrocities to change people’s emotions and arouse their fears. The aim is to make strong societies feel desperate and helpless
.
This sheltered individual cannot imagine anything more horrible than having a few unpleasant emotions for two minutes. The goal of every evildoer on the planet has just got to be to “change” his emotional state and “make” him feel something he did not order.
The possibility that there might be cultures where nobody is as fixated on their tender fee-fees never occurs to this overgrown baby.
It’s fascinating to observe people fantasize about “terrorists.” They never say anything of value about terrorism but they reveal a lot about themselves.
Clarissa's Blog 
It’s also an analysis based on the word we use to describe them, which can only ever return things we already thought we knew (terrorists terrorize!).
Which reminded me that I have not the slightest idea how these people describe themselves and their actions. Does anyone on this blog have an overview or account of this?
LikeLike
GOOD point. The author can’t even conceive of a different vocabulary or a different cultural framework.
LikeLike
It’s fascinating to observe people fantasize about “terrorists.” They never say anything of value about terrorism but they reveal a lot about themselves.
This is an interesting perspective. I always thought that this was indeed the goal of terrorists, and have therefore believed that it was not succeeding. At least it is not succeeding with me or anyone I know. I would no doubt be terrorized if somewhere I frequent (home office, etc.) were to be infested with hundreds of cobras, or rabid dogs, but nothing terrorists have done or are likely to do is terror-producing.
LikeLike
This is a good source that can serve as a beginning of understanding the worldview adopted by ISIS militants: https://www.loc.gov/law/help/islamic-law/international-relations-islamic-law.pdf
The piece was written before the rise of ISIS, so it’s not something tailored to the current news flow needs.
LikeLike
Here is more: http://atheism.about.com/od/islamicextremism/a/daralharb.htm
These are just the very basics, obviously, but the links are good in that they remove the focus away from Western neurotics and their emotions and towards the cultures that are trying to figure out these things for themselves.
LikeLike
It’s possible that were my wife and I in a theater audience and someone were to start shooting at us, we might experience rather more than a “few unpleasant emotions for two minutes.”
Leaving that aside, I consider the threat of Islamisation far more frightening, long term, than isolated terror incidents. This video suggests some of the reasons:
LikeLike